A lifetime treasure, Revealing the Truth about Human Nature is a compendium of timeless wit and wisdom, bringing us face-to-face with our fundamentally creative, but generally overlooked quality. Sobering and deeply compelling, the species self-rediscovery book provides the key to human actions that want to succeed and endure, as well as insights for people who want to reach their full potential.

"...an attractive alternative to Victor Lowe's Understanding Whitehead, Ivor Leclerc's Whitehead's Metaphysics, and Donald Sherburne's A Key to Whitehead's Process and Reality....Recommended for advanced undergraduates and beyond."-CHOICE

Phenomenology and existentialism transformed understanding and experience of the Twentieth Century to their core. They had strikingly different inspirations and yet the two waves of thought became merged as both movements flourished. The present collection of research devoted to these movements and their unfolding interaction is now especially revealing. The studies in this first volume to be followed by two succeeding ones, range from the predecessors of existentialism – Kierkegaard/Jean Wahl, Nietzsche, to the work of its adherents – Shestov, Berdyaev, Unamuno, Blondel, Blumenberg, Heidegger and Mamardashvili, Dufrenne and Merleau-Ponty to existentialism’s congruence with Christianity or with atheism. Among the leading Husserlian insights are treated essence and experience, the place of questioning, ethics and intentionality, temporality and passivity and the life world. The following book will uncover the perennial concerns guiding the wondrous interplay of these two inspirational sources.

This book provides a refreshingly new perspective for investigating linguistic texts, which foregrounds models of the human. It presents a close reading of major linguistic theories in the twentieth century with a focus on three main themes: linguistic system and the individual speaker; social order; and linguistic creativity. The examination of these three fundamental themes concerning language and human nature, on the one hand, provides a fine-textured exposition on the implicit and explicit models of human nature endorsed by major theorists; on the other, it reveals the methodological dilemmas faced by linguistics. In light of the fact that the importance of considering posthumanist ideas is increasingly being underscored today, both within and outside linguistics, this focus on the human makes the book highly topical.

Reissuing works originally published between 1973 and 1997, Routledge Library Editions: 19th Century Religion (18 volumes) offers a selection of scholarship covering historical developments in religious thinking. Topics include the origin of Catholicism in America, sexual liberation and religion in Europe, and the emergence of Atheism in Victorian England. This set also includes collections of sermons and essays from some of the most influential preachers of the nineteenth century.

This book draws the philosophical contribution of Martin Heidegger together with theological-spiritual insights from the East, especially that of Nikolai Berdyaev. Thus, it brings into dialogue the West with the East, and philosophy with theology. By doing so, it offers Christian theology an existential-spiritual language that is relevant and meaningful for the contemporary reader. In particular, the work explores Heidegger’s ‘being towards death’ (Sein zum Tode) as the basis for theological-philosophical thinking. Only the one who embraces ‘being towards death’ has the courage to think and poetize. This thinking, in turn, makes ‘being towards death’ possible, and in this circular movement of thinking and being, the mystery of being reveals itself and yet remains hidden. Since the work aims at demonstrating ‘being towards death’ through language, it transitions away from the common formulations and traditionally accepted ways of writing (dogmatic) theology towards an original, philosophical reflection on faith and spirituality. At different points, however, the work also retrieves the profound thoughts and theologies of the past, the insightful creativity of which cannot be denied.

“Authenticity” has begun to rival “development” as a key to understanding the political aspirations of the Islamic world. Almost everywhere modernity has laid waste to tradition, those habits and practices deemed to be timeless and true. Imperialism carried European notions of progress into Muslim-dominated parts of the globe, and subsequently Muslims themselves espoused Western practices, techniques, and philosophies. Regimes calling themselves liberal, socialist, and Arab nationalist all embraced modernity as their principal objective. Most of these regimes failed to create the promised better lives their citizens desired. Moreover, ordinary Muslims felt despair as modernity ripped apart families, exposed youngsters to the materialism and hedonism of Western entertainments, heightened social expectations, and undermined religious belief. Even though tradition has proved itself incapable of staving off modernity, the promises and premises of modern development literature have been called into question. Where is the truth around which Muslims can rally? Does modernity require a rejection of tradition? Does the embrace of Islamic ideas necessitate turning away from modernity? Robert D. Lee explores these compelling questions by presenting four contemporary Muslim writers—Muhammad Iqbal, Sayyid Qutb, ‘Ali Shari’ati, and Mohammed Arkoun—all of whom have refused to bow to such a dichotomy of modernity and tradition. This study examines their efforts, deeply influenced by European thinking, to find a truth beyond tradition and modernity—an “authentic” understanding of Islam upon which Muslims can build a future. All four thinkers believe such an authentic understanding can serve as the foundation for a new politics. Lee argues, however, that each of these versions of authenticity suffers shortcomings and falters in its efforts to move from the particularity of culture onto a grander scale of political organization appropriate for the modern world.