Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels (50 volume set)

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Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels (50 volume set)

Manufacturer: International Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000CSEEZM

Product Description

The complete 50 volume set. Each volume contains notes and index.

The Communist Manifesto (Signet Classics)

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The Hobo Philosopher
Must have for any wannabe idealist
Political Classic...read for historical insight
A Must Read
A Misleading Edition

The Communist Manifesto (Signet Classics)
Karl Marx , Friedrich Engels , and Martin Malia
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451527100

Amazon.com

"A spectre is haunting Europe," Karl Marx and Frederic Engels wrote in 1848, "the spectre of Communism." This new edition of The Communist Manifesto, commemorating the 150th anniversary of its publication, includes an introduction by renowned historian Eric Hobsbawm which reminds us of the document's continued relevance. Marx and Engels's critique of capitalism and its deleterious effect on all aspects of life, from the increasing rift between the classes to the destruction of the nuclear family, has proven remarkably prescient. Their spectre, manifested in the Manifesto's vivid prose, continues to haunt the capitalist world, lingering as a ghostly apparition even after the collapse of those governments which claimed to be enacting its principles.

Book Description

Critically and textually up-to-date, this new edition of the classic translation (Samuel Moore, 1888) features an introduction and notes by the eminent Marx scholar David McLellan, prefaces written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels subsequent to the original 1848 publication, and corrections
of errors made in earlier versions. Regarded as one of the most influential political tracts ever written, The Communist Manifesto serves as the foundation document of the Marxist movement. This summary of the Marxist vision is an incisive account of the world-view Marx and Engels had evolved during
their hectic intellectual and political collaboration of the previous few years.

Download Description

Still relevant today both as a historical document and as a stirring call for social democracy, this New Albion edition includes Engel's extensive footnotes from the various editions, plus the changing Prefaces written first by Marx and Engels, and later by Engels alone, plus notes on the Manifesto and the various translations of it.

Customer Reviews:

The Hobo Philosopher.......2007-09-14

Well, if you are a student of Philosophy or economics you must make this a part of your reading whether you want to or not. It is not long. It is not difficult. It is quite explicit. And after you read it you should have a better understanding of where you personally stand politically. I am not going to comment on what it says or advocates. Read it and find out for yourself. You won't need an interpreter.

Must have for any wannabe idealist.......2007-09-10

Well, obviously I havent read this fascinating piece of litrerature, but thats because a read book just looks so scruffy on my beautiful capitalist shelves.
This book makes me look a lot more sympathetic to all those wannabe commies, so why not dish out on a copy too?
Nah just joking, just read it and decide for yourself.

Political Classic...read for historical insight.......2007-06-27

My son required a copy of "The Communist Manifesto" for a philosophy class. After he was done with it, I decided to read it since this was one of the founding documents for Communism.

I found it difficult to decide how to rate this book. The presentation of Manifesto by Penguin in this book is excellent. The central ideas of the Manifesto itself are disturbing.

Should you read the Communist Manifesto? Yes. Is this a good presentation? Yes. Was Communism envisioned by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels a good idea? No. So I have compromised between the excellent presentation and the ideas espoused by the Manifesto in selecting an average rating.

Some reviewers feel that the Manifesto's critique of capitalism is right on; I have grave doubts. Marx and Engels were critiquing capitalism from an ivory tower. Their remedies for capitalism show that they had no real experience or contact with the workers in the trenches.

Some reviewers have mentioned the changing of labor laws due to the Manifesto, such as child labor laws (a generally agreed good thing). I believe those laws would have changed if the Manifesto had never been written. I believe those reviewers are seeing cause and effect relationships where there is none. I believe labor leaders in non-Communist states, pushing for change in labor laws, did not need belief in Communism behind them to push for change. Even without Communism, they would have done what they did anyways because the labor leaders came up from the laboring trenches. They knew first hand the abuses going on. The writers of the Manifesto did not; their ideas were theoretical. I know my ideas, in this area, are conjectures of what would have happened without the Manifesto, without Communism; there is no way they can be proven, history cannot be rewritten.

The remedy proposed by Marx and Engels is frightening. It foreshadows exactly how Communism gave birth to totalitarian states, to Communist dictatorships. Their remedy for capitalism requires a select group of leaders (Communist elitists) to force Communism onto the populace for the good of the people. We should all be suspicious of anyone who professes an idea that is for the good of the people because it invariably is not good for the people. To paraphase Lord Acton, "power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely," and the states envisioned by the writers of the Manifesto set up perfect conditions of absolute power (for the good of the people) which in practice led to absolutely corrupt power. History has shown there has been extreme abuse by Communist leaders, who became power meglomanics, of the masses of workers in their states.

Indeed, history has repeatedly shown that the concentration of power in the hands of a select few led to abuse of power. The smaller the select, the greater the abuse. This has been true regardless of the political theories espoused by the leaders. Let this be a cautionary tale to all of us.

A Must Read.......2007-06-23

It amazes me that the effects of cold war propaganda drivel still permeates the minds of most Americans. This is easily one of the most influential works since it's publication in the 19th century. To say something along the lines that the pages should be torn out and used as paper airplanes is like saying the literary masterpieces Dickens should be used as toilet paper. Disagree with it all you want but at least acknowledge it's influence and respect it, as several reviewers have. Don't simply pigeonhole a great work due to the ignorance or American cold war dogma. If you are going to rant about this work at least get your facts straight. Hitler is not a communist..never was. As a matter of fact he hated communism just as much as most Americans do. Second, recognize communism is an ideal, just a capitalism is may I add, and there never has been a purely communistic state. If you are going to give this work a bad rating at least pretend you have read it. Most of the bad reviews are complete drivel and it is obvious the work has not been read. Give a reason why you do not like the book. Simply saying it sucks is not very insightful. Finally, do not give this a bad review simply because you cannot understand what is being said. If the merit of literary works were based upon how something is being said rather than what is being said Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Milton would not be considered literary geniuses.

A Misleading Edition.......2007-06-14

The following is the composure of the book:
pg. 1-170 Introduction by Translator
pg. 170-240 Various Prefaces of Other Editions by the Authors
pg. 240-280 The Manifesto

For those not familiar with Marx, who want to read the introduction and gain new insights--this is a brilliant setup.

For those who would rather just pay $2 for the Manifesto itself--this is disappointing.

Recommended for the student of philosophy, not the professor.

Problem-Solving Strategies (Problem Books in Mathematics)

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Maths book that invites you to think but does not drive you away
First time preparing elite gr. 10 - 12 students for competition?
This book has most topics that you see at an Olympiad
A book for everyone who loves mathematics
Excellent So Far

Problem-Solving Strategies (Problem Books in Mathematics)
Arthur Engel
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0387982191

Book Description

PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES is a unique collection of competition problems from over twenty major national and international mathematical competitions for high school students. The discussion of problem solving strategies is extensive. It is written for trainers and participants of contests of all levels up to the highest level: IMO, Tournament of the Towns, and the noncalculus parts of the Putnam Competition. It will appeal to high school teachers conducting a mathematics club who need a range of simple to complex problems and to those instructors wishing to pose a "problem of the week", "problem of the month", and "research problem of the year" to their students, thus bringing a creative atmosphere into their classrooms with continuous discussions of mathematical problems. This volume is a must-have for instructors wishing to enrich their teaching with some interesting non-routine problems and for individuals who are just interested in solving difficult and challenging problems. Each chapter starts with typical examples illustrating the central concepts and is followed by a number of carefully selected problems and their solutions. Most of the solutions are complete, but some merely point to the road leading to the final solution. Very few problems have no solutions. Readers interested in increasing the effectiveness of the book can do so by working on the examples in addition to the problems thereby increasing the number of problems to over 1300. In addition to being a valuable resource of mathematical problems and solution strategies, this volume is the most complete training book on the market.

