О философии России второй половины ХХ в. Журнал "Вопросы философии", июль 2009

Автор В.А. Лекторский

Среди людей, изучавших философию в институте в советские годы по официально санкционированным учебникам, где рассказывалось, как все сложнейшие проблемы и загадки человеческого бытия, над разгадыванием которых великие умы бились в течение столетий и тысячелетий, легко и просто разрешаются с позиций марксизма-ленинизма, бытует мнение, что философы в советские годы были либо неумными людьми, либо апологетами нечестивой власти (во многих случаях теми и другими одновременно). Если это верно, то ни о какой настоящей философии в те годы в нашей стране не может быть и речи. В соответствии с этим мнением, если и нужно разрабатывать философию в современной России, то делать это следует как бы с нуля, с самого начала. При этом предлагается два варианта работы в области философии: либо опереться на ту философскую традицию религиозного идеализма, которая была прервана в 1922 г., когда выдающихся русских философов выслали за границу на «философском пароходе», либо примкнуть к одной из популярных сегодня школ западной философии.

Восточные сценарии глобального мира. Журнал "Вопросы философии", июль 2009

Автор М.Т. Степанянц


Ни у кого не вызывает сомнения, что сегодня именно глобализация представляет собой «мега-тенденцию» мирового развития, определяющего контуры будущего. Нельзя, тем не менее, полностью исключить возможность свертывания этой тенденции в результате катастрофических войн, вызванных глобальным кризисом, вследствие различных причин (демографических, продовольственных, экологических и др.), или же конфликтом цивилизаций. Даже в случае наиболее вероятного победоносного шествия глобализации нет уверенности в том, каким станет в итоге мир будущего. До недавнего времени преобладала (по крайней мере на Западе) убежденность в том, что глобализация приведет к повсеместному торжеству либерально-демократических ценностей и институтов. Это давало возможность утверждать, как то делал Ф. Фукуяма, что «мы находимся в конце истории, поскольку существует лишь одна система, которой предстоит продолжать доминировать в мировой политике, а именно, - либерально-демократический Запад... Время на стороне современности, и я не вижу причин, почему США не будут господствовать»

Jacques Barzun Prize, American Philosophical Society Prose Award, Association of American Publishers, Inc.

Enchanted Lives, Enchanted Objects. American Women Collectors and the Making of Culture, 1800–1940
Dianne Sachko Macleod

This insightful and beautifully illustrated book offers the first feminist analysis of the phenomenon of women art collectors in America. Dianne Sachko Macleod brings a surprising paradox to light, showing that collecting, which provided wealthy women with a private sense of solace, also liberated them to venture into the public sphere and make a lasting contribution to the emerging American culture. Beginning in the antebellum period, continuing through the Gilded Age, and reaching well into the twentieth century, Macleod shows how elite women enlisted the objets d'art and avant-garde paintings in their collections in causes ranging from the founding of modern museums to the campaign for women's suffrage.

"Macleod's impressive grasp of the complexities of collecting brings to life the idea of the female collector and the limitless horizons that collecting embodied as an expression of personal identity and female agency. . . . Essential." — Choice: Current Reviews For Academic Libraries

"A valuable addition to our belated understanding of the crucial role that women played outside the studio and inside the museum." — Artnet Magazine

Finalist for the Bernard Schwartz Book Award, Asia Society

The Three Faces of Chinese Power. Might, Money, and Minds
David M. Lampton

Clear, comprehensive, and well-balanced, this unique assessment takes the measure of what is arguably the most important geopolitical change in today's world: the growth of China's power. In the only book on the subject to be based on extensive interviews with elite political leaders, diplomats, and others in China, the United States, and countries on China's periphery, David M. Lampton investigates the military, economic, and intellectual dimensions of China's growing influence. His account provides a fresh perspective from which to assess China—how its strengths are changing, where vulnerabilities and uncertainties lie, and how the rest of the world, not least the United States, should view it. Lampton gives a valuable historical framework by discussing how the Chinese have thought about state power for over 2,500 years, and he asks how they are thinking about the future use of power through instruments such as their space program. He also provides broad suggestions for policy toward China in light of the 2008 elections in the United States and China's hosting of the Olympic Games, in a book that is essential reading for understanding one of the most significant developments of the twenty-first century.

