Societas
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Avatar-Philosophy (and -Religion) or FAITHEISM
by Edmond Wright
Part 1 of the Societas series
Are you prepared, either as an atheist or a religious believer, to have your ideas of God, the self, other people, the body, the soul, spirituality, and faith challenged in an unexpected and original way? Here is a book that moves out from under and away from the received notions of those ponderous topics, whether or not you believe in the divine. The author is a confessed atheist but one who rejects the approach of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Michel Onfray and the rest when they depart from their justifiable criticisms of the historical record of the established creeds and endeavour to rubbish what faith could actually be. The book takes its origin from an exploration of the idea of an avatar; the writing of it was stimulated by seeing the Cameron film, though it subjects that film itself to an assessment of its hidden assumptions. The book finally arrives at specific recommendations for our time, ones to which the argument of the book has been directed throughout.
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Panic on a Plate
How Society Developed an Eating Disorder
by Rob Lyons
Part 2 of the Societas series
Food in Britain today is more plentiful, more nutritious, more varied, and much more affordable than ever in our history. This is something to celebrate, and Rob Lyons does exactly that. In a series of short up-beat chapters he challenges head on the fashionable critics of so-called junk food and the "wacky world" of organic and locally-sourced food campaigners. They have created needless panic and made our cheap and tasty food an object of shame and blame, when it should be a cause for rejoicing. "Panic on a Plate" draws on history, science, and official reports to show the fearmongers are wrong: the changing face of food is full of hope.
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The Economic Imperative
Leisure and Imagination in the 21st Century
by John Zerilli
Part 3 of the Societas series
The book explores the role of leisure in modern life. It was written in the belief that leisure sets us apart as a species, that what is "useless" by commercial standards is probably the best thing we have going for us, and that leisure is under attack, in high danger of being lost, and has been for some time (since at least the end of the Second World War). The source of the problem is the ascendancy of the economic imperative, the subordination of the science of means (philosophy) by the science of ends (economics). The book argues that our leisurely impulse has been so squandered that boredom is now a significant problem in modern life. The essays canvass the distinctive contributions of art, science and religion, and provide a synthetic account of these three forces driving human culture. Although the book covers the science/religion question, this book differs from others on the science/religion debate in that it connects the traditional discussion to questions of economics and social policy. It takes an innovative approach in weaving the fundamentals of human life (art, science, economics and so on) into one fabric, namely, leisure.
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In the Name of the People
Pseudo-Democracy and the Spoiling of Our World
by Ivo Mosley
Part 4 of the Societas series
Are our 'democracies' truly democratic? In the Name of the People examines the myth of modern democracy and finds it wanting. The various oligarchies of the world blame the madness of modern life on the greed and stupidity of ordinary people: this book argues that, on the contrary, elites indulge a limitless greed for power and wealth under cover of 'giving the people what they want'. As a coda to his short book, Ivo Mosley examines what true democracy has meant over the last two and a half millennia, and examines how it could be incorporated into current political structures to give them meaning, life and accountability.
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The Liberty Option
by Tibor R. Machan
Part 5 of the Societas series
The Liberty Option advances the idea that for compelling moral as well as practical reasons it is the free society - with the rule of law founded on the principles of private property rights, its complete respect for individual sovereignty and properly limited legal authorities - not one or another version of statism that serves justice best, is most prosperous and encourages the greatest measure of individual virtue on the part of the citizenry. The work shows why this is so and lays out some of the most crucial implications of the idea. While the book presents a principled approach to politics, it is firmly grounded in the best and most up to date understanding of human community life and history as well as many of its complications, challenges, adversities and prospects.
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Democracy, Fascism and the New World Order
by Ivo Mosley
Part 6 of the Societas series
Democracy is not a universal good, it is a political system, and like all political systems it is open to corruption. The word 'democracy' means 'rule by the people', not rule by a simple majority. To achieve rule by all the people, it used to be accepted that as much of civil life should be kept out of party politics as possible. A mixed constitution was one way of achieving this. By absorbing into itself the institutions of civil society, the modern democratic state has become an ever more pervasive 'tyranny of the majority' accountable to the electorate only once every few years. The powers it has assumed, together with the powers of corporations, represent a 'new world order' that respects neither freedom, the individual, the vulnerable nor, in a true sense, the rule of law.