Customer Reviews:

Maths book that invites you to think but does not drive you away.......2006-11-14

This is one book that I would like to keep with me all the time even after all my interest in Maths. is gone. For, it gives me food for thought and does not allow my mind to be dried of thoughts. This is a most fascinating book since the author, even when he gives hints at the solution, he does it in such an effective manner, that you have to really pursue a very thrilling chase of the solution. The challenge and thrill make it a pleasurable experience. I am sure this will be so for both the learner and the learned. Every mathematician should possess this book.

V. Krishnamurthy

First time preparing elite gr. 10 - 12 students for competition?.......2006-08-01

This is my top recommendation.

This book has most topics that you see at an Olympiad.......2004-01-02

This book has a lot of topics that you see at a mathematical competition, like IMO. It has Number Theory, Geometry, Games, Combinatorics and many strategies to solve a difficult and exciting problem. I recommend this book for you.

A book for everyone who loves mathematics.......2003-10-18

I disagree with another reviewer(Math Messiah) who thinks this is a book only for intelligent people like himslf. The problems are wide ranging and numerous and even dumb people (me, for instance) can find fun and excitement in many of them. I also have an advice for the Math Messiah who is on brink of some major discoveries: hold on to that brink, and don't drop.

Excellent So Far.......2003-05-06

I have just started working on this book recently. I've been reading through and working on the problems in the number theory section which are excellent so far. There is a good balance between warm-up/basic training problems and hard contest problems so you won't be discouraged too easily. I have browsed through the other sections and they seem very good. Must have if you are preparing for math contests!

The Emotionally Abusive Relationship: How to Stop Being Abused and How to Stop Abusing

Average customer rating:

Save your money for Lundy Bancroft
Abusive relationship no more
decent text on an important subject
Uncertain about your relationship? Good read to identify emotional abuse, but look elsewhere for help
Comprehensive, serious, deep, yet light reading

The Emotionally Abusive Relationship: How to Stop Being Abused and How to Stop Abusing
Beverly Engel
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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philosophy hope in a jar daily moisturizer

ASIN: 0471454036

Book Description

"Engel doesn't just describe-she shows us the way out."
-Susan Forward, author of Emotional Blackmail Praise for the emotionally abusive relationship

"In this book, Beverly Engel clearly and with caring offers step-by-step strategies to stop emotional abuse. . . helping both victims and abusers to identify the patterns of this painful and traumatic type of abuse. This book is a guide both for individuals and for couples stuck in the tragic patterns of emotional abuse."
-Marti Loring, Ph.D., author of Emotional Abuse
and coeditor of The Journal of Emotional Abuse

"This groundbreaking book succeeds in helping people stop emotional abuse by focusing on both the abuser and the abused and showing each party what emotional abuse is, how it affects the relationship, and how to stop it. Its unique focus on the dynamic relationship makes it more likely that each person will grasp the tools for change and really use them."
-Randi Kreger, author of The Stop Walking on Eggshells Workbook
and owner of BPDCentral.com

The number of people who become involved with partners who abuse them emotionally and/or who are emotionally abusive themselves is phenomenal, and yet emotional abuse is the least understood form of abuse. In this breakthrough book, Beverly Engel, one of the world's leading experts on the subject, shows us what it is and what to do about it.

Whether you suspect you are being emotionally abused, fear that you might be emotionally abusing your partner, or think that both you and your partner are emotionally abusing each other, this book is for you. The Emotionally Abusive Relationship will tell you how to identify emotional abuse and how to find the roots of your behavior. Combining dramatic personal stories with action steps to heal, Engel provides prescriptive strategies that will allow you and your partner to work together to stop bringing out the worst in each other and stop the abuse.

By teaching those who are being emotionally abused how to help themselves and those who are being emotionally abusive how to stop abusing, The Emotionally Abusive Relationship offers the expert guidance and support you need.

Customer Reviews:

Save your money for Lundy Bancroft.......2007-07-16

This is like a "dummy's" or a "McDonald's" guide to emotional abuse. Doesn't compare to Lundy Bancroft's work. It provided no clarity at all. Because Engle tries so hard to make it balanced, the book left me more confused about my role in an abusive relationship---that's not a good place to be. Abusers are constantly telling the victim "you're the problem" "if only you could fix yourself." It preys right into an abuser's tendency to claim that he is himself is the victim. Save your money for Lundy Bancroft.

Abusive relationship no more.......2007-07-05

Beverly Engel is in fact one of my favorite authors. If you really want to stop being abused or understand the meaning of abusive relationships and everything it entails this is the book for you to read. The examples, the questionares and all the exercises the book gives you will help you tremendously. Definitely a book to read.

decent text on an important subject.......2007-04-29

I think this book has some useful information, both theoretical and practical, for self-help if you find yourself on either end of an emotionally abusive relationship (or if you find yourself in a mutually abusive relationship).
One piece of advice I'd offer, however, is that if you're uncomfortable with a particular exercise and you it will only serve to re-sensitize you to painful experiences, then perhaps it's best to skip the exercise. I'm sure the author was well intentioned and that the advice for some is quite practical but I'd also say 'don't fret and don't give up on the process entirely' if certain challenges seem unduly painful.

Uncertain about your relationship? Good read to identify emotional abuse, but look elsewhere for help.......2007-02-16

I purchased this title while investigating the characteristics of emotional abuse and attempting to determine if I was in an emotionally abusive relationship. It did provide that insight by explaining identifying characteristics of emotionally abusive relationships, exploring possible causes (to include personality disorders), and offering ways out. While there is some tremendously good advice (e.g., leave if in danger), I found some of the recommendations to be counterproductive (e.g., list out and then dwell on all of the abuses that made you feel bad, make your abuser read your list, make your abuser give a 3-part apology) and somewhat too superficial in aiming to change top-level behaviors rather than deeper causes (i.e., it treats only "symptoms" rather than the "disease"). Once I fully understood that I was square in the middle of an emotionally abusive relationship, I found the advice in Dr Steven Stosny's book You Don't Have to Take It Anymore to be much better focused on: 1) correcting deep core value hurts that create resentment and ultimately spawn abuse (for the abuser), and 2) "healing and growing to feel more valuable and confident regardless of what anyone says or does" (for all involved).

