mislim stvarno šta je previše previše, pratim te na forumu hr pljuješ po svemu ovome što se raspravlja na ovom forumu i onda dođeš uvljaivaš ovo smeće koje te je prosvjetlilo katastrofa kome želiš skrenuti pozornost i na šta. popljuvao si sve alternativne teorije koje postoje i sve alternativce a sad prodaješ novu demagogiju. tri godine se boriš kao lud sa da slučajno netko nebi pročitao nešto od Davida Ickea i slični, pljuješ po Mišaku a sad kao isus krist donosiš spasenje kroz svoje smeće mislim dokle više koja svrha kome naglasiti i šta????? zoveš se bivši alternativac koji se prosvijetlio ajme meni pusta hrkljuša. sačuvaj me bože anđela čuvara.

bravo lego jebi mu mater ja te podrzavam u potpunosti jbg nevolim mrznju i nasilje ali to su stvari kojima covjek mora pribjec nekad kad ima posla sa ovakim demonima

Ma pustite trolla na miru, jadnićak jedino tako može doći do izražaja.

Moshe Idel - Ben, Sonship and Jewish Mysticism



Edwin C. Steinbrecher - The Inner Guide Meditation, A Spiritual Technology for the 21st Century



Bringing Kabbalah Into Daily Life



Sherbok - Jewish & Christian Mysticism, An Introduction



The “Mysteries” of Qumran, Mystery, Secrecy, and Esotericism in the Dead Sea Scrolls



Intellect and Faith in Tanya - The Never-Ending Circle



Gerald Suster - The Truth About the Tarot



R.G. Torrens - The Inner Teachings of the Golden Dawn



The Llewellyn Practical Guide to Astral Projection, The Out-of-Body Experience



Aleister Crowley, J. F. C. Fuller - The Pathworkings of Aleister Crowley, The Treasure House of Images



Rene Guenon - The Great Triad



Jonn Mumford - Magical Tattwa Cards, A Complete System of Self-Development



Seymour B. Ginsburg - Gurdjieff Unveiled, an Overview and Introduction to the Teaching




More from DIVINATION folder:



More from KABBALAH folder:



More from GOLDEN DAWN folder:



More from GNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM folder:



More from HERMETISM folder:

Kevin Townley - The Cube of Space, Container of Creation



Christopher Warnock - Secrets of Planetary Magic



Nick Farrell - Magical Pathworking, Techniques of Active Imagination



Paul Foster Case - Occult Fundamentals and Spiritual Unfoldment



Paul Foster Case - Esoteric Secrets of Meditation and Magic



Alison Butler - Victorian Occultism and the Making of Modern Magic, Invoking Tradition



Nancy J. Hudson - Becoming God, the Doctrine of Theosis in Nicholas of Cusa



Rene Guenon - Fundamental Symbols, The Universal Language of Sacred Science



Gregory P. Rocca - Speaking the Incomprehensible God





More from KABBALAH-QABALAH folder:



More from HERMETISM folder:



More from GNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM folder:

A. A. Long - Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life



The philosophy of Epictetus, a freed slave in the Roman Empire, has been profoundly influential on Western thought: it offers not only stimulating ideas but practical guidance in living one's life. A. A. Long, a leading scholar of later ancient philosophy, gives the definitive presentation of the thought of Epictetus for a broad readership. Long's fresh and vivid translations of a selection of the best of Epictetus' discourses show that his ideas are as valuable and striking today as they were amost two thousand years ago. This is a book for anyone interested in what we can learn from ancient philosophy about how to live our lives.

303 pages, 1.34 MB, PDF.




A.C. Grayling - The Good Book, A Humanist Bible



Drawing on the wisdom of 2,500 years of contemplative non-religious writing on all that it means to be human - from the origins of the universe to small matters of courtesy and kindness in everyday life - A.C. Grayling, Britain's most popular and widely read philosopher, has created a secular bible. Designed to be read as narrative and also to be dipped into for inspiration, encouragement and consolation, "The Good Book" offers a thoughtful, non-religious alternative to the many people who do not follow one of the world's great religions. Instead, going back to traditions older than Christianity, and far richer and more various, including the non-theistic philosophical and literary schools of the great civilisations of both West and East, from the Greek philosophy of classical antiquity and its contemporaneous Confucian, Mencian and Mohist schools in China, down through classical Rome, the flourishing of Indian and Arab worlds, the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, the worldwide scientific discoveries of the 19th and 20th centuries to the present, Grayling collects, edits, rearranges and organises the collective secular wisdom of the world in one highly readable volume. Contents of this title include: "Genesis"; "Proverbs"; "Histories"; "Songs"; "Wisdom Acts"; "The Lawgiver Lamentations"; "Concord Consolations"; "Sages"; and, "The Good Parables".

853 pages, 5.88 MB, PDF. Scan.




Arthur O. Lovejoy - The Great Chain of Being, A Study of the History of an Idea



From later antiquity down to the close of the eighteenth century, most philosophers and men of science and, indeed, most educated men, accepted without question a traditional view of the plan and structure of the world.
In this volume, which embodies the William James lectures for 1933, Professor Lovejoy points out the three principles--plenitude, continuity, and graduation--which were combined in this conception; analyzes their origins in the philosophies of Plato, Aristole, and the Neoplatonists; traces the most important of their diverse samifications in subsequent religious thought, in metaphysics, in ethics and asesthics, and in astronomical and biological theories; and copiously illustrates the influence of the conception as a whole, and of the ideas out of which it was compounded, upon the imagination and feelings as expressed in literature.

395 pages, 18.4 MB, PDF. Scan.




Barbara Hannah - The Inner Journey, Lectures and Essays on Jungian Psychology



Barbara Hannah was active as an analyst in Zurich during the "golden years" of Jungian pyschology. Among her best-known colleagues were M. Esther Harding, Irene Claremont de Castillejo, Eleanor Bertine, Emma Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz, all classical Jungians, which means they took Jung's message to heart and amplified it according to their experience. The Inner Journey is the 88th title in a series of Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts. These lectures illustrate the healing power of the unconscious and contain choice selections from the author's work that exemplify her legacy to future generations: an insightful mind, compassionate heart, and psychological integrity.

153 pages, 503 KB, PDF.




Bertrand Russell - The Conquest of Happiness



"My purpose is to suggest a cure for the ordinary day-to-day unhappiness from which most people in civilized countries suffer, and which is all the more unbearable because, having no obvious external cause, appears inescapable."
Russell held progressive, often controversial views on social issues, including sexuality. Vigorously opposed to conventional or religious morality, he sets forth here a rationalist approach to achieving a happy life.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was born in England and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. His long career established him as one of the most influential philosophers, mathematicians, and social reformers of the twentieth century.

249 pages, 14.1 MB, PDF. Scan.




Bertrand Russell - Why I Am Not A Christian



Dedicated as few men have been to the life of reason, Bertrand Russell has always been concerned with the basic questions to which religion also addresses itself -- questions about man's place in the universe and the nature of the good life, questions that involve life after death, morality, freedom, education, and sexual ethics. He brings to his treatment of these questions the same courage, scrupulous logic, and lofty wisdom for which his other work as philosopher, writer, and teacher has been famous.

25 pages, 1.18 MB, PDF.




Bien - Finding the Center Within, The Healing Way of Mindfulness Meditation



Finding the Center Within is a practical manual on the practice of mindfulness, which can help many people to embody their Buddha nature and become radiant and peaceful beings. It provides easy steps for practicing mindfulness in day-to-day living." Thich Nhat Hanh, author of Peace Is Every Step, The Miracle of Mindfulness, and Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flame
All of us want to live a calmer, more peaceful existence. Thomas and Beverly Bien teach that if we find the center within through ongoing mindfulness, we will have the capacity to live deeply and fully–with boundless peace and happiness–in any external circumstance. We can learn to be calm in the midst of the storm.

