The concept of eccentricity was central to how people in the nineteenth century understood their world. This monograph is the first scholarly history of eccentricity. Carroll explores how discourses of eccentricity were established to make sense of individuals who did not seem to fit within an increasingly organized social and economic order. She focuses on the self-taught natural philosopher William Martin, the fossilist Thomas Hawkins and the taxidermist Charles Waterton.

Victorian culture was characterized by a proliferation of shows and exhibitions. These were encouraged by the development of new sciences and technologies, together with changes in transportation, education and leisure patterns. The essays in this collection look at exhibitions and their influence in terms of location, technology and ideology.

A special issue of Chiasmi, the A-class trilingual publication about Merlau-Ponty’s thought, that celebrates the 110th birthday of the French phenomenological philosopher by realising rare or unpublished dialogues and texts.

Trilingual publication concerning Merleau-Ponty's thought. This issue includes an excerpt from the unpublished course on the problem of speech and the philosopher's theories on literature and literary language.

This study of Sayf al-Dīn al-Āmidī’s (d. 631/1233) teachings on creation offers close analysis of all of his extant works of falsafa and kalām. Some of these were not known to previous scholars, yet they bear witness to key facets of the interaction between the historically inimical traditions of Hellenic philosophy and rational theology at this important intellectual moment. Al-Āmidī is seen to grapple with the encounter of two paradigms for the discussion of creation. On the one hand, Ibn Sīnā’s metaphysical concept of necessity of existence is the basis of his doctrine of the world’s pre-eternal emanation. On the other, for the mutakallimūn, the physical theory of atomism bolsters the view that God created the world from nothing. This study is of interest to scholars of Ibn Sīnā and Ash‘arism alike, as it advances our understanding of the ongoing tradition of rational theology in the Islamic world, long past Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī’s (d. 505/1111) famous attack on the philosophers.

Michel Foucault claimed that the term biopolitics can be fully understood only within the context of modern forms of governing society. From this perspective, the development of modern medical knowledge, the re-organization of the hospital as a health institution, the growing attention to issues related to birth and population, and the rise of biological racism can be attributed to the influence of economic rationality on the most influential political strategies. In this book, Marzocca further explores the crucial role that the family structure has played throughout the history of biopolitics, explaining how family is firstly a place of government of life as well as a means to extend various forms of biopower to the whole society. By analysing the works of key figures in the debate on biopolitics – such as Agamben, Negri, Esposito, Rose, Cooper, Lemke, among others – this volume offers a systematic examination of this notion also in relation to the current ecological crisis, addressing fundamental problems of modern and contemporary political thought.

Osvalds Zebris’ stories capture those moments of existence visible only to the most attentive observer, laying particular attention on language and an idiosyncratic vision of the world. His characters seem bound to an irrevocable desinty, even if all of them are given a choice in the end, the freedom to decide their own lives. The stories are brought together by the enigmatic, ephemeral, recurring character of Mihails, who connects the dots of freedom between each of them.

This book is the result of an international conference that took place in Rome on September 13th-14th 2019, entitled “Resounding Spaces: Music and Atmospheres”. The main topic was the relationship between music(s) and concepts like resonance, atmosphere, and mood. Talking about “music(s)” and not “music” (in singular) is a necessity because of the academic backgrounds of the authors: philosophers, musicologists, ethnomusicologists, aestheticians of music, composers, etc. have given their particular contribution, within their own discipline, enriching the volume with very different points of view.

What is the imagination’s role in human cognition and culture? This book explores the hypothesis that such role is larger than we commonly think: imagination is the key to understand many important domains of our lives – including religion, superstition, and ideology – that are often taken to be the province of belief alone. Combining traditional methods of philosophical inquiry with relevant findings from cognitive and social sciences, the author seeks to provide solid empirical support for that hypothesis, on the one hand, and to explore its important theoretical and practical implications, on the other. A novel, substantive theory of the imagination emerges as a result. Imagination, on this view, does not just allow us to escape from reality into fictional worlds, but plays a key, direct role in our representation of (and practical engagement with) the real world itself.