Comprehensive, serious, deep, yet light reading.......2007-01-14

Congratulations to the author. From this one book a whole scenario opened up to me and made me want deepen my knowledge on the subject. Even to me, a foreigner, the reading was pleasant, flowed smoothly and I could appreciate not only the teaching, but the penmanship.
Thank you for the indication,
Ana Cunha
from Brazil

Average customer rating:

A classic compendium of Marxist thought
Essential Marx, all in one volume
Essay: Alienation from Humanity, on Marx and Mill
Essential Works Of Marxs & Engels For the Beginner!
The best collection we have

The Marx-Engels Reader, Second Edition
Robert C. Tucker , and Friedrich Engels
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 039309040X

Customer Reviews:

A classic compendium of Marxist thought.......2007-06-03

Whether or not one is a Marxist, knowledge of Marx' work is important in understanding the variety of political philosophizing over the millennia. Marx' political thought is sometimes difficult (think the "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844") and sometimes transparent (e.g., "The Manifesto of the Communist Party," more popularly referred to as the "Communist Manifesto").

This edited work is one of the best introductions to the works of Marx (and Engels). The volume begins with the early Marx, which includes the "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844," excerpts from "The Holy Family" (in which he attacks some of the other socialists of the era), "Theses on Feuerbach," and the first of the truly classic works that Marx and Engels co-authored, "The German Ideology." It is interesting to note that "The German Ideology" covers much the same territory as "The Holy Family," with the major exception that Marx now addresses the intriguing and offbeat work by Max Stirner, "The Ego and His Own." In the process of addressing Stirner, Marx and Engels take the philosophical edifice to a more powerful level, creating a new perspective with a move away from idealism and toward materialism.

Other major works included are excerpts from "Das Kapital" (fairly turgid reading, I fear), the "Manifesto of the Community Party" (which ends with the famous phrase [page 500]) "The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains."), the "Critique of the Gotha Program," and "The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte" (with its great introductory phrase [page 594] "Hegel remarks somewhere that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.").

The final section of the work features the work of Engels, including "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific," "Anti-Duhring," "The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State."

If one be interested in learning more about Marx (and Engels), this is an accessible edited work that provides some of the key works.

Essential Marx, all in one volume.......2007-05-19

If you're looking for a single volume collection of Marx (and a little Engels), this is the one you want. The other reviewers list some of the selections, but the bottom line is: if you've heard of it, it's here. This is the book I keep on my shelf for those (decreasingly common) moments when I want to look up something in Marx.

The only problem lies in the production values - - the pages are thin and light weight, and the font a bit small, in order to cram it all in. If you highlight with a yellow pen, you'll be frustrated because it will bleed through worse than usual. Use a ballpoint pen or a pencil. My eyesight is still good, but if it weren't, I suspect the font size would be another frustration.

Still, if you're browsing this page, you're in the market for Marx. This is the book you want.

Essay: Alienation from Humanity, on Marx and Mill.......2005-06-07

The modern age is a dangerous age, an age in which we might be alienated from that individual independence in work and in mind which defines our humanity. Confronted by this crisis, Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill offer the world diverging solutions: annihilate the existing world and march toward communism, or guard against the dangers of the existing world as we further embrace liberal democracy. Despite these divergent paths which arise from differing views on the driving force of history, both systems aim to rescue the supreme interest of our individual humanity-for Marx, this interest lies in reaching absolute prosperity for the material man, and for Mill, it lies in the search for absolute truth for the idealistic man.

With its emphasis on individuality and diversity, Mill's theory is in a sense more encompassing than Marx's. Mill's theory, however, is fundamentally flawed in comparison to Marx's because of its ignorance of property as a danger against human liberty.

Marx sees in the industrial age the death of the property-less class. This death is brought by the industrial age's five qualities: division of labor, accumulation of capital, competition, financial crisis, and monopoly. In this age, machineries and the division of labor reduce the skillful artisans to the proletariats who merely work on one monotonous element of production. The capitalists who own the machines enlarge their capital by exploiting the proletariat's labor, leaving them only with enough to eat. Competition forces capitalists to lower prices, but this is good only until each factory produces more than demanded and a financial crisis emerges. The small capitalists are reduced to the property-less as millions of workers are swept into deeper hell. Only the biggest capitalist survives, and he becomes the monopolist who can lower wages and raise prices at whim, destroying the lives of all. (Part 1, Bourgeois and Proletarians, Manifesto of the Communist Party)

The above scenario is unavoidable because the accumulation of more capital is the only end of capital. If the capitalist stops investing capital for gains he ceases to be a capitalist, and becomes a mere consumer of goods, enjoying the fruits of old exploitations. Tragically, capital can only increase when it exploits the difference of what labor costs and labor produces, as Marx writes,

"The modern bourgeois private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products, that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of the many by the few." (Marx p484)

The rich man sitting in his patio who has inherited a million pound and who lets others manage his money has not done anything to deserve profits, indeed, since he himself did not work, his profits must come from the works of others who he exploits. In the capitalistic system, there exists no pity, only keen self-interest, "all are instruments of labour, more or less expensive to use..." (Marx p479)

The workers might die, but before their body ceases to be exploited, their mind is already died-capitalism has alienated them from their humanity which is defined by their creative productivity. This alienation from our humanity was Marx's greatest worry. Animals make nests and produce goods just as we do, however, as Marx writes,

"...a bee would put many a human architect to shame by the construction of its honeycomb cells. But what distinguishes the worst architect from the best of bees is that the architect builds the cell in his mind before he constructs it in wax... Man not only effects a change of form in the materials of nature; he also realizes his own purpose in those materials." (Chapter 7, Das Kapital)

In order to freely produce as the creativity of his mind directs him and as his productive ability allows, the material man must be endowed with control over the means of production. In the world of private property, however, the workers have turned from the master of production to the slave of the machine-they are reduced to programmed animals that produce merely for the end of survival.

The proletariat can only reassert his humanity by violent overthrowing the capitalists and through the "abolition of private property" (Marx p484). Once in communism, the workers will own the means of production and enjoy the full produces of their labor. He will be motivated to constantly transform the world into a more prosperous kingdom. As Marx writes, "In communist society, accumulated labour is but a means to widen, to enrich, to promote the existence of the labourer." (Marx p485) The abundance of material goods will allow man to work not for survival, but for his own enjoyment. In this society, there will be no family and nor religion, everything is made for the love of all and enjoyed by all. Any vestiges of private interest would result in the return to capitalism with all its evils.

To Mill, the modern life is also threatening because the voice of the majority might alienate men from their individuality. The differentiation of society is essential for the vitality of the society, and this vitality empowers men on their search for truth.

Political debates, according to Mill, have been about striking the balance between the ruler and ruled. It is necessary for the ruled to have a ruler in order to preserve peace and law, yet the elected or unelected ruler's power must be restrained so that he does not abuse it against the ruled. In contrast to Marx's class struggle, this "struggle between liberty and authority" (p59) from Mill is more amiable. In the current era of democratic nations, however, since the ruled are also the rulers, the opposition no longer exists. People feel that all actions taken by the people's government will be good for the people, and hence they lose the old vigilance against the invasion of public power into their private spheres. The voice of the majority becomes the equivalent of the truth and justice.

