Plato and a
Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding
Philosophy Through
Jokes
by Thomas
Cathcart and Daniel Klein
Here's a lively, hilarious,
not-so-reverent crash course through the
great philosophical traditions, schools,
concepts, and thinkers. It's Philosophy
101 for everyone who knows not to take all
this heavy stuff too seriously. Some of
the Big Ideas are Existentialism (what do
Hegel and Bette Midler have in common?),
Philosophy of Language (how to express
what it's like being stranded on a desert
island with Halle Berry), Feminist
Philosophy (why, in the end, a man is
always a man), and much more. Finally --
it all makes sense!
The Secrets
of Judas: The Story of the Misunderstood
Disciple and His Lost
Gospel
by James M.
Robinson
This book includes:
An historical examination of
biblical writings about Judas and of
references to him found in ancient
sources outside of the Bible.
The reasons the case against Judas
is not as clear as tradition has
taught.
The dramatic story of the recent
discovery of a fourth-century Coptic
document titled "The Gospel of Judas
Iscariot" and of the document's secret
sale by a Middle Eastern antiquities
dealer that led to its acquisition by a
Swiss foundation.
Professor Robinson says: "I write as a
scholar, and, as you will see as you read
my narration, I have been involved to a
very large extent over the past generation
in this adventure. Yet you will also see
me, in my capacity as scholar, expressing
dismay, even disgust, over much of what
has gone on. I lay it all out, with as
much documentation as I can muster, for
you to see for yourself. ... But it has
been kept under wraps until now, to
maximize its financial gain for its Swiss
owners. The grand expose is being
performed by the National Geographic
Society, timed for the greatest public
impact, right at Easter. Those on the
inside have been bought off (no doubt with
considerably more than thirty pieces of
silver), and sworn to silence on a stack
of Bibles -- or on a stack of papyrus
leaves."
The Jesus
Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in
History
by Michael
Baigent
What if everything you think you know
about Jesus is wrong? In The Jesus
Papers, Michael Baigent reveals the
truth about Jesus's life and crucifixion.
Despite -- or rather because of -- all the
celebration and veneration that have
surrounded the figure of Jesus for
centuries, Baigent asserts that Jesus and
the circumstances leading to his death
have been heavily mythologized.
As a religious historian and a leading
expert in the field of arcane knowledge,
Baigent has unequaled access to hidden
archives, secret societies, Masonic
records, and the private collections of
antiquities traders and their moneyed
clients. Using that access to full
advantage, Baigent explores the religious
and political climate in which Jesus was
born and raised, examining not only the
conflicts between the Romans and the Jews,
but the strife within the different
factions of the Jewish Zealot movement. He
chronicles the migrations of Jesus's
family, his subsequent exposure to other
cultures, and the events, teachings, and
influences that were most likely to have
shaped his early years. Baigent also
uncovers the inconsistencies and biases in
the accounts of the major historians of
Jesus's time, including Josephus, Pliny,
and Tacitus. The enduring influence of
these accounts in forming our most common
conceptions of Jesus reveals that spin is
not a new phenomenon.
Taking us back to sites that over the
last twenty years he has meticulously
explored, studied, and in some instances
excavated for the first time, Baigent
provides a detailed account of his
groundbreaking discoveries, including many
never-before-seen photos. The evidence he
has uncovered has lead him to make
shocking new assertions that threaten the
conventional account of Jesus's life and
death and shake the very foundation of
Western thought, based as it is upon the
assumption of Jesus's divinity.
Ultimately, his investigation raises the
hope that we may gain a new understanding
of Jesus.
The
Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz,
Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern
World
by Matthew
Stewart
A drama of ideas as urgent and
compelling as Copenhagen;a dance of
personalities as colorful as in
Wittgenstein's Poker.
Philosophy in the late seventeenth
century was a dangerous business. No
careerist could afford to know the
reclusive philosopher known as an "atheist
Jew," Baruch de Spinoza. Yet the wildly
ambitious young genius Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz became obsessed with Spinoza's
writings, wrote him clandestine letters,
and ultimately called on Spinoza in person
at his home in The Hague.
Both men were at the center of the
intense religious, political, and personal
battles that gave birth to the modern age.
One was a hermit with many friends; the
other, a socialite no one trusted. One
believed in a God whom almost nobody
thought divine; the other defended a God
in whom he probably did not believe. Their
characters and ways of life defined their
philosophies. In this exquisitely written
philosophical romance of attraction and
repulsion, greed and virtue, religion and
heresy, Matthew Stewart dramatizes a
titanic clash of beliefs that still
continues today.
Breaking
the Spell: Religion as a Natural
Phenomenon
by Daniel C.
