In his book, Cook maintains that throughout his life Marshall was a convinced idealist, under the early influence of Ferrier, later strengthened by his reading of Hegel. This article aims to show that Marshall's interest in Hegelian philosophy is associated owith his endorsement of Spencer's evolutionism, rather than with Ferrier's dualistic philosophy. This opinion stems from, and leads to, a completely different interpretation of Marshall's early philosophical papers and their impact on his economics and social thought.

First published in 1949, Beyond Realism and Idealism argues for a consistency of idealism with realism, or synthesis of the two positions which should retain the essential cognitive meanings and values of both. The argument of this book falls into two main parts: chapters one to six are concerned with the argument for the transcendence of the opposition and chapter seven to ten with an attempt to develop in detail a position which can be described as beyond realism and idealism. The method of the first part of the study is dialectical in the broad sense of the term and chapters seven to ten are of a different character. The final chapter, the Epilogue, discusses the significance of a transcendence of realism and idealism for modern culture and philosophy. This is an important read for scholars and researchers of philosophy.

An eloquent tribute to the value of the liberal education

This work was originally published in 1902 & marked a watershed in the Russian Silver age, a vibrant cultural renaissance.

Do we determine our actions, or are our actions ruled by the structure of our society? Does our culture create us, or do we create our culture? Within history and social theory there is a fundamental division of opinion between those who explain human action by considering the intentions, reasons and motives of individuals and those who use broader social structures. Structural Idealism presents a theory of social and historical explanation which argues that “idealists” such as Hegel, who champion human agency, and “materialists” such as Marx, who support social structure, have grasped but part of a larger truth. The book contends that we have to explain human actions simultaneously by both the ideas human actors bring to a situation and the way in which previous actions have created social structures that condition those ideas. Through this realization we can see how all forms of knowledge, from the historical roots of modern philosophy to today’s popular culture, both condition and are conditioned by structural ideals. This book challenges our perception of how cultures and ideals are formed, and shows that while structural ideals allow people to co-operate as they work toward goals — their own or those of their community — these images of perfection, so easily accepted as the unalterable structure of our society, can be changed, and are changed, by individuals. Structural Idealism asks us to think beneath the surface of our society, and will be of special interest to philosophers, sociologists, historians and cultural theorists.

The great age of Russian philosophy spans the century between 1830 and 1930 - from the famous Slavophile-Westernizer controversy of the 1830s and 1840s, through the 'Silver Age' of Russian culture at the beginning of the twentieth century, to the formation of a Russian 'philosophical emigration' in the wake of the Russian Revolution. This volume is a major history and interpretation of Russian philosophy in this period. Eighteen chapters (plus a substantial introduction and afterword) discuss Russian philosophy's main figures, schools and controversies, while simultaneously pursuing a common central theme: the development of a distinctive Russian tradition of philosophical humanism focused on the defence of human dignity. As this volume shows, the century-long debate over the meaning and grounds of human dignity, freedom and the just society involved thinkers of all backgrounds and positions, transcending easy classification as 'religious' or 'secular'. The debate still resonates strongly today.

This book sheds light on how and why, early in the twentieth century, one set of economic ideas came to exert a preeminence, which has persisted to this day.

Evolutionism and Its Critics is a critical history of evolutionary theories in the social sciences and a defense of them against their many critics. Sanderson deconstructs not only the wide array of social evolutionary theories, but the criticisms of the antievolutionists. Deconstructing evolutionary theories means laying bare their fundamental epistemological, methodological, conceptual, and theoretical assumptions and principles. Deconstructing antievolutionism means showing just where and how the critics have, for the most part, gone wrong. But Evolutionism and Its Critics aims to reconstruct as well as deconstruct and does this by building on the shoulders of past giants of evolutionary theorizing a comprehensive evolutionary interpretation of human society based on abundant scientific and historical evidence.