Mill is worried that this majority voice will obstruct man's search for truth, the attaining of which is the goal of life. Truth is not reached once and then preserved for eternity, it is an organic being with a thousand facets whose survival requires continued inputs of each person's active mind. This truth is the individual treasure of each being, fitting perfectly to his taste and preferences; yet it is also a truth for the whole community, since it is only through the struggles of different truths that humanity as a whole reaches a higher truth-a higher level for the activation of the mind. As Mill writes, "There is always need of persons not only to discover new truths and point out when what were once truths are true no longer" (p71) If the majority religion is the only religion and taste the only taste, then people will no longer think but simply follow; society will be bogged into the swamp of mediocrity with a mind that is dead. Marx also feared the death of the mind, the mind of the creative worker. Despite the differences, both philosophers are concerned about the destruction of man's defining qualities.

To counter this, Mill proclaims that the only defense for "interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number is self-protection." (p68). The government must be restrained in the sphere of public affairs, and individuals shall live as free as they want to following their individual passions.

Marx and Mill both want to regain humanity. In one case, the enemy is the benumbing effects of majority rule, and man's mind for truth is debased forever into mediocrity, in the other case, the enemy comes from the benumbing effects of subjugation to the machine, and the man is turned from the master of production into the slaves of capital.

The core difference between the two theories in practical operation arises from their different views on individuality (both systems serve individuals as their ends, however, individuality, allowing people to be different, are treated differently). For Mill, we must preserve individuality to bring truth (Chapter 3, On Liberty), but for Marx, the destruction of private property is the only task. The communistic society will be a union in which man can "...hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner..." (The German Ideology). This free life of a communist in communism is all good until one day the comrade does not want to be a communist anymore-but he must be one, there is no choice. In Communism, one does not have the individual liberty to have families, nor try to build a little store of private wealth.

On the other side, if someone in Mill's world decides to be a communist, he has the full right to do so. He can even segregate himself away with his friends and enjoy the life of a commune. In another word, Marxism can not destroy Mill's democracy-it will just be one of the many ways of thinking allowed by the system-but Mill's cry for diversity will destroy Marx's world within a second.

Confronted with the above, Marx would reply like he did in the Jewish Question, that the so-called liberty and freedom of the capitalistic world are nothing other than man's desire to keep himself a self-sufficient nomad. As he writes, all the rights of man are simply "the right to enjoy one's fortune and to dispose of it as one will; without regard for other men and independently of society." (Marx, p42) Marx will say that only seeing the superficial political liberation is not to see the deeper human liberation which could only be achieved with the abolition of private property. Marx might not be completely right, but he does stand at a higher ground than Mill in this analysis of property.

Mill in On Liberty is focused solely on avoiding the abuse of power through government, but he ignores the abuses that property owners are capable of against the property-less. In an agricultural society where everyone is equal and land unlimited, the government might be the only thing capable of suppressing individual liberty, but when one sees child-labor and 12 hour work day in modern industrial society, there is no doubt that capital could be a pitiless monster. Even when one ignores the industrial age, and tries to give Mill credit for drawing the best possible life for the pre-industrial man, one still can not avoid noticing the subjugation of the slaves, the suffering of the serfs, and all the other dark stories of the property-less in all the ages previous to the industrial one which Marx gives a full account of.

Marx and Mill were faced with the same modern phenomenal, the danger of been alienated from the defining quality of humanity in the face of a new economic and a new political system. Marx might not have made the best analysis, but he did have a deep understanding of history and the problems in history. He stood at the level of the common people and tried to solve their problems caused by their material desperation. Mill did not stoop to the common people, he looked up into the sky of truth and tried to preserve the march toward truth first embarked on by Plato.

Essential Works Of Marxs & Engels For the Beginner!.......2004-02-25

Given the impact of Marxism on the unfolding history of the later nineteenth and twentieth century, the beginning student of the combined writings of both Marx and Engels will find this collection of the essential works of these two pioneering socialists absolutely essential reading. Its list of included works covers the waterfront of all that is required to gain a fruitful first look at the wealth of their philosophical musings, and the nature of their revolutionary canon, as well. Reading this material is essential if one is to understand the depth of Marx's understanding and the detail of his genius, however discredited he may be in current estimations. Indeed, with the rise of international corporatism is so close to his prognostications regarding the final phases of capitalism that it is hard to deny his continuing relevance.

Included here is everything from the Communist Manifesto all the way to Volume One of Das Capital. One can gain a better appreciation for his ideas regarding the way in which the antagonism between the oppressed and the oppressors provides the motive force for history, and how all history is the history of such class struggles between the owners of the means of production, on the one hand, and the workers, who have nothing to barter with but their considerable capacity to accomplish labor. If one want to gain a better appreciation for the nuances regarding how alienation is created buy the organization of work, or the origin of property, or even the ways in which all of the aspects of a particualr society's culture are manifestations of the values of the ruling class, then a careful reading of the material found here will serve you well. I highly recommend this book. Enjoy!

The best collection we have.......2003-06-07

"The Marx-Engels Reader" is the best single collection of Marx's thought. What makes it doubly important, is that it is one of the few texts which contain an index. This sounds unremarkable, but believe me, it makes the text extremely more useful. This book transcends the state of being a mere anthology, and is an indespensible reference work.

Book Description

Physical Chemistry is a groundbreaking new book that explains core topics in depth with a focus on basic principles, applications, and modern research. The authors hone in on key concepts and cover them thoroughly and in detail - as opposed to the general, encyclopedic approach other books take. Excessive math formalism is avoided to keep readers focused on the most important concepts and to provide greater clarity. Applications woven throughout each chapter demonstrate to readers how chemical theories are used to solve real-world chemical problems in biology, environmental science, and material science. Extensive coverage of modern research and new developments in the field get readers excited about this dynamic branch of science. Fundamental Concepts of Thermodynamics,Heat, Work, Internal Energy, Enthalpy, and the First Law of Thermodynamics, The Importance of State Functions: Internal Energy and Enthalpy, Thermochemistry, Entropy and the Second and Third Laws of Thermodynamics, Chemical Equilibrium, The Properties of Real Gases, The Relative Stability of Solids, Liquids, and Gases, Ideal and Real Solutions, Electrolyte Solutions, Electrochemical Cells, Batteries, and Fuel Cells, From Classical to Quantum Mechanics, The Schrödinger Equation, The Quantum Mechanical Postulates, Using Quantum Mechanics on Simple Systems, The Particle in the Box and the Real World, Commuting and Noncommuting Operators and the Surprising effects of Entanglement, A Quantum Mechanical Model for the Vibration and Rotation of Molecules, The Vibrational and Rotational Spectroscopy of Diatomic Molecules, The Hydrogen Atom, Multielectron Atoms, Examples of Spectroscopy Involving Atoms, Chemical Bonding in H2+ and H2, Chemical Bonding in Diatomic Molecules, Molecular Shapes and Energy Levels for Polyatomic Molecules, Electronic Spectroscopy, Computational Chemistry, Molecular Symmetry, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Probability, The Boltzmann Distribution, Ensemble and Molecular Partition Functions, Statistical Thermodynamics, Kinetic Theory of Gases, Transport Phenomena, Elementary Chemical Kinetics, Complex Reaction Mechanisms. For all readers interested in learning the core topics of physical chemistry.