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Why the Mind Is Not a Computer
A Pocket Lexicon of Neuromythology
by Raymond Tallis
Part 7 of the Societas series
The equation "Mind = Machine" is false. This pocket lexicon of "neuromythology" shows why. Taking a series of key words such as calculation, language, information and memory, Professor Tallis shows how their misuse has a lured a whole generation into accepting the computational model of the mind. First of all these words were used literally in the description of the human mind. Then computer scientists applied them metaphorically to the workings of their machines. And finally, their metaphorical status forgotten, the use of the terms was called as evidence of artificial intelligence in machines and the computational nature of conscious thought.
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Healing, Hype or Harm?
A Critical Analysis of Complementary or Alternative Medicine
by Edzard Ernst
Part 8 of the Societas series
The scientists, academics and practitioners writing this book are not 'against' complementary or alternative medicine (CAM), but they are very much 'for' evidence-based medicine and single standards. They aim to counter-balance the many uncritical books on CAM and to stimulate intelligent, well-informed public debate. TOPICS INCLUDE: What is CAM? Why is it so popular? Patient choice; Reclaiming compassion; Teaching CAM at university; Research on CAM; CAM in court; Ethics and CAM; Politics and CAM; Homeopathy in context; Concepts of holism in medicine; Placebo, deceit and CAM; Healing but not curing; CAM and the media.
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Standing Up to Supernanny
by Jennie Bristow
Part 9 of the Societas series
Parenthood, we are told, requires a massive adjustment to our lives, emotions, and relationships, and we have to be taught how to deal with that. But can it really be so bad that we need constant counselling and parenting classes? It is a myth that today's parents are hopeless and lazy: in many ways, we have become too diligent, too hopeful of great outcomes and clear rewards, to the point where we lose ourselves in trying to provide some kind of professional service to our children. The current obsession with perfect parenting increases our insecurity and distrust of each other, and diminishes our authority over our kids. This book is about asking: Why have we invited Supernanny into our living rooms - and how can we kick her out?
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Village Democracy
by John Papworth
Part 10 of the Societas series
The author passionately sets out his argument for radical decentralisation of power as the only answer to the current crises in politics, trade, ecology, and international affairs.
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Unlearning
Or 'How NOT To Be Governed?'
by Nader N. Chokr
Part 11 of the Societas series
One view of education (appealing to the Latin root "educare" — "to train or mold") aims to fill students' heads with knowledge and turn them into disciplined, normalized and potentially productive members of the workforce. An alternative (appealing to the Latin root "educere" — "to lead out or draw out") wants to produce well-trained minds and create individuals capable of questioning, critical thinking, imagination, and self-reflective deliberation as engaged citizens. This book commends a third way, inspired by the Greek notion of "paideia", which sees education as 'the process of educating person into their true form, the real and genuine human nature'. This education is not about learning a trade. It is a dynamic living thing in which the ability to UNlearn is essential for developing a good and capable citizen, trained for freedom, autonomy, and virtue.
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Just Another Ape?
by Helene Guldberg
Part 12 of the Societas series
Today, the belief that human beings are special is distinctly out of fashion. Almost every day we are presented with new revelations about how animals are so much more like us than we ever imagined. The argument is at its most powerful when it comes to our closest living relatives - the great apes. This book argues that whatever first impressions might tell us, apes are really not 'just like us'. Science has provided strong evidence that the boundaries between us and other species are vast. Unless we hold on to the belief in our exceptional abilities we will never be able to envision or build a better future - in which case, we might as well be monkeys.
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Universities
The Recovery of an Idea
by Gordon Graham
Part 13 of the Societas series
Research assessment exercises, teaching quality assessment, line management, staff appraisal, student course evaluation, modularization, student fees - these are all names of innovations (and problems) - in modern British universities. How far do they reflect a more conscientious approach to the effective promotion of higher education, and how far do they constitute a significant departure from traditional academic concerns and values? Using some themes of Cardinal Newman's classic The Idea of a University as a springboard, this extended essay aims to address these questions.
