Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2016 -

Most evolutionary theories picture humans as amoral "monads" motivated by self-interest. Tomasello (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany) presents an innovative and well-researched, hypothesized natural history of two key evolutionary steps leading to full-blown morality. Relying on extensive studies of young human children, many studied in his own lab, the author proposes proximate psychological mechanisms of genuine concern for others arising out of strong relations of interdependence. About 400,000 years ago ecological changes demanded that early humans hunt together in dyads in order to avoid hunger and starvation. Trust and care for one's partner became essential for survival. Later, some 150,000 years ago, modern humans evolved psychological skills necessary to construct cultures with behavioral and linguistic norms enabling people to identify members of their group and fight off members of competing out-groups. These proximate mechanisms made possible the emergence of moral emotions of sympathy, resentment, loyalty, and guilt not found in primates but clearly evident in young children. Tomasello's main point is that although altruistic behavior and emotions benefit individuals and groups in the long run, humans display genuinely altruistic behavior intended to benefit the recipient not primarily the giver.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.

The publication of Derrida's 1964-65 seminar on Martin Heidegger'sBeing and Time (1927) is a philosophical event of great significance. Despite dozens of detailed analyses,Being and Timeremains one of the most misread books of the 20th century. Humanist, anthropological, analytic, and transcendental-mystical readings have occluded the profoundly atheistic, "ek-sistent" thing that is Dasein. Derrida's penetrating reconstruction of Heidegger's revolutionary "aporetic style" illuminatesBeing and Time and the entirety of Derrida's own oeuvre. Although Derrida did not publish this seminar, its traces pervade the issues that dominated his thinking. Derrida's greatest insights into Heidegger's thinking are announced here: being is neither a "cosmic ground" nor "the highest being," the metaphors for being can never be stabilized by a logic, the "mystery ofGeschehen [originary movement]" marks an absolute temporal concealment, the "destruction of ontology" is the work of ontology itself, the history of being is history itself. Derrida's focus is on the opening and closing sections ofBeing and Time,Heidegger'sIntroduction to Metaphysics(1935), his "Letter on Humanism" (1946), and texts by Hegel, Nietzsche, and Husserl. This brilliantly translated seminar is required reading for students of Heidegger and Derrida.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Crary (New School) offers a finely developed account and defense of a new concept of moral understanding closely tied to the cultivation of moral sensitivity. This concept calls for the development of feelings that enable one to see objective, empirically given moral characteristics of people and animals as ethically salient, as "inside ethics." Such a dramatic shift in perspective, both in theory and in practice, is essential to moral development. It requires that one recognize what matters to creatures of various kinds: human beings, dogs, horses, and other animals, whether they are well and flourishing or ill or even dead. Thus, one becomes able to see and respect human beings and animals; one "gets" the importance of sociability for dogs, for example, or mobility for all animals. Such a broadening of the concept of objectivity and rationality makes it possible to see and articulate clearly what is wrong with many current practices. Including compelling examples from literary works by authors such as Leo Tolstoy, J. M. Coetzee, Andrew Solomon, and others, Crary illustrates the theory and the practice of emotional development. Many sections of this book are accessible to those without a background in theory.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

In this rich, intriguing book, Copenhaver (philosophy and history, UCLA) presents the history of magic from a fresh perspective: he explores magic and its development in the Western world within the classics and philosophical traditions. Covering a time span from antiquity to the Middle Ages, the author introduces readers to classical thinkers' understanding of magic, illustrating how the words and ideas of these individuals helped shape the ideas of those who followed in their footsteps. The foundation of modern magic is seamlessly linked to the foundation of Western thought in an entertaining and thought-provoking fashion. The author's command of the subject matter is apparent and at times so effortless that he may leave less-knowledgeable readers behind. This book is an important step forward in understanding the influence of Western thought on the tradition of magic and an important resource for those interested in magic and its philosophical roots.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Author of the best-sellingOn Bullshit (2005) andOn Truth(CH, May'07, 44-4979) , Frankfurt (emer., philosophy, Princeton) treats readers to another brief, elegantly written book. He argues that any value equality has is instrumental not intrinsic. To say that equality lacks intrinsic value is to say that equality is neither an end in itself nor worth pursuing for its own sake. But instrumental value is still a value: a life preserver, after all, has only instrumental value. And just as a life preserver is not worth having in a desert, so equality is not worth pursuing in many circumstances. What matters, argues Frankfurt, is that people have enough equality to live fully worthwhile lives, not just enough equality to get by. In an affluent society this justifies transferring wealth, through taxation or regulation, from those who have more than enough to those who do not. Frankfurt agrees with those who say great wealth can corrupt both politics and public life generally, and this provides another instrumental reason for blocking obscene accumulations of wealth. That this might decrease the gap between rich and poor is not the aim. In developing his argument, Frankfurt distinguishes between equality, respect, equal rights, and impartiality and shows the relevance/irrelevance of each.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

A philosopher and scientist who has also worked as a physician, Tallis has written a unique, philosophical meditation on human life from the perspective of death. Examining the shape of living according to his own retrospective glances, the author contemplates the shape of his life and the ways that people, places, events, and changes shaped him, and shape everyone, as an individual and human being. In lyrical, often beautifully wrought prose, the author looks at the basic features of what it means to be human, the passage of time, the experience of space, and the phenomenon of intimacy. By framing these reflections around his own life rather than abstractly exploring them, he manages to give philosophical reflection a deeply human face. Thoughtful readers will learn from these moving meditations, in which they will no doubt find reflections of their own life experiences.Summing Up: Essential. All readers.