Customer Reviews:

This book makes Pchem utterly boring.......2007-08-09

I used this book for my pchem courses and found it to be completely worthless. While it does focus on computational crap that's not very important the first time around. The quantum chapters are pretty poorly done, and well the thermo stuff is just boring. All in all, I found this text to be useless. The derivations include many errors, and often are presented before the text introduces what they're trying to derive thereby further confusing you. You're better off not buying this book, unless you need for class, and buying one of the more used books like Levine's or Macquarrie's.

An excellent book.......2006-03-29

A modern, clear, and extensive physical chemistry text. It does break tradition with the heavyweights in the field (Atkins, McQuarrie), but does so for good reason: there aren't enough computational background or computer computation applications in the others. Those books do a great job with the theory and mathematics, but this book show's you how to use that mathematics to really understand chemistry. It focuses heavily computational chemistry with actual software and the Spartan Quantum chemistry software that book's authors use is very inexpensive if you buy the student version. As a bonus, this book is the most colorful and well laid-out and edited one available today.

worst book ever.......2006-03-06

I've used half of the book now. The layout is not very organized. I found the graphical representations useful.

ok, 2nd semester in work. I'd prefer to downgrade this rating to negative 5 if I could. This book has turned into a major disaster. It is so riddled with errors...the derivations are never right. Everytime something doesn't work out right it's because the book is wrong. flat out.

This book gets my strongest disapproval possible. Buying this book is throwing away your money. Thanks engel. Thanks for all those hours lost trying to figure out what mistake I had make working out the derivations in this book only to find the book was wrong all along.

I'm still a little bitter about the false advertising when I got it...re: spartan software student copy that wasn't included.

Physical Chemistry... not bad but not good either...........2006-02-27

Thomas Engel's Physical Chemistry is a book full of mistakes as well as stupid problems... The Quantum chemistry part is horribly explained(about 10 chapters). Which makes me think... perhaps the author can not explain the material because he does not understand it. Engel take some more quantum classes or repeat them, and then write a book about a subject you have not mastered. I want my money back.

Divorcing a Parent: Free Yourself from the Past and Live the Life You've Always Wanted

Average customer rating:

Divorcing a Parent: Free Yourself from the Past
Wishing I'd Seen This Four Years Ago!
Great book
Help for the hardest decision you may ever have to make.
Healthy future for me now

Divorcing a Parent: Free Yourself from the Past and Live the Life You've Always Wanted
Beverly Mfcc Engel
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 044990590X
Release Date: 1991-05-14

Book Description

Do you come away from contact with your parent with unbearable feelings of rage, low self-esteem and depression?

Is your parent hypercritical, manipulative, and/or controlling?

Do you feel unsafe when you are with your parent because of verbal abuse, negligence, or inappropriate behavior?

No matter how much you do for your parent, is it never enough?

No one should have to endure an abusive, unhealthy relationship that threatens his or her well-being -- even if that relationship is with a parent. In this ground-breaking book, Beverly Engel draws on her own personal experience, as well as the stories and letters of other adult children, to offer a complete guide to why, when and how to divorce a parent. Engel discusses good and bad reasons for taking this step, when to stop trying to reconcile, and how to prepare yourself emotionally for the actual divorce, including such alternatives as temporary separation. If you do decide that parental divorce; how to handle negative pressure from others; how to come to terms with your own grief and guilt; what to tell your own children, and how to deal with their relationships with their grandparents; how to cope with holidays; how to divorce a parent after his or her death; and what to do if you change your mind and want to reconcile.

Customer Reviews:

Divorcing a Parent: Free Yourself from the Past.......2006-11-10

This book is an excellent publication for anyone who has suffered mental and emotional abuse at the hands of a parent/parents. Every statement in the book was so true to form that it was scary to realize just how bad life really was. Knowing that other individuals have experienced the same abuse with the same threats and parental abuse was somewhat comforting to know that others have experienced these abuses and gone on to live better lives. Very highly recommended reading for anyone feeling abused by a parent(s).

Wishing I'd Seen This Four Years Ago!.......2006-05-11

While I made the decision to cut off contact with my parents and brother four years ago, it is only recently I've begun to find books that broach this topic, and do so from a perspective that it is a healthy and sometimes necessary choice. I have been drinking in these resources as a way of validating the path I've taken and also partly to ensure I've taken the proper steps so that it is a path of healing and starting over.

I recently finished Beverly Engel's Divorcing a Parent: Free Yourself from the Past and Live the Life You've Always Wanted. At the time this book was published, the concept of divorcing (as in terminating a relationship with) one's parents was an extremely radical and unpopular one.

Fifteen years later, it is a somewhat more acceptable idea than it used to be. But unfortunately many people in our society still believe choosing to limit or eliminate contact with toxic family members is taboo without wishing to understand why it is the best and sometimes only option.

America is Mom and apple pie; to divorce Mom is to desecrate what is American in some people's eyes, even if it is done for one's survival. I unfortunately have dealt with people on all levels of acquaintance who've made it their business to let me know they disapproved of my choice when they learned about it. As well-meaning as some of these critics were, it was still hurtful to be invalidated that way and I always felt stuck, not knowing how to respond to that without getting defensive.

That said I really do wish I'd found this book four years ago. Beverly Engel wrote Divorcing a Parent after having made the decision to divorce her own abusive mother a few years earlier, and counseling countless others who were struggling with this dilemma in their own lives. She took her personal experiences, anecdotes from various patients, and her expertise as a counselor, and rolled them into a very helpful guide towards making a rational decision about whether to divorce one's parents, and in some cases, entire families.

At the same time Engel's book is intelligent, in that it does not hold bias towards what the decision should be for the individual. She respects that some people may want or even need a relationship to continue, and therefore she explores all the options, including limiting contact, emotionally separating oneself, and even attempting reconciliation if someone changes their mind down the road. Engel also states that it is possible to divorce one parent and maintain a relationship with the other if one so wishes. But Engel remains reverent of the fact that the choice must be the individual's alone above all.

I also appreciated that Divorcing a Parent does NOT advocate remaining stuck in victim mode. In fact, Engel states that in choosing to alter or eliminate a relationship with one's parents, a person is also making a simultaneous commitment to grow up, shed the dysfunctional dependency on their parents, and not allow their past to determine who they are anymore.

Engel also points out that divorcing one's parent(s) is never an effective way of getting back at them, and should never be used to make them "pay" for their sins in the hopes that they will see things your way. Divorcing a parent should only be for the sake of healing and self-preservation, for one's own mental and emotional health, especially if the parent(s) have not acknowledged the past abuse or continue to perpetrate it at some level.

Divorcing a Parent does a wonderful job as well of guiding the reader through various exercises for releasing anger and working through grief. Engel describes options for both physically and emotionally detaching, including trying a trial separation, or formal rituals a person can perform to stand by their choice, such as writing a letter to one's parent(s) or drawing up a formal divorce decree for yourself if you decide to make the separation permanent.