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The Snake that Swallowed Its Tail
by Mark Garnett
Part 14 of the Societas series
Liberal values are the hallmark of a civilised society. Yet they depend on an optimistic view of the human condition, Stripped of this essential ingredient, liberalism has become a hollowed-out abstraction. Tracing its effects through the media, politics and the public services, the author argues that hollowed-out liberalism has helped to produce our present discontent. Unless we stop boasting about our values and try to recover their essence, liberal society will be crushed in the coils of its own contradictions.
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The Case Against a Democratic State
An Essay in Cultural Criticism
by Gordon Graham
Part 15 of the Societas series
The history of the last two hundred years is a story of the immense and relentless growth of the State at the expense of other social institutions. We are now so familiar and accepting of the State's pre-eminence in all things, that few think to question it, and most suppose that democratic endorsement legitimizes it. The aim of this essay is to present a sustained and compelling argument against both presumptions. It contends that the gross imbalance of power in the modern State between ruler and ruled is sorely in need of justification, and that democracy simply masks this need with an illusion of popular sovereignty. Although this is an essay in cultural criticism whose argument should be fully accessible to the general reader, it is written from within the European tradition of political philosophy from Plato to Rawls. Gordon Graham is Regius Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
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Tony Blair and the Ideal Type
by J. H. Grainger
Part 16 of the Societas series
The 'ideal type' is Max Weber's hypothetical leading democratic politician, whom the author finds realized in Tony Blair. He is a politician emerging from no obvious mould, treading no well-beaten path to high office, and having few affinities of tone, character or style with his predecessors. He is the Outsider or Intruder, not belonging to the 'given' of British politics and dedicated to its transformation. Here is a timely critique of Blair's political persona as he presents himself to the British people to be entrusted with a third term as Prime Minister.
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The Party's Over
Blueprint for a Very English Revolution
by Keith Sutherland
Part 17 of the Societas series
Consider the following paradox: As the leaders of both of the main British political parties subscribed to the neoconservative doctrine on Iraq, everybody else in the birthplace of parliamentary democracy was effectively disenfranchised. Yet one of the rationales supporting the deployment of UK forces in Iraq was the wish to export democracy to the Middle East. The Emperor would appear to have mislaid his clothes (see Gordon Graham's Case Against the Democratic State). Judging from the lack of ministerial resignations in the wake of the Butler enquiry, Britain is no longer a parliamentary democracy. The classical doctrine of joint and several ministerial responsibility is revealed to be a fiction, and Lord Hailsham's verdict of 'elective dictatorship' is a better assessment of the British constitution. By contrast unelected bodies like the BBC are now far more accountable for their actions. The reason of this paradox is the monopoly power of the ruling party, controlled by the Prime Minister. The UK political party started off as a loose association of like-minded MPs. However, in recent years the tail has been wagging the dog - politicians now have no alternative but to choose and then fall in line behind a strong leader with the charisma to win elections. This book examines the historical forces that gave rise to the modern political party and questions its role in the post-ideological age.
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How Universities Can Help Create a Wiser World
The Urgent Need for an Academic Revolution
by Nicholas Maxwell
Part 18 of the Societas series
In order to make progress towards a better world we need to learn how to do it. And for that we need institutions of learning rationally designed and devoted to helping us solve our global problems, make progress towards a better world. It is just this that we lack at present. Our universities pursue knowledge. They are neither designed nor devoted to helping humanity learn how to tackle global problems - problems of living - in more intelligent, humane and effective ways. That, this book argues, is the key disaster of our times, the crisis behind all the others: our failure to have developed our institutions of learning so that they are rationally organized to help us solve our problems of living - above all, our global problems. Having universities devoted almost exclusively to the pursuit of knowledge is a recipe for disaster. Scientific knowledge and technological know-how have unquestionably brought great benefits to humanity. But they have also made possible - even caused - our current global crises, above all the impending crisis of global warming. In this lucid and provocative book, Nicholas Maxwell argues convincingly that we need urgently to bring about a revolution in universities round the world so that their basic aim becomes wisdom, and not just knowledge.
