<b><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1> </font></b> <br/><div... align=left><b><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>Publisher's warning: </font></b><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>In the wrong hands this book is dangerous. We recommend that you arm yourself with it whilst keeping it out of the hands of others. Only buy this book as a gift if you are sure that you can trust the recipient. </font></div><br/><div align=left> </div><br/><div align=left><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>In this witty and infectious book, Madsen Pirie provides a complete guide to using—and indeed abusing—logic in order to win arguments. He identifies with devastating examples all the most common fallacies popularly used in arguments. We all like to think of ourselves as clear-headed and logical—but all readers will find in this book fallacies of which they themselves are guilty. The author shows you how to simultaneously strengthen your own thinking and identify the weaknesses in other people arguments. And, more mischievously, Pirie also shows how to be deliberately illogical—and get away with it! This book will make you maddeningly smart: your family, friends and opponents will all wish that you had never read it.</font></div><br/><div> </div><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1> </font> <br/><div align=left><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>The book includes entries on:<br/></font><font face=Arial size=1>• </font><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>Affirming the consequent</font></div><font face=Arial size=1> </font> <br/><div align=left><font face=Arial size=1>• </font><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>Blinding with science<br/></font><font face=Arial size=1>• </font><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>Conclusion which denies premises</font></div><br/><div align=left><font face=Arial size=1>• </font><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>Emotional appeals</font></div><br/><div align=left><font face=Arial size=1>• </font><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>The Exception that proves the rule</font></div><br/><div align=left><font face=Arial size=1>• </font><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>Half-concealed qualification</font></div><br/><div align=left><font face=Arial size=1>• </font><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>Poisoning the well</font></div><br/><div align=left><font face=Arial size=1>• </font><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>Positive conclusion from negative premise</font></div><br/><div align=left><font face=Arial size=1>• </font><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>Shifting the burden of proof</font></div><br/><div align=left><font face=Arial size=1>• </font><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>Trivial questions</font> <br/><div><font face=Arial size=1>• </font><font face=Arial color=#231f20 size=1>Wishful thinking</font></div></div>>

Terrorism poses an undeniable threat to societies throughout the world today. Martyr terrorism, the fastest growing form of terrorist activity, and... arguably the most effective, has become a regular occurrence. But how has terrorist activity evolved in the last 100 years, and what are the ethical costs of terrorism? In this informative book, three philosophers, all experts on the ethics of conflict, examine the various definitions of terrorism and the nature of martyr terrorism. Through accounts of terrorist campaigns, from 19th century Russian terrorism, to the 20th century campaigns in Ireland, Israel and Greece, and contemporary campaigns in Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq, this fascinating book explores the ethical implications of terrorism from a philosophical perspective. Setting out the social, psychological and political causes of terrorism, the book interrogates the cases for and against terrorist activity in terms of just war theory. Articulate, provocative and stimulating, this timely book is an ideal introduction to an important contemporary social issue.

Written in the 1960s, TRUTH AND METHOD is Gadamer's magnum opus. Looking behind the self-consciousness of science, he discusses the tense relationship... between truth and methodology. In examining the different experiences of truth, he aims to "present the hermeneutic phenomenon in its fullest extent.

<div>The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 prompted unprecedented public interest in the ethics of war, a debate that has raged furiously in... the media, in politics and in the public consciousness ever since. In this fascinating and informative book, Nicholas Fotion, an expert on the ethics of military action, explores the notion of developing an ethical theory that guides the behaviour of those who are at war. <br/><br/>Fotion gives a clear account of just war theory, presenting it as a useful device in helping us make decisions about what we should do when war appears on the horizon. Examining conflicts such as Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Israel, the Falklands and Afghanistan, the book interrogates the roles of the various parties involved in military action - the military, government officials, and the side-line judges (journalists, citizens, scholars, neutral nations) - and the role just war theory should play as a direct guide to behaviour. Articulate, provocative and stimulating, <em>War and Ethics</em> is an ideal introduction to this hugely important debate.</div>>

In this study of the manner in which medieval nuns lived, Penelope Johnson challenges facile stereotypes of nuns living passively under monastic rule,... finding instead that collectively they were empowered by their communal privileges and status to think and act without many of the subordinate attitudes of secular women. In the words of one abbess comparing nuns with monks, they were "different as to their sex but equal in their monastic profession."Johnson researched more than two dozen nunneries in northern France from the eleventh century through the thirteenth century, balancing a qualitative reading of medieval monastic documents with a quantitative analysis of a lengthy thirteenth-century visitation record which allows an important comparison of nuns and monks. A fascinating look at the world of medieval spirituality, this work enriches our understanding of women's role in premodern Europe and in church history.

This concise introduction to the sociology of education demonstrates that differences between and within schools, homes, and peer groups are related... in systemic ways to differences in educational outcomes. Addressing both empirical data and important theoretical concepts, it explores the impact that equality and achievement can have on academic success. Extensive coverage of thought-provoking topics, such as school size, tracking, reform and restructuring, youth cultures, parental involvement, and single parent households. The author examines equality and achievement in education, methodological issues, differences between homes, differences between schools, differences within schools, group differences and maximizing achievement and equality. For individuals interested in a concise introduction to sociology of education.

