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This is a case study of astrology's changing status as an academic discipline in the sixteenth century. It provides fascinating new insights in the practice of Renaissance astrology, its social position, and its profound impact on the changes in early modern European science.
Paper edition of a 1986 work in which Braude (philosophy, U. of Maryland) carefully speculates about an oft-maligned aspect of parapsychology, with insights relevant to the progress of psychology as well as the philosophy of science and of the mind. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This is the first systematic history of U.S. efforts to help forge a settlement between India and Pakistan on the "Kashmir question." Former ambassador Howard B. Schaffer draws on interviews with senior American officials, historical research, and his decades of experience in South Asia to explain and evaluate three generations of U.S. activities and policies toward the volatile region. The Limits of Influence chronicles America's views on—and involvement in—the long-standing struggle waged between India and Pakistan over Kashmir since their independence in 1947. He brings the discussion up to the current day, concluding with recommendations on the role Washington might usefully play in resolving the long-simmering dispute, thus reducing the dangerous tensions between two nuclear-armed archrivals in a region of great importance. His book is a fascinating piece of diplomatic history as well as an instructive look at the present and future of the Kashmir dilemma and its impact on vital U.S. concerns. "Indian and Pakistani positions on the terms of a settlement have grown closer over the past few years. A quiet shove by Washington may be more likely than before to help push the two governments over the elusive finish line they have never been able to cross on their own. And the critical part Pakistan plays in the war on terrorism has added to the importance of a Kashmir settlement to major American interests in South Asia and beyond...." —From the Introduction
Challenging firmly established assumptions about the influence of child rearing on the development of children's personalities and intelligence, this book contends that there has been too heavy an emphasis on the family as the bearer of culture. It draws from behavior genetic research to reveal how environmental variables such as social class, parental warmth, and one- versus two-parent households may be empty of causal influence on child outcomes. The book examines the theoretical basis of socialization science and describes, in great detail, what behavior genetic studies can teach us about environmental influence.
The Limits of Free Will presents influential articles by Paul Russell concerning free will and moral responsibility. The problems arising in this field of philosophy, which are deeply rooted in the history of the subject, are also intimately related to a wide range of other fields, such as law and criminology, moral psychology, theology, and, more recently, neuroscience. These articles were written and published over a period of three decades, although most have appeared in the past decade. Among the topics covered: the challenge of skepticism; moral sentiment and moral capacity; necessity and the metaphysics of causation; practical reason; free will and art; fatalism and the limits of agency; moral luck, and our metaphysical attitudes of optimism and pessimism. Some essays are primarily critical in character, presenting critiques and commentary on major works or contributions in the contemporary scene. Others are mainly constructive, aiming to develop and articulate a distinctive account of compatibilism. The general theory advanced by Russell, which he describes as a form of "critical compatibilism", rejects any form of unqualified or radical skepticism; but it also insists that a plausible compatibilism has significant and substantive implications about the limits of agency and argues that this licenses a metaphysical attitude of (modest) pessimism on this topic. While each essay is self-standing, there is nevertheless a core set of themes and issues that unite and link them together. The collection is arranged and organized in a format that enables the reader to appreciate and recognize these links and core themes.
This work was the first sustained philosophical study of psychic phenomena to follow C.D. Broad's LECTURES ON PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, written nearly twenty years earlier. The author clearly defines the categories of psychic phenomena, surveys the most compelling experimental data, and traces their implications for the philosophy of science and the philosophy of mind. He considers carefully the abstract presuppositions underlying leading theories of psychic phenomena, and he offers bold criticisms of both mechanistic analyses of communication and psychophysical identity theories. In addition, he challenges the received view that experimental repeatability is the paramount criterion for evaluating parapsychological research, and he exposes the deep confusions underlying Jung's concept of synchronicity.
Legislative term limits remain a controversial feature of the American political landscape. Term Limits and Their Consequences provides a clear, comprehensive, and nonpartisan look at all aspects of this contentious subject. Stanley M. Caress and Todd T. Kunioka trace the emergence of the grassroots movement that supported term limits and explain why the idea of term limits became popular with voters. At the same time, they put term limits into a broader historical context, illustrating how they are one of many examples of the public's desire to reform government. Utilizing an impressive blend of quantitative data and interviews, Caress and Kunioka thoughtfully discuss the impact of term limits, focusing in particular on the nation's largest state, California. They scrutinize voting data to determine if term limits have altered election outcomes or the electoral chances of women and minority candidates, and reveal how restricting a legislator's time in office has changed political careers and ambitions. Designed to transform American politics, term limits did indeed bring change, but in ways ranging far beyond those anticipated by both their advocates and detractors.
Nation states are not as independent as they seem. In The Limits of Independence, Adam Watson explores how independence of action is limited by both a tightening net of interdependence between countries and by the rules which the 'international society of states' has put in place to manage order and change. He also argues that the external and internal behaviour of independent states is increasingly determined by the influence of the richest and strongest powers. After setting out the general framework of restraint imposed on states, Adam Watson details the attempts to limit national sovereignties from Napoleon to the European Union. The Limits of Independence discusses pressures on smaller states and relates reactions against independence to current international theory and the practice of world powers.
History casts a spell on our minds more powerful than science or religion. It does not root us in the past at all. It rather flatters us with the belief in our ability to recreate the world in our image. It is a form of self-assertion that brooks no opposition or dissent and shelters us from the experience of time. So argues Constantin Fasolt in The Limits of History, an ambitious and pathbreaking study that conquers history's power by carrying the fight into the center of its domain. Fasolt considers the work of Hermann Conring (1606-81) and Bartolus of Sassoferrato (1313/14-57), two antipodes in early modern battles over the principles of European thought and action that ended with the triumph of historical consciousness. Proceeding according to the rules of normal historical analysis—gathering evidence, putting it in context, and analyzing its meaning—Fasolt uncovers limits that no kind of history can cross. He concludes that history is a ritual designed to maintain the modern faith in the autonomy of states and individuals. God wants it, the old crusaders would have said. The truth, Fasolt insists, only begins where that illusion ends. With its probing look at the ideological underpinnings of historical practice, The Limits of History demonstrates that history presupposes highly political assumptions about free will, responsibility, and the relationship between the past and the present. A work of both intellectual history and historiography, it will prove invaluable to students of historical method, philosophy, political theory, and early modern European culture.
Developing countries commonly adopt reforms to improve their governments yet they usually fail to produce more functional and effective governments. Andrews argues that reforms often fail to make governments better because they are introduced as signals to gain short-term support. These signals introduce unrealistic best practices that do not fit developing country contexts and are not considered relevant by implementing agents. The result is a set of new forms that do not function. However, there are realistic solutions emerging from institutional reforms in some developing countries. Lessons from these experiences suggest that reform limits, although challenging to adopt, can be overcome by focusing change on problem solving through an incremental process that involves multiple agents.