Showing titles in Logic & Language

Tracing 25 centuries of human history, from the fourth century BC to the present day, Manguel dedicates each of his chapters to a single character - ranging from our best-known thinkers, scientists, and artists to seemingly minor figures of whom we know little more than one inspired utterance - in whom he identifies a particular way of asking the question "why?"

Why do we love to swear so much? Why do we get so offended when others do it? In this lively and amusing exploration of the various puzzles that surround swearing, philosopher Rebecca Roache argues that what makes swearing offensive is not really the words at all: the offensiveness lies in what we don't say. The unspoken—and usually unconscious—inferences that speakers and listeners make about each other are key to explaining swearwords' capacity to shock.

Un libro que retoma la filosofía antigua para enseñarnos qué hace a un buen líder y cómo podemos ser mejores personas. ¿Podemos convertirnos en mejores seres humanos y ayudar a otros a serlo? ¿Es posible lograr que los líderes de nuestra sociedad se preocupen por que la humanidad prospere no solo económica y materialmente, sino también espiritualmente? En el año 430 a. C., Sócrates quiso enseñar al vanidoso y ambicioso estadista Alcibíades cómo ser una buena persona, pero fracasó estrepitosamente.

Why can’t you light a candle in a spaceship? What books are bad for you? Is nature natural? Every year Oxford and Cambridge’s learned professors pose such curious conundrums to potential students to separate the wheat from the chaff, and the clever from the both of them. Do You Think You’re Clever? provides dazzling answers to 60 of these infamously perplexing problems... How would you measure up against Oxbridge’s sharpest minds?

Here's the deal. You have tried various methods to understand how the world around you works in order to live a fair life with safety and happiness, but sometimes, you still feel insecure about making important decisions. You would like to gain more awareness and wisdom to make the right decision and make your life better and happier.

A mind-expanding, deeply humane tour of language(s) - and those who speak, study and invent them - by the best-selling author of Born on a Blue Day and Thinking in Numbers. Is vocabulary destiny? Why do clocks 'talk' to the Nahua people of Mexico? Will AI researchers ever produce true human-machine dialogue? In this mesmerizing collection of essays, Daniel Tammet answers these and many other questions about the intricacy and profound power of language.

Irony and sarcasm are two of the most misused, misapplied, and misunderstood words in our conversational lexicon. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, psycholinguist Roger Kreuz offers an enlightening and concise overview of the life and times of these two terms, mapping their evolution from Greek philosophy and Roman rhetoric to modern literary criticism to emojis.

This work sets forth a theory which is speculative in nature, there being no verifying experiments. It is based on the idea of the reversibility of everything in time; that is, that every type of process has its time image, a corresponding process which is its exact reverse with respect to time.

This volume also includes a collection of essays entitled The Educational Frontier, Dewey's articles on logic, the outlawry of war, and philosophy for the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, and his reviews of Alfred North Whitehead's Adventures of Ideas, Martin Schutze's Academic Illusions in the Field of Letters and the Arts, and Rexford G. Tugwell's Industrial Discipline and the Governmental Arts.

If you want to impress people with your critical-thinking skills, then check out this comprehensive audiobook with two manuscripts in one: Critical Thinking and Logical Fallacies.

Despite 21st-century fears of an "epidemic" of loneliness, its history has been sorely neglected. A Biography of Loneliness offers a radically new interpretation of loneliness as an emotional language and experience. Using letters and diaries, philosophical tracts, political discussions, and medical literature from the 18th century to the present, historian of the emotions Fay Bound Alberti argues that loneliness is not a historical, universal phenomenon. It is, in fact, a modern emotion: before 1800, its language did not exist.

In a letter of 1932, Karl Popper described Die beiden Grundprobleme der Erkenntnistheorie–The Two Fundamental Problems of the Theory of Knowledge–as ‘…a child of crises, above all of …the crisis of physics.' The two fundamental problems of knowledge that lie at the center of the book are the problem of induction, that although we are able to observe only a limited number of particular events, science nevertheless advances unrestricted universal statements; and the problem of demarcation, which asks for a separating line between empirical science and non-science.

There is a cause, or a reason, behind everything that happens. This is the fundamental view behind the classical proposition the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which, in 1813, Schopenhauer chose as his subject for further examination in his doctoral dissertation On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason....

The Thinking Toolbox has been the best selling text for teaching critical thinking skills and introduction to logic for over 15 years. This book is like a toolbox, full of different kinds of tools you can use for different thinking tasks. Just as you use the wrench in a regular tool box to fix the sink, so you can use the tools we give you in this book to solve thinking problems.

Every day many people will try to change your mind, but they won't reason with you. Instead you'll be nudged, anchored, incentivised and manipulated in barely noticeable ways. It's a profound shift in the way we interact with one another. Philosopher James Garvey explores the hidden story of persuasion and the men and women in the business of changing our minds.

Do you feel like your coaching sessions are just going in circles after trying your best to help your clients change but getting nowhere? Have you ever felt like there must be a more effective way to empower your clients to embrace change and achieve remarkable results? You’ve got the certifications, the right gear, and even the perfect ambiance in your coaching space. But something's missing… Your clients listen but don't seem to move forward. It's like watching a car stuck in the mud — lots of effort, but no progress.

