January 2015

Journey to Livingstone

This Life follows the evolution of Dr David Livingstone’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Livingstone) aspirations from his childhood in Blantyre to his death beside a swamp in Central Africa, and finally to his posthumous apotheosis. The author conceals none of Livingstone’s blemishes whether in dealings with his wife and family or in his psychotic approach to those whom he felt had opposed,

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Human Evolution

From the tens of thousands of books and papers on human evolution, where should one start? I would recommend Robin Dunbar’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Dunbar) 2014 introduction Human Evolution: A Pelican Introduction. The past 12,000 years represent the only time in the sweep of human history when there has been only one human species. How did we alone survive?

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The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics by Adrian Moore

Adrian William Moore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._W._Moore_(philosopher) and http://users.ox.ac.uk/~shug0255/) studied under Michael Dummett and is President of The Aristotelian Society (2014-2015). He has published (1990) The Infinite (London: Routledge). A revised second edition, with a new preface, was published in 2001. (1997) Points of View (Oxford: Oxford University Press) (2003) Noble in Reason, Infinite in Faculty: Themes and

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Descartes by Bernard Williams

Scientist, mathematician, traveller, soldier, and spy – Rene Descartes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes) has been called the ‘Father of Modern Philosophy’. Born in 1596 into an era still dominated by the medieval world view, he was one of the chief actors in the riveting intellectual drama that ushered in the modern world. His life coincided with an extraordinarily significant

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Intelligent Virtue by Julia Annas

Have you ever wondered whether your ethical life is all it should be? Have you wondered upon what foundation it should be built? Julia Annas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Annas and http://www.u.arizona.edu/~jannas/) offers her own account of, and defence of, a theoretical approach known as ‘Virtue Ethics‘ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_ethics). Intelligent Virtue (2011) presents a distinctive new account of virtue and happiness as central

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