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Being Cultured
In Defence of Discrimination
by Angus Kennedy
Part 19 of the Societas series
Today culture is everywhere as maybe never before. We read culture reviews, watch culture shows, live in Cities of Culture, and witness the Cultural Olympiad. Government, museums and arts councils worry that we are not getting enough culture and shape policy around notions of art and culture for all. Access and inclusion are in. Difficulty and exclusivity out. In "Being Cultured: in defence of discrimination" Angus Kennedy asks if this explosion of culture, and the breaking down of distinctions between high and low culture, has emancipated us or left us adrift without cultural moorings. Is it true that all cultures are equal? Is cultural diversity a good thing? Is it unacceptably elitist to insist on the highest standards of judgment? To argue that some cultural works stand the test of time and some don't? Can anyone dare to call themselves cultured anymore? Might it even be the case that culture no longer actually means anything much to us? That our nervousness about exercising discrimination and good taste - the erosion of cultural authority - might have left us with a culture that may be open to all, but lacking in depth? This provocative book strikes a blow for discrimination in culture and argues that there is a responsibility on each of us as individuals to always be becoming more cultured beings: our best selves.
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Global Philosophy
What Philosophy Ought to Be
by Nicholas Maxwell
Part 20 of the Societas series
This book is about education, learning, rational inquiry, philosophy, science studies, problem solving, academic inquiry, global problems, wisdom and, above all, the urgent need for an academic revolution. Despite this range and diversity of topics, there is a common underlying theme. Education ought to be devoted, much more than it is, to the exploration real-life, open problems; it ought not to be restricted to learning up solutions to already solved problems - especially if nothing is said about the problems that provoked the solutions in the first place. A central task of philosophy ought to be to keep alive awareness of our unsolved fundamental problems - especially our most fundamental problem of all, encompassing all others: How can our human world - and the world of sentient life more generally - imbued with the experiential, consciousness, free will, meaning and value, exist and best flourish embedded as it is in the physical universe? This is both our fundamental intellectual problem and our fundamental problem of living. The essays in this volume seek to provoke a concerted effort to transform our institutions of learning so that they become rationally and effectively devoted to helping us learn how to create a wiser world. Our most serious problems of living are so grim, so imbued with suffering, wasted lives and unnecessary death, that the idea of approaching them in a playful spirit seems sacrilegious. We need to keep alive tackling of intellectual problems ...
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That's Racist!
How the Regulation of Speech and Thought Divides Us All
by Adrian Hart
Part 21 of the Societas series
Twenty-first century British kids are more comfortable with ethnic diversity than ever before. The 'mixed race' population is rising exponentially. In school playgrounds across Britain, kids are inventing a version of colour-blind, multi-ethnic interaction that should teach the adult world a thing or two - not least about the amazing, superdiverse generation that is to come. And yet, for over a decade, playgrounds and classrooms have endured unprecedented interference in the form of official racist-incident reporting, training on the importance of racial etiquette, and the reinforcement of racial identities. Such interference is viewed by modern day anti-racists as a necessary bulwark against the creeping influence of the far-right, 'Islamophobia', and more generally the supposed covert racism of the wider population. Many official policy documents written under the influence of this approach insist a failure to tackle racist behaviour at the earliest age will allow racism to incubate and grow. Here, 'racism' is something defined by the notion of what constitutes hate speech or wounding words. Often it can be detected from an entirely innocent phrase, so long as the phrase is perceived by the offence-taker or another party or policy as 'racist'. This mindset has, in recent years, permeated public discourse on the subject.
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Capitalism and Human Values
by Tony Wilkinson
Part 22 of the Societas series
Capitalism is not enough. It has brought us prosperity and no other economic system can match its energy and innovation, but it has a dark side of exploitation and instability. Capitalism needs to be bounded by values. But which values? What indeed are values anyway and how do we locate and share values strong enough to balance the power of capitalism in society? Relativism has swept away old certainties and we struggle to agree what should lie at the centre of our lives. In this book we construct a foundation for values based on our common humanity and explore personal, social and political values from a fresh perspective. We show how with values placed on a strong foundation individual lives can reacquire meaning and purpose. Politics can be transformed from the half-corrupted subject of popular indifference it has become. Above all, capitalism can be a tool for good, a servant rather than a master.
