Spectacles and Predicaments
Essays in Social Theory
- Author: Ernest Gellner
- Date Published: September 1991
- availability: Available
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521424349
Paperback
Looking for an inspection copy?
This title is not currently available on inspection
-
This collection of essays is concerned with philosophy, politics and society. The first group examines what philosophers such as Hegel, Wittgenstein and Chomsky have said or implied about the nature of society in general. A second group examines the cognitive predicament, questions concerning the nature of the possibility of knowledge, as handled by a thinker such as Descartes, or the Pragmatist tradition. The third group handles the political predicament and deals specifically with problems such as nationalism, the nature of the liberalisation process, the future of the welfare and consumer state and the option facing underdeveloped societies. The essays deal not only with classical theories concerning these problems but also with various recent discussions. The volume will interest many individual philosophers and social theorists and those with a more general interest in our culture and political discussions.
Reviews & endorsements
'Each essay is written with verve and wit and each is a splendid example of a particular genre, the erudite and independently minded commentary on contemporary cultural and political developments …' British Book News
See more reviews'… another gathering of superb essays.' The Times Educational Supplement
'… Gellner's erudite analysis of our knowledge and interpretation of reality is constantly pertinent and provocative.' Psychological Medicine
'… his essays on politics in particular are vivd and thought-provoking pieces of work.' New Society
Customer reviews
Not yet reviewed
Be the first to review
Review was not posted due to profanity
×Product details
- Date Published: September 1991
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521424349
- length: 396 pages
- dimensions: 216 x 140 x 22 mm
- weight: 0.5kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Editorial preface I. C. Jarvie and J. Agassi
Part I. Understanding Humanity:
1. The absolute in braces
2. Ethnomethodology: the re-enchantment industry or the Californian way of subjectivity
3. A Wittgensteinian philosophy of (or against) the Social sciences
4. Period piece
5. Chomsky
6. Notes towards a theory of ideology
Part II. The Cognitive Predicament:
7. Options of belief
8. The pure enquirer
9. An ethic of cognition
10. Beyond truth and falsehood, or no method in my madness
11. The last pragmatist, or the behaviourist Platonist
12. Pragmatism and the important of being earnest
Part III. The Political Predicament:
13. Nationalism, or the new confessions of a justified Edinburgh sinner
14. A social contract in search of an idiom: the demise of the Danegeld state
15. The withering away of the dentistry state
16. From the Revolution to liberalisation
17. Plaidoyer pur une libéralisation manquée
18. Gone and gone forever
19. The Kathmandu option
Sources
Bibliography of Gellner, 1972–78
Indexes.
Related Books
related journals
Sorry, this resource is locked
Please register or sign in to request access. If you are having problems accessing these resources please email lecturers@cambridge.org
Register Sign in» Proceed
You are now leaving the Cambridge University Press website. Your eBook purchase and download will be completed by our partner www.ebooks.com. Please see the permission section of the www.ebooks.com catalogue page for details of the print & copy limits on our eBooks.
Continue ×Are you sure you want to delete your account?
This cannot be undone.
Thank you for your feedback which will help us improve our service.
If you requested a response, we will make sure to get back to you shortly.
×