"By learning more not only about China, but from China, America is more likely to sustain a constructive relationship with the rising China. Lampton insightfully provides us with the much-needed guidance."–Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic and International Studies

"Professor Lampton's stimulating and well-researched book provides a comprehensive framework for intelligent thinking about the implications for the United States and the world of the rapid expansion of China's economic and military power. Serious students of world affairs and non-specialists concerned about the outlook for U.S.-China relations will all benefit from the historically-based insights and judgments that fill the pages of this thought-provoking volume."—J. Stapleton Roy, former United States ambassador to China

Awards for Excellence, American Academy of Religion

Friends of God
Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood
John Renard

Prophets, saints, martyrs, sages, and seers—one of the richest repositories of lore about such exemplary religious figures belongs to the world's approximately 1.3 billion Muslims. Illuminating some of the most delightful tales in world religious literature, this engaging book is the first truly global overview of Islamic hagiography. John Renard tells of the characters beyond the Qur'an and Hadith, whose stories of piety and service to God and humanity have captured hearts and minds for nearly fourteen hundred years. Renard's thematic approach to the major characters, narratives, social and cultural contexts, and theoretical concepts of this remarkable treasury of tales, based on material ranging from the eighth to the twentieth centuries and from countries ranging from Morocco to Malaysia, provides insight into the ways in which these stories have functioned in the lives of Muslims from diverse cultural, social, economic, and political backgrounds. The book also serves as a useful and evocative tool for approaching the vast geographical and chronological sweep of Islamic civilization.

"These narratives will carry inquirers closer to the "friends of God" in spirit and so (I would contend with Renard) closer to the very heart of Islam."—Theological Studies
"I know of no other work in Western scholarship and pedagogy of Islamic studies with the scope and depth of Friends of God. Renard does not only provide well organized, richly detailed, absorbing, and delightful coverage of the best known literature on Muslim saints and sainthood, but he also brings the reader into modern and contemporary contexts where the subject continues to be of considerable personal and communal spiritual importance. This book is new and urgently needed in today's world, whether in the university or across the global landscape of adult reflection on Islam and Muslims. "—Frederick Mathewson Denny, author of An Introduction to Islam and Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado, at Boulder

July. NYT Critics’Picks

The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love and the Meaning of Life
Alison Gopnik


For most of us, having a baby is the most profound, intense, and fascinating experience of our lives. Now scientists and philosophers are starting to appreciate babies, too. The last decade has witnessed a revolution in our understanding of infants and young children. Scientists used to believe that babies were irrational, and that their thinking and experience were limited. Recently, they have discovered that babies learn more, create more, care more, and experience more than we could ever have imagined. And there is good reason to believe that babies are actually smarter, more thoughtful, and even more conscious than adults.

This new science holds answers to some of the deepest and oldest questions about what it means to be human. A new baby’s captivated gaze at her mother’s face lays the foundations for love and morality. A toddler’s unstoppable explorations of his playpen hold the key to scientific discovery. A three-year-old’s wild make-believe explains how we can imagine the future, write novels, and invent new technologies. Alison Gopnik—a leading psychologist and philosopher, as well as a mother—explains the groundbreaking new psychological, neuroscientific, and philosophical developments in our understanding of very young children, transforming our understanding of how babies see the world, and in turn promoting a deeper appreciation for the role of parents.