Finding the Center Within offers a step-by-step program for breaking down the barriers that prevent us from actualizing our wise inner self. The Biens combine Eastern spiritual wisdom with the pragmatic wisdom of Western psychology, teaching us how to remove the walls that conceal who and what we really are and face our lives with greater honesty.

290 pages, 1.12 MB, PDF. Scan.




Clavinicus the Apollonian - Apothegms of Enlightenment

These are the Apothegms of Enlightenment--the "clear sayings", without ambiguity or uncertainty, that lead to intellectual liberation and a life fulfilled. Yet nothing here is new. Great men and women of Philosophy, Science, and Wisdom have proclaimed these truths to every generation down through the centuries. Here again they are given to you--freely, openly, and truthfully, and with the hope that such wisdom will be heard by all. For ours is a trouble world, suffused with apathy, hatred, bigotry, ignorance, greed, selfishness, and violence. Such things are in our nature, it cannot be denied. But let Reason, Love, and Compassion prevail and all such hindrances will from your thoughts dispel. For a mind so liberated, Enlightenment is assured.




Dana Spiegel - The Odyssey as a Psychological Hero Journey

Heroes, as depicted in literature, often undertake the most difficult tasks and place themselves in mortal danger in order to bring back, for themselves and their societies, both knowledge and treasure. Their stories follow what Joseph Campbell calls the “Hero Journey.” The Odyssey, as the epic story of the hero Odysseus, follows closely the complete cycle of Joseph Campbell’s Hero Journey, both as a physical and as a psychological undertaking. The Hero Journey, used as a framework for both Odysseus’ physical and mental journeys, serves to bind the two together. Each of Odysseus’s physical difficulties can be viewed as a metaphor for a psychological hardship that he must overcome, and by overcoming these hardships, Odysseus matures—achieving a more complete understanding of himself and his place in the world. At the conclusion of his journey, Odysseus is a better person, having conquered his own psychological restraints, and he returns home to use his new-found self-understanding to be a better king, husband, father, and son.

10 pages, 19.3 KB, PDF.




More from this FOLDER:

Elliot R. Wolfson - Asceticism and Eroticism in Medieval Jewish Philosophical and Mystical Exegesis of the Song of Songs



Elliot R. Wolfson - Beyond the Spoken Word, Oral Tradition and Written Transmission in Medieval Jewish Mysticism



Elliot R. Wolfson - Crossing Gender Boundaries in Kabbalistic Ritual and Myth



Elliot R. Wolfson - Iconic Visualization and the Imaginal Body of God, The Role of Intention in the Rabbinic Conception of Prayer



Elliot R. Wolfson - Images of God's Feet, Some Observations on the Divine Body in Judaism



Elliot R. Wolfson - Jewish Mysticism, a Philosophical Overview



Elliot R. Wolfson - Letter Symbolism and Merkavah Imagery in the Zohar



Elliot R. Wolfson - Light Through Darkness, The Ideal of Human Perfection in the Zohar



Elliot R. Wolfson - Mirror of Nature Reflected in the Symbolism of Medieval Kabbalah



Elliot R. Wolfson - Mystical-Theurgical Dimensions of Prayer in Sefer ha-Rimmon



Elliot R. Wolfson - Mysticism and the Poetic-Liturgical Compositions From Qumran



Elliot R. Wolfson - Negative Theology and Positive Assertion in the Early Kabbalah



Elliot R. Wolfson - New Jerusalem Glowing, Songs and Poems of Leonard Cohen in a Kabbalistic Key



Elliot R. Wolfson - Occultation of the Feminine and the Body of Secrecy in Medieval Kabbalah



Elliot R. Wolfson - Oneiric Imagination and Mystical Annihilation in Habad Hasidism



Elliot R. Wolfson - Ontology, Alterity, and Ethics in Kabbalistic Anthropology



Elliot R. Wolfson - Revisioning the Body Apophatically, Incarnation and the Acosmic Naturalism of Habad Hasidism



Elliot R. Wolfson - Sacred Space and Mental Iconography, Imago Templi and Contemplation in Rhineland Jewish Pietism



Elliot R. Wolfson - Seven Mysteries of Knowledge, Qumran Esotericism Reconsidered



Elliot R. Wolfson - Weeping, Death, and Spiritual Ascent in Sixteenth-Century Jewish Mysticism




More from KABBALAH folder:

Bertrand Russell - What I Believe



Russell won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950, and was one of the prominent voices that defined the religious and moral questions of the 20th century. These essays (What I Believe; Why I Am Not A Christian; and A Free Man's Worship) present Russell's persuasive opposition to any dogma that he believed could shackle the human mind. A British philosopher and mathematician, an ardent pacifist, opponent of nuclear weapons, and an advocate of sexual freedom, Russell once stated that his life had been governed by three passions: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and an unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. Remarkably relevant, beautifully written, and filled with wit and wisdom, these three essays will delight anyone who values the free and impassioned exchange of ideas.

Contents

1. Nature and Man
2. The Good Life
3. Moral Rules
4. Salvation: Individual and Social
5. Science and Happiness
43 pages, 344 KB, PDF.





Wayne Hudson - The English Deists, Studies in Early Enlightenment



Hudson reinterprets the works of an important group of writers known as 'the English deists' including: Charles Blount (1654-1693), John Toland (1670-1722), Anthony Collins (1679-1729), Matthew Tindal (1656-1733), Thomas Woolston (1669-1733), Thomas Morgan (nd-1743), Thomas Chubb (1679-1747) and Peter Annet (1693-1769), as well as the 'father of English deism', Herbert of Cherbury (1583-1648). Historians tend to assume that these figures accepted deism as a totalising outlook. Hudson, however, argues that this interpretation reads Romantic conceptions of religious identity into a period in which it was lacking. Adopting a distinctive position with implications for contemporary debates about the Enlightenment, Hudson contextualizes these writers within the early Enlightenment, which was multivocal, plural and in search of self definition.

199 pages, 1.07 MB, PDF.





Daniel C. Dennett - Consciousness Explained



Consciousness is notoriously difficult to explain. On one hand, there are facts about conscious experience--the way clarinets sound, the way lemonade tastes--that we know subjectively, from the inside. On the other hand, such facts are not readily accommodated in the objective world described by science. How, after all, could the reediness of clarinets or the tartness of lemonade be predicted in advance? Central to Daniel C. Dennett's attempt to resolve this dilemma is the "heterophenomenological" method, which treats reports of introspection nontraditionally--not as evidence to be used in explaining consciousness, but as data to be explained. Using this method, Dennett argues against the myth of the Cartesian theater--the idea that consciousness can be precisely located in space or in time. To replace the Cartesian theater, he introduces his own multiple drafts model of consciousness, in which the mind is a bubbling congeries of unsupervised parallel processing. Finally, Dennett tackles the conventional philosophical questions about consciousness, taking issue not only with the traditional answers but also with the traditional methodology by which they were reached.

493 pages, 9.99 MB, PDF.




Frank L. Pasquale - Humanist Focus of Attention

12 pages, 181 KB, PDF.





Stuart A. Kauffman - Reinventing the Sacred, A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion



Consider the woven integrated complexity of a living cell after 3.8 billion years of evolution. Is it more awe-inspiring to suppose that a transcendent God fashioned the cell, or to consider that the living organism was created by the evolving biosphere? As the eminent complexity theorist Stuart Kauffman explains in this ambitious and groundbreaking new book, people who do not believe in God have largely lost their sense of the sacred and the deep human legitimacy of our inherited spirituality. For those who believe in a Creator God, no science will ever disprove that belief. In Reinventing the Sacred, Kauffman argues that the science of complexity provides a way to move beyond reductionist science to something new: a unified culture where we see God in the creativity of the universe, biosphere, and humanity. Kauffman explains that the ceaseless natural creativity of the world can be a profound source of meaning, wonder, and further grounding of our place in the universe. His theory carries with it a new ethic for an emerging civilization and a reinterpretation of the divine. He asserts that we are impelled by the imperative of life itself to live with faith and courage-and the fact that we do so is indeed sublime. Reinventing the Sacred will change the way we all think about the evolution of humanity, the universe, faith, and reason.

