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Dissent and Philosophy in the Middle Ages offers scholars of Dante's Divine Comedy an integral understanding of the political, philosophical, and religious context of the medieval masterwork. First penned in French by Ernest L. Fortin, one of America's foremost thinkers in the fields of philosophy and theology, Dissidence et philosophie au moyen-%ge brings to light the complexity of Dante's thought and art, and its relation to the central themes of Western civilization. Available in English for the first time through this superb translation by Marc A. LePain, Dissent and Philosophy will make a supremely important contribution to the discussion of Dante as poet, theologian, and philosopher.

Divergent Paths is the first volume of a groundbreaking three-volume work. Its purpose is to explore the relationship between Hegel and Marx; to define the relationship between Hegel and Engels; and to distinguish between the theories of Marxism and Engelsism. Marx used Feuerbach towards the critique and ultimate transformation of Hegel's phenomenology and humanism. This transformation, which cut out Hegel's idealism by identifying the environment in which people produced their sustenance as the subject of history, marks the genesis of historical materialism. Marx continued to use Hegel's logical categories. In chapter three of Divergent Paths, Norman Levine conducts an in depth study of Marx's 1841 doctoral dissertation, The Difference Between Democritus' and Epicurus' Philosophy of Nature. It is the center of gravity and controversy of Levine's study. Placed alongside Hegel's Philosophy of History, Levine isolates the categories Marx appropriated from Hegel to show, conclusively, that Marx was not a dialectical materialist. Levine then claims that Engels totally distorted the Hegelian legacy, and this debasement is enshrined in his 1887 essay 'Ludwig Feuerbach and The End of Classical German Philosophy.' Levine brilliantly locates Marxism as the theory of Marx, and Engelsism the theory of Engels. According to Levine both embodied a separate view of history and society, and their contradictions are expressive, in part, of their divergent receptions of Hegel. This is an analysis like no other published to date with two more volumes planned. Philosophers, sociologists, anthropologists and historiographers of Marx and Engels cannot afford to miss this study.

Direct Democratic Choice sets out to understand how the citizens actually decide in direct-democratic votes. Author Hanspeter Kriesi has analyzed nearly twenty years of post-election surveys in Switzerland (1981-1999), which he has contextualized according to the various political issues and the relevant arguments provided by the political elites. This book's core argument is that the citizens who participate in direct-democratic votes make competent choices. Kriesi's extensive empirical research shows that the majority of these voters arrive at their decisions on the basis of arguments about the advantages and disadvantages of the available options. The less competent and less interested citizens either do not vote or, if they do, employ heuristic shortcuts allowing them to make approximately reasonable decisions. Kriesi provides strong support for an optimistic view of direct-democratic decision-making but also indicates that this process, wherever it occurs, can be improved by proper institutional design and by appropriate strategies enacted by the political elite.

Dirty Work explores the lives and work of recent immigrants from Africa, Asia, and elsewhere to the southern Italian region of Sicily. Using extensive research, Cole and Booth focus on the experiences of foreigners employed in domestic service, prostitution, and agriculture. Investigation of these key sectors affords a revealing vantage point onto the place of Sicily in the increasingly international circuit of people, goods, practices, and capital. The book departs from the focus, common in immigration studies, on a single nationality or location by instead describing the experiences of foreigners of diverse origins in rural and urban areas. The Sicilian case epitomizes what is one of the most significant developments in contemporary Europe: the recent transformation of the South from labor exporter to immigrant destination. Probing the material foundations of the contemporary world,Dirty Work's clear and compelling presentation of timely themes should make it of interest to a broad readership, including students, scholars, and the interested public.

Challenging common interpretations of the political thought of John Adams and Adam Smith, Democracy, Equality and Justice offers an engaging and novel portrait of the political economy in America at its founding. The founders believed that liberty should not trump community, but should exist within the context of community. Drawing on extensive written records of the thought of John Adams and Adam Smith, the father of modern capitalism, Dr. John E. Hill argues that these two great men advocated a balanced, values-based, and just political economy. Adams, historically misperceived as a rugged individualist who favored aristocracy over democracy, actually emphasized political balance with no one socio-economic class dominating any other. Smith, incorrectly portrayed as a supporter of laissez-faire government, advocated economic balance with no class or individual receiving special treatment from the government. Applying their values of universalism and moderation today would significantly broaden the definition of morality in contemporary politics. Democracy, Equality and Justice is a stimulating and sophisticated text that will encourage debate over the relationship between historical ideas and contemporary economic problems.