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Why Rape Culture is a Dangerous Myth
From Steubenville to Ched Evans
by Luke Gittos
Part 23 of the Societas series
Today it is often said that we live in a 'rape culture'. Panicked headlines tell us that rape is on the increase and that the police are failing to deal with it. Our courts are said to be incapable of delivering justice in rape cases, with the rate of convictions remaining consistently low. Sexism and misogyny in wider society have created a culture in which rape is pervasive, under-reported and often ignored by an uncaring public. But these claims are built on myths and misunderstandings. This book argues that the belief in a 'rape culture' is seriously distorting our discussion of sexual violence. It explains how the laws around rape have expanded significantly in recent decades, giving the state a far greater say in the most intimate areas of our lives. The drive to prosecute more and more people has damaging implications for our legal rights and basic freedoms - and our ability to live intimately with one another. If we are to have a serious discussion about rape, it's time to dispel the dangerous myth of rape culture.
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Playing the Long Game
How to Save the West from Short-Termism
by Laurie Fitzjohn-Sykes
Part 24 of the Societas series
We obsess about what our politicians are doing, but ignore that our companies are no longer investing, instead they are focusing on next quarter's profits in order to justify ever higher executive compensation. This is in turn accelerating the West's economic decline versus the East. While the short-term focus of business is becoming widely acknowledged, we are not doing enough to reverse this. Looking at the less known history of companies shows us the choices we can no longer afford to ignore. Some current reforms need to go further and some areas that need reform are currently being ignored. Encouraging our businesses to invest again is one of the most important issues of our time.
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Forgiveness
How Religion Endangers Morality
by R. A. Sharpe
Part 25 of the Societas series
In his book The Moral Case against Religious Belief (1997), the author argued that some important virtues cease to be virtues at all when set in a religious context, and that, consequently, a religious life is, in many respects, not a good life to lead. In this sequel he takes up the theme again because 'the intervening decade has brought home to us the terrible results of religious conviction'.
He writes in the Introduction: 'Most religious people are conventionally devout. Religion does not play a huge part in their everyday lives and their moral life is not continuously under its gaze. I regard this as a thoroughly good thing. ... My suspicion is that the more intense the religious devotion the more the morality is in danger.'
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The Right Road to Radical Freedom
by Tibor R. Machan
Part 26 of the Societas series
This work focuses on the topic of freedom. The author starts with the old issue of free will - do we as individual human beings choose our conduct, at least partly independently, freely? He comes down on the side of libertarians who answer Yes, and scorns the compatibilism of philosophers like Daniel Dennett, who try to rescue some kind of freedom from a physically determined universe. From here he moves on to apply his belief in radical freedom to areas of life such as religion, politics, and morality, tackling subjects as diverse as taxation, private property, justice and the welfare state.
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Here For Our Children's Children?
Why We Should Care for the Earth
by Adrian C. Armstrong
Part 27 of the Societas series
This study reviews the many different bases for wanting to preserve the environment. By seeing how protagonists approach the same situation from different assumptions, some of the origins of environmental conflict may be established, and ways of resolving conflict can be identified. There are two major issues in environmental ethics: The first asks whether the problems can be solved within current approaches, or require instead lifestyle changes for the whole of western civilization. The second issue concerns why the environment should be valued. This review identifies a series in increasingly stronger valuations that can be identified as: 1. Hedonistic - we protect the environment because we like it. 2. Utilitarian - the environment is valuable to us 3. Consequentialist - we want to preserve things for other people - now or future. 4. Intrinsic - The environment has virtue in its own right 5. Extrinsic - we value the environment because it is of consequence to something else - theistic (a God). Thirdly, these insights are used to explore potential ways of resolving environmental conflicts, notably by the recovery of democratic decision making at the right scale: local, national or even global.
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Independent
The Rise of the Non-Aligned Politician
by Richard Berry
Part 28 of the Societas series
Martin Bell, Ken Livingstone and Richard Taylor (the doctor who became an MP to save his local hospital) are the best known of a growing band of British politicians making their mark outside the traditional party system. Some (like Livingstone) have emerged from within the old political system that let them down, others (Bell, Taylor) have come into politics from outside in response to a crisis of some kind, often in defense of a perceived threat to their local town or district. Richard Berry traces this development by case studies and interviews to test the theory that these are not isolated cases, but part of a permanent trend in British politics, a shift away from the party system in favor of independent non-aligned representatives of the people.
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Doing Less With Less
Making Britain More Secure
by Paul Robinson
Part 29 of the Societas series
The only way to avoid dodgy dossiers and dubious foreign adventures is to acknowledge that the post-Cold War world is a far safer place than neoconservative rhetoricians would have us believe. The Ministry of Defence should reclaim its pre-Orwellian meaning and the armed forces should be scaled back accordingly.