It also addresses the guilt that almost inevitably comes about as a result of hearing criticism over the choices made, be it from others or within. I especially found it a relief when Engel provided suggestions for responding to subtle, "well-meaning" responses that can undermine a vulnerable person who is sharing about this part of their lives. It makes me wish I'd had these responses available to me so many times, and grateful I have them now in the event I hear them again.

Finally, Engel has sections at the end of the book addressed to various people who may be involved in the life of the reader, including friends, spouses, therapists, and even the parent of the reader. She poses questions and challenges to each of these parties without being preachy or condemning, rather instead choosing to shed light on possible reasons why someone may struggle with accepting or supporting someone else's decision to reduce or eliminate association with an abusive parent.

My one small criticism of Engel's work is that she advocates it's necessary try to find some good in an abusive parent as a method of moving forward. She states healing will not happen unless we do.

The reason this is bothersome for me is because I believe there are people who really are unredeemably evil and sociopathic, who are sadistic and deliberate in their abuse. History, psychology, and even some religious circles openly admit this.

My opinion is that yes, some people who abuse are good people and are just sick or hopelessly caught up in a cycle they don't realize they're in. Those are people for whom perhaps it's worth spending time and energy finding good in them. But there are yet others who operate on a permanent mean streak because they were born without a conscience. When this is blatantly obvious, I believe trying to see them in a sympathetic light is counterproductive.

I think in such cases it should be respected that it may simply be overly difficult if not impossible to try to find good in such persons. I don't agree that looking for the good in someone who did horrendous things to you is necessarily therapeutic either. I wish in a way that Engel had acknowledged this as a possibility and left a door open for an alternative way of working through this if it is a possibility for certain people.

Nevertheless, I still consider that to be a minor point of contention in light of how helpful and validating the rest of this book is. It's a resource I would definitely have turned to a long time ago if I'd known of it. I'd probably have still come to the same decision as I have, but reading this before or at the same time I did I believe would have made the transition easier, helped me through the emotional process, and possibly with less false guilt all these years. I highly recommend this for anyone seeking a better way of dealing with a dysfunctional family.

By the way, it is interesting to note that after Engel's book was published, her own mother read it and experienced a change of heart. Engel and her mother have since reconciled and reportedly enjoy a better relationship today; this later inspired Engel to write the book The Power of Apology. This is a rare outcome, and in that respect it is an especially heartwarming and happy ending.

Great book.......2005-09-01

This is a must read for everybody and anybody whose parents express love in 'interesting ways'. While reading this book, I knew the author was talking about the experiences which I and too many other people have.

We are always at fault for something, regardless of what it is. We are called 'mental' by our families for not liking that abuse! Meanwhile we try to be 'good' and not insult them back with something. During this silence we up making ourselves sick through that acting; we are emotionally and mentally better off without our parents.

If unhappy people can divorce from an unhealthy marriage, people who are unhappy with their families ought to be able to divorce their parents too.

Finding a supportive and healthy family of your own choosing is much better than attempting to ride things out with a family that chose you. Attempting to go through the motions of the `devoted child' is not worth it.

Help for the hardest decision you may ever have to make........2004-12-17

"Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned"....Titus 3:10-11.
I have recommended this book several times in the course of my ministry work with adult children of abusive or controlling birth-families. The decision to divorce a parent is never easy and is never made hastily. It is usually a matter of mental, emotional, and often physical survival after the adult child has spent many years trying every other alternative to make the relationship work.
Painful though it is, there are birth-family relationships that are so destructive that the only thing you can do is get out. Only then can you begin your healing and recovery and eventually lead a peaceful and joyful life.
This book presents practical and sympathetic advice from someone who has been down that road- the author herself, who besides being a therapist, found it necessary to divorce her own abusive mother.
Besides its content, this book is interesting in a very unique way. After the author divorced her mother, she wrote this book. Her mother bought it and read it, apologized to the author and made an effort to change her destructive behavior, and they have now reconciled. The author then wrote a follow-up book called The Power of Apology.
Beverly Engel is a psychotherapist and recognized expert in the fields of relationships, women's issues, and abuse. She is the author of 14 books, and has been on Oprah, Ricki Lake, Sally Jesse Raphael, and other national talk shows. She found it necessary to divorce her mother, not because of past childhood abuse, but because of the CONTINUAL ABUSE SHE SUFFERED AS AN ADULT. No one should have to endure an abusive, unhealthy relationship that threatens her well-being, even if that relationship is with a parent.
Divorcing A Parent explains the right and wrong reasons for divorce. Some of the right reasons are: to break the cycle of abuse, when it's either you or them, when your parent is hypercritical, controlling, or manipulative, and when your parent continues to abuse you or continues to deny the truth.
We are taught how to confront our parent and what to expect, including our parent divorcing us when we stand up for ourselves. We learn that abusive people don't mellow with age, they usually just get worse.
The book teaches you how to prepare for the divorce, how to separate emotionally, and takes you through the process of letting go, mourning the loss of your parent, and completing the grieving process. We learn how to deal with pressure and criticism from our siblings and other relatives who want us to continue accepting the abuse.
There are also suggestions to the divorced parent, to mates, friends, and loved ones, and to therapists.
I believe that Divorcing A Parent is a must-read for adult children who need to free themselves from an abusive relationship with a parent.
"They have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me. Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long. But the Lord is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked"...Psalm 129:2-4

Healthy future for me now.......2004-01-21

Unbelievable!!! I have finally come to terms with the abuse and abandonment that my family has continued to show me for more than 15 years. I have completed the necessary steps indicated in the book and realize I am the only mentally healthy individual in my immediate family. Unfortunately, my sister is continuing the legacy that my Mother began with her daughter. It is absolutely sickening to witness. However, I was able to emotionally divorce myself from them just prior to them abandoning me for the last time. You see, their modus operandi WAS to cut me off for any decision I made in which they didn't approve. I emphasize "WAS" because I will no longer feel the pain of their disapproval. It simply doesn't matter anymore. I now know that I don't need to be punished for being the human being and individual that I am. Whether they like it or not. I can't recommend this book enough to those of you who are even contemplating this scenario. You must at least try to be at peace with who you are and that is... a wonderful human being.

Average customer rating:

The bible of consumer behavior!

Consumer Behavior
Roger D. Blackwell , Paul W. Miniard , and James F. Engel
Manufacturer: South-Western College Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0324271972

Book Description

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, 10th Edition offers a practical, business approach, designed to help students apply consumer behavior principles to their studies in business and marketing, to their future business careers, and also to their private lives, as consumers. This multi-disciplinary field can tempt both students and instructors to stray from the basic business principles they should take away from the course. Blackwell keeps students focused on consumer decision making as it applies specifically to an overall understanding of business theory and practices through the CDP (Consumer Decision Process) model. CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 10e focuses on why as well as how consumers make specific decisions and behave in certain ways - what motivates them, what captures their attention, and what retains their loyalty, turning "customers" into "fans" of an organization.

Customer Reviews:

The bible of consumer behavior!.......1999-01-17

This is the foremost consumer behavior text in the world.