307 pages, 3.12 MB, PDF.





Richard Shusterman - Body Consciousness, A Philosophy of Mindfulness and Somaesthetics



Contemporary culture increasingly suffers from problems of attention, over-stimulation, and stress, and a variety of personal and social discontents generated by deceptive body images. This book argues that improved body consciousness can relieve these problems and enhance one's knowledge, performance, and pleasure. The body is our basic medium of perception and action, but focused attention to its feelings and movements has long been criticized as a damaging distraction that also ethically corrupts through self-absorption. In Body Consciousness, Richard Shusterman refutes such charges by engaging the most influential twentieth-century somatic philosophers and incorporating insights from both Western and Asian disciplines of body-mind awareness.

227 pages, 1 MB, PDF.





Thomas Paine - The Age of Reason



The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology is a deistic pamphlet, written by eighteenth-century British radical and American revolutionary Thomas Paine, that criticizes institutionalized religion and challenges the legitimacy of the Bible, the central sacred text of Christianity. Published in three parts in 1794, 1795, and 1807, it was a bestseller in the United States, where it caused a short-lived deistic revival. British audiences, however, fearing increased political radicalism as a result of the French Revolution, received it with more hostility. The Age of Reason presents common deistic arguments; for example, it highlights what Paine saw as corruption of the Christian Church and criticizes its efforts to acquire political power. Paine advocates reason in the place of revelation, leading him to reject miracles and to view the Bible as an ordinary piece of literature rather than as a divinely inspired text. It promotes natural religion and argues for the existence of a creator-God.

102 pages, 473 KB, PDF.





Irving Singer - Meaning in Life, the Harmony of Nature and Spirit



In the venerable tradition of Socrates, Cicero, and Santayana, Irving Singer elucidates a naturalistic philosophy of the good life. The key to Singer's art of life is to take life as art, which allows a dovetailing of reality (nature) with the creative self (spirit).
In a straightforward, unpretentious style, the reader is led away from Cartesian dualism through a deft synthesis of concepts from Schopenhauer, Mill, Kant, Hume, Husserl, Sartre, Dewey, and Santayana, to an aesthetic philosophy that takes imagination and consummatory enrichment not only as the basis of art but also of ethics. There are contestable points in Singer's work, but Singer himself says that this is as it should be: this is not a work of syllogistic theorizing, rather it is a world view that others may consider and revise. Singer's philosophy should appeal to those who seek a viable holism within the Western tradition. This volume may be read independently of the first two books in the trilogy.

219 pages, 10.7 MB, PDF. Scan.





John Davis - Psychological Benefits Of Nature Experiences, An Outline Of Research And Theory, With Special Reference To Transpersonal Psychology

12 pages, 27 KB, PDF.





Wayne M. Martin - Stoic Self-Consciousness, Self-Comprehension and Orientation in the Stoic Theory of Oikeiosis

24 pages, 405 KB, PDF.





Christopher K. Germer - The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion, Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions



“Buck up.” “Stop feeling sorry for yourself.” “Don’t ruin everything.” When you are anxious, sad, angry, or lonely, do you hear this self-critical voice? What would happen if, instead of fighting difficult emotions, we accepted them? Over his decades of experience as a therapist and mindfulness meditation practitioner, Dr. Christopher Germer has learned a paradoxical lesson: We all want to avoid pain, but letting it in--and responding compassionately to our own imperfections, without judgment or self-blame--are essential steps on the path to healing. This wise and eloquent book illuminates the power of self-compassion and offers creative, scientifically grounded strategies for putting it into action. You’ll master practical techniques for living more fully in the present moment/m-/especially when hard-to-bear emotions arise/m-/and for being kind to yourself when you need it the most.

306 pages, 1.48 MB, PDF.





J. Claude Evans - With Respect For Nature, Living As Part Of The Natural World



We eat, inevitably, at the expense of other living creatures. How can we take the lives of plants and animals while maintaining a proper respect for both ecosystems and the individuals who live in them--"including ourselves? In this book philosopher J. Claude Evans challenges much of the accepted wisdom in environment ethics and argue that human participation in the natural cycles of life and death can have positive moral value. With a guide for the nonphilosophical reader, and set against the background of careful and penetrating critiques of Albert Schweitzer's principle of reverence for life and Paul Taylor's Philosophy of respect for nature. Evans uses hunting and catch-and-release fishing as test cases in calling for a robust sense of membership in the natural world. The result is an approachable, existential philosophy that emphasizes the positive value of human involvement in natural processes in which life and death giving and receiving, self and other are intertwined.

275 pages, 1.02 MB, PDF.





Pierre Hadot - The Veil of Isis, An Essay on the History of the Idea of Nature



early twenty-five hundred years ago the Greek thinker Heraclitus supposedly uttered the cryptic words "Phusis kruptesthai philei." How the aphorism, usually translated as "Nature loves to hide," has haunted Western culture ever since is the subject of this engaging study by Pierre Hadot. Taking the allegorical figure of the veiled goddess Isis as a guide, and drawing on the work of both the ancients and later thinkers such as Goethe, Rilke, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger, Hadot traces successive interpretations of Heraclitus' words. Over time, Hadot finds, "Nature loves to hide" has meant that all that lives tends to die; that Nature wraps herself in myths; and (for Heidegger) that Being unveils as it veils itself. Meanwhile the pronouncement has been used to explain everything from the opacity of the natural world to our modern angst.

From these kaleidoscopic exegeses and usages emerge two contradictory approaches to nature: the Promethean, or experimental-questing, approach, which embraces technology as a means of tearing the veil from Nature and revealing her secrets; and the Orphic, or contemplative-poetic, approach, according to which such a denuding of Nature is a grave trespass. In place of these two attitudes Hadot proposes one suggested by the Romantic vision of Rousseau, Goethe, and Schelling, who saw in the veiled Isis an allegorical expression of the sublime. "Nature is art and art is nature," Hadot writes, inviting us to embrace Isis and all she represents: art makes us intensely aware of how completely we ourselves are not merely surrounded by nature but also part of nature.

389 pages, 12.2 MB, PDF. Scan.




More from this folder:

Brent Dean Robbins - What is the Good Life, Positive Psychology and the Renaissance of Humanistic Psychology



Donald Robertson - Stoicism as Philosophical Psychotherapy



Erik Wiegardt - The Stoic Handbook



Dismantling the Self, Deleuze, Stoicism and Spiritual Exercises



Erik Wiegardt - Heraclitus Meditation



Erik Wiegardt - Pneuma Will Power Meditation



Elen Buzare - Stoic Spiritual Exercises



Erik Wiegardt - Stick Action Meditation



Erik Wiegardt - Beyond Theory, an Old and New Stoic Practicum



Erik Wiegardt - Emperor's Journal, Classical Meditation, and Hypomnemata Today



Mike W. Martin - Albert Schweitzer's Reverence for Life, Ethical Idealism and Self-Realization



Matthew Sharpe - On the Present is Our Happiness, On Affects in Ancient Thought



Roland Faber - De-Ontologizing God



G. H. R. Parkinson - Hegel, Pantheism, and Spinoza



Phenomenological Differences among Self–Hypnosis, Mindfulness Meditation, and Imaging



James M. Byrne - Religion and the Enlightenment, From Descartes to Kant



Byron Katie, Stephen Mitchell - Loving What Is, Four Questions That Can Change Your Life



John P. Dourley - Foundational Elements of a Jungian Spirituality




More from RATIONALIST/HUMANIST SPIRITUALITY folder:

David Hodgson - Rationality + Consciousness = Free Will



In recent years, philosophical discussions of free will have focused largely on whether or not free will is compatible with determinism. In this challenging book, David Hodgson takes a fresh approach to the question of free will, contending that close consideration of human rationality and human consciousness shows that together they give us free will, in a robust and indeterministic sense. In particular, they give us the capacity to respond appositely to feature-rich gestalts of conscious experiences, in ways that are not wholly determined by laws of nature or computational rules. The author contends that this approach is consistent with what science tells us about the world; and he considers its implications for our responsibility for our own conduct, for the role of retribution in criminal punishment, and for the place of human beings in the wider scheme of things.