The Dialogue in Hell between Montesquieu and Machiavelli is the source of the world's most infamous literary forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. John Waggoner's superb translation of and commentary on Joly's Dialogue-the first faithful translation in English-seeks not only to update the sordid legacy of the Protocols but to redeem Joly's original work for serious study in its own right, rather than through the lens of antisemitism. Waggoner's work vindicates a man who was neither an antisemite nor a supporter of the kind of tyrannical politics the Protocols subsequently served and presents Maurice Joly, once much maligned and too long ignored, as one of the nineteenth century's foremost political thinkers.

As Americans worry ever more about the effects of media on the quality of public deliberation, they have developed a renewed interest in public discussion, especially face-to-face public discussion. Over a century ago, public forums_organized and widespread_provided a place where citizens could discuss the political issues of the day, and they became a means of adult civic education. William M. Keith documents the college course developed by the new field of Speech to teach the skills of discussion, as well as the forum movement, which culminated in the Federal Forum Project. Using primary sources from archives around the country, Democracy as Discussion traces the early history of the Speech field, the development of discussion as an alternative to debate, and the Deweyan Progressive philosophy of discussion that swept the U.S. For the first time the structure and details of the Federal Forum project in the context of the forum movement and adult civic education in the U.S. are recounted and analyzed, making this book a valuable resource in the study of political communication and history.

The human soul is for pre-modern philosophers the cause of both thinking and life. This double aspect of the soul, which makes man a rational animal, expresses itself above all in human action. Deadly Thought: 'Hamlet' and the Human Soul traces Hamlet's famous inability to act to his inability to hold together these twin aspects of the soul. Combining careful attention to detail and interpretive breadth, noted scholar Jan H. Blits deftly illustrates how Hamlet collapses life into thought, and moral action into stage acting, and ultimately comes to see his own life as a stage play. Hamlet, the book demonstrates, epitomizes the intellectualism of the Renaissance and the modern age it began, and so becomes tragedy's first self-conscious protagonist, signaling the end of ancient tragedy. Erudite, innovative, and lively, Deadly Thought is a ground-breaking contribution that will appeal to Shakespeare scholars, political theorists, historians of philosophy, literary theorists and anyone interested in a truly fresh interpretation of this classic work.

In The Deconstitutionalization of America: The Forgotten Frailties of Democratic Rule, Roger M. Barrus and his coauthors embark on a discussion of American democracy from the nineteenth century to the present day. The present paradox democracy finds itself in can be summed up as 'the best of times and the worst of times.' Democracy, at its best, has triumphed throughout the world. It is the authors contention that this same success represents the potential for its undoing: with all governments claiming to be democratic, modern democrats-and this includes just about everyone-find it difficult if not impossible to understand the nature and problems of democracy. Since most everyone lives within a democratic horizon, they have nothing to compare democracy to and no one to point out its faults. In this way, they are hampered in dealing with their social and political problems, some of which may be the result of contradictions inherent in the democratic principle itself. The solution to democracy's ills might not be, after all, more democracy.

The term Fengshui, which literally means 'wind and water,' is the ancient Chinese art of selecting an auspicious site to provide the most harmonious relationship between human and earth. The term is generally translated as 'geomancy,' and has had a deep and extensive impact on Korean, Chinese, and other East Asian cultures. Hong-key Yoon's book explores the nature of geomantic principles and the culture of practicing them in Korean cultural contexts. Yoon first examines the nature and historical background of geomancy, geomantic principles for auspicious sites (houses, graves, and cities) and provides an interpretation of geomantic principles as practiced in Korea. Yoon looks at geomancy's influence on cartography, religion and philosophy, and urban development in both Korea and China. Finally, Yoon debates the role of geomancy in the iconographical warfare between Japanese colonialism and Korean nationalism as it affected the cultural landscape of Kyongbok Palace in Seoul.

Antonio Rosmini-Serbati (1797D1855) was one of the first natural law scholars to bring natural law thinking into a conversation with the market economic order that was beginning to emerge in Europe in the 19th century. His reflections on matters such as the origin, nature, and limits of private property, the role of the state, and the nature of human reason show him to be a unique, innovative thinker who nonetheless was determined to work within the parameters of Catholic doctrine. Many of these ideas are concretized in his seminal work The Constitution Under Social Justice, a text that has profound instights to offer those today seeking to integrate theology, philosophy, and economics into their conceptions of a social order that aspires to be both free and just.

