Language Philosophy

Curious, confounding and brilliant, Wittgenstein is a philosopher whom people find it easy to get obsessed with. In Investigating Wittgenstein, Giles Fraser explores the secrets of his attraction. The How to Believe series explores the teachings, philosophies and beliefs of major thinkers and religious texts. In a short, easy-to-access format, leading writers present new understandings of these perennially important ideas.

Each year,John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org, challenges some of the world's greatest scientists, artists, and philosophers to answer a provocative question crucial to our time. In 2014 he asked 175 brilliant minds to ponder: What scientific idea needs to be put aside in order to make room for new ideas to advance? The answers are as surprising as they are illuminating.

This work sets forth a theory which is speculative in nature, there being no verifying experiments. It is based on the idea of the reversibility of everything in time; that is, that every type of process has its time image, a corresponding process which is its exact reverse with respect to time.

The Limit of Complexity is a philosophical investigation into one of the defining conditions of the contemporary world: the moment when complexity, once a source of power and progress, begins to turn against the systems that generate it. Moving across natural systems, economics, technology, politics, ethics, and human cognition, Boris Kriger examines how accumulation, interconnection, and scale quietly transform coherence into fragility. This book does not oppose complexity, nor does it idealize simplicity.

With three straight #1 bestsellers and more than 4 million copies of his books in print, the most powerful traditional force in the American media now takes off his gloves in the ongoing struggle for America’s heart and soul. Bill O’Reilly is the very embodiment of the idea of a Culture...

Why did once-stone-faced animals evolve to be so emotionally expressive—to be us? The answer, as evolutionary neurobiologist Mark Changizi and mathematician Tim Barber reveal, is that emotional expressions are our first and most important language—one that allows us, as social animals, to engage in highly sophisticated communications and negotiations.

An urgent case that the survival of democracy depends on reinventing the press, with ten pioneering reforms to help journalism better serve the public—from the co-author of the classic The Elements of Journalism. The crisis in journalism reflects a crisis in American democracy. Faith in news...

Now from Peter Funk, the Reader's Digest word columnist and the bestselling author of Word Power, comesUpsize Your Word Power, teaching you the fastest and easiest way to expand your vocabulary: the use of synonyms. Synonyms are a sound and often overlooked way to build vocabulary. With...

Le mensonge est important. Nous nous mentons à nous-même et aux autres. Mais qu'est-ce qui nous pousse à dissimuler ou arranger la vérité à notre avantage ? Nous sommes imparfaits, pas aussi bons que nous le souhaiterions ou que nous le prétendons. L'intégration sociale nous oblige également à mentir car la vérité est source de problèmes et de conflits. Pour survivre et réussir, nous faisons semblant, avec les meilleures intentions. Mais attention! Le mensonge est bien trompeur. Quelles sont derrière les apparences, les diverses causes et formes du mensonge ?

From the first flicker of gesture around the prehistoric fire to the endless hum of machine speech in the digital age, this book traces the evolution of communication — and with it, the evolution of thought, culture, and consciousness itself. Language is the foundation of civilization: the matrix from which society, morality, and meaning arise. Yet it is also our most dangerous creation — capable of liberation or control, truth or deception, empathy or manipulation. Through language, we built worlds; through language, we can also destroy them.

Balancogic constitutes a rational yet aesthetically rich realm of thought. From birth to death, from nothingness to existence, from individual to cosmos—all things seek their position within this eternal circulation.

Revisitando tudo o que pensávamos saber sobre linguagem, este livro revolucionário apresenta um ponto de vista totalmente original para explicar o surgimento dessa que talvez seja nossa maior conquista. Uma história tão notável quanto a da origem da vida. Embora suas ramificações alcancem tudo que fazemos, a linguagem é ainda profundamente intrigante. O que há no cérebro humano que a torna possível? Como é que simples sons e gestos podem transmitir significado? Por que não falamos todos a mesma língua?

Upon the death of his beloved father and mentor, the originator of the burgeoning global Socrates Cafe movement had little choice but to confront the inescapable truth: that there are some things we cannot know for sure. This moving, insightful and ultimately hopeful and helpful blend of memoir and philosophical exploration begins in Phillips' native stomping grounds of the island of Nisyros, Greece, and unfurls through space and time as the author explores the connections between his immediate circumstances and the eternal wisdom of popular philosophers.

Our species, it appears, is hardwired to get things wrong in myriad different ways. Why did recipients of a loan offer accept a higher rate of interest when a pretty woman's face was printed on the flyer? Why did one poll on immigration find the most despised aliens were ones from a group that did not exist? What made four of the Air Force's best pilots fly their planes, in formation, straight into the ground?

Our Global Lingua Franca is an essential companion for both native and non-native English instructors navigating the challenges of sub-par language learning. It will validate your frustrations about learning and teaching under the conventional approach to EFL. Intelligent without being overly academic, it offers invaluable outside-the-box advice on reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar, vocabulary, and pragmatics to help you impart conversational English fluency and beyond.

Between You and the Universe explores the expansive concept of reality by breaking it into three parts: science, symbols, and experience. You can explore what these distinct parts are and how they interweave to stitch everything around you. The goal is to present three mental models that explain how your reality emerges, from your idea of self to your understandings of the universe.

“For more than forty years Roger Cohen has ventured to every corner of the earth to chronicle the great upheavals of our age, but he’s never lost sight of what really matters: love, hope, and all the mysteries of the human heart. Here, in this collection of columns that will take you from...

Siamo nel 1919. La prima guerra mondiale è finita da poco. "Il dottor Benjamin fugge dalla casa di suo padre, il luogotenente Wittgenstein commette un suicidio finanziario, il libero docente Heidegger perde la fede e monsieur Cassirer lavora sul tram alla propria illuminazione." Comincia un decennio di eccezionale creatività, che cambierà per sempre il corso delle idee in Europa e senza il quale alcuni pensieri non sarebbero mai stati pensati.

Every day many people will try to change your mind, but they won't reason with you. Instead you'll be nudged, anchored, incentivised and manipulated in barely noticeable ways. It's a profound shift in the way we interact with one another. Philosopher James Garvey explores the hidden story of persuasion and the men and women in the business of changing our minds.

By explaining how the human brain works and outing its most irrational processes, this book provides the thinking tools that will help you make better decisions, ask the right questions (at the right time), know what to look for when evaluating information, and understand how your own brain subconsciously clouds your judgment. Think you're too smart to be easily misled? Harrison summarizes scientific research showing how easily even intelligent and well-educated people can be fooled.