261 pages, 1.10 MB, PDF.





Lewis Vaughn - The Power of Critical Thinking



Enhanced by many innovative exercises, examples, and pedagogical features, The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning About Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims, Second Edition, explores the essentials of critical reasoning, argumentation, logic, and argumentative essay writing while also incorporating material on important topics that most other texts leave out. Author Lewis Vaughn offers comprehensive treatments of core topics, including an introduction to claims and arguments, discussions of propositional and categorical logic, and full coverage of the basics of inductive reasoning. Building on this solid foundation, he also delves into areas neglected by other texts, adding extensive material on "inference to the best explanation" and on scientific reasoning; a thorough look at the evaluation of evidence and credibility; and a chapter on the psychological and social factors that can impede critical thinking. Additional notable elements are a chapter on moral reasoning, advice on how to evaluate Internet sources, and guidelines for evaluating occult, paranormal, or supernatural claims.

The Power of Critical Thinking, Second Edition, integrates many pedagogical features including hundreds of diverse exercises, examples, and illustrations; progressive, stand-alone writing modules; numerous text boxes; step-by-step guidelines for evaluating claims, arguments, and explanations; a glossary of important terms; and many reminders, summaries, and review notes throughout.

521 pages, 28 MB, PDF. Scan.





Steven Pinker - How the Mind Works



The Pulitzer Prize finalist and national bestseller How the Mind Works is a fascinating, provocative work exploring the mysteries of human thought and behavior. How do we see in three dimensions? How do we remember names and faces? How is it, indeed, that we ponder the nature of our own consciousness? Why do we fall in love? In this bold, extraordinary book, Pinker synthesizes the best of cognitive science and evolutionary biology to explain what the mind is, how it has evolved, and, ultimately, how it works. This edition includes a new afterword that explores the impact of the book and its relevance today.

629 pages, 4.95 MB, PDF. Scan.





Robert N. Bellah - Religion in Human Evolution



Religion in Human Evolution is a work of extraordinary ambition—a wide-ranging, nuanced probing of our biological past to discover the kinds of lives that human beings have most often imagined were worth living. It offers what is frequently seen as a forbidden theory of the origin of religion that goes deep into evolution, especially but not exclusively cultural evolution.
How did our early ancestors transcend the quotidian demands of everyday existence to embrace an alternative reality that called into question the very meaning of their daily struggle? Robert Bellah, one of the leading sociologists of our time, identifies a range of cultural capacities, such as communal dancing, storytelling, and theorizing, whose emergence made this religious development possible. Deploying the latest findings in biology, cognitive science, and evolutionary psychology, he traces the expansion of these cultural capacities from the Paleolithic to the Axial Age (roughly, the first millennium BCE), when individuals and groups in the Old World challenged the norms and beliefs of class societies ruled by kings and aristocracies. These religious prophets and renouncers never succeeded in founding their alternative utopias, but they left a heritage of criticism that would not be quenched.
Bellah’s treatment of the four great civilizations of the Axial Age—in ancient Israel, Greece, China, and India—shows all existing religions, both prophetic and mystic, to be rooted in the evolutionary story he tells. Religion in Human Evolution answers the call for a critical history of religion grounded in the full range of human constraints and possibilities.

715 pages, 3.85 MB, PDF.





David L. Holmes - The Faiths of the Founding Fathers



It is not uncommon to hear Christians argue that America was founded as a Christian nation. But how true is this claim?

In this compact book, David L. Holmes offers a clear, concise and illuminating look at the spiritual beliefs of our founding fathers. He begins with an informative account of the religious culture of the late colonial era, surveying the religious groups in each colony. In particular, he sheds light on the various forms of Deism that flourished in America, highlighting the profound influence this intellectual movement had on the founding generation. Holmes then examines the individual beliefs of a variety of men and women who loom large in our national history. He finds that some, like Martha Washington, Samuel Adams, John Jay, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson's daughters, held orthodox Christian views. But many of the most influential figures, including Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John and Abigail Adams, Jefferson, James and Dolley Madison, and James Monroe, were believers of a different stripe. Respectful of Christianity, they admired the ethics of Jesus, and believed that religion could play a beneficial role in society. But they tended to deny the divinity of Christ, and a few seem to have been agnostic about the very existence of God. Although the founding fathers were religious men, Holmes shows that it was a faith quite unlike the Christianity of today's evangelicals. Holmes concludes by examining the role of religion in the lives of the presidents since World War II and by reflecting on the evangelical resurgence that helped fuel the reelection of George W. Bush.

215 pages, 11.4 MB, PDF.





Peter Corning - Nature's Magic, Synergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind



In Nature's Magic Peter Corning states that synergy--a vaguely familiar term to many of us--has been a wellspring of creativity in the natural world and has played a key role in the evolution of cooperation and complexity at all levels, from physics and chemistry to the latest human technologies. The 'Synergism Hypothesis' asserts that synergy is more than a class of interesting and ubiquitous effects. It has also been a major causal agency in evolution; it represents a unifying explanation for biological complexity and represents a different perspective on the evolutionary process. In contrast to gene-centered theories, or postulates of self-organization and emergent 'laws' of complexity, the Synergism Hypothesis represents, in essence, an 'economic' (or bio-economic) theory of complexity. Peter A. Corning, Ph.D., is the Director of the Institute for the Study of Complex Systems in Palo Alto, California. He has published numerous research papers and articles and three previous books, one of which was a theoretical monograph on the role of synergy in evolution, The Synergism Hypothesis: A Theory of Progressive Evolution (McGraw-Hill, 1983).

431 pages, 2.28 MB, PDF.





Owen Flanagan - The Bodhisattva's Brain, Buddhism Naturalized



If we are material beings living in a material world--and all the scientific evidence suggests that we are--then we must find existential meaning, if there is such a thing, in this physical world. We must cast our lot with the natural rather than the supernatural. Many Westerners with spiritual (but not religious) inclinations are attracted to Buddhism--almost as a kind of moral-mental hygiene. But, as Owen Flanagan points out in The Bodhisattva's Brain, Buddhism is hardly naturalistic. Atheistic when it comes to a creator god, Buddhism is otherwise opulently polytheistic, with spirits, protector deities, ghosts, and evil spirits. Its beliefs include karma, rebirth, nirvana, and nonphysical states of mind. What is a nonreligious, materially grounded spiritual seeker to do? In The Bodhisattva's Brain, Flanagan argues that it is possible to subtract the "hocus pocus" from Buddhism and discover a rich, empirically responsible philosophy that could point us to one path of human flourishing. "Buddhism naturalized," as Flanagan constructs it, contains a metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics; it is a fully naturalistic and comprehensive philosophy, compatible with the rest of knowledge. Some claim that neuroscience is in the process of validating Buddhism empirically, but Flanagan's naturalized Buddhism does not reduce itself to a brain scan showing happiness patterns. Buddhism naturalized offers instead a tool for achieving happiness and human flourishing--a way of conceiving of the human predicament, of thinking about meaning for finite material beings living in a material world.

249 pages, 3.24 MB, PDF.





