What makes a sensible, mature, slippers-by-the-fire sort of chap turn suddenly into a hiking junkie? Why would anyone want to switch from doing moderate, two-mile pub walks to trekking an arduous 289 miles along the South West Coast Path? The Hiking Obsession takes you on an alarming journey, from your comfort zone to the trials and tribulations of long-distance walking, from the seed of a flawed idea to the execution of a meticulous but seriously flawed plan. See what happens when it all ...

In challenging us to be conscious of our own subjectivity, Bernard Lonergan set out an updated mode of Aristotelian epistemology that took insights from every major philosophical tradition of the modern era. This book explains how that unique positioning makes his ideas perfectly placed to bridge the divide between analytic and continental philosophy.Andrew Beards uses Lonergan's approach not only to understand the many connections between analytic and continental ...

Philosophy begins, Aristotle said, with wonder; it addresses the great questions of life. This process of self-discovery through philosophy leads one to ask questions not only about human existence but also about God. In *Philosophy: The Quest for Truth and Meaning,*Andrew Beards introduces readers to some key philosophical ideas 'the mind's ability to know truth and reality, metaphysics, ethics, and questioning life's ultimate purpose 'in order to guide them in philosophical reflection. B...

Bernard Lonergan (1904-84) is acknowledged as one of the most significant philosopher-theologians of the 20th century. Lonergan, Meaning and Method in many ways complements Andrew Beards' previous book on Lonergan, Insight and Analysis (Bloomsbury, 2010). Andrew Beards applies Lonergan's thought and brings it into critical dialogue and discussion with other contemporary philosophical interlocutors, principally from the analytical tradition. He also introduces themes and a...

In the last few decades, analytical philosophers have rediscovered an interest in the subject of metaphysics. Surveying the contributions made by these philosophers, Method in Metaphysics initiates a critical dialogue between analytical metaphysics and the philosophy of Bernard Lonergan. It argues for a basic method in metaphysics, a method that arises from a critically grounded epistemology and cognitional theory. In addition, it serves as a much-needed overview and introduction ...

If there is such a thing as reason, it has to be universal. Reason must reflect objective principles whose validity is independent of our point of view--principles that anyone with enough intelligence ought to be able to recognize as correct. But this generality of reason is what relativists and subjectivists deny in ever-increasing numbers. And such subjectivism is not just an inconsequential intellectual flourish or badge of theoretical chic. It is exploited to deflect argument and to be...

First published in 1976, the Dictionary of Philosophy has established itself as the best available text of its kind, explaining often unfamiliar, complicated and diverse terminology. Thoroughly revised and expanded, this fourth edition provides authoritative and rigorous definitions of a broad range of philosophical concepts.Concentrating on the Western philosophical tradition, The Routledge Dictionary of Philosophy offers an illuminating and informed introduction...

What is philosophy? How should we do it? Why should we bother to? These are the kinds of questions addressed by metaphilosophy – the philosophical study of the nature of philosophy itself. Students of philosophy today are faced with a confusing and daunting array of philosophical methods, approaches and styles and also deep divisions such as the notorious rift between analytic and Continental philosophy. This book takes readers through a full range of approaches – analytic versus Continent...

Pragmatists have traditionally been enemies of representationalism but friends of naturalism, when naturalism is understood to pertain to human subjects, in the sense of Hume and Nietzsche. In this volume Huw Price presents his distinctive version of this traditional combination, as delivered in his René Descartes Lectures at Tilburg University in 2008. Price contrasts his view with other contemporary forms of philosophical naturalism, comparing it with other pragmatist and neo-pragmatist ...

The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics is an outstanding, comprehensive and accessible guide to the major themes, thinkers, and issues in metaphysics. The Companion features over fifty specially commissioned chapters from international scholars which are organized into three clear parts:History of MetaphysicsOntologyMetaphysics and Science.Each section features an introduction which places the range of e...

Following on from Roy Bhaskar’s first two books, A Realist Theory of Science and The Possibility of Naturalism, Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation, establishes the conception of social science as explanatory—and thence emancipatory—critique.Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation starts from an assessment of the impasse of contemporary accounts of science as stemming from an incomplete critique of positivism. It then proceeds to a systematic exposition of scientif...

Richard Rorty is one of the most influential, controversial and widely-read philosophers of the twentieth century. In this GuideBook to Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature Tartaglia analyzes this challenging text and introduces and assesses:Rorty's life and the background to his philosophythe key themes and arguments of Philosophy and the Mirror of Naturethe continuing importance of Rorty's work to philosophy.Rorty and ...