By Olaf Hansen (NHC Fellow, 1983–84) Addressing vital issues in the current revision of American literary studies, Olaf Hansen carries out an exposition of American writing as a philosophical tradition. His broad and comparative view of American culture reveals the importance of the American allegory as a genuine artistic and intellectual style and as a … Continued
By Alfred R. Mele (NHC Fellow, 1992–93) Explores the related topics of self‐control and personal autonomy. Self‐control is understood as the contrary of akrasia or weakness of will, and autonomy is placed in the family of metaphysical freedom concepts: most notably, free will, free choice, and free action. The book's first half develops an analysis … Continued
By Eric G. Wilson (NHC Fellow, 2003–04) This lively intellectual biography of the second half of Coleridge's life argues that the poet, in his mature work, reveals a brilliant though troubled genius for conveying the ambiguities of psychological limbo. Asserting that the later poetry is the key element of Coleridge's career, Eric G. Wilson proposes … Continued
By Gary Shapiro (NHC Fellow, 1993–94) The death of Robert Smithson in 1973 robbed postwar American art of an unusually creative practitioner and thinker. Smithson's pioneering earthworks of the 1960s and 1970s anticipated contemporary concerns with environmentalism and the site-specific character of artistic production. His interrogation of authorship, the linear historiography of high modernism, and … Continued
Edited by Jeff Love (NHC Fellow, 2014–15) Heidegger’s influence in the twentieth century probably outstrips that of any other philosopher, at least in the so-called Continental tradition. The 'revolution' Heidegger brought about with his compelling readings of the broader philosophical tradition transformed German philosophy and spread quickly to most of Europe, the United States and … Continued
By Allen Buchanan (NHC Fellow, 2001–02) This book articulates a systematic vision of an international legal system grounded in the commitment to justice for all persons. It provides a probing exploration of the moral issues involved in disputes about secession, ethno‐national conflict, ‘the right of self‐determination of peoples’, human rights, and the legitimacy of the … Continued
By Thomas Pfau (NHC Fellow, 2010–11) In this brilliant study, Thomas Pfau argues that the loss of foundational concepts in classical and medieval Aristotelian philosophy caused a fateful separation between reason and will in European thought. Pfau traces the evolution and eventual deterioration of key concepts of human agency—will, person, judgment, action—from antiquity through Scholasticism … Continued
By John Palmer (NHC Fellow, 2004–05) John Palmer develops and defends a modal interpretation of Parmenides, according to which he was the first philosopher to distinguish in a rigorous manner the fundamental modalities of necessary being, necessary non-being or impossibility, and non-necessary or contingent being. This book accordingly reconsiders his place in the historical development … Continued
By James Van Cleve (NHC Fellow, 1990–91; 2011–12) This rigorous examination of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason provides a comprehensive analysis of the major metaphysical and epistemological questions of Kant's most famous work. Author James Van Cleve presents clear and detailed discussions of Kant's positions and arguments on these themes, as well as critical assessments of Kant's … Continued
Edited by Andrews Reath (NHC Fellow, 1991–92), Barbara Herman, and Christine M. Korsgaard The essays in this volume offer an approach to the history of moral and political philosophy that takes its inspiration from John Rawls. The distinctive feature of this approach is to address substantive normative questions in moral and political philosophy through an … Continued