NYT, Guardian, Barnes and Noble, Financial Times, Publishers Weekly
The Boston Globe, New Scientist

July. Пополнение коллекции. Mahatma Gandhi

Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth
Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi

Gandhi's nonviolent struggles in South Africa and India had already brought him to such a level of notoriety, adulation, and controversy that when asked to write an autobiography midway through his career, he took it as an opportunity to explain himself. Although accepting of his status as a great innovator in the struggle against racism, violence, and, just then, colonialism, Gandhi feared that enthusiasm for his ideas tended to exceed a deeper understanding. He says that he was after truth rooted in devotion to God and attributed the turning points, successes, and challenges in his life to the will of God. His attempts to get closer to this divine power led him to seek purity through simple living, dietary practices (he called himself a fruitarian), celibacy, and ahimsa, a life without violence. It is in this sense that he calls his book The Story of My Experiments with Truth, offering it also as a reference for those who would follow in his footsteps. A reader expecting a complete accounting of his actions, however, will be sorely disappointed. Amazon.com Review

The only English translation of The Story of My Experiments with Truth was done by Gandhi's friend and assistant Mahadev Desai. By modern standards Desai's translation is flowery and liberal, turning passages such as "Everyone should fast and stop work" into "Let all the people of India, therefore, suspend their business on that day and observe the day as one of fasting and prayer." It also bowdlerises the original in places.

United States - authorized edition with forward by Sissela Bok, Beacon Press 1993 reprint: ISBN 0-8070-5909-9

Впервые была издана в СССР в 1934 г. издательством ОГИЗ - СОЦЭКГИЗ под редакцией И.М.Рейснера. Книга получила название "Моя Жизнь". Перевод с английского сделан Р. Ульяновским, им же написано предисловие. Книга издана с сокращениями и с политической правкой. Переиздавалась в 1969г. (другие переводчики и тот же редактор) и в 1989 году в Алма-Ате издательством Жалын.

July. Пополнение коллекции. Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi: A Life
by Yogesh Chadha

The Internationally Acclaimed Biography of One of History’s Monumental Figures Gandhi: A Life The first biography of this important figure in over twenty years, Gandhi: A Life rescues the man from the myth, revealing the transformation of an ordinary, timid young man into a leader whose stand against a mighty empire brought millions together.

"Until another Gandhi scholar comes along who digs deeper and can write more movingly, Gandhi scholarship will be well served by Chadha’s effort." — The Washington Post Book World

"It is well-balanced, even-handed, and, like its subject, inspiring." —Kirkus Reviews "An engaging work worthy of a wide audience." — Library Journal

"A sober, sensible, and notably fair account of this most quicksilver of personalities … far from uncritical … But on the whole he is approving, even reverential. Usually he convinces one that this is justified." — Daily Telegraph

"The first major biography to appear for twenty years … [with] a depth and authority which others have lacked." — The Independent

July. Пополнение коллекции. Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi: 'Hind Swaraj' and Other Writings
Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi

Hind Swaraj is Mahatma Gandhi’s fundamental work. It is a key to understanding not only his life and thought but also the politics of South Asia in the first half of the tjavascript:void(0)wentieth century. For the first time this volume presents the 1910 text of Hind Swaraj and includes Gandhi’s own Preface and Foreword (not found in other editions) and annotations by the editor. In his Introduction, Anthony Parel sets the work in its historical and political contexts. He analyses the significance of Gandhi’s experiences in England and South Africa, and examines the intellectual cross-currents from East and West that affected the formation of the mind and character of one of the twentieth century’s truly outstanding figures. The second part of the volume contains some of Gandhi’s other writings, including his correspondence with Tolstoy, Nehru and others. Short bibliographical synopses of prominent figures mentioned in the text and a chronology of important events are also included as aids to the reader.

Contents: Introduction; Glossary; A note on the history of the text; Principal events in Gandhi's life; Biographical synopses; Bibliography; Hind Swaraj; Supplementary writings.

Edited by Anthony J. Parel (University of Calgary)

Series: Cambridge Texts in Modern Politics
ISBN-13: 9780521574051 | ISBN-10: 0521574056