The first book in The New Press Back-to-Basics Series restates the importance of equality in an age of growing inequality. What is the role of equality... in today's America? What are the arguments to be made for it, now that it is under increasing attack? Philip Green, whose scholarly books on equality and inequality have become basic texts of political analysis, here reexamines this most basic assumption of our democracy to get at the fundamental questions underlying current debate. Tackling the seeming conflict between a belief in equality and a meritocracy, Green demonstrates how an emphasis on merit ultimately promotes equality rather than inequality, and shows that it is both possible and economically sound for our society to move in the direction of increased equality. Further, he shows how a true belief in equal opportunity will change the way in which we think about political representation, welfare, child care, affirmative action, and the obligations of the citizens of affluent societies to the rest of the world. Equality and Democracy takes on these crucial questions with great clarity. Without recourse to jargon, Green analyzes complex political debates around equality, explaining the range of arguments, and evaluating their potential for bringing equality back to a central place in America's future. Equality and Democracy is both an original work of political theory and a compelling analysis of the direction political action ought to take in the twenty-first century. The New Press Back-to-Basics Series is a series revisiting and exploring the basic tenets underlying American democracy. Future volumes will address such fundamental topics as liberty, taxation, and social welfare.

Contemporary American society has the look of a split-level structure. Its political and social institutions distribute rights and privileges... universally and proclaim the equality of all citizens. Yet economic institutions, with efficiency as their guiding principle, create disparities among citizens in living standards and material welfare. This mixture of equal rights and unequal economic status breeds tensions between the political principles of democracy and the economic principles of capitalism. Whenever the wealthy try for extra helpings of supposedly equal rights, and whenever the workings of the market deny anyone a minimum standard of living, " dollars transgress on rights" --in the author's phrase. In this revised and expanded version of the Godkin Lectures presented at the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University in April 1974, Arthur M. Okun explores the conflicts that arise when society's desire to reduce inequality would impair economic efficiency, confronting policymakers with " the big tradeoff." Other economic systems have attempted to solve this problem; but the best of socialist experiments have achieved a greater degree of equality than our mixed capitalist democracy only at heavy costs in efficiency, and dictatorial governments have reached heights of efficiency only by rigidly repressing their citizenry. In contrast, our basic system emerges as a viable, if uneasy, compromise in which the market has its place and democratic institutions keep it in check. But within the existing system there are ways to gain more of one good thing at a lower cost in terms of the other. In Okun's view, society's concern for human dignity can be directed atreducing the economic deprivation that stains the record of American democracy--through progressive taxation, transfer payments, job programs, broadening equality of opportunity, eliminating racial and sexual discrimination, and lowering barriers to access to capital.

On July 20, 1917, Russia became the world’s first major power to grant women the right to vote and hold public office. Yet in the wake of the October... Revolution later that year, the foundational organizations and individuals who pioneered the suffragist cause were all but erased from Russian history. The women’s movement, when mentioned at all, is portrayed as meaningless to proletariat and peasant women, based in elitist and bourgeoisie culture of the tsarist era, and counter to socialist ideology. In this groundbreaking book, Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild reveals that Russian feminists in fact appealed to all classes and were an integral force for revolution and social change, particularly during the monumental uprisings of 1905–1917.Ruthchild offers a telling examination of the dynamics present in imperialist Russia that fostered a growing feminist movement. Based upon extensive archival research in six countries, she analyzes the backgrounds, motivations, methods, activism, and organizational networks of early Russian feminists, revealing the foundations of a powerful feminist intelligentsia that came to challenge, and eventually bring down, the patriarchal tsarist regime. Ruthchild profiles the individual women (and a few men) who were vital to the feminist struggle, as well as the major conferences, publications, and organizations that promoted the cause. She documents political party debates on the acceptance of women’s suffrage and rights, and follows each party’s attempt to woo feminist constituencies despite their fear of women gaining too much political power. Ruthchild also compares and contrasts the Russian movement to those in Britain, China, Germany, France, and the United States. Equality and Revolution offers an original and revisionist study of the struggle for women’s political rights in late imperial Russia, and presents a significant reinterpretation of a decisive period of Russian—and world—history.

Issues of diversity have been and remain a key aspect of contemporary America. James Olson draws on his experience as a distinguished scholar and... teacher to develop a portrait that encompasses various ethnic groups in the U.S.-including African American, Native American, Hispanics, and immigrants from a variety of nations. In this brief text, he sketches the ever-changing ethnic portrait of America, incorporating the most relevant scholarship on the civil rights crusade, immigration quotas, various militant movements of the sixties, and the current state of ethnicity in the U.S. This volume is part of the AMERICA SINCE 1945 series--a collection of brief texts that seek to define the ways in which the United States has changed in the last 50 years.

Organized around such themes as equality before the law, equality of opportunity, and equality of result, the selections included in this anthology... range from Plato to the present, treating a topic of fundamental importance to political theory.