Dennett
For a growing number of people, there
is nothing more important than religion.
It is an integral part of their marriage,
child rearing, and community. In this
daring new book, distinguished philosopher
Daniel C. Dennett takes a hard look at
this phenomenon and asks why. Where does
our devotion to God come from and what
purpose does it serve? Is religion a blind
evolutionary compulsion or a rational
choice? In Breaking the Spell,
Dennett argues that the time has come to
shed the light of science on the
fundamental questions of faith.
In a spirited narrative that ranges
widely through history, philosophy, and
psychology, Dennett explores how organized
religion evolved from folk beliefs and why
it is such a potent force today. Deftly
and lucidly, he contends that the "belief
in belief" has fogged any attempt to
rationally consider the existence of God
and the relationship between divinity and
human need.
Breaking the Spell is not an
antireligious screed but rather an
eyeopening exploration of the role that
belief plays in our lives, our
interactions, and our country. With the
gulf between rationalists and adherents of
"intelligent design" widening daily,
Dennett has written a timely and
provocative book that will be read and
passionately debated by believers and
nonbelievers alike.
No god but
God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of
Islam, by Reza Aslan
Are Islam and the West on a collision
course, or headed toward a new era of
understanding and cooperation? The
brilliant young scholar Reza Aslan is one
of a handful of thinkers developing a
compelling -- and profoundly hopeful --
alternative to the widely accepted "clash
of civilization" theory that pits East
against West in an apocalyptic struggle.
He makes the powerful and persuasive
argument that the violence and extremism
currently seizing the Middle East are the
last gasps of small, doomed religious
factions, not the beginning of a horrific
future, as many have predicted.
This is a book both timely and
timeless. In it the author explains the
faith of Islam, presenting its battles and
schisms as part of an ongoing evolution as
it responds to the social, cultural,
political, and temporal circumstances of
those who are telling it. Aslan writes
that what is taking place now in the
Muslim world is an internal conflict
between Muslims, not an external battle
between Islam and the West. The West is
merely a bystander -- an unwary yet
complicit casualty of a rivalry that is
raging in Islam over who will write the
next chapter in its story.
An Inquiry
Into Ancient Greek Realism: Words Do Not
Matter, by Michael Bakaoukas, M.Sc.,
Ph.D.
In general, the purpose of this book is
to answer the question: "What kind of
realism fits and explains the ancient
Greek mentality?" To accomplish this task,
the book has the following objectives:
To find out to what extent ancient
Greek Realism involves at least the
claim that there is a reality
independent of us and our minds, and
that what we think understand and
recognize does not necessarily exhaust
what that reality involves;
To show that ancient Greek realism
is compatible with a modern
non-linguistic, non-analytical
philosophical realism, with a direct
realist causal theory of perception and
knowledge, and with commonsense
realism;
To show that this kind of realism
is the most influential way in which
ancient Greeks view the world and their
life;
To examine the ethics of ancient
Greek realism and to see how modern
readers and specifically 23 American
students interpret (and respond to)
ancient Greek realism as a way of
life;
To examine the anti-realist
sceptical trends in ancient Greek
thought and the relationship between
skepticism and anti-realism;
To see what is the modern version
of Ancient Greek Realism according to
The Radical Academy, Center for Applied
Philosophy (Oregon, USA).
Dr.
Bakaoukas received his doctorate in
ancient Greek philosophy from the
University of Athens (Greece). He is
currently teaching philosophy at the
University of Piraeus, at the Technical
and Vocational Teacher Training Institute
in Greece, and at the College Year in
Athens, International Center for Hellenic
and Mediterranean Studies. For many years
he has been the consulting fellow in Greek
Philosophy for The Radical Academy.
Note:
Dr. Adler, Dr. Dolhenty and The Radical
Academy are spotlighted in the above
book.
In the "Enneads," third century mystic
philosopher Plotinus synthesized a
thousand years of accumulated Greek wisdom
with his own profound mystical
experiences. What is the nature of God? Of
spirit? Of soul? In what fashion can God
be realized? How can the validity of
spiritual experiences be tested? "Return
to the One" presents Plotinus's compelling
answers to such ageless questions in a
refreshing modern style. Whatever your
spiritual beliefs, you will find yourself
challenged and stimulated by Plotinus's
matchless blend of rationality and
mysticism.
Dr.
Bakaoukas received his doctorate in
ancient Greek philosophy from the
University of Athens (Greece). He is
currently teaching philosophy at the
University of Piraeus, at the Technical
and Vocational Teacher Training Institute
in Greece, and at the College Year in
Athens, International Center for Hellenic
and Mediterranean Studies. For many years
he has been the consulting fellow in Greek
Philosophy for The Radical Academy.