The history of Western thought contains hundreds of statements by philosophers testifying to the use of esoteric writing in their own work or others'. Despite this well-documented history, however, esotericism is often dismissed today as a rare occurrence. But by ignoring esotericism, we risk cutting ourselves off from a full understanding of Western philosophical thought. Arthur M. Melzer serves as our guide in this engaging history of philosophical esotericism. Walking listeners through both an ancient and a modern esoteric work, he explains what esotericism is - and is not.

Logic is often perceived as having little to do with the rest of philosophy, and even less to do with real life. In this lively and accessible introduction, Graham Priest shows how wrong this conception is. He explores the philosophical roots of the subject, explaining how modern formal logic deals with issues ranging from the existence of God and the reality of time to paradoxes of probability and decision theory. Along the way, the basics of formal logic are explained in simple, non-technical terms, showing that logic is a powerful and exciting part of modern philosophy.

All effective debaters, whether they know it or not, employ Aristotle's 3 basic principles of effective argument that form the spine of Rhetoric. In Poetics, Aristotle draws a dramatic distinction between poetry and history. This collection also includes Aristotle's body of work that has come to be identified as Logic.

This book will help you to learn everyday Witchcraft on your own, in about 10 minutes a day. The Solitary Witch’s Green Book is a brief but complete manual of traditional witchcraft which can be useful to beginners and intermediate level Witches who practice mostly alone. You will learn many secrets of Witchcraft, which will help you shape your magical path and cast your own spells in no time. The book is designed as a six-week plan with optional small practical tasks for every day, which you can complete in a notebook or journal. It is much more than a Witchcraft spell book.

Mysticism and Logic. The first essay, which gives its title to the volume, endeavors to define the respective spheres of logic and mysticism. Bertrand Russell describes this and the four essays that follow as “entirely popular”.

In the second edition of this witty and infectious book, Madsen Pirie builds upon his guide to using - and indeed abusing - logic in order to win arguments. By including new chapters on how to win arguments in writing, in the pub, with a friend, on Facebook and in 140 characters (on Twitter), Pirie provides the complete guide to triumphing in altercations ranging from the everyday to the downright serious.

“A thinking mind is an active mind” they say. This book is meant for general consumption, specifically for children and teenagers between the ages of seven to 16. This book was inspired by you, yes you! And it aims at clarifying and making their minds ready for the outside world as they grow. It is an avenue for youths of these ages to put on their thinking caps and questioning spirits so they can know more about the world they live in. This book has many benefits, resources, and qualities to add to their lives, as well as impact to make in their daily lives.

When Moral Politics was first published two decades ago, it redefined how Americans think and talk about politics through the lens of cognitive political psychology. Today, George Lakoff's classic text has become all the more relevant, as liberals and conservatives have come to hold even more vigorously opposed views of the world, with the underlying assumptions of their respective worldviews at the level of basic morality.

"Philosophy is not a theory," asserted Austro-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), "but an activity." In this 1921 opus, his only philosophical work published during his lifetime, Wittgenstein defined the object of philosophy as the logical clarification of thoughts and proposed the solution to most philosophic problems by means of a critical method of linguistic analysis.

Each year,John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org, challenges some of the world's greatest scientists, artists, and philosophers to answer a provocative question crucial to our time. In 2014 he asked 175 brilliant minds to ponder: What scientific idea needs to be put aside in order to make room for new ideas to advance? The answers are as surprising as they are illuminating.

Le bon sens est la chose au monde la mieux partagée, car chacun pense en être si bien pourvu que ceux même qui sont les plus difficiles à contenter en toute chose, n'ont point coutume d'en désirer plus qu'ils en ont.

As Douglas Adams points out, if there is no final answer to the question "what is the meaning of life?" 42 is as good or bad an answer as any other. Indeed, 42 quotes might be even better! Gary Cox guides us through 42 of the most misunderstood, misquoted, provocative, and significant quotes in the history of philosophy, providing witty and compelling commentary along the way.

For all those sick of politicians and their slick spin, or bored of broadcasters who bombard and bully their hapless interviewees, Do They Think You’re Stupid? has the answers. Written by the author of the best-selling The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, these short, stimulating capsules of philosophy cut through the woolliest of rhetoric to identify the faulty reasoning and argumentative strategies that are used around us every day.

A guide to deprogramming yourself from thoughts.

It is widely accepted that political discourse in recent years has become more openly racist and more accepting of wildly implausible conspiracy theories. Dogwhistles and Figleaves explores ways in which such changes—both of which defied previously settled norms of political speech—have been brought about. Jennifer Saul shows that two linguistic devices, dogwhistles and figleaves, have played a crucial role.

Think like Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, and Charles Darwin. Great geniuses before us have uncovered certain key principles on their path to greatness. You can learn those principles now, without all of the sweat, tears, and costly mistakes. Imagine that you could tap into the minds of many great geniuses. Think how they could help you solve challenging problems, broaden your mental horizons, and avoid common pitfalls. They actually can, if we study the principles that they lived by, and incorporate them into our lives.