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This is a bold and controversial feminist, philosophical critique of postmodernism. Whilst providing a brief and accessible introduction to postmodernist feminist thought, Enlightened Women is also a unique defence of realism and enlightenment philosophy. The first half of the book covers an analysis of some of the most influential postmodernist theorists, such as Luce Irigaray and Judith Butler. In the second half Alison Assiter advocates a return to modernism in feminism. She argues, against the current orthodoxy, that there can be a distinction between "sex" and "gender". For students trying to pick their way through the maze of literature in the area of postmodernist feminism, Enlightened Women is a concise guide to contemporary thought - as well as a radical contribution to the debate.
This text uses a case study approach to show how life-skills can be developed in a range of higher education subject areas. It also looks at the changes which can be made to the curriculum to facilitate this sort of learning. The case studies are set against a more theoretical background.
For well over a decade, half-baked analysis and phony science have been used by some feminists to side-track the women's movement into puritanical campaigns against sexual material and imaginative sexual exploration.Many feminists would say that this widely publicised version of feminism is itself sexist, and that the increasingly vocal anti-pornography campaigns are founded on theoretical dead-ends that have allowed feminists to deviate drastically from the basic goals of women's liberation.Bad Girls & Dirty Pictures puts these anti-sex, anti-porn arguments under the microscope of a more thorough and considered feminist analysis. It examines the flaws in the research that purports to prove ...
There has been a recent revival of interest in reading Kierkegaard as an ontologist, as a thinker who engages with questions about the kinds of entity or process that constitute ultimate reality. This new way of reading Kierkegaard stands alongside a revival of interest in ontology and metaphysics more generally. This highly original book concentrates on the claim that Kierkegaard focuses in part on ontological questions and on issues pertaining to the nature of being as a whole. Alison Assiter asserts that Being, for Kierkegaard, following Schelling, can be read in terms of conceptions of birthing—the capacity to give birth as well as the notion of a birthing body. She goes on to argue that the story offered by Kierkegaard in The Concept of Anxiety about the origin of freedom connects with a birthing body, and that Kierkegaard offers a speculative hypothesis, in terms of metaphors of birthing, about the nature of Being.
This book begins from the premise, which it seeks to elaborate, that the poorest human being shares with the richest, a natural nature. This, it is claimed, is not the trivial thesis it is sometimes represented as being. Rather, significant moral consequences flow from the assumption that all human beings share a set of natural needs. Using this starting point, the book also seeks to defend an objectivist epistemology.
Pornography affects all of us, men and women. It affects the way women are perceived by men, and the way women perceive themselves. But what exactly is pornography? A photograph that is pornography for some people is considered by others as art. Does it incite men to commit rape? Or does it prevent crimes against women? In assessing recent literature on the subject of pornography, Alison Assiter attempts to answer some of these questions.
Against the Modern World is the first history of Traditionalism, an important yet surprisingly little-known twentieth-century anti-modern movement. Comprising a number of often secret but sometimes very influential religious groups in the West and in the Islamic world, it affected mainstream and radical politics in Europe and the development of the field of religious studies in the United States, touching the lives of many individuals. French writer Rene Guenon rejected modernity as a dark age and sought to reconstruct the Perennial Philosophy - the central truths behind all the major world religions. Guenon stressed the urgent need for the West's remaining spiritual and intellectual elite t...
Many books about refugees focus on their trauma, loss, and victimhood. Refugees are often regarded as problems for governments and social services in the countries where they seek asylum. This unique book presents a very different view. Coupling existential themes with politics and psychology, Political Refugees tells the story of a number of Iranian political refugees, through case studies and through Armin Danesh’s own life story. Danesh has more than three decades of experience of working with refugees who have survived trauma and who continue to work for the causes close to their hearts. All the refugees presented here were politically engaged and suffered as a consequence. In their new home country, however, they not only survived but were reborn and forged new opportunities. The book demonstrates people's capacity to transform themselves through crisis. The stories told will be invaluable for organizations or individuals who study or work with refugees or anyone who has suffered extreme adversity.
Signature event context -- Summary of "Reiterating the differences"--Limited Inc a b c -- Afterword : toward an ethic of discussion.
Kierkegaard is no doubt a philosopher whose focus is inwardness and irreducible individuality. On the surface, he therefore seems to have little to teach us about the sphere of the political: not only was this dimension never explicitly addressed in the writings of the Danish philosopher, but also the positions he took with regard to such a domain where always marked by a strong critical attitude. Moreover, he appeared to be a conservative with regard to any movement towards democratization and equality, opposing liberal democracy as well as socialism, while not refraining from taking up explicitly misogynous positions. With this in mind, one could easily dismiss Kierkegaardian philosophy as...