-PDF Download- The Metaphysics Of Terror EBOOK

Philosophy in a Time of Terror

Author: Giovanna Borradori

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2013-05-28

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 0226066657

The idea for Philosophy in a Time of Terror was born hours after the attacks on 9/11 and was realized just weeks later when Giovanna Borradori sat down with Jürgen Habermas and Jacques Derrida in New York City, in separate interviews, to evaluate the significance of the most destructive terrorist act ever perpetrated. This book marks an unprecedented encounter between two of the most influential thinkers of our age as here, for the first time, Habermas and Derrida overcome their mutual antagonism and agree to appear side by side. As the two philosophers disassemble and reassemble what we think we know about terrorism, they break from the familiar social and political rhetoric increasingly polarized between good and evil. In this process, we watch two of the greatest intellects of the century at work.

Metaphysical Horror

Author: Leszek Kolakowski

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2001-07

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 9780226450551

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

'A modern philosopher who has never once suspected himself of being a charlatan,' writes Leszek Kolakowski at the start of this endlessly stimulating book, 'must be such a shallow mind that his work is probably not worth reading.' For over a century, philosophers have argued that philosophy is impossible or useless, or both. Although the basic agenda dates back tot he days of Socrates, there is still disagreement about the nature of truth, reality, knowledge, good and God. This may make little practical difference to our lives, but it leaves us with a feeling of radical uncertainty described by Kolakowski as 'metaphysical horror'. Is there any way out of this cul-de-sac? This trenchant analysis confronts these dilemmas head on. Philosophy may not provide definitive answers to the fundamental questions, yet the quest itself transforms our lives. It may undermine most of our certainties, yet it still leaves room for our spiritual yearnings and religious beliefs. Kolakowski has forged a dazzling demonstration of philosophy in action. It is up to readers to take up the challenge of his arguments.

The Metaphysics of Terror

Author: Rasmus Ugilt

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2014-03-13

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1628920564

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This groundbreaking study aims to provide a philosophical analysis of the phenomenon of terror, in particular the political reactions to it, such as public anxiety and pre-emptive wars, and to re-articulate the understanding of metaphysics through a consideration of its political implications. The book reveals that the key feature of terror is "potentiality," that is, terror is always about "what could happen" as opposed to "what is likely to happen." This notion helps broaden the scope of the investigation, as the argument spans the ontology, political psychology, political cosmology, and political theology of terror. Each chapter begins with an empirical discussion, examining such topics as the political practices in reaction to terror, the politics of fear, warfare, sovereignty, and the debates about the state of exception in relations to anti-terrorism laws. This unique examination of our political reality uncovers the axiom of terrorism, namely its "potentiality." Going beyond the scope of terrorism studies, it explains the philosophical underpinnings of terror without compromising on the empirical facts drawn from policymaking, jurisprudence and related fields.

The Philosophy of Horror

Author: Noel Carroll

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-09-02

Total Pages: 502

ISBN-13: 113596503X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Noel Carroll, film scholar and philosopher, offers the first serious look at the aesthetics of horror. In this book he discusses the nature and narrative structures of the genre, dealing with horror as a "transmedia" phenomenon. A fan and serious student of the horror genre, Carroll brings to bear his comprehensive knowledge of obscure and forgotten works, as well as of the horror masterpieces. Working from a philosophical perspective, he tries to account for how people can find pleasure in having their wits scared out of them. What, after all, are those "paradoxes of the heart" that make us want to be horrified?

Starry Speculative Corpse

Author: Eugene Thacker

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Published: 2015-04-24

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 1782798900

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Could it be that the more we know about the world, the less we understand it? Could it be that, while everything has been explained, nothing has meaning? Extending the ideas presented in his book In The Dust of This Planet, Eugene Thacker explores these and other issues in Starry Speculative Corpse. But instead of using philosophy to define or to explain the horror genre, Thacker reads works of philosophy as if they were horror stories themselves, revealing a rift between human beings and the unhuman world of which they are part. Along the way we see philosophers grappling with demons, struggling with doubt, and wrestling with an indifferent cosmos. At the center of it all is the philosophical drama of the human being confronting its own limits. Not a philosophy of horror, but a horror of philosophy. Thought that stumbles over itself, as if at the edge of an abyss. Starry Speculative Corpse is the second volume of the "Horror of Philosophy" trilogy, together with the first volume, In The Dust of This Planet, and the third volume, Tentacles Longer Than Night.