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Earthy Realism
The Meaning of Gaia
by Mary Midgley
Part 30 of the Societas series
GAIA, named after the ancient Greek mother-goddess, is the notion that the Earth and the life on it form an active, self-maintaining whole. By its use of personification it attacks the view that the physical world is inert and lifeless. It has a scientific side, as shown by the new university departments of earth science which bring biology and geology together to study the continuity of the cycle. It also has a visionary or spiritual aspect. What the contributors to this book believe is needed is to bring these two angles together. With global warming now an accepted fact, the lessons of GAIA have never been more relevant and urgent.
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There is No Such Thing as a Free Press
...and we need one more than ever
by Mick Hume
Part 31 of the Societas series
The aim of this book is to a launch a polemic for the freedom of the press against all of the attempts to police, defile and sanitise journalism today. Once the media reported the news. Now it makes it. From the phone-hacking scandal to rows about press regulation, super-injunctions, leaks, libel and privacy laws, the power of the Murdoch empire, and the future of the BBC, the media has become the story. The British press is in crisis and under scrutiny as never before. In the fall-out from the phone-hacking scandal one national newspaper has already been closed down and some would like to see others go the same way. However, this book argues that there is not too much media freedom in Britain today, but too little. There are not too few controls and restrictions on what can legitimately be published and broadcast, but too many - both formal and informal. Some newspapers in Britain and elsewhere might be going 'free' in financial terms, under pressure from declining sales and the new online media. But in almost every way that matters, the press is less free - thanks both to external constraints and the internal corrosion of the foundations of good journalism. This book aims to shake up the one-way 'debate' about the freedom of the media. It will argue that the media's standing has been undermined both from without and within, and put the case for standing up both to the censors and to the conformists in all their guises.
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Knowledge Monopolies
The Academisation of Society
by Alan Shipman
Part 33 of the Societas series
Historians and sociologists chart the consequences of the expansion of knowledge; philosophers of science examine the causes. This book bridges the gap. The focus is on 'academisation' - the paradox whereby, as the general public becomes better educated to live and work with knowledge, the 'academy' increases its intellectual distance from the public, so that the nature of social and natural reality becomes more rather than less obscure.
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On Liberty and Peace - Part 2
by Matt Edge
Part 34 of the Societas series
The author writes: In this project I set out to provide an answer to two fundamental questions of political philosophy. How can human beings (living, as we do now, in a globalised world) live together, in conditions of co-operation over time, enjoying what Immanuel Kant famously called 'perpetual peace'? And how much individual freedom can we expect to enjoy, and to what degree can we expect that individual freedom to be equal, whilst engaged in the enterprise described by the first question? These may be age-old questions, but I aim, in this project, to offer a new approach to answering them. In part two of this project, I aim to actually provide my own answer to the two fundamental questions with which I began and according to the structure I outline in Liberty. Which is to say, this is the answer I provide to you (and everyone else) to judge regarding how successfully it answers those age old political questions. In short, I argue that these are the changes in actual, material, human conditions - the necessary set of 'alterable human practices' to borrow a phrase of Isaiah Berlin's - required to create an enduring, desirable and just 'perpetual peace' on earth. In other words, this is not, in Kant's phrase, a 'philosophical sketch' on how perpetual peace might be attained.
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On Liberty and Peace - Part 1
by Matt Edge
Part 34 of the Societas series
The author writes: In this project I set out to provide an answer to two fundamental questions of political philosophy. How can human beings (living, as we do now, in a globalised world) live together, in conditions of co-operation over time, enjoying what Immanuel Kant famously called 'perpetual peace'? And how much individual freedom can we expect to enjoy, and to what degree can we expect that individual freedom to be equal, whilst engaged in the enterprise described by the first question? These may be age-old questions, but I aim, in this project, to offer a new approach to answering them. In part one of this project, I aim to provide a groundwork upon which an answer to these questions can be built. I argue, contrary to much contemporary (and historical) political philosophy, that the answers to these questions should not be provided by our representatives, a monarch, the elite, or by a process of philosophical abstraction (or anything else) but, instead, by each of us. That is to say, by you, me and everyone else together. Part one argues not only why it should be each of us who are to be engaged in this enterprise, but it also argues on behalf of a number of changes which might support us in this ongoing, and doubtless difficult, human project.
