Thomas S. Kuhn's classic book is now available with a new index.

In order to reflect on the morality of the health care market this paper critiques some of H. T. Engelhardt's presuppositions. Engelhardt has created the vivid term ‘moral stranger’ and suggested that there can be a ‘morality of moral strangers’. However his position relies either on certain necessary presuppositions which he leaves unmentioned or on presuppositions that are—in a strict sense—not moral ones. Engelhardt advocates the market economy as the guiding principle of health care, and claims that the market needs (...) no moral presuppositions. But when the preconditions of a functioning market are examined it turns out that a functioning market requires property and ownership, and that property and ownership are moral institutions. Therefore the application of the idea of the market to health care undoubtedly has morally serious consequences: most important, the difference between commodities and human beings is obscured. (shrink)

In this radical critique of contemporary social theory, Eugene Halton argues that both modernism and postmodernism are damaged philosophies whose acceptance of the myths of the mind/body dichotomy make them incapable of solving our social dilemmas. Claiming that human beings should be understood as far more than simply a form of knowledge, social construction, or contingent difference, Halton argues that contemporary thought has lost touch with the spontaneous passions—or enchantment—of life. Exploring neglected works in twentieth century social thought and philosophy—particularly (...) the writings of Lewis Mumford and Charles Peirce—as well as the work of contemporary writers such as Vaclav Havel, Maya Angelou, Milan Kundera, Doris Lessing, and Victor Turner, Halton argues that reason is dependent upon nonrational forces—including sentiment, instinct, conjecture, imagination, and experience. We must, he argues, frame our questions in a way which encompasses both enchantment and critical reason, and he offers an outline here for doing so. A passionate plea for a fundamental reexamination of the entrenched assumptions of the modern era, this book deals with issues of vital concern to modern societies and should be read by scholars across disciplines. Robert Bellah: "This is an original, incisive, and badly needed book. In prose as vigorous as his argument, Halton addresses issues urgent in many disciplines, as well as in our common culture." "Halton takes the 'ghost in the machine' as a dominant defining metaphor for modern thought and life, and criticizes it with gusto, wit, wide reading, and philosophical acumen."—Robert J. Mulvaney, _Review of Metaphysics_. (shrink)