Contemporary society is rife with instability. Our active and invasive study of genetics has given life to one of the great specters of biological science: the clone. The scarcity of natural energy sources has led to an increased manipulation of atomic or nuclear energy and regressive environmental policies, resulting in a greater sense of danger for everyone. The promises of economic globalization have, in some cases, been delivered, but in many other ways globalization has created even greater gaps in social and economic life. Despite the expansion of our productive and technological capabilities, our workdays grow longer, not shorter. We find ourselves in exile from our families, our friends, and from other meaningful forms of social connection. And as 'freedom' is bandied about in the popular press and media as the preeminent global social value, it actually seems that the reigning contemporary ethos of our time is stress and anxiety. While Raphael Sassower's previous work has focused extensively on science and technology, this book is significantly different. It is an urgent commentary in the tradition of Herbert Marcuse's One Dimensional Man or even Sigmund Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents; a culmination of many years of research and thought carefully arranged into an extended essay on our contemporary social, cultural, and existential orientation in the modern world. This book is written for advanced graduate students, informed and concerned citizenry, and especially the young student who, in the face of mounting anxiety, must be able to make critical choices towards an uncertain future.

The fundamental tenet of democracy is that the majority rules. Yet as James Madison wrote, 'Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression.' In this focused new work, Don Beahm synthesizes some of the most powerful conceptualizations of, and corrections to, the majority tyranny as explicated by James Madison, Alexis de Tocqueville, John C. Calhoun, Robert A. Dahl, and Lani Guinier. In conjunction with this synthesis, Beahm presents his analysis of the main causes of majoritarian tyranny, concluding that while American two-party politics, winner-take-all districting, and voting system may be reformed, the social causes of individual and group interests may only be corrected by proportional representation.

Compass of Society rethinks the French route to a conception of 'commercial society' in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Henry C. Clark finds that the development of market liberalism, far from being a narrow and abstract ideological episode, was part of a broad-gauged attempt to address a number of perceived problems generic to Europe and particular to France during this period. In the end, he offers a neo-Tocquevillian account of a topic which Tocqueville himself notoriously underemphasized, namely the emergence of elements of a modern economy in eighteenth century France and the place this development had in explaining the failure of the Old Regime and the onset of the Revolution. Compass of Society will aid in understanding the conflicted French engagement with liberalism even up to the twenty-first century.

Once relatively confined to parts of Europe and North America, commercial societies are now found in many other cultures and continents. Yet despite the international spread and growth of commercial order, the moral, economic, and legal foundations of commercial society remain poorly understood, especially in those countries where it first took root. Guided by the thoughts of Alexis de Tocqueville, Samuel Gregg's The Commercial Society identifies and explores the key foundational elements that must exist within a society for commercial order to take root and flourish. Gregg studies the challenges that have consistently impeded and occasionally undermined commercial order, including the persistence of 'corporatist' values and political movements seeking to equalize social conditions. This book offers a historically-grounded analysis for modern audiences interested in philosophy or the history of economics.

Collective Memory examines the difficult transmission of memory in France of the Algerian war of independence (1954-62). Emphasizing the current lack of transmission of memories of this war through a detailed case study of three crucial vectors of memory: the teaching of school history, coverage in the media, and discussion in the family, author McCormack argues that lack of transmission of memories is feeding into contemporary racism and exclusion in France. Collective Memory draws extensively on interviews with historians, teachers, and pupils as well as secondary sources and media analysis. McCormack proposes that a greater 'work of memory' needs to be undertaken if France is to overcome the division in French society that stems from the war. There has been little reconciliation of divisive group memories, a situation that leaves many individuals without a voice on this important subject. 'Memory battles' dominate discussion of the topic as many issues periodically flare up and cannot yet be overcome.

Few other contemporary Hollywood filmmakers fit the category of 'genre stylist' as well as Michael Mann, the director of such films as Heat, The Insider, Ali, Collateral, Manhunter, Thief, and Miami Vice. Mann's film style marks him as a director who chooses the iconographic backdrop of a genre as a canvas upon which he and his collaborators can craft a unique cinematic vision. The Cinema of Michael Mann traces the innovative and under-explored stylistic contours of Mann's work, the director's inflection upon and innovation within preexisting genre frameworks, and the relationship of both style and genre to issues of authorship and film criticism. Steven Rybin's critical study of Mann's cinema, and the importance of the filmmaker's themes to our contemporary world, is valuable for both film scholars and cinephiles alike.