Erik J. Wielenberg - God and the Reach of Reason, C.S. Lewis, David Hume, and Bertrand Russell



C. S. Lewis is one of the most beloved Christian apologists of the twentieth century; David Hume and Bertrand Russell are among Christianity's most important critics. This book puts these three intellectual giants in conversation with one another on various important questions: the existence of God, suffering, morality, reason, joy, miracles, and faith. Alongside irreconcilable differences, surprising areas of agreement emerge. Curious readers will find penetrating insights in the reasoned dialogue of these three great thinkers.

255 pages, 1.28 MB, PDF.





Felix Adler - The Essentials Of Spirituality

30 pages, 163 KB, PDF.





Carvaka, The Ancient Indian Rebel - Naturalistic Philosophy

10 pages, 149 KB, PDF.





Doug Muder - Humanist Spirituality, Oxymoron or Authentic Path to Enlightenment

12 pages, 182 KB, PDF.





Katja Maria Vogt - Belief and Truth, A Skeptic Reading of Plato

27 pages, 248 KB, PDF.




Tobin Hart - Opening the Contemplative Mind in the Classroom

12 pages, 201 KB, PDF.




Benjamin Franklin - The Art of Virtue

6 pages, 174 KB, PDF.




* * *

MORE FROM RATIONAL SPIRITUALITY FOLDER:

David Ray Griffin - Religion and Scientific Naturalism: Overcoming the Conflicts



Articulates a metaphysical position capable of rendering both science and religious experience simultaneously and mutually intelligible. In this book, David Ray Griffin argues that the perceived conflict between science and religion is based upon a double mistake-the assumption that religion requires supernaturalism and that scientific naturalism requires atheism and materialism.

337 pages, 1.58 MB, PDF.





Donald Crosby - A Religion of Nature



The beauty, sublimity, and wonder of nature have been justly celebrated in all of the religious traditions of the world, but usually these traditions have focused on beings or powers presumed to lie behind nature, providing nature's ultimate explanation and meaning. In a radical departure, Donald A. Crosby makes an eloquent case for regarding nature itself as religion, conceived without God, gods, or animating spirits of any kind, and argues that nature is metaphysically ultimate. He explores the concept of nature, the place of humans in nature, the responsibilities of humans to one another and to their natural environments, and offers a religious vision that grants to nature the kind of reverence, awe, love, and devotion formerly reserved for God. Crosby also shares his personal journey from theistic faith to a religion of nature.

197 pages, 1.46 MB, PDF.





Donald Crosby - Faith and Reason, Their Roles in Religious and Secular Life



Few words are as widely misconceived as the word “faith.” Faith is often set in stark opposition to reason, considered antithetical to scientific thought, and heavily identified with religion. Donald A. Crosby’s revealing book provides a more complex picture, discussing faith and its connection to the whole of human life and human knowledge. Crosby writes about that existential faith that underlies, shapes, and supports a person’s life and its sense of purpose and direction. Such faith does not make a person religious and being secular does not mean one rejects all forms of faith. Throughout the book Crosby makes the case that faith is fundamentally involved in all processes of reasoning and that reason is an essential part of all dependable forms of faith.

Crosby elaborates the major components of faith and goes on to look at the mutually dependent relationships between faith and knowledge, faith and scientific knowledge, and faith and morality. The work’s final chapters examine crises of faith among several noted thinkers, as well as the author’s own journey of faith from plans for the ministry to pastor to secular philosopher and religious naturalist.

171 pages, 797 KB, PDF.





Donald Crosby - Living with Ambiguity, Religious Naturalism and the Menace of Evil



In this book Donald A. Crosby looks at how a religion based on the sacredness of nature deals with the problem of evil. Further developing and defending the vision of religious thought and life elaborated in his previous work, A Religion of Nature, Crosby explores how such a vision can enable us to interpret, respond to, and cope with the diverse forms of evil in the world, arguing that an ambiguity of goods and evils in human life, in nature as a whole, and in any conceivable or desirable realm of existence is inevitable. It is therefore futile to seek recourse in powers, presences, states, or realms thought to wholly transcend a combination of goods and evils or to be entirely devoid of evil. This being the case, the central problem of an adequate religious faith is how to live a constructive, meaningful life in the face of this intractable ambiguity. Religion of nature, as it is laid out and explained here, confronts this problem and offers a comprehensive, sustaining, and fully adequate way of conceiving and living a religious life.

"Crosby argues that nature, rather than anything supernatural, deserves reverence and devotion. He sets forth a vision of life and the universe that is as hopeful as it is realistic." -- Nancy K. Frankenberry, editor of Radical Interpretation in Religion

"I have seldom read a work that so deeply challenged me to rethink my views on the various topics this author interweaves into his argument. He is such a clear and compelling writer, providing rigorous yet easily readable arguments, that I would encourage any class in philosophy of religion, theology, or religious studies to include his text as required reading." -- Mary Doak, author of Reclaiming Narrative for Public Theology

121 pages, 3.60 MB PDF.





Donald Robertson - The Philosophy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy



Why should modern psychotherapists be interested in philosophy, especially ancient philosophy? Why should philosophers be interested in psychotherapy? There is a sense of mutual attraction between what are, today, two thoroughly distinct disciplines. However, arguably it was not always the case that they were distinct.

This book traces the origins of modern cognitive behavioral therapy, noting a clear analogy with ancient philosophy. Robertson skillfully combines the clinical experience of therapy and the academic grasp of philosophy to write in depth.

283 pages, 956 KB, PDF.





Emperor Marcus Aurelius – Meditations



Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (a.d. 121–180) succeeded his adoptive father as emperor of Rome in a.d. 161—and Meditations remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written. With a profound understanding of human behavior, Marcus provides insights, wisdom, and practical guidance on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity to interacting with others. Consequently, the Meditations have become required reading for statesmen and philosophers alike, while generations of ordinary readers have responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style. In Gregory Hays’s new translation—the first in a generation—Marcus’s thoughts speak with a new immediacy: never before have they been so directly and powerfully presented.

302 pages, 14.9 MB, PDF. Scan.





Epictetus - The Enchiridion or Manual



Enchiridion written by legendary Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus is a manual of Stoic ethical advice. Compiled by Arrian, who was a student of Epictetus this great classic will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, Enchiridion is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, this gem by Epictetus is highly recommended. For many centuries the Enchiridion was regarded as a suitable manual of practical philosophy, maintaining its authority both with Christians and Pagans. The Handbook is a guide to daily life. Unlike some of his forefathers in Greek philosophy (i.e. Plato and the other metaphysicians), Epictetus focuses his attention on how to practically apply oneself on a philosophical level.

18 pages, 143 KB, PDF.





Giles Laurén - The Stoic's Bible & Florilegium for the Good Life



Quotations from Greek and Roman philosophers that illustrate the origins and practice of Stoicism and the pursuit of the Good Life. A complete course in Stoicism including cultural background, chronology, examples, and Arrian's notes. Largest source for classical quotations. Aide memoire to locate a given text or idea.

638 pages, 7.25 MB, PDF. Scan.





Gilles Deleuze - Pure Immanence: Essays on A Life



The essays in this book present a complex theme at the heart of the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, what in his last writing he called simply "a life." They capture a problem that runs throughout his work—his long search for a new and superior empiricism. Announced in his first book, on David Hume, then taking off with his early studies of Nietzsche and Bergson, the problem of an "empiricist conversion" became central to Deleuze's work, in particular to his aesthetics and his conception of the art of cinema. In the new regime of communication and information-machines with which he thought we are confronted today, he came to believe that such a conversion, such an empiricism, such a new art and will-to-art, was what we need most. The last, seemingly minor question of "a life" is thus inseparable from Deleuze's striking image of philosophy not as a wisdom we already possess, but as a pure immanence of what is yet to come. Perhaps the full exploitation of that image, from one of the most original trajectories in contemporary philosophy, is also yet to come.

101 pages, 2.53 MB, PDF. Scan.





The Wisdom of the Stoics: Selections from Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius

The first volume of its kind to bring together generous selections of the works of three of the great Stoic philosophers, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius.

