This book develops new insight into the idea of progress as improvement, as the basis for an approach to literary Romanticism in the Scottish context.

This anthology contains some of the more important Marxist thinkers now working on dialectics. As a whole the book is an unusual 'Introduction to Dialectics', a systematic restatement of what it is and how to use it, a survey of most of the main debates in the field, and a good picture of the current state of the art of dialectics.

The period from Plato's birth to Aristotle's death (427–322 BC) is one of the most influential and formative in the history of Western philosophy. The developments of logic, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and science in this period have been investigated, controversies have arisen and many new theories have been produced. But this is the first book to give detailed scholarly attention to the development of dialectic during this decisive period. It includes chapters on topics such as: dialectic as interpersonal debate between a questioner and a respondent; dialectic and the dialogue form; dialectical methodology; the dialectical context of certain forms of arguments; the role of the respondent in guaranteeing good argument; dialectic and presentation of knowledge; the interrelations between written dialogues and spoken dialectic; and definition, induction and refutation from Plato to Aristotle. The book contributes to the history of philosophy and also to the contemporary debate about what philosophy is.

Utterance and Development is a 2 hour read about the essential basics for development, a need in our time. Based on ancient Greek -as well as modern thinking, philosopher Anders P. Petersen presents the first principles to improve thinking, cooperation, communication, scientific understanding, for prosperity, ethics, sustainability, and development. This is what everybody ought to learn if we want to go forwards, not backwards. The book shows how positive change is dependent on a relatively high dialectic frequency. "Dialectics is a battle for objective knowledge, ...." Review on amazon.com (USA) 5.0 out of 5 stars "Crucial and crystal clear on debate and dialog in a fact-finding democracy. "The book explains how sincere dialogue between people holding different points of view contributes to the development of mankind and the global society. It should be mandatory in all schools and public offices, as well as on the desktop of every newsprovider. The book contains dymamite for every authocracy and autocrat around the world." Review on amazon.de (Germany) 5.0 out of 5 stars" (...) In a world where our future hinges upon the responsible citizens we nurture today, this book serves as a guiding light. It reminds us that time is of the essence; we cannot afford to let our talents go untapped or be suppressed by the destructive forces that hinder reason. By addressing issues such as stupidity, tyranny, selfishness, greed, and hubris, Utterance and Development offers practical solutions and a framework for building a more harmonious society. What sets this book apart is its uplifting tone. Instead of dwelling on the problems, it focuses on empowering readers to effect positive change. With each turn of the page, you'll be filled with a renewed sense of hope, knowing that a brighter future is within our grasp if we embrace democratic thinking and apply it in our lives. (...) " If your company, bureaucracy, or institution implements this, it will be more concious of what it`s doing on a daily basis, towards its goals. If pupils and students know this, they understand thinking, analysis, .... going into society understanding their role as contributors in their own lives, having the presented democratic attitude. So, it is for everyone in society; leaders, politicians, parents, employed, teachers; from college/highschool-level, and primary school-teachers who can extract the knowledge from the book, presenting and discussing the topic with their pupils. Our future responsible citizens are todays pupils and students, and our future will increasingly improve. We have no time, and we cannot afford that our talents are not ignited, and thus wasted, by forces which hinder reason; stupidity ......, anywhere in society.

Marx and Whitehead boldly asks us to reconsider capitalism, not merely as an "economic system" but as a fundamentally self-destructive mode that, by its very nature and operation, undermines the cohesive fabric of human existence. Author Anne Fairchild Pomeroy asserts that it is impossible to appreciate fully the impact of Marx's critique of capitalism without understanding the philosophical system that underlies it. Alfred North Whitehead's work is used to forge a systematic link between process philosophy and dialectical materialism via the category of production. Whitehead's process thought brings Marx's philosophical vision into sharper focus. This union provides the grounds for Pomeroy's claim that the heart of Marx's critique of capitalism is fundamentally ontological, and that therefore the necessary condition for genuine human flourishing lies in overcoming the capitalist form of social relations.

Walter Benjamin's magnum opus was a book he did not live to write. In The Dialectics of Seeing, Susan Buck-Morss offers an inventive reconstruction of the Passagen Werk, or Arcades Project, as it might have taken form. Working with Benjamin's vast files of citations and commentary which contain a myriad of historical details from the dawn of consumer culture, Buck-Morss makes visible the conceptual structure that gives these fragments philosophical coherence. She uses images throughout the book to demonstrate that Benjamin took the debris of mass culture seriously as the source of philosophical truth. The Paris Arcades that so fascinated Benjamin (as they did the Surrealists whose "materialist metaphysics" he admired) were the prototype, the 19th century "ur-form" of the modern shopping mall. Benjamin's dialectics of seeing demonstrate how to read these consumer dream houses and so many other material objects of the time—from air balloons to women's fashions, from Baudelaire's poetry to Grandville's cartoons—as anticipations of social utopia and, simultaneously, as clues for a radical political critique. Buck-Morss plots Benjamin's intellectual orientation on axes running east and west, north and south—Moscow Paris, Berlin-Naples—and shows how such thinking in coordinates can explain his understanding of "dialectics at a standstill." She argues for the continuing relevance of Benjamin's insights but then allows a set of "afterimages" to have the last word.

This collection of essays explores the ways in which the defense of liberty can be bolstered by use of a dialectical method—that is, a mode of analysis devoted to grasping the full context of philosophical, cultural, and social factors requisite to the sustenance of human freedom. Its strength lies in the variety of disciplines and perspectives represented by contributors who apply explicitly dialectical tools to a classical liberal / libertarian analysis of social and cultural issues. In its conjoining of a dialectical method, typically associated with the socialist left, to a defense of individual liberty, typically associated with the libertarian right, this anthology challenges contemporary attitudes on both ends of the political spectrum. Though this conjunction of dialectics and liberty has been explored before in several works, including a trilogy of books written by one of our coeditors (Chris Matthew Sciabarra), this volume will be the first one of its kind to bring together accomplished scholars in political science, economics, philosophy, aesthetics, psychology, law, history, education, and rhetoric.