An inviting alternative to traditional texts in introductory logic, The Art of Reasoning is widely acclaimed for its conversational tone and accessible exposition of rigorous logical concepts.

This book was written primarily as a contribution to the field, but its plan excellently suits it for use as a text in courses in metaphysics, types of ...

We talk not only of enjoying music, but of understanding it. Music is often taken to have expressive import--and in that sense to have meaning. But what does music mean, and how does it mean? Stephen Davies addresses these questions in this sophisticated and knowledgeable overview of current theories in the philosophy of music. Reviewing and criticizing the aesthetic positions of recent years, he offers a spirited explanation of his own position. Davies considers and rejects in turn the positions that (...) music describes (like language), or depicts (like pictures), or symbolizes (in a distinctive fashion) emotions. Similarly, he resists the idea that music's expressiveness is to be explained solely as the composer's self-expression, or in terms of its power to evoke a response from the audience. Music's ability to describe emotions, he believes, is located within the music itself; it presents the aural appearance of what he calls emotion characteristics. The expressive power of music awakens emotions in the listener, and music is valued for this power although the responses are sometimes ones of sadness. Davies shows that appreciation and understanding may require more than recognition of and reaction to music's expressive character, but need not depend on formal musicological training. (shrink)

Since it was first published in Chinese in 1981, The Path of Beauty has been read widely and translated into several languages, becoming a classic in the study of Chinese aesthetics. The author, a noted philosopher and aesthetician, draws on examples of sculpture, painting, calligraphy, and poetry, among other sources, from throughout China's history to build a cogent and engaging argument concerning the nature of Chinese artistic values. While providing an historical overview of Chinese art from antiquity to modern times, (...) he examines as well the evolution of the sociological, psychological, philosophical, and spiritual underpinnings of Chinese culture. (shrink)

Madness and Modernism provides a phenomenological study of schizophrenic disorders, criticizing some standard conceptions of these disorders. Sass argues that many aspects of this group of disorders can actually involve more sophisticated (albeit dysfunctional) forms of mind and experience.

Gene H. Bell-Villada argues that What Art Is, by Torres and Kamhi, opens with a useful exposition of Rand's aesthetic theories. Unfortunately, once that task is completed, the book becomes mostly a rant against the twentieth century avant-garde, with little in the way of suggested alternatives. Though they offer a causal explanation for Modernism as the product of its practitioners' schizophrenia, they make no attempt at a socio-historical accounting for the emergence and triumph of vanguard art. Their dislike of the (...) bleakness of much Modernist literature shows a lack of understanding of the dark times in which its authors lived. (shrink)

GREGORY R. JOHNSON examines the link between Ayn Rand's ethics, which can be broadly characterized as Aristotelian, and her political philosophy, which can be broadly characterized as classical liberalism of the Lockean, natural rights variety. He maintains that Rand's argument for classical liberalism on the basis of the objectivity of values fails because of a reductionistic and excessively intellectualistic conception of human nature. In addition to discussing Rand's arguments, he surveys the Rand-influenced work of Douglas B. Rasmussen and Douglas J. (...) Den Uyl, as well as Tibor R. Machan and Tara Smith. (shrink)

An Essay on Liberation outlines the new possibilities for contemporary human liberation.

"World hypotheses" correspond to metaphysical systems, and they may be systematically judged by the canons of evidence and corroboration. In setting forth his root-metaphor theory and examining six such hypotheses—animism, mysticism, formism, mechanism, contextualism, and organicism—Pepper surveys the whole field of metaphysics. Because this book is an analytical study, it stresses issues rather than men. It seeks to exhibit the sources of these issues and to show that some are unnecessary; that the rest gather into clusters and are interconnected in (...) systems corresponding closely to the traditional schools of philosophy. The virtue of the root-metaphor method is that it puts metaphysics on a purely factual basis and pushes philosophical issues back to the interpretation of evidence. This book was written primarily as a contribution to the field, but its plan excellently suits it for use as a text in courses in metaphysics, types of philosophical theory, or present tendencies in philosophy. (shrink)

The bestselling biography of one of the 20th century's most remarkable and controversial writers. Author Barbara Branden, who knew Rand for nineteen years, provides a matchless portrait of this fiercely private and complex woman.