186 pages, 9.35 MB, PDF. Scan.





Henderson, Sherwood – Transformation of the Psyche, The Symbolic Alchemy of the Splendor Solis



Written by Joseph L. Henderson, one of the first generation of Jungian analysts, and Dyane N. Sherwood, a practising analyst, this book is a striking and unique contribution to the resurgence of interest in alchemy for its way of representing the phenomenology of creative experience.

Transformation of the Psyche is organized around 22 illuminated paintings from the early Renaissance alchemical manuscript the Splendor Solis, and is further illustrated by over 50 colour figures. The images of the Splendor Solis are possibly the most beautiful and evocative alchemical paintings to be found anywhere, and they are widely known to students of alchemy. Jung reproduced several Splendor Solis images in his works, yet prior to this book no one has explored the symbolism of the paintings as a series in relation to the process of depth psychological transformation. This book is the first scholarly study of the paintings in their entirety, and of the mythological and historical allusions contained within the images. Transformation of the Psyche does not simply explain or analyze the pictures, but invites the reader to participate in the creative and transforming process evoked by these images.

Transformation of the Psyche is a truly unique book that will be of immense value and interest to analysts and psychotherapists, as well as scholars of mediaeval and renaissance intellectual history and students of spiritual disciplines.

231 pages, 8.72 MB, PDF.





More from this folder:

Owen Flanagan - Spirituality Naturalized

51 pages, 251 KB, PDF.





Owen Flanagan - The Problem of the Soul, Two Visions Of Mind And How To Reconcile Them



Science has always created problems for traditional ways of seeing things, but now the very attributes that make us human--free will, the permanence of personal identity, the existence of the soul--are threatened by the science of the mind. If the mind is the brain, and therefore a physical object subject to deterministic laws, how can we have free will? If most of our thoughts and impulses are unconscious, how can we be morally responsible for what we do? If brains and bodies undergo relentless change, how can our identities be constant? The Problem of the Soul shows the way out of these paradoxes. Framing the conflict in terms of two dominant visions of the mind--the "manifest image" of humanistic philosophy and theology, and the scientific image--Owen Flanagan demonstrates that there is common ground, and that we need not give up our ideas of moral responsibility and personal freedom in order to have an empirically sound view of the human mind. This is a profoundly relevant work of philosophy for the common reader.

351 pages, 11.2 MB, PDF. Scan.





Robert E. Ulanowicz - A Third Window, Natural Life beyond Newton and Darwin



Thus far, the dominant paradigms through which modern scientists have viewed nature have been structured primarily around Newtonian and Darwinian approaches. As theoretical ecologist Robert E. Ulanowicz observes in his new work, A Third Window, neither of these models is sufficient for explaining how real change—in the form of creative advance or emergence—takes place in nature.

The metaphysical foundations laid by these great thinkers centuries ago are ill suited to sustain today's search for a comprehensive description of complex living systems. Ecosystem dynamics, for example, violate each and every one of the Newtonian presuppositions. Hence, Ulanowicz offers his titular "third window"—a new way of understanding evolution and other natural processes beyond the common mechanistic or materialistic philosophies of nature. Drawing on the writings of Walter Elsasser, Karl Popper, Gregory Bateson, Robert Rosen, and Alfred North Whitehead, as well as his own experience as a theoretical ecologist, Ulanowicz offers a new set of axioms for how nature behaves. Chance and disarray in natural processes are shown to be necessary conditions for real change. Randomness is shown to contribute richness and autonomy to the natural world.

The metaphysical implications of these new axioms will lend A Third Window a wide appeal not only among scientists, but also among philosophers, theologians, and general readers who follow the science and religion dialogue. Ulanowicz's fresh perspective adds a new voice to the discussion.

189 pages, 6.09 MB, PDF. Scan.





Recognizing the Autonomy of Nature Theory and Practice



How do the ways in which we think about and describe nature shape the use and protection of the environment? Do our seemingly well-intentioned efforts in environmental conservation reflect a respect for nature or our desire to control nature's wildness? The contributors to this collection address these and other questions as they explore the theoretical and practical implications of a crucial aspect of environmental philosophy and policy-the autonomy of nature. In focusing on the recognition and meaning of nature's autonomy and linking issues of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and policy, the essays provide a variety of new perspectives on human relationships to nature.

The authors begin by exploring what is meant by "nature," in what sense it can be seen as autonomous, and what respect for the autonomy of nature might entail. They examine the conflicts that arise between the satisfaction of human needs (food, shelter, etc.) and the natural world. The contributors also consider whether the activities of human beings contribute to nature's autonomy. In their investigation of these issues, they not only draw on philosophy and ethics; they also discuss how the idea of nature's autonomy affects policy decisions regarding the protection of agricultural, rural, and beach areas.
The essays in the book's final section turn to management and restoration practices. The essays in this section pay close attention to how efforts at environmental protection alter or reinforce the traditional relationship between humans and nature. More specifically, the contributors examine whether management practices, as they are applied in nature conservation, actually promote the autonomy of nature, or whether they turn the environment into a "client" for policymakers.

211 pages, 1.88 MB, PDF.





Erik Wiegardt - Path of the Sage, and Introduction to Stoic Philosophy

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION TO THE 4TH EDITION

THE STOIC TRADITION

I. The Greek Stoa
II. The Roman Stoa
III. The Christian Stoa
IV. The Fourth Stoa

PHYSICS

God, the Whole
Dynamic Continuum
Categories
Reason

LOGIC

Introduction
Inductive and Deductive
The Syllogism
Common Logical Fallacies

ETHICS

Introduction
Oikeiosis
Fate and Free Will
Good, Bad and Indifferent

METAPHYSICS

Introduction
The Mystical Experience
The Near Death Experience
The Spirit World

BIBLIOGRAPHY

75 pages, 545 KB, PDF.





Erik Wiegardt - Mneme Manual

CONTENTS

Introduction
Mneme: “Recitation of the DOE”
One Rule
Two Maxims
The First Maxim
The Second Maxim
Three Studies
Judgments
Desires
Actions
Hear the Sage
Student and Mentor's Mneme
Endnotes

16 pages, 188 KB, PDF.





Erik Wiegardt - 32 Principal Doctrines of the Stoa

CONTENTS

Physics

God, the One; Active & Passive Principles; A Dynamic Continuum; Four Elements; Four Categories; Incorporeals; Eros: The Creative Force; Death; Determinism, Fate, & Causal Nexus; Human Soul Structure.

Logic

Presentations; From Memory to Reason; The Criterion of Truth; Katalepsis; Thought; Discourse; Syllogism.

Ethics

Preconception; Impulse; Appropriation; The Good; The Bad; The Indifferent; Right Action; Emotions; Passion; Virtue; Wisdom; Justice; Courage; Sophrosyne; The Goal of Life.

Specific References
General Bibliography

14 pages, 166 KB, PDF.





Richard Taylor - The Ethics of Authenticity



Everywhere we hear talk of decline, of a world that was better once, maybe fifty years ago, maybe centuries ago, but certainly before modernity drew us along its dubious path. While some lament the slide of Western culture into relativism and nihilism and others celebrate the trend as a liberating sort of progress, Charles Taylor calls on us to face the moral and political crises of our time, and to make the most of modernity's challenges.

At the heart of the modern malaise, according to most accounts, is the notion of authenticity, of self-fulfillment, which seems to render ineffective the whole tradition of common values and social commitment. Though Taylor recognizes the dangers associated with modernity's drive toward self realization, he is not as quick as others to dismiss it. He calls for a freeze on cultural pessimism.
In a discussion of ideas and ideologies from Friedrich Nietzsche to Gail Sheehy, from Allan Bloom to Michel Foucault, Taylor sorts out the good from the harmful in the modern cultivation of an authentic self. He sets forth the entire network of thought and morals that link our quest for self-creation with our impulse toward self-fashioning, and shows how such efforts must be conducted against an existing set of rules, or a gridwork of moral measurement. Seen against this network, our modern preoccupations with expression, rights, and the subjectivity of human thought reveal themselves as assets, not liabilities.
By looking past simplistic, one-sided judgments of modern culture, by distinguishing the good and valuable from the socially and politically perilous, Taylor articulates the promise of our age. His bracing and provocative book gives voice to the challenge of modernity, and calls on all of us to answer it.