Higgitt examines Isaac Newton's changing legacy during the nineteenth century. She focuses on 1820–1870, a period that saw the creation of the specialized and secularized role of the "scientist." At the same time, researchers gained better access to Newton's archives. These were used both by those who wished to undermine the traditional, idealised depiction of scientific genius and those who felt obliged to defend Newtonian hagiography. Higgitt shows how debates about Newton's character stimulated historical scholarship and led to the development of a new expertise in the history of science.

What is the imagination’s role in human cognition and culture? This book explores the hypothesis that such role is larger than we commonly think: imagination is the key to understand many important domains of our lives – including religion, superstition, and ideology – that are often taken to be the province of belief alone. Combining traditional methods of philosophical inquiry with relevant findings from cognitive and social sciences, the author seeks to provide solid empirical support for that hypothesis, on the one hand, and to explore its important theoretical and practical implications, on the other. A novel, substantive theory of the imagination emerges as a result. Imagination, on this view, does not just allow us to escape from reality into fictional worlds, but plays a key, direct role in our representation of (and practical engagement with) the real world itself.

Medical knowledge is always in motion. It moves from the lab to the office, from a press release to a patient, from an academic journal to a civil servants desk and then on to a policymaker. These movements matter: value judgements on the validity of certain forms of knowledge determine the direction of clinical research, and policy decisions are taken in relation to existing knowledge. The complexity of medical information and its wider effects is the focus of Movement of knowledge. The authors address the pervasive influence of knowledge in medical and public health settings and scrutinize a range of methodological and theoretical tools to study knowledge. They take a multidisciplinary approach to the medical humanities, presenting both contemporary and historical perspectives in order to explore the borderlands between expertise and common knowledge. Medical knowledge is deconstructed, reconstructed, and transformed as it moves between patients, health providers, and society at large. The acceptance or rejection of treatment protocols based on medical facts has a fundamental impact on us all.

Life itself has long gone unnoticed in Confucian texts since the Qinand Han dynasties, which is similarto the forgetting of Being, per se, inthe Western philosophy after theAxial Period, according to Heidegger. Today, there is a philosophical mission to return life to Confucianism, restoring and reconstructing Confucianism in the perspective of a comparison between Confucianismand Husserl's Phenomenology. The author reduces the features of life to the essence of a thing, butreturns to life as the essence of Being. The author rejects the idea of post-philosophy in order to reconstruct the metaphysicaland the post-metaphysical gradations of Confucianism. These gradations are made along three strata in the life of human beings-no-being of anything (a life comprehension), metaphysical thinghood (the absolute Being), and post-metaphysical things (the relative beings). In this way we have a full understanding of the idea of Confucianism.

A masterpiece in the study of Wang Yangming's (1472-1529) philosophy, this book adopts a holistic approach, integrating philosophical history, comparative philosophy, cultural research and historical documents. The book provides a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of Wang's philosophy at different stages throughout its maturation so as to sketch the essential character and grand picture of Wang's philosophy. As a systematic study of Wang's philosophy, this monograph boasts a broad perspective, profound discourse and substantial historical data. It is a perfect manifestation of the author's academic accomplishment and presents the readers with a panorama of Wang's studies. Although the book is focused primarily on Wang, its scope and methodology carry great implications for the study of Song and Ming Confucianism and even ancient Chinese philosophy as a whole.

How does the future of the concept of the "Political" appear in a world marked by two apparently opposite trends: the tendency towards globalization and that of reconstituting new forms of sovereignty? The book represents the first theoretically updated contribution on the perspectives of politics in the current phase of "interregnum" between the "not-more" of the old international order and the "not-yet" of a new supranational or transnational order that is struggling to take shape.

Nishida, who was active from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th, was one of the first generation of Japanese philosophers who attempted to develop an original philosophy under the influence of (and in response to) Western philosophy. In Japan, he has often been interpreted in the context of Eastern thought and Zen Buddhism, as well as in relation to phenomenology (Husserl and Heidegger). This book presents an alternative reading of Nishida, by highlighting the influence of William James, Neo-Kantianism, and Henri Bergson on his thought, and by discerning in his ideas a line of development parallel to that of the mid-20th century philosopher Gilles Deleuze.