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Our Last Great Illusion
A Radical Psychoanalytic Critique of Therapy Culture
by Rob Weatherill
Part 35 of the Societas series
Therapy may be mad,' declares Rob Weatherill in this outspoken volume. Therapy here means particularly psychotherapy and counselling, but should be also taken to signify the universal logic of the post-modern therapeutic culture of well-being, happiness and enjoyment. More and more people want to believe in therapy who have lost belief in anything else.
Counselling and therapy increasingly inform all human interaction. The dominant ethos is a holistic one. This book aims to refute, primarily through the prism of modern psychoanalysis and key theorists like Baudrillard, Levinas, Lyotard, Paz, Steiner, Reiff as well as Žižek, the fashion for a return to a pre-Cartesian ideal of harmony and integration. On the contrary, there is something monstrous, something excessive, that Freud termed the death drive, at the heart of the Real upon which ordinary reality, so to speak, rests. Enlightenment thought, in which we in the West in particular are caught, is entirely incapable of going beyond the ideal humanist version of man - our last great illusion.
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Premiership
The Development, Nature and Power of the British Prime Minister
by Andrew Blick
Part 36 of the Societas series
The office of Prime Minister stands at the apex of the British political system. An understanding of this post is essential to all who are -- or aspire to be -- within government, or who observe it from outside. This book combines the methods of history and political science to produce theories of the development, nature and power of the premiership, and to explain the implications for present politicians and analysts. It is essential reading for academics, students, journalists and all who are working in or interested in politics.
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Progressive Secular Society
And Other Essays Relevant to Secularism
by Tom Rubens
Part 37 of the Societas series
A progressive secular society is one committed to the widening of scientific knowledge and humane feeling. It regards humanity as part of physical nature and opposes any appeal to supernatural agencies or explanations. In particular, human moral perspectives are human creations and the only basis for ethics. Secular values need re-affirming in the face of the resurgence of aggressive supernatural religious doctrines and practices. This book gives a set of 'secular thoughts for the day' — many only a page or two long — on topics as varied as Shakespeare and Comte, economics, science and social action.
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Public Health and Globalisation
Why a National Health Service is Morally Indefensible
by Iain Brassington
Part 38 of the Societas series
Claims that there are good arguments for a public health service that do not amount to arguments for a national health service, but for something that looks far more like a transnational health service.
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Off With Their Wigs!
Judicial Revolution in Modern Britain
by Charles Banner
Part 39 of the Societas series
On Thursday June 12th 2003, a press release concerning a Cabinet reshuffle declared as a footnote that the office of Lord Chancellor was to be abolished and that a new Supreme Court would replace the House of Lords as the highest court in the United Kingdom. In response to intense criticism of the Government for announcing these judicial reforms without holding any prior debate or consultation, Charles Banner and Alexander Deane have sought the views of several constitutional experts - including judges, leading QCs, legal and political academics, commentators and MPs. This book is the product of their research: citing the interviewees at length, it critically analyses the Government's proposals and looks at the various alternative models for appointing judges and for a new court of final appeal. The future of the QC system, which the Government has again indicated a desire to abolish, is also discussed in the book.
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The Great Abdication
Why Britain's Decline is the Fault of the Middle Class
by Alexander Deane
Part 41 of the Societas series
The middle class provides British society with its stability and strength. According to Deane's contentious thesis, our middle class has abstained from its responsibility to uphold societal values, and the enormously damaging collapse of our society's norms and standards is largely a result of that abdication. The institutions of political and social governance provide a husk of functionality and mask these problems for those that do not wish to see, or do not care. To restore Britain to something resembling a substantively functioning country, the middle classes must reinstate themselves as arbiters of morality, be unafraid to judge their fellow men, and follow through with the condemnation that necessarily follows when individuals sin against common values.
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God in Us
A Case for Christian Humanism
by Anthony Freeman
Part 43 of the Societas series
God In Us is a radical representation of the Christian faith for the 21st century. Following the example of the Old Testament prophets and the first-century Christians it overturns received ideas about God. God is not an invisible person 'out there' somewhere, but lives in the human heart and mind as 'the sum of all our values and ideals' guiding and inspiring our lives. This new updated edition includes a foreword by Bishop John Shelby Spong and an afterword from the author.