137 pages, 4.64 MB, PDF.




Robert C. Fuller - Wonder, From Emotion to Spirituality



The attempt to identify the emotional sources of religion goes back to antiquity. In an exploration that bridges science and spirituality, Robert Fuller makes the convincing case that a sense of wonder is a principal source of humanity's belief in the existence of an unseen order of life. Like no other emotion, Fuller argues, wonder prompts us to pause, admire, and open our hearts and minds.

With a voice that seamlessly blends the scientific and the contemplative, Fuller defines wonder in keeping with the tradition of Socrates--as an emotion related to curiosity and awe that stimulates engagement with the immediate physical world. He draws on the natural and social sciences to explain how wonder can, at the same time, elicit belief in the existence of a more-than-physical reality. Chapters examining emotions in evolutionary biology and the importance of wonder in human cognitive development alternate with chapters on John Muir, William James, and Rachel Carson, whom Fuller identifies as "exemplars of wonder." The writings and lives of these individuals express a functional side of emotion: that the very survival of life on earth today may depend on the empathy, compassion, and care that are aroused by a sense of wonder.

Forging new pathways between the social sciences, philosophy, and cultural history, Wonder deepens our understanding of the complex sources of personal spirituality and fulfillment.

200 pages, 11.4 MB, PDF.




More from my 4shared folder:

Paul Henri D'Holbach - Good sense

Published in 1772 this discourse by Paul Henri Thiry challenges religion. His atheistic views on the nature of God, the existence of a soul, miracles, priests, heaven and hell, and the divine right of kings are discussed in detail. Good Sense is a comprehensive study of atheism.

83 pages, 414 KB, PDF.





Bertrand Russell - Analysis Of Mind



This book has grown out of an attempt to harmonize two different tendencies, one in psychology, the other in physics, with both of which I find myself in sympathy, although at first sight they might seem inconsistent. On the one hand, many psychologists, especially those of the behaviourist school, tend to adopt what is essentially a materialistic position, as a matter of method if not of metaphysics. They make psychology increasingly dependent on physiology and external observation, and tend to think of matter as something much more solid and indubitable than mind. Meanwhile the physicists, especially Einstein and other exponents of the theory of relativity, have been making "matter" less and less material. Their world consists of "events," from which "matter" is derived by a logical construction. I think that what has permanent value in the outlook of the behaviourists is the feeling that physics is the most fundamental science at present in existence. But this position cannot be called materialistic, if, as seems to be the case, physics does not assume the existence of matter.

242 pages, 1.12 MB, PDF.




D. Q. Mclnerny - Being Logical, A Guide To Good Thinking



"In logic, as in life, it is the obvious that most often bears emphasizing, because it so easily escapes our notice," McInerny argues in this pithy guide to applying logical thinking to everyday life. Modeled after Strunk and White’s indispensable handbook, The Elements of Style, McInerny’s primer offers valuable counsel on making a clear and effective point. He calls attention to the tremendous importance that language holds in the crafting and presentation of an argument, advising readers to "make your words as precise and sharply focused as possible" and to keep arguments, or at least their essential purpose, simple. Readers need not have a background in philosophy to follow McInerny’s remarkably comprehensible explanation of the methods used to construct a valid case, including the syllogistic argument, the conjunctive and disjunctive arguments and the conditional argument. The author also dedicates considerable discussion to the sources and the principal forms of illogical thinking, from such common ruses as begging the question and using tears as a diversionary tactic to the more ethically questionable ad hominem strategy, in which a person ignores an argument and attacks his opponent’s character instead. McInerny recommends that people hone their logical thinking skills by using them in real life situations, but perhaps one of the best ways his audience can learn to clearly express their views is by examining the crisp, articulate writing in this slender but richly informative guide.

131 pages, 2.37 MB, PDF. Scan.





Rick Hanson - Just One Thing, Developing A Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time



You’ve heard the expression, “It’s the little things that count.” Research has shown that little daily practices can change the way your brain works, too. This book offers simple brain-training practices you can do every day to protect against stress, lift your mood, and find greater emotional resilience. Just One Thing is a treasure chest of over fifty practices created specifically to deepen your sense of well-being and unconditional happiness.

Just one practice each day can help you:

• Be good to yourself
• Enjoy life as it is
• Build on your strengths
• Be more effective at home and work
• Make peace with your emotions

242 pages, 1.21 MB, PDF.





Valerie Tiberius - The Reflective Life, Living Wisely With Our Limits



What can we do to live life wisely? You might think that the answer would be to think and reflect more. But this is not Valerie Tiberius's answer. On her view, when we really take account of what we are like - when we recognize our psychological limits - we will see that too much thinking and reflecting is bad for us. Instead, we need to think and reflect better. This means that we need to develop wisdom: we need to care about things that will sustain us and give us good experiences, we need to have perspective on our successes and failures, and we need to be moderately self-aware and cautiously optimistic about human nature. Further, we need to know when to think about our values, character, and choices, and when not to. A crucial part of wisdom, Tiberius maintains, is knowing when to stop reflecting and get lost in the experience.

The Reflective Life also considers the issue of how to philosophize about how to live. A recent trend in moral philosophy has been toward what is sometimes called 'empirically informed ethics'. This methodology has not yet caught on in normative ethics, primarily because we cannot conclude anything about what ought to be the case from the facts about what is. Tiberius agrees that this leap should be avoided, but argues that empirical psychology can inform our philosophical theories in interesting ways.

235 pages, 764 KB, PDF.





The Good in Nature and Humanity, Connecting Science, Religion, and Spirituality with the Natural World



Scientists, theologians, and the spiritually inclined, as well as all those concerned with humanity's increasingly widespread environmental impact, are beginning to recognize that our ongoing abuse of the earth diminishes our moral as well as our material condition. Many people are coming to believe that strengthening the bonds among spirituality, science, and the natural world offers an important key to addressing the pervasive environmental problems we face. The Good in Nature and Humanity brings together 20 leading thinkers and writers - including Ursuia Goodenough, Lynn Margulis, Dorion Sagan, Carl Safina, David Petersen, Wendell Berry, Terry Tempest Williams, and Barry Lopez - to examine the divide between faith and reason, and to seek a means for developing an environmental ethic that will help us confront two of our most imperiling crises; global environmental destruction and an impoverished spirituality. The book explores the ways in which science, spirit, and religion can guide the experience and understanding of our ongoing relationship with the natural world and examines how the integration of science and spirituality can equip us to make wiser choices in using and managing the natural environment. The book also provides compelling stories that offer a narrative understanding of the relations among science, spirit, and nature. Grounded in the premise that neither science nor religion can by itself resolve the prevailing malaise of environmental and moral decline, contributors seek viable approaches to averting environmental catastrophe and, more positively, to achieving a more harmonious relationship with the natural world. By bridging the gap between the rational and the religious through the concern of each for understanding the human relation to creation, The Good in Nature and Humanity offers an important means for pursuing the quest for a more secure and meaningful world.

297 pages, 1.58 MB, PDF.





Naomi Reshotko - Socratic Virtue, Making the Best of the Neither Good Nor Bad



Socrates was not a moral philosopher. Instead he was a theorist who showed how human desire and human knowledge complement one another in the pursuit of human happiness. His theory allowed him to demonstrate that actions and objects have no value other than that which they derive from their employment by individuals who, inevitably, desire their own happiness and have the knowledge to use actions and objects as a means for its attainment. The result is a naturalized, practical, and demystified account of good and bad, and right and wrong. Professor Reshotko presents a newly-envisioned Socratic theory residing at the intersection of the philosophy of mind and ethics. It makes an important contribution to the study of the Platonic dialogues and will also interest all scholars of ethics and moral psychology.