The freedoms of speech and religion assumed a sacrosanct space in American notions of civil liberty. But it was not until the twentieth century that these freedoms became prominent in American constitutional law; originally, the first ten amendments applied only to the federal government and not to the states. Murray Dry traces the trajectory of freedom of speech and religion to the center of contemporary debates as few scholars have done, by looking back to the American founding and to the classical texts in political philosophy that shaped the founders' understanding of republican government. By comparing the colonial charters with the new state constitutions and studying the development of the federal Constitution, Dry demonstrates the shift from governmental concern for the salvation of souls to the more limited aim of the securing of rights. For a uniquely rich and nuanced appreciation of this shift Dry explores the political philosophy of Locke, Spinoza, Montesquieu, and Mill, among others, whose writings helped shaped the Supreme Court's view of religion as separate from philosophy, as a matter of individual faith and not a community practice. Delving into the polyvalent interpretations of such fundamental concepts as truth, faith, and freedom, Civil Peace and the Quest for Truth immeasurably advances the study of American constitutional law and our First Amendment rights.

Chinese Cyber Nationalism offers the first comprehensive examination of the social and ideological movement that mixes Confucian cultural traditions and advanced media technology. Over the past decade, the Internet has increasingly become a communication center, organizational platform, and channel of execution by which Chinese nationalistic causes have been promoted throughout the world. Dr. Xu Wu chronicles the movement's evolutionary path through five distinct developing phases that cover the span of twelve years. Through the use of online surveys and in-depth interviews with foreign policy makers, nationalist webmasters, and leading intellectuals in China, this book analyzes the characteristics and political implications of the movement. Xu presents a unique framework for scholars to understand China's modernization and historic return onto the world stage. Chinese Cyber Nationalism is a important addition to the study of political communication and China's foreign policy.

One way to describe the importance of social policy is to say it's about 'what is and what might be.' This ethos is the driving force behind Chack-Kie Wong, Vai Io Lo, and Kwong-leung Tang's China's Urban Health Care Reform. Based on a study of a mid-level city in China, these three scholars provide analysis and offer theory-based recommendations on health care development. Using a comparative policy framework, supported by a legal expert's knowledge of regulatory specifications, China's Urban Health Care Reform argues that a strategy with priority in economic growth, as in the case of China, does not bring forth cost efficiency and equity in health care for the whole nation. Ultimately, Wong, Lo, and Tang strive to offer direction for health care reform that will lead to better health care in China's cities. As a result, this is a work of great significance to anyone involved in public health, social work, public policy, medicine, or law.

This study, based on primary sources, deals with the linguistic development and polemical uses of the expression Unequal Treaties, which refers to the treaties China signed between 1842 and 1946. Although this expression has occupied a central position in both Chinese collective memory and Chinese and English historiographies, this is the first book to offer an in-depth examination of China's encounters with the outside world as manifested in the rhetoric surrounding the Unequal Treaties. Author Dong Wang argues that competing forces within China have narrated and renarrated the history of the treaties in an effort to consolidate national unity, international independence, and political legitimacy and authority. In the twentieth century, she shows, China's experience with these treaties helped to determine their use of international law. Of great relevance for students of contemporary China and Chinese history, as well as Chinese international law and politics, this book illuminates how various Chinese political actors have defined and redefined the past using the framework of the Unequal Treaties.

Why did half the people on New Hanover, a small island north of New Guinea, vote for Lyndon Baines Johnson to be their ruler in 1964? Dorothy K. Billings believes that this sort of action_seen in New Guinea and other parts of Melanesia_is part of the 'cargo cult' phenomenon, or micronationalist movements which are principally regarded as responses to European colonialism. Based on thirty-five years of fieldwork and observation, Cargo Cult as Theater demonstrates how the 'Johnson Cult,' originally mocked and ridiculed by the outside world, should be seen as an ongoing political performance meant to consolidate local power and advance economic development. This fascinating study follows the changes in this community ritual, from the time of the white 'master' to post-colonial self-determination, and reveals the history of this people's attempt to gain intellectual, moral, economic, and political control over their own lives.

George Anastaplo has written brilliantly and persuasively about ancient and modern Western political philosophy and literature and about American Constitutional history and law. With his latest book Anastaplo turns away from his areas of admitted expertise to offer, in his own words, 'the explorations of a determined amateur with some practice in reading.' The essays contained in this volume were originally conceived as a set of seminars, each culminating in a public lecture, which in turn formed the basis for contributions to Encyclopedia Brittanica's 1961-1998 series The Great Ideas Today. Gathered in this one volume, But Not Philosophy provides useful and thought-provoking introductions to seven major 'schools' of non-Western thought: Mesopotamian, ancient African, Hindu, Confucian, Buddhist, Islamic, and North American Indian. Anastaplo studies ancient literary epics and legal codes and examines religious traditions and systems of thought, providing detailed references to authoritative histories and commentators. Movingly and thoughtfully written, the essays encourage readers to bring their own Western traditions under similar scrutiny, to study our own grasp of the divine, reliance upon nature and causality, and dependence on philosophy-to learn about what we are from what we are not.

