5 Philosophy eBooks

Andreja Novakovic, "Hegel on Second Nature in Ethical Life"
Craig Stanford, "Upright: The Evolutionary Key to Becoming Human"
Supervenience and Normativity By Bartosz Brożek, Antonino Rotolo, Jerzy Stelmach
Dr Stephen Riley, "Legal Philosophy"
Toward Kantian Cosmopolitanism By Lorena Cebolla Sanahuja

*Andreja Novakovic, "Hegel on Second Nature in Ethical Life"

2017 | ISBN-10: 1107175968 | 260 pages | PDF | 2 MB
What does it take to be subjectively free in an objectively rational social order? In this book Andreja Novakovic offers a fresh interpretation of Hegel's account of ethical life by focusing on his concept of habit or 'second nature'. Novakovic addresses two central and difficult issues facing any interpretation of his Philosophy of Right: why Hegel thinks that it is is better to relate unreflectively to the laws of ethical life, and which forms of reflection, especially critical reflection, remain available within ethical life. Her interpretation draws on numerous parts of Hegel's system, particularly on his 'Anthropology' and his Phenomenology of Spirit, and also explores connections between his account and those of other philosophers. Her aim is to argue that Hegel has a compelling conception of the ordinary ethical standpoint which takes seriously both the virtues and the perils of reflection.

*Craig Stanford, "Upright: The Evolutionary Key to Becoming Human"

2003 | pages: 225 | ISBN: 0618302476 | PDF | 2,2 mb
What, in evolutionary terms, propelled us to become human? The answer lies not in our forebears’ big brains or their facility with language but in their ability to walk on two feet. That remarkable fact — standing and walking seem so mundane – only starts the drama that Craig Stanford, codirector of the Jane Goodall Research Center, tells of our origins.
Today scientists are finding far more evidence than ever before about our beginnings. The discoveries are prompting dramatic reappraisals of common beliefs about our past. Throw out the simple idea that millions of years ago some apes moved to the African savanna, where they evolved into runty hominids who eventually metamorphosed into us. Dump that textbook image of an ape transforming into a human in five stages. Newly found remnants of two-legged “proto-humans” show that our ancestry is much richer and more convoluted. In no way can we still think of ourselves as standing on the top rung of an evolutionary ladder of excellence.
But what about our tremendous thinking powers? Our brains could have started to grow because, as our ancestors adapted to standing and walking upright, they became more successful at hunting ever larger animals. The meatier diet could have fueled the increase in brain size. And the switch to standing and walking tall may have allowed our forebears to develop language, let alone take over the entire world as their home.
Describing his - and others' - latest research and interpretations, Stanford offers a fresh, galvanizing take on what made us human.

*Supervenience and Normativity By Bartosz Brożek, Antonino Rotolo, Jerzy Stelmach

English | PDF | 2017 | 183 Pages | ISBN : 3319610457 | 1.41 MB
The present collection represents an attempt to bring together several contributions to the ongoing debate pertaining to supervenience of the normative in law and morals and strives to be the first work that addresses the topic comprehensively. It addresses the controversies surrounding the idea of normative supervenience and the philosophical conceptions they generated, deserve a recapitulation, as well as a new impulse for further development.
Recently, there has been renewed interest in the concepts of normativity and supervenience. The research on normativity – a term introduced to the philosophical jargon by Edmund Husserl almost one hundred years ago – gained impetus in the 1990s through the works of such philosophers as Robert Audi, Christine Korsgaard, Robert Brandom, Paul Boghossian or Joseph Raz. The problem of the nature and sources of normativity has been investigated not only in morals and in relation to language, but also in other domains, e.g. in law or in the c
ontext of the theories of rationality. Supervenience, understood as a special kind of relation between properties and weaker than entailment, has become analytic philosophers’ favorite formal tool since 1980s. It features in the theories pertaining to mental properties, but also in aesthetics or the law.
In recent years, the ‘marriage’ of normativity and supervenience has become an object of many philosophical theories as well as heated debates. It seems that the conceptual apparatus of the supervenience theory makes it possible to state precisely some claims pertaining to normativity, as well as illuminate the problems surrounding it.

*Dr Stephen Riley, "Legal Philosophy"

2012 | ISBN-10: 1408277344 | 336 pages | PDF | 3 MB
Legal Philosophy offers an engaging introduction to the most important themes shared by law and philosophy. It examines the key concepts that characterise what law tries, or ought to try to do, providing analysis of what leading thinkers and theorists from varying, often conflicting, schools of thought have contributed to our understanding of them. It examines concepts central to law, such as “person,” “good,” “right,” “rules,” and “justice” and, by taking this approach, aims to develop your students’ skills around questioning and reasoning.

*Toward Kantian Cosmopolitanism By Lorena Cebolla Sanahuja

English | PDF | 2017 | 235 Pages | ISBN : 3319639870 | 2.06 MB
This book examines the history of cosmopolitanism from its origins in the ancient world up to its use in Kantian political philosophy. Taking the idea of ‘common property of the land’ as a starting point, the author makes the original case that attention to this concept is needed to properly understand the notion of cosmopolitan citizenship.Offering a reconstruction of cosmopolitanism from an interdisciplinary point of view, Toward Kantian Cosmopolitanism shows how the concept sits at the intersection between philosophical debates, legal realities and the origins of the construction of the discipline of international law. Essential reading for all researchers and advances students of cosmopolitanism, political philosophy and the history of international law, it broadens the current understanding of the concept of cosmopolitanism and reflects on cosmopolitan studies from a historical and philosophical point of view.