220 pages, 1.27 MB, PDF.





Richard Norman - On Humanism



Albert Einstein, Isaac Asimov, E.M. Forster, Bertrand Russell, and Gloria Steinem all declared themselves humanists. What is humanism and why does it matter? Is there any doctrine every humanist must hold? If it rejects religion, what does it offer in its place? Have the twentieth century's crimes against humanity spelled the end for humanism?

On Humanism is a timely and powerfully argued philosophical defence of humanism. It is also an impassioned plea that we turn to ourselves, not religion, if we want to answer Socrates' age-old question: what is the best kind of life to lead? Although humanism has much in common with science, Richard Norman shows that it is far from a denial of the more mysterious, fragile side of being human. He deals with big questions such as the environment, Darwinism and 'creation science', euthanasia and abortion, and then argues that it is ultimately through the human capacity for art, literature and the imagination that humanism is a powerful alternative to religious belief.

Drawing on a varied range of examples from Aristotle to Primo Levi and the novels of Virginia Woolf and Graham Swift, On Humanism is a lucid and much needed reflection on this much talked about but little understood phenomenon.

177 pages, 1.10 MB, PDF.





Leonard Mlodinow - The Drunkard's Walk, How Randomness Rules Our Lives



In this irreverent and illuminating book, acclaimed writer and scientist Leonard Mlodinow shows us how randomness, change, and probability reveal a tremendous amount about our daily lives, and how we misunderstand the significance of everything from a casual conversation to a major financial setback. As a result, successes and failures in life are often attributed to clear and obvious cases, when in actuality they are more profoundly influenced by chance.

The rise and fall of your favorite movie star of the most reviled CEO--in fact, of all our destinies--reflects as much as planning and innate abilities. Even the legendary Roger Maris, who beat Babe Ruth's single-season home run record, was in all likelihood not great but just lucky. And it might be shocking to realize that you are twice as likely to be killed in a car accident on your way to buying a lottery ticket than you are to win the lottery.

How could it have happened that a wine was given five out of five stars, the highest rating, in one journal and in another it was called the worst wine of the decade? Mlodinow vividly demonstrates how wine ratings, school grades, political polls, and many other things in daily life are less reliable than we believe. By showing us the true nature of change and revealing the psychological illusions that cause us to misjudge the world around us, Mlodinow gives fresh insight into what is really meaningful and how we can make decisions based on a deeper truth. From the classroom to the courtroom, from financial markets to supermarkets, from the doctor's office to the Oval Office, Mlodinow's insights will intrigue, awe, and inspire.

Offering readers not only a tour of randomness, chance, and probability but also a new way of looking at the world, this original, unexpected journey reminds us that much in our lives is about as predictable as the steps of a stumbling man fresh from a night at the bar.

268 pages, 1.09 MB, PDF.





Mitchell Aboulafia - Transcendence, On Self-Determination and Cosmopolitanism



Notions of self-determination are central to modern politics, yet the relationship between the self-determination of individuals and peoples has not been adequately addressed, nor adequately allied to cosmopolitanism. Transcendence seeks to rectify this by offering an original theory of self and society. It highlights overlooked affinities between existentialism and pragmatism and compares figures central to these traditions. The book's guiding thread is a unique model of the social development of the self that is indebted to the pragmatist George Herbert Mead. Drawing on the work of thinkers from both sides of the Atlantic—Hegel, William James, Dewey, Du Bois, Sartre, Marcuse, Bourdieu, Rorty, Neil Gross, and Jean-Baker Miller—and according supporting roles to Adam Smith, Habermas, Herder, Charles Taylor, and Simone de Beauvoir, Aboulafia combines European and American traditions of self-determination and cosmopolitanism in a new and persuasive way.

215 pages, 1.18 MB, PDF.





Identity, Character, and Morality, Essays in Moral Psychology



Many philosophers believe that normative ethics is in principle independent of psychology. By contrast, the authors of these essays explore the interconnections between psychology and moral theory. They investigate the psychological constraints on realizable ethical ideals and articulate the psychological assumptions behind traditional ethics. They also examine the ways in which the basic architecture of the mind, core emotions, patterns of individual development, social psychology, and the limits on human capacities for rational deliberation affect morality.Owen Flanagan is Professor of Philosophy at Duke University. Am�lie Oksenberg Rorty is Professor of Philosophy at Mount Holyoke College.

485 pages, 1.04 MB, PDF.





Corliss Lamont - The Philosophy of Humanism



Released by Humanist Press in its degenderized eighth edition, this powerful book is the definitive study of the history and growth of the humanist movement in North America. Renowned philosopher and activist Corliss Lamont offers a vigorous argument for humanism and provides an affirmative, intelligent guidebook for shaping a better life in today's complex world.

405 pages, 1.15 MB, PDF.





Infinity, New Research Frontiers



"The infinite! No other question has ever moved so profoundly the spirit of man; no other idea has so fruitfully stimulated his intellect; yet no other concept stands in greater need of clarification than that of the infinite." - David Hilbert This interdisciplinary study of infinity explores the concept through the prism of mathematics and then offers more expansive investigations in areas beyond mathematical boundaries to reflect the broader, deeper implications of infinity for human intellectual thought. More than a dozen world‐renowned researchers in the fields of mathematics, physics, cosmology, philosophy, and theology offer a rich intellectual exchange among various current viewpoints, rather than displaying a static picture of accepted views on infinity. The book starts with a historical examination of the transformation of infinity from a philosophical and theological study to one dominated by mathematics. It then offers technical discussions on the understanding of mathematical infinity. Following this, the book considers the perspectives of physics and cosmology: Can infinity be found in the real universe? Finally, the book returns to questions of philosophical and theological aspects of infinity.

327 pages, 1.90 MB, PDF.





Flourishing, Positive Psychology and the Life Well-Lived



Psychology has made great strides in understanding mental illness, but how much has it learned about mental health? When people want to reflect upon the good life and how to live it, they turn to philosophers and novelists, not psychologists. The emerging field of positive psychology aims to redress this imbalance. In Flourishing, distinguished scholars apply scientific analyses to study the good life, expanding the scope of social and psychological research to include happiness, well-being, courage, citizenship, play, and the satisfactions of healthy work and healthy relationships. Their findings reveal that a sense of meaning and a feeling of richness emerge in life as people immerse themselves in activities, relationships, and the pursuit of intrinsically satisfying goals like overcoming adversity or serving one's community through volunteering. This provocative book will further define this evolving field.

286 pages, 1.46 MB, PDF.





Jerome A. Popp - Evolution's First Philosopher, John Dewey and the Continuity of Nature



John Dewey was the first philosopher to recognize that Darwin's thesis about natural selection not only required us to change how we think about ourselves and the life forms around us, but also required a markedly different approach to philosophy. Evolution's First Philosopher shows how Dewey's arguments arose from his recognition of the continuity of natural selection and mindedness, from which he developed his concept of growth. Growth, for Dewey, has no end beyond itself and forms the basis of a naturalized theory of ethics. While other philosophers gave some attention to evolutionary theory, it was Dewey alone who saw that Darwinism provides the basis for a naturalized theory of meaning. This, in turn, portends a new account of knowledge, ethics, and democracy. To clarify evolution's conception of natural selection, Jerome A. Popp looks at brain science and examines the relationship between the genome and experience in terms of the contemporary concepts of preparedness and plasticity. This research shows how comprehensive and penetrating Dewey's thought was in terms of further consequences for the philosophical method entailed by Darwin's thesis. Dewey's foresight is further legitimated when Popp places his work within the context of the current thought of Daniel Dennett.

170 pages, 1.80 MB, PDF.





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