In Capitalism and Commerce, Edward Younkins provides a clear and accessible introduction to the best moral and economic arguments for capitalism. Drawn from over a decade of business school teaching, Younkins's work offers the student of political economy and the educated layperson a clear, systematic treatment of the philosophical concepts that underpin the idea of capitalism and the business, legal, and political institutions that impact commercial enterprises. Divided into seven parts, the work discusses capitalism and morality; individuals, communities, and the role of the state; private and corporate ownership; entrepreneurship and technological progress; law, justice, and corporate governance; and the obstacles to a free market and limited government.

Focusing on the 2004 enlargement of the European Union, Building States without Society highlights the real limits of cross-national rule transfer even when power is uneven between rule-makers and rule-takers. Tracing the role of labor and other non-state actors in transferring rules, Beate Sissenich shows the persistent relevance of national politics, specifically state capacity and interest organizations. Social network analysis demonstrates that even in a highly integrated Europe, state borders continue to structure communications.

Branding the Teleself is a discourse on the standard history social scientific study of media effects with the purpose of revealing changes in how our selves have been reconceived in its study and how the discourse generated further important changes in the self, and how our everyday selves shape and are shaped by social, economic, and political structures. It uncovers a self that has developed through various stages to become a new self that Ernest A. Hakanen dubs the teleself, one that knowingly delivers itself to the media for the sake of the global market place. The teleself is a brand, and this identity is a product that could be differentiated to a degree from other products, and the self is mere packaging that gives the illusion of product differentiation. This is the illusory power of names and naming.

In this controversial new book, Christopher A. Colmo offers a view of the 10th century Arab philosopher Alfarabi that draws attention to a previously unremarked aspect of his philosophic project. Colmo argues that as a philosopher Alfarabi felt compelled to question the philosophic tradition as deeply as he might question religious tradition, and this he did with such power and brilliance that the result was a new philosophic perspective. With unique access to both Islamic and pagan philosophical traditions, Alfarabi took the side of Greek philosophy as representative of human reason and defended its ultimate autonomy. However, Alfarabi went further, moving away from Plato and Aristotle's vision of philosophy as divine to an understanding of philosophy in a way that allowed it to be seen as knowledge and action in the service of human power and happiness. Alfarabi offers a powerful new answer to the question, why philosophy? His subtle defense of and debate with the ancients raises questions of hermeneutics as well as substantive questions of philosophy, politics, and theology. Breaking With Athens sheds new light on Alfarabi's enduring answers to perennial questions, making it essential for students of philosophy, political science, theology, and the history of ideas.

Both Prayed to the Same God is the first book-length, comprehensive study of religion in the Civil War. While much research has focused on religion in a specific context of the civil war, this book provides a needed overview of this vital yet largely forgotten subject of American History. Writing passionately about the subject, Father Robert Miller presents this history in an accessible but scholarly fashion. Beginning with the religious undertones in the lead up to the war and concluding with consequences on religion in the aftermath, Father Miller not only shows us a forgotten aspect of history, but how our current historical situation is not unprecedented.

In Between Philosophy and Religion Volumes I and II, Brayton Polka examines Spinoza's three major works_on religion, politics, and ethics_in order to show that his thought is at once biblical and modern. Indeed, Polka argues that Spinoza is biblical only insofar as he is understood to be one of the great philosophers of modernity and that he is modern only when it is understood that he is unique in making the interpretation of the Bible central to philosophy and philosophy central to the interpretation of the Bible. This book and its companion volume are essential reading for any scholar of Spinoza.

In Between Philosophy and Religion Volumes I and II, Brayton Polka examines Spinoza's three major works_on religion, politics, and ethics_in order to show that his thought is at once biblical and modern. Indeed, Polka argues that Spinoza is biblical only insofar as he is understood to be one of the great philosophers of modernity and that he is modern only when it is understood that he is unique in making the interpretation of the Bible central to philosophy and philosophy central to the interpretation of the Bible. This book and its companion volume are essential reading for any scholar of Spinoza.