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Economic Reform and a Liberal Culture
And Other Essays on Social and Cultural Issues
by Tom Rubens
Part 44 of the Societas series
This second collection of essays for the Societas series by Tom Rubens continues the author's discussion of contemporary issues contained in "Progressive Secular Society" (Imprint Academic 2008). The present book is divided into three main sections. The first deals with social, economic and cultural issues; the second with topics which are essentially philosophical; and the third with themes which are chiefly literary. Throughout, the viewpoint expressed is that of secular humanism.
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Froude Today
by John Coleman
Part 45 of the Societas series
A.L. Rowse called fellow-historian James Anthony Froude the 'last great Victorian awaiting revival'. The question of power is the problem that perplexes every age: in his historical works Froude examined how it applied to the Tudor period, and defended Carlyle against the charge that he held the doctrine that 'Might is Right'.
Froude applied his analysis of power to the political classes of his own time and that is why his writings are just as relevant today. The historian and the prophet look into the inner meaning of events - and that is precisely what Froude did - and so are able to make judgments which apply to ages far beyond their own. The last chapters imagine what Froude would have said had he been here today.
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Joseph Conrad Today
by Kieron O'Hara
Part 46 of the Societas series
This book argues that the novelist Joseph Conrad's work speaks directly to us in a way that none of his contemporaries can. Conrad's skepticism, pessimism, emphasis on the importance and fragility of community, and the difficulties of escaping our history are important tools for understanding the political world in which we live. He is prepared to face a future where progress is not inevitable, where actions have unintended consequences, and where we cannot know the contexts in which we act. Heart of Darkness uncovers the rotten core of the Eurocentric myth of imperialism as a way of bringing enlightenment to 'native peoples' – lessons which are relevant once more as the Iraq debacle has undermined the claims of liberal democracy to universal significance. The result can hardly be called a political programme, but Conrad's work is clearly suggestive of a skeptical conservatism of the sort described by the author in his 2005 book After Blair: Conservatism Beyond Thatcher. The difficult part of a Conradian philosophy is the profundity of his pessimism – far greater than Oakeshott, with whom Conrad does share some similarities (though closer to a conservative politician like Salisbury). Conrad's work poses the question of how far we as a society are prepared to face the consequences of our ignorance.
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Putting Morality Back into Politics
by Richard D. Ryder
Part 48 of the Societas series
Machiavelli almost succeeded in removing morality from European politics and, indeed, since his day it has sometimes been assumed that morality and politics are separate. Ryder argues that the time has come for public policies to be seen to be based upon moral objectives. Politicians should be expected routinely to justify their policies with open moral argument. In Part I, Ryder sketches an overview of contemporary political philosophy as it relates to the moral basis for politics, and Part 2 suggests a way of putting morality back into politics, along with a clearer emphasis upon scientific evidence.
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The Referendum Roundabout
by Kieron O'Hara
Part 52 of the Societas series
A lively and sharp critique of the role of the referendum in modern British politics. The 1975 vote on Europe is the lens to focus the subject, and the controversy over the referendum on the European constitution is also clearly in the author's sights.
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Religion - Politics - Evangelism
by Purna Chandra Jena
Part 53 of the Societas series
This book seeks to show how religion is controlled by political ideologies, and how evangelism is moulded and manipulated by the demands of the dominant political order of the day. Out of his experience as a Christian in India, the author challenges churches and congregations to participate in political action as an expression of their commitment to evangelism and to a better society.
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The Moral Mind
by Henry Haslam
Part 57 of the Societas series
The reality and validity of the moral sense - which ordinary people take for granted - took a battering in the last century. Materialist trends in philosophy, decline in religious faith, and a loosening of traditional moral constraints contributed to a shift in public attitudes, with many decent honest folk both aware of a questioning of moral claims and uneasy with a world that has no place for the moral dimension. Haslam shows how important the moral sense is to the human personality and exposes the weakness in much current thinking that suggests otherwise. His goal is to help the reader to a mature and confident understanding of the moral mind, which constitutes an essential part of what it is to be human.