As the final work by Ye Xiushan, one of the most famous philosophers and philosophy scholars in China, this two-volume title scrutinizes the historical development of both Chinese and Western philosophies, aiming to explore the convergence between the two philosophical traditions. Combining the historical examination and argumentation based on philosophical problematics, the two-volume set expounds the key figures and schools and critical thoughts in both Western and Chinese philosophical histories. In this first volume, the author investigates the intellectual heritage of ancient Greece and Thales of Miletus as the cradle of European philosophy, freedom in Greek philosophy, reason and negation in classical German philosophy, and the relationship between epistemology and ontology in the philosophical history, thereby illuminating the core spirit of Western philosophy and theoretical quandary facing the contemporary European philosophy. This title will appeal to scholars, students, and general readers interested in philosophical history, comparative philosophy, Chinese philosophy, and Western philosophy ranging over Greek philosophy, German classic philosophy, and contemporary continental philosophy.

How is hope to be found amid the ethical and political dilemmas of modern life? Writer and philosopher Mary Zournazi brought her questions to some of the most thoughtful intellectuals at work today. She discusses joyful revolt with Julia Kristeva, the idea of the rest of the world with Gayatri Spivak, the art of living with Michel Serres, the carnival of the senses with Michael Taussig, the relation of hope to passion and to politics with Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau. A dozen stimulating minds weigh in with their visions of a better social and political order. The result is a collaboration - of writing, of thinking, and of politics - that demonstrates more clearly than any single-authored project could how ideas encountering one another can produce the vision needed for social change.

In Reasonable Hope considers three foundational responses to this quest for some understanding of the existence, meaning, and value of everything. Other approaches can be considered as combinations or variations of these. Firstly, there is the approach which claims that it is our humanity, exercising its unique intelligent subjectivity, that is the source and measure of all possible meaning and value. Nothing can be thought of as existing, meaningful or of value apart from a thinking human subject. This is a broadly Humanist approach to ultimate meaning. Man is the measure of all things. Secondly, there is the approach of Scientism. This claims that an ultimate understanding of the world and ourselves must be sought, less anthropocentrically, in terms of the findings of basic empirical sciences such as physics and chemistry. We live in a world ever-increasingly dominated by the autonomous system of science and technology. Such Scientism implies an explicitly reductionist and materialist conception of the meaning and value of everything. Thirdly, there is the approach of Theism which maintains that, in the final analysis, the meaning and value of everything, insofar as this can be known, is to be explained in terms of a transcendent infinitely perfect personal being we call God. The first two approaches are carefully considered. However, it is the third to which most attention is devoted. Consideration is given to the traditional impersonal metaphysical approach to questions about the existence and nature of God. The alternative approaches of linguistic philosophy and phenomenology, which reject such metaphysical speculation are also discussed. These various approaches are judged to be complementary rather than strict alternatives. In the latter half of the book is devoted to a more personal and self-involving discussion of the relevance of an affirmation of the existence of God. It explores the implications of a rational commitment to live one's life in accordance with the requirements of values which transcend explanation in purely physical terms, such as truth, goodness, beauty, and especially love. It provides a personal and existential development of the rational hope that such values are ultimately more objectively real and dependable than the eventual universal material chaos predicted by empirical science. It argues that the existence of God as the infinite expression and source of these values is the necessary and sufficient condition of this rational hope in their enduring significance. Finally, there is an account of how the Christian Revelation illuminates and transforms our rational hope in the enduring significance of love of God and neighbor.

As the final work by Ye Xiushan, one of the most famous philosophers and philosophy scholars in China, this two-volume title scrutinizes the historical development of both Chinese and Western philosophies, aiming to explore the convergence between the two philosophical traditions. Combining the historical examination and argumentation based on philosophical problematics, the two-volume set expounds the key figures and schools and critical thoughts in both Western and Chinese philosophical histories. The second volume retraces the origin and development of Chinese philosophy and reveals its focal grounds, i.e. a trinity of man, Heaven, and earth, which helps explain why and how it diverges from Western way of philosophizing. This book also delineates the diachronic transitions of Chinese philosophy that critically embrace different schools of thought throughout history, including Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Marxism, etc., and then constitutes an organic whole. To elicit the potential for a new transformation of contemporary Chinese philosophy, the author encourages a constructive dialogue between the Chinese and Western philosophies. This title will appeal to scholars, students, and general readers interested in philosophical history, comparative philosophy, Chinese philosophy, and Western philosophy ranging over Greek philosophy, German classic philosophy, and contemporary continental philosophy.

"Schumacher looks at hope as a virtue, one opposed by vices such as despair and presumption, particularly as they are treated in existentialism and Marxism. He also explores Pieper's treatment of hope in relation to the ideas of death and immorality, and in the philosophy of history. Using the idea of hope to examine such themes as dignity, ethics, the good, and the just, Schumacher provides a valuable, wide-ranging introduction to a shaper of contemporary Christian thought against a richly drawn intellectual background."--BOOK JACKET.

Can philosophy be a source of hope? Today it is common to believe that the answer is no – that providing hope, if it is possible at all, belongs either to the predictive sciences or to religion. In this exciting and stimulating book, however, Alexander Douglas argues that the philosophy of Spinoza can offer something akin to religious hope. Douglas shows how Spinoza is able, without appealing to belief in any traditional afterlife or supernatural grace, to develop a profound and original theory of how humans can escape from the conditions of death and sin. Douglas argues that this theory of escape, which Spinoza calls beatitude, is the centrepiece of his entire philosophy, though scholars have often downplayed or ignored it. One reason for this scholarly neglect might be the difficulty of understanding Spinoza’s theory, which departs from the standard doctrines and methods of Western philosophy. Douglas's interpretation therefore seeks inspiration beyond the Western tradition, drawing especially on the classical Daoist text Zhuangzi and its commentaries. Here, Douglas argues, surprising resonances with Spinoza’s core ideas can be found, leading to a new way of understanding his strange yet compelling theory of beatitude.

Excerpt from The Philosophy of Hope A darkening sky and a whitening sea, And the wind in the palm trees tall; Soon or late comes a call for me, Down from the mountain or up from the sea, Then let me lie where I fall. And a friend may write - for friends there be, On a stone from the gray sea wall, "Jungle and town and reef and sea - I loved God's Earth and His Earth loved me, Take it for all in all." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Drawing on a host of philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer, Gabriel Marcel, Josef Pieper, Paul Ricoeur, Viktor Frankl, Eric Voegelin, Bernard Lonergan, Roger Scruton, John Caputo, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, as well as theologians like Hans Urs von Balthasar, Karl Rahner, Hans Küng, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, this book argues passionately for the place of hope as the ‘beyond’ of both a will-o’-the-wisp, facile optimism, on the one hand, and a world-weary, fatuous pessimism, on the other. Drawing on the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta in the concluding chapter, it suggests that only by living from the Self as distinct from the ego can we know ultimate peace and experience the bliss of being that is beyond both hope and happiness. These philosophical reflections are both timely, as the publication appears amid the Coronavirus crisis, and wise. It is warmly recommended for its breadth and depth of knowledge. This book will appeal to students of both Eastern and Western philosophy, as well as spiritual seekers.