Dark Thoughts

Author: Steven Jay Schneider

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9780810847927

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Is horror a fundamentally nihilistic genre? Why are those of us who enjoy horror films so attracted to watching things on screen that in real life we would almost certainly find repellent? Do monster movies have a deleterious moral effect on their viewers? In seeking to answer such questions, as well as a host of related ones, Dark Thoughts reveals that our fascination with horror cinema, and the pleasure we take in it, is in the end simply a natural extension of a philosopher's inclination to wonder. This is a collection of highly engaging and provocative essays by top scholars in the increasingly interrelated fields of Philosophy, Film Studies, and Communication Arts that deal with the epistemology, aesthetics, ethics, metaphysics, and genre dynamics of horror cinema past and present. Contributors include Curtis Bowman, No l Carroll, Elizabeth Cowie, Angela Curran, Cynthia Freeland, Michael Grant, Matt Hills, Deborah Knight, George McKnight, Ken Mogg, Aaron Smuts, Robert C. Solomon, and J.P. Telotte. Over the past several years, one of the hottest topics in the realm of philosophical aesthetics has been cinematic horror. The emotional effects it has on audiences, the mysterious metaphysics of its impossible beings, the controversial ethics of its violent contents-these are just a few of the concerns to have drawn the attention of scholars and students alike. . .not to mention the genre's legions of fans. Since the publication of No l Carroll's groundbreaking study, The Philosophy of Horror; or, Paradoxes of the Heart (1990), and including most recently Cynthia Freeland's The Naked and the Undead: Evil and the Appeal of Horror (2000), a plethora of articles have been authored by seemingly normal philosophers about the decidedly abnormal activities of the antagonists of fright flicks.

Terrorism and the Ethics of War

Author: Stephen Nathanson

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-05-13

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1139488465

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Most people strongly condemn terrorism; yet they often fail to say how terrorist acts differ from other acts of violence such as the killing of civilians in war. Stephen Nathanson argues that we cannot have morally credible views about terrorism if we focus on terrorism alone and neglect broader issues about the ethics of war. His book challenges influential views on the ethics of war, including the realist view that morality does not apply to war, and Michael Walzer's defence of attacks on civilians in 'supreme emergency' circumstances. It provides a clear definition of terrorism, an analysis of what makes terrorism morally wrong, and a rule-utilitarian defence of noncombatant immunity, as well as discussions of the Allied bombings of cities in World War II, collateral damage, and the clash between rights theories and utilitarianism. It will interest a wide range of readers in philosophy, political theory, international relations and law.

The Sublime, Terror and Human Difference

Author: Christine Battersby

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-01-11

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1134753799

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Christine Battersby is a leading thinker in the field of philosophy, gender studies and visual and literary aesthetics. In this important new work, she undertakes an exploration of the nature of the sublime, one of the most important topics in contemporary debates about modernity, politics and art. Through a compelling examination of terror, transcendence and the ‘other’ in key European philosophers and writers, Battersby articulates a radical ‘female sublime’. A central feature of The Sublime, Terror and Human Difference is its engagement with recent debates around ‘9/11’, race and Islam. Battersby shows how, since the eighteenth century, the pleasures of the sublime have been described in terms of the transcendence of terror. Linked to the ‘feminine’, the sublime was closed off to flesh-and-blood women, to ‘Orientals’ and to other supposedly ‘inferior’ human types. Engaging with Kant, Burke, the German Romantics, Nietzsche, Derrida, Lyotard, Irigaray and Arendt, as well as with women writers and artists, Battersby traces the history of these exclusions, while finding resources within the history of western culture for thinking human differences afresh The Sublime, Terror and Human Difference is essential reading for students of continental philosophy, gender studies, aesthetics, literary theory, visual culture, and race and social theory.