I would highly recommend this book for all students and professionals interested in marketing and the study of what makes consumers buy.

Average customer rating:

Good series

current topics for rendering

Good

ShaderX5: Advanced Rendering Techniques (Shaderx)
Wolfgang Engel
Manufacturer: Charles River Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Web Graphics | Web Design | Web Development | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
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ShaderX 4 Advanced Rendering Techniques (Graphics Series)

GPU Gems 3

ShaderX3: Advanced Rendering with DirectX and OpenGL (Shaderx Series)

Game Programming Gems 6 (Book & CD-ROM) (Game Development Series)

GPU Gems 2: Programming Techniques for High-Performance Graphics and General-Purpose Computation (Gpu Gems)

Accessories:

ShaderX 4 Advanced Rendering Techniques (Graphics Series)

ShaderX3: Advanced Rendering with DirectX and OpenGL (Shaderx Series)

ASIN: 1584504994

Book Description

Shader X5 Advanced Rendering Techniques is the newest volume in this cutting-edge, indispensable series for game and graphics programmers. This all new volume is packed with articles covering state-of-the-art shader techniques and tools written by programming professionals from around the world. These authors have a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field, and each section is edited by an industry expert to ensure the highest quality and usefulness! The collection is broken into nine comprehensive sections. The geometry section covers improved N-Patches, how to generate dynamic wrinkles on animated meshes and much more. In the rendering section you'll discover how to generate a tangent space ordinate system in the pixel shader, how to setup an area light for games, and a variety of other techniques. Practical and useful multi-frustum shadow maps like Cascaded Shadow Maps and Queried Virtual Shadow maps are covered in the shadow section. The environmental techniques section features the beautiful volume particle approaches: Rain and Godrays under water. The global illumination section covers techniques that should work in next-gen games. The new mobile section lays out the basics of shader driven next-gen mobile development and some advanced effects tailored to the devices. Many shader-relevant engine design decisions are covered in the 3D Engine Design section. It also deals with post-processing effects, how to design shader plugins, and how to bind shader data. The Beyond Pixels and Triangles section covers a printf for the pixel shader, random number generator on the GPU, and many more.

Customer Reviews:

Good series.......2007-05-13

Its hard for me to treat the books of this series separately (ShaderX 3, ShaderX 4, ShaderX 5). They are all very good books of GPU-Gems level or higher. In comparison with GPU Gems, they are more academic, i. e. they are rather short and more applicable to wide range of applications then GPU Gems ones (while GPU Gems series is more scientific, state of the art, considering one particular research) and the accompanying CD is much more better (lots of working examples, most with source code).
Sections (Image-Space, Shadows) are also very helpful to figure out what is useful for you.
This series is not for beginners anyway, so please, go Cg Tutorial or DX SDK Tutorial and don't put 2 or 3 marks for these books because you can't cope with them.

current topics for rendering.......2007-04-24

For the serious graphics programmer (as opposed to the hilarious programmer), Engel's collection of papers offers a grab bag of new ideas and implementations. Not a casual read. It presupposes a reasonable maths background in trigonometry and multivariate calculus.

One topic example is how to deal with multiple light sources illuminating a scene. Brute force ray tracing might be ok for static images. But for real time contexts, it can be too slow. So deferred shading is described in one chapter. It has previously known problems, like too much memory allocations and aliasing. The chapter offers ways to get around these and other issues.

Another chapter talks about tangent frames. Reads like an application of classical analysis in 3d space. It deals with finding the normal mapping at a surface point. Where the novelty is that tangents need not be precomputed. Which reduces some storage requirements. What is interesting is how traditional texts on multidimensional calculus talked about things like tangent planes. But they rarely went into optimising calculations based on that analysis. Whereas graphics programmers have to actually continually crank up the performance of such methods.

There is a lot more in the text, of course.

Good.......2007-01-27

I bought this book as a gift so I have not read it but shipping time and condition were both good.

Average customer rating:

Truth, where's Rorty?
Excellent book for people studying Rorty's view on truth
Short, expensive, and inessential
A Debate on Truth
What is the use of brief discussions about truth?

What's the Use of Truth?
Pascal Engel , and Richard Rorty
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Epistemology | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0231140142

Book Description

What is truth? What value should we see in or attribute to it?

The war over the meaning and utility of truth is at the center of contemporary philosophical debate, and its arguments have rocked the foundations of philosophical practice. In this book, the American pragmatist Richard Rorty and the French analytic philosopher Pascal Engel present their radically different perspectives on truth and its correspondence to reality.

Rorty doubts that the notion of truth can be of any practical use and points to the preconceptions that lie behind truth in both the intellectual and social spheres. Engel prefers a realist conception, defending the relevance and value of truth as a norm of belief and inquiry in both science and the public domain. Rorty finds more danger in using the notion of truth than in getting rid of it. Engel thinks it is important to hold on to the idea that truth is an accurate representation of reality.

In Rorty's view, epistemology is an artificial construct meant to restore a function to philosophy usurped by the success of empirical science. Epistemology and ontology are false problems, and with their demise goes the Cartesian dualism of subject and object and the ancient problematic of appearance and reality. Conventional "philosophical problems," Rorty asserts, are just symptoms of the professionalism that has disfigured the discipline since the time of Kant. Engel, however, is by no means as complacent as Rorty in heralding the "end of truth," and he wages a fierce campaign against the "veriphobes" who deny its value.

What's the Use of Truth? is a rare opportunity to experience each side of this impassioned debate clearly and concisely. It is a subject that has profound implications not only for philosophical inquiry but for the future study of all aspects of our culture as well.

Customer Reviews:

Truth, where's Rorty?.......2007-08-24

Rorty doesn't argue his (actually very subtle and complex) positions. Just responds with a bunch of generalitions that wouldn't suffice in a relatively sophisticated undergtrad course.

Excellent book for people studying Rorty's view on truth.......2007-07-12

Very systematic approach of the concept of truth - both in what Engles' view and Rorty's is concerned.

Short, expensive, and inessential.......2007-06-29

There are far better books available for those wanting a good insight into Richard Rorty's writing on truth: Philosophy and Social Hope is an outstandingly readable, engaging collection of essays which sets out his views in much more clarity than this volume, which takes the form of a rather pedantic argument between Pascal Engel, a former "continental philosopher" (believing in relativism and all those wacky gallic notions) who has seen the light of analytic truth and Rorty, a former analytical philosopher who famously became persuaded that there isn't actually a light and who adopted a pragmatist view (which is a polite way of saying he ended up believing in "cultural relativism" and all those wacky gallic notions).

Like Rorty, I have trouble seeing any way round objections to the correspondence theory of truth, so I'm firmly in his camp (wacky though it may seem): There's no correspondence between sentences and reality, the marginal utility of a statement being "true" (and not just "useful") is minimal and we should instead satisfy ourselves for descriptions of the world we find to be useful without caring how, whether or why they map onto some intangible external thing called reality.

Engel's arguments strike me as technical and implausible, since his first move is to surrender a large part of the ground by conceding there are real problems with correspondence - I doubt I do him justice, but he's reduced to saying things like 'correspondence or no, we *do* talk in terms which assume there is such a truth, and that mode of discourse in itself has some essential value and meaning which would be lost were we to relegate ourselves to merely finding sentences useful'.

