Humanities Books

The Ghost on the Ramparts presents fourteen of R. B. Heilman's essays on the teaching of English and the profession of the humanities. Written mainly since 1960, these essays deal with such diverse topics as administrative ways and means, pedagogical shibboleths and heresies, uses and abuses of literacy, cliches of style, moot issues of history and criticism, and above all the nature of the humanities and their continuing significance. The persuasive discussions of all these subjects reflect the author's wide profesional experience, his wit and wisdom, his superb sense of style.
--- excerpt from book's dustjacket

An excellent job of selection, both of authors and stories. Of especial interest is the mammoth list of anthologies at the end of the book. One wants to collect them all -- which I did!

Macmurray is in my opinion one of the most neglected philosophers of the 20th century. His exceptionally lucid work lays the ground for a comprehensive non-Cartesian view of the world.

Macmurray firstly proposes action, and not thought, as the fundamental basis for understanding what it is to be human. When Descartes says "I think", he is then already divorced from the world. One can ONLY exist in interaction with others and other things, it is absurd to imagine a person as existing in a universe where there is nothing else whatsoever. Action is the full state of the human being, and thinking is a lesser, abstracted state. Action is a full concrete activity of the Self employing all our capacities whereas thought is constituted by the exclusion of some of our powers and a WITHDRAWAL into an activity which is less concrete and less complex... a theory of knowledge is derived from and included in a theory of action.

Secondly, Macmurray proposes another enormous paradigm shift for Western philosophy by saying that we cannot fully understand individuals in isolation, but only in relation to others. Relationship is constitutive of human living for Macmurray: 'We need one another to be ourselves. This complete and unlimited dependence of each of us upon the others is the central and crucial fact of personal existence.' The idea of an isolated agent is self-contradictory; any agent is necessarily in relationship with Others. Macmurray corresponded with Martin Buber, and his thought essentially extends Buber's vision.

These two central tenets are explicated respectively in Macmurray's two major works, "The Self as Agent" and "Persons in Relation" (also published together as "The Form of the Personal"). Macmurray's writing is crystal clear, and filled with other fascinating points, such as his distinction between intellectual and emotional representations, in chapter 9 of "The Self as Agent".

A great short introduction to Macmurray and his work can be found in David Creamer's book "Guides to the Journey".

A great many of the studies made in the humanities and social sciences have a geographical component. It may be the development of communities along transportation systems -- New Orleans was positioned where it is because it was the meeting place between river bound traffic and ocean going vessels.

Much of the studies made in a wide variety of areas like tax income, crime rates, migration patterns, housing prices, school/medical/fire/police services produce geographically oriented data that can better be displayed on a map than any other way.

Modern Geographical Information Systems have come a long way from the very expensive software systems of years past that also required the use of very expensive workstations. Indeed much of the needed software is now abailable at no cost. One chapter in the book details the efforts of the author and others in finding or establishing web sites that point to software of particular interest to the social sciences. Further the extremely rapid development of very powerful personal computer systems has completely overtaken the expensive workstations of the past.

This book is the result of a six year study conducted by Dr. Okabe at the University of Tokyo.

quick and cheap delivery, book is in great condition. the book itself is compiled of different authors so it covers a range of issues from different perspectives. The tone is more informative than defensive ar argumentative.

An incisive analysis of globalization and its effects. Do you want to understand why the social safety net in the US is being systematically shredded? Do you want to know why the two major parties in the US have nearly indistinguishable economic policies? Do you want to understand the significance of NAFTA and the FTAA? Of the protests in Seattle and Quebec City? Read this book.

I found this book to be an excellent thesis on cross-cultural studies. It is well written and contains a lot of interesting and perceptive observations and conclusions. Definitely worth dipping into.

It is amazing how quickly the presence of White Bull, as channeled by Ian Graham (born in England in 1954) becomes like an intimate friend whispering his words of wisdom into one's heart. The messages obviously come from a knowing source, the humor is exquisite, many of the formulations highly original and always reassuring. His observations on past lives, karma, meditation and the awakening of the Christ bodies are very clearly formulated and resonate with a deep sense of truth.
It is fascinating to read the Foreword (written by Princess Irene of The Netherlands) and the introduction in which Graham himself describes how he first met the entity White Bull seventeen years ago. His process of channeling and his dedication to the service of mankind (traveling every year around the globe to offer his sessions) are remarkably similar to what happened in the case of the famous American trance medium and prophet Edgar Cayce. Even the content of some of the readings in this compendium are sometimes in a similar vein, especially when they address acute global issues.
White Bull comes authentically across as a being with a tremendously tender heart wanting to share a universal message of love and trying to alleviate the pain of holding on to fear and attachment in these times of quick change.

This fable about the Kingdom of Midnight, which had plenty of water but no oil to light lamps, and the Kingdom of the Desert, which sparkled with light but had no water to grow gardens, is based on a Hasidic tale. The stubborn Prince and Princess who rule the kingdoms are unable to come together, and they turn into lonely mountains which whisper like the summer rain and the desert wind. It takes the humble boy who keeps the royal crane and the humble girl who keeps the royal ostrich, to see what the other needs and how much they have to offer. They bring the kingdoms together so that everyone has what they need. A beautiful story of sharing and interdependence, beautifully illustrated.

If you like Fiction / Fiction-Religious - this is the book to read. Fine job done by Will Hallawell. Anyone who reads this story will be able to relate to the emotions and physical joys and pains of the story's characters. God finally fed up with the human race and what human's have done to ruin his great plan - has the intent of destroying everything - And Orphaniel-a compasionate angel feels sorry for the human race and decides to help save the planet by using Tony Rose as the "middle man" - (Must save the rest for the readers) This is a gripping story and leaves the reader wondering " could this happen ?" I recommend this book to all fiction readers and I look forward to future stories by Will Hallawell. Look out Steven King.......