Margolis and Laurence's edited volumeConcepts: Core Readings (1999) has served as a cornerstone for discussions regarding the nature of concepts. The rich multidisciplinary approach adopted in that earlier text is replicated in this companion text,The Conceptual Mind. Once again Margolis (Univ. of British Columbia, Canada) and Laurence (Univ. of Sheffield, UK) have produced a work that will shape current thinking and future research in cognitive science, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, and beyond. The 24 essays cover the nature and role of concepts in connection with animal minds, human perception, and language acquisition and also consider deeply philosophical questions--for example, whether a form of innatism is viable, whether concepts are an atomistic or a holistic phenomenon, and what might be the character of moral or normative concepts. If concepts, as Jesse J. Prinz writes inFurnishing the Mind (CH, Mar'03, 40-3943), are "the basic timber of our mental lives" (quoted in the present volume), then this book, like its predecessor, is not one to miss. References and index are extensive; figures appear throughout.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Delivered shortly after the dissolution of Group d'Information sur les Prisons, Foucault's third lecture course at the College de France coincided with a significant change in his thinking about prisons, as he began to reflect on the disciplinary power at work in prisons and in society more generally. Since the lectures reflect Foucault's initial thoughts on the productive functions of penality and incarceration, they can be read as Foucault's working first draft for what two years later would appear asSurveiller et punir (Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, Eng. tr., CH, May'78). Two other features make these lectures important for those interested in Foucault's work. First, following the trajectory Foucault set forth in his first (1970-71) lecture course, "The Will to Know" (available in English asLectures on the Will to Know, 2013), they suggest thatDiscipline and Punishcan be read in terms of both power and production of the truth of the modern subject. Second, Foucault's suggestion (in the first lecture) that "civil war is the matrix of all struggles of power" must be understood as a challenge to Marx's privileging of class struggle and as revealing Foucault's complex relationship with Marxism.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

On the face of it, the claim that children have the right to be loved may seem strange. The UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that everyone has a right to food, shelter, and education; but a right to loving care is more problematic because it suggests that love can be an obligation and this is counterintuitive. Maybe parents have a duty to love their children, but what if they are incompetent? And what happens to the right to be loved if the parents are dead? Does this mean that other people have an obligation to supply that love? Is there a duty to adopt a child? And on a related note, should parents be licensed to make sure that they are capable of looking after their own children? A scholar of bioethics, Liao (philosophy, New York Univ.) addresses these questions in this pioneering work in the field of ethics and family life. Comprising seven interconnected essays on related themes, the book is lucid, well written, and compelling. By considering the fundamental conditions of human flourishing and what one needs to pursue a good life, the author makes a strong case for the right to be loved.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.

Weinberg (philosophy, Scripps College, Claremont) has written an engaging book on an important but often-overlooked topic in contemporary bioethics. She is concerned with the morality of procreation and avoids questions of procreative liberty and abortion. The book is divided into six chapters, each tackling a topic in procreative ethics. Taken together the chapters make a compelling theory. In the first chapter Weinberg examines the moral weight and import of bringing a person into existence. In the second she argues for a strong theory of parental responsibility, notably concluding that sperm and egg donors retain parental obligations. Chapters 3 and 4 investigate and critique arguments that procreation is usually acceptable and rarely acceptable, respectively. In the fifth chapter Weinberg argues for two principles of procreative permissibility based on a Kantian/Rawlsian analysis, and in the last chapter she applies these principles to real-world problem cases. Well written and accessible, the book does not shy away from discussing subtle, complex philosophical problems--most notable among them nonidentity--but it does so in a manner suited to both academic and lay readers.Summing Up: Essential. All readers.

Known for his cutting-edge work in social and political theory, Pettit (Princeton and Australian National Univ.) presents a superbly articulated, fine-grained, and timely account of ethics whose "first demand" is to cherish the quality of life and relationships. This dispositional moral theory addresses the importance of firm commitment to the cultivation of dispositions and virtues that enable one to meet the robust demands of "rich goods" such as love, friendship, care, justice, honesty, and esteem. Were the demands less robust, individuals might respond only when it suited them. But the vulnerability of people results in their having a strong need to be able to rely on firm dispositions of others to provide such goods. These demands, recognized by the norms of most societies, are called "structural" demands, even though the degrees of robustness of various demands might differ according to the culture. The demands of love, for example, are weightier in some societies than in others. Internalized public norms enable individuals to approve those who comply and publicly disapprove of those who do not.Theories that focus on behavior instead of dispositions misrepresent these values.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

Thorough surveys of core philosophical topics are rare treasures, and this is one. Harrington (Loyola Univ. Chicago) intends this comprehensive treatment of time to enrich the study of key issues in metaphysics, logic, philosophy of language, epistemology, and philosophy of science. Starting with Greek puzzles and paradoxes about time--for example, Zeno's paradox and Heraclitus's flux--Harrington layers needed intellectual foundations for questioning conceptions of time and theorizing about the nature of time. Chapters discuss the infinity of time, the unreality or cyclicality of time, the reality (or nonreality) of the future, the phenomenal experience of temporality, the empirical measurement of time, the direction of time, the cosmological role of time, and the possibility of time travel. Harrington enriches each chapter with brief supplemental discussions of major philosophers' thinking on time, applications for theories of time, and technical notes that explain specific terms and ideas. Each chapter also offers a study exercise and a set of discussion questions to inspire student work between or during classes and a bibliography of primary and secondary resources for further reading.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and graduate students.