I'm not persuaded, and Rorty's brilliant writing elsewhere (especially Philosophy and Social Hope and Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity) heaps grist to his wacky gallic mill.

Lastly, this book is short - it's about an hour's read, partly comprises a book review by Rorty of Engel's book on truth which is available online, and the copy I purchased was absurdly expensive.

One day the world may be turned on to (the recently deceased) Richard Rorty, but this isn't the book to do it.

Olly Buxton

A Debate on Truth.......2007-05-10

This recent short book, "What's the Use of Truth?" (2007) consists of the text of a debate held between two distinguished contemporary philosophers, Richard Rorty and Pascal Engel, at the Sorbonne in 2002. Rorty began his career as an analytic philosopher who edited a collection of texts in a book called "The Linguistic Turn." (1967) But, in his book "Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature" (1979) and many later writings, Rorty became disillusioned with analytic philosophy and, indeed, highly skeptical of the philosophical project as traditionally conceived. Rorty became a self-styled "pragmatist" in the tradition of John Dewey. Pascal Engel, in contrast to Rorty, began as a European philosopher steeped in Heidegger. He has since tried to bring European thought closer to the techniques and questions of analytic philosophy.

The subject of the Engel-Rorty debate is the nature of truth and whether the concept of truth is philosophically important. Rorty argues for a "deflationist" account of truth, and maintains that there is little benefit to be gained from studying the conundrums that philosophers have erected around the concept. Rorty claims to adopt the pragmatist maxim of William James that "if a debate has no practical significance, then it has no philosophical significance." To simplify greatly, Rorty rejects an approach in which true statements are thought to bear a relationship of correspondence to an independent reality. True statements are those accepted by a community under standards used by that community whether the statements be scientific, artistic, technical, political, religious, ethical what have you. There is no metaphysical entity called Truth for Rorty, and to say, for example, that ""The cat is on the mat" is true" is, in most circumstances, only to say "The cat is on the mat."

In the debate, Pascal Engel agrees with Rorty on some important points. Notably, he rejects any metaphysical notion of "the Truth" and he also rejects representationalism for the most part. But while Rorty claims to be a follower of James and Dewey, Engel is closer to the earlier American pragmatist, Charles Peirce. Engel argues that the concept of the truth as an important regulatory role to play in human thought by setting a goal and limiting condition of human inquiry. Engel discusses what he describes as the assertion-belief-truth triangle by which he endeavors to show that the question of the acceptability of a particular statement by a group cannot be reduced to the question of the truth of that statement.

Following the statement of their basic positions, Rorty and Engel engage in a brief discussion which grows increasingly heated.

As is often the case, Rorty states his position eloquently and rhetorically, with references to himself and those who think with him as "we pragmatists", "we quietists" and the like. It is difficult to take a good hard look at Rorty's views. Rorty does not seem to me entirely consistent in his pragmatism and anti-metaphysical orientation, as he slips, in places in his discussion, into a philosophical naturalism with no place for any form of theology. In other places, his approach seems to be of the breadth to allow theological discourse, just as any other discourse, as long as it serves a human need. Engel works hard in the debate to establish the importance of a limited concept of truth, but I was struck by how much the contours of philosophical debate have shifted towards a position much influenced by Rorty.

This book is short, lively, and provocative. I think it too brief and too concentrated to make a good introduction to the issues it addresses. This book will be of interest to serious students of philosophy and to those interested in the claimed death of or at least reformulation of this venerable discipline.

Robin Friedman

What is the use of brief discussions about truth?.......2007-04-12

I give this 3 stars because it is not a very good addition to the literature already on Rorty, but it is a decent discussion (considering its brevity) on some important philosophical themes.

At less than 80 pages, this discussion of truth is much more precise, fruitful, and inspiring than a similar short book on truth - Harry G. Frankfurt's On Truth.
This book is actually the text of a public debate held at the Sorbonne in November 2002. The topic is the role that truth plays both linguistically and socially. Rorty has written for over 20 years on his view that the notion of truth as Truth is an unnecessary addition (and epistemological quandary) to the notion of justification within a given community.
The book consists of a main statement by Pascal Engels who, though finding commonalities with Rorty, differs with Rorty importantly. Next, Rorty responds with his main statement. Then a discussion ensues with shorter critical responses. The appendix is actually a reprint of Rorty's book review of Pascal Engel's book Truth(this actually adds to the discussion, though not much). Part of my disappointment in this book is that Rorty has addressed every one of Engel's objects (except for the one I relay in the next 2 paragraphs) somewhere else in his writings - especially his Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth: Philosophical Papers (Philosophical Papers, Vol 1).
Where to begin when discussing Truth? The point of departure here is Rorty's previous writings on Truth. Engel spends time presenting Rorty's view then offering a fairly nuanced approach to truth which he proposes against Rorty. Engel is sympathetic to Rorty's critic of truth as correspondence or the "Mirror of Nature" which goes back to Rorty's 1979 book Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature but Engel will not follow Rorty all the way. Engel says, "I do not believe that, because the correspondence theory of truth encounters difficulties that are perhaps insurmountable, it follows that we must surrender any realist conception of truth, nor...that we can totally rid philosophy of oppositions between realism and antirealism in every field. I also think that truth is a norm of inquiry" (pg. 12). Engel proposes a belief-assertion-truth triangle which turns truth from its epistemological foundations (and its ethical consequences) to a normative concept. So Engel writes, "It is therefore necessary to make a sharp distinction between the conceptual thesis, according to which truth is a constitutive norm within the belief-assertion-truth triangle, and the ethical thesis, according to which it is an intrinsic value and must be respected and sought under all circumstances; and between these two and the epistemological thesis according to which it is the goal of inquiry, the supreme value" (pg. 26).
Rorty responds, "I am not sure I understand Engel's use of normative concept. If he simply means that we should try to have only true beliefs, then we do not disagree. If, on the other hand, he means that truth is an intrinsic good, that it possesses an intrinsic value, then the question seems to be undiscussable. I do not have the faintest idea how to go about determining which goods are the intrinsic ones and which are the instrumental ones. Nor do I see the point in raising the question. Intrinsic is a word that pragmatists find it easy to do without. If one thinks that sincerity and exactness are good things, I do not see why we should worry about whether they are means to something else or good in themselves. Which reply one gives to such questions will have no bearing on practice. Trying never to have anything but true beliefs will not lead us to do anything differently than if we simply try our best to justify our beliefs to ourselves and to others" (pg. 44).
Although the discussion section is riveting for its staccato style, it does not bring out anything in Rorty that has not already been published a dozen times.
This book is small in size, large in print, and less than 80 pages. It can be read in one sitting without a break. Both Engel and Rorty write accessibly and it is a decent introduction to some contemporary themes in philosophy. There are more arguments presented here than I have summarized which makes it a decent introduction to Rorty's thought. However, Rorty's best writing on Truth is his essays in Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth: Philosophical Papers (Philosophical Papers, Vol 1).

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