The author takes the reader on a tour that covers such topics as computers, evolution, Descartes, Schrodinger, and the nature of perception, language, and invididuality. He argues that biology provides the key to understanding the brain. Underlying his argument is the evolutionary view that the mind arose at a definite time in history. This book ponders connections between psychology and physics, medicine, philosophy, and more. Frequently contentious, Edelman attacks cognitive and behavioral approaches, which leave biology out of the picture, as (...) well as the currently fashionable view of the brain as a computer. (shrink)

An essential guide to the life and works of Ayn Rand, the book chronicles and summarizes her writings, presents information about her national and global impact—and the response to it—and provides the most comprehensive bibliography published to date. Written by an independent scholar who is not part of either the Ayn Rand establishment or the Ayn Rand detractor camp, The New Ayn Rand Companion builds on the foundation of the original. New materials about Rand's posthumous publications, the latest biographical information, (...) and summaries of books and articles about Rand, published since her death, have been added. Burgeoning interest in Rand, the publication of her Letters and Journals and Russian Writings, and the growing body of critical works necessitates an expanded and revised edition of the Ayn Rand Companion. This new edition is the only general reference work that covers the complete Rand corpus, including both those works published during her life and those published to date. (shrink)

In this beautifully written and brilliantly reasoned book, Ayn Rand throws a new light on the nature of art and its purpose in human life. Once again Miss Rand eloquently demonstrates her refusal to let popular catchwords and conventional ideas stand between her and the truth as she has discovered it. The Romantic Manifesto takes its place beside The Fountainhead as one of the most important achievements of our time.

Now available in paperback, this book analyzes the interrelation between the paintings and the theories on art and life of one of the great pioneers of abstract art. Carel Blotkamp provides the most lucid account available on Mondrian, for the austerity of his abstract paintings and the mystical character of his writings have caused much misunderstanding and confusion. The author's rewarding exploration of Mondrian's development as an artist -- a process punctuated by false starts, close attachments abruptly terminated, and forced (...) moves to and from Paris and from London to New York -- breaks new ground in our understanding of this seminal figure in the history of modern art. (shrink)

The Postlude, written for this edition, looks back at the predictions made more than twenty-five years ago and speculates about what the coming decades may hold ...

"A provocative interpretation of the political and cultural history of the early cold war years.... By insisting that art, even art of the avant-garde, is part of the general culture, not autonomous or above it, he forces us to think differently not only about art and art history but about society itself."--New York Times Book Review.

Randall R. Dipert argues that, at first glance, Rand's view of representational arts, such as literature and the visual arts, might seem to have little applicability to pure music. Nevertheless, Rand took music without words as a serious art form, and struggled to develop a plausible theory of music. As Torres and Kamhi note in What Art Is, Rand's approach probably contradicted certain elements of her full aesthetic theory. But her theory of music and its relationship to emotions offers some (...) fascinating suggestions that accord with—and in some respects go beyond—the best recent thinking in musical aesthetics. (shrink)

Barry Vacker argues that Torres and Kamhi's What Art Is seems destined to become the seminal explication of Randian aesthetics. But the authors conflate a psychology of art with a philosophy of aesthetics, and, in so doing, embrace several aesthetic divides that have plagued modern arts and culture—art versus beauty, art versus material function, and order versus chaos. What Art Is presents a theory of aesthetics that is inherently anti-aesthetic, ultimately seeking to preserve a past order against the chaotic future.

Memoirs of a twenty-year relationship between the author and Ayn Rand, who was his friend, mentor, lover, and enemy. No index. No bibliography. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Lester Hunt argues that, despite its being too narrow in the topics it treats, Louis Torres and Michelle Marder Kamhi's What Art Is offers a fascinating account of Ayn Rand's views on art and, in addition, constitutes a major contribution to Objectivist aesthetics.

Michael Newberry argues that, contrary to Rand, Torres and Kamhi (authors of What Art Is) do not recognize the connections between major art forms and the metaphysical questions they seek to answer. Many of the authors' conclusions, including their re-definition of Rand's concept of art, are based on a negation of these connections. But such links are crucial to Rand's concept of metaphysical valuejudgments; Newberry provides examples in support of Rand's view.

ROGER E. BISSELL challenges Ayn Rand's interpretation of the nature of musical perception. Abandoning her earlier Jamesian view of sensation and perception for the flawed Helmholtizian model, Rand overlooked the musical-literary analogy and its usefulness in understanding and evaluating musical experience. Using Rand's analysis of esthetic "identification" and findings of psychophysiological research, Bissell aims to correct this error and to make a stronger case for the underlying unity of the arts.

ROBERT L. CAMPBELL explains how Ayn Rand 's epistemology drew on ideas and findings from the Cognitive Revolution, the change in American psychology during the 1950' s that re-established mental processes as an object of study and overthrew behaviorism. Particularly noticeable is Rand 's reliance on George Miller's conclusions regarding limited cognitive capacity, and her broad agreement with Noam Chomsky's devastating critique of B. F. Skinner 's behaviorism. Both Rand 's points of contact-and differences-with the Cognitive Revolution are discussed. Once (...) the impact of the Cognitive Revolution on Rand is recognized, her insistence that philosophy owes nothing to psychology becomes harder to defend. (shrink)

John Hospers endeavors to relate his thoughts on phñosophy of art to those of Ayn Rand, both in her published work and in discussions he had with her. In such areas as artistic creativity, artistic expression, representation, the role of feelings in art, truth and knowledge in the arts, sense of life, beauty, and aesthetic value, Hospers describes his agreements and disagreements with Rand.