Dr. Blakmore's analysis of these political writings is very insightful. He uncovers the intertextual conflicts, in particular between Burke and Wollstonecraft, and provides an indepth literary analysis of both. His diction is sofisticated, yet approachable to an average student of 18th Cent. Literature. A must read for anyone interested in the political philosophy of the Age of Englightment.

This book is part of a series of translations by Edmund Jephcott that also includes Adorno's lectures on Kant and ethics. I have little German but it seems to me that Jephcott knows how to translate, by immersing himself not in static German Kultur (which would be a bad mistake with regards to Adorno, a victim of bad culture) but by immersing himself in the current events in which Adorno's lecture was contextualized.

Now, this book is not what we here in the States would consider an "introduction" to "sociology.". That's because almost anything "101" is both indoctrination and education.

American social research has defined itself in reaction to Adorno. While Adorno repeatedly asserted his support for quantitative methods, American social research is based on an exclusionary reversal of the European overemphasis on theory…in which (as Adorno points out in this book) data gathering and moron math replace theory.

In terms of the philosophy of science, Adorno's ontology of social research happens to be right. Physics, unlike sociology, can stand outside the object of research for the very good reason that in physics, the objects of interest are either very small or very far away.

Whereas the sociologist studies phenomena which are very large and in the same room.

A physicist could not study black holes while being sucked into a black hole. A social theorist has to do social research at all times while also being sucked into various social black holes…including Hitler's expulsion of Adorno's kreis in the 1930s. Furthermore, unlike the physicist's work the sociologist's work immediately and necessarily becomes part of the phenomena.

In Godel's proof, the statements that generate Godel's contradiction are outlier cases. In Heisenberg the self-reflexive phenomenon occurs only at the level of elementary particles.

In sociology and in anthropology, however, these phenomena happen all the time.

A true introduction to social theory would therefore foreground this ontological issue, but in fact, Sociology for Dummies 101 does not.

Instead, American sociology in reaction to Adorno proclaims the acceptance of "methodological individualism" as canonical for entry.

Methodological individualism is a metaphysic (which justifies itself as pragmatic) which declares that insofar as we're concerned, society can be reduced to individuals following goals. In this ontology talk about larger elementary structures such as "the proletariat" on the left or "the nation" on the right is relegated to "dogma." The reduction to absurdity is the gnomic utterance of the mad woman Margaret Thatcher: "there is no such thing as society."

It is indeed nonsense to speak of hypostatized entities such as "the proletariat" or "the nation" as if they could exist apart from the interests of their actual members. Part of the metaphysical puzzle of nuclear war was the insanity, on the part of Soviet leaders, in believing that by killing 90% of the proletariat they could ensure the victory of the proletariat: yet indirectly, the hypostatizing thought of Stalinism generates this insane ontology.

The reverse insanity is to even attempt to make sensible conclusions about society from a mass of data...and, as needed, confuse images of reality with elementary "facts." Its size is a practical problem which means that no justification is available from American pragmatism, the epistemology which underlies methodological individualism and this means that methodological individualism contradicts itself...it doesn't work.

But the real problem is Godelian/Heisenbergian as seen in the large American industry of SAT test preparation, resume writing, and corporate grab-ass. It is that methodological individualism scales up from individual observations that are gamed by ordinary slobs, who don't like to be treated as lab rats, and who in many cases are temporary, paid employees of firms, who allow themselves to be objectified for a fistful of dollars and free chow.

Adorno presents a foundational solution based on Kant.

Suppose, examining the simultaneous existence of individual choice and the emergence of larger structures including that structure visible (in an example of Adorno's) when one is unable to borrow money or get a job, we were to say that this analysis, which acknowledges the existence of BOTH individual choice AND larger structures, neither of which would exist without the other. [I have of course, just reinvented the intellectual foundations of European Social Democracy.]

This resembles Kant because this surrender was part of the Kantian method. In ontology it is the admission that while we cannot know the world as such in the way we demand, there is nonetheless a difference between dream and reality, a transcendental difference established by the benign circularity of an argument which shows that the existence of a distinction is presupposed as a condition of knowledge, and thus argument, itself.

In American-ese, I can well imagine Adorno saying "sure, my Frankfurt school is part of society and it plays the game. My guy Horkheimer concealed its Marxism when we were in California during the McCarthy era because we like to eat. But I deny that this falsifies our conclusions as self-interested. This is because individuals and their individual institutions NECESSARILY exist alone with ALL OTHER individuals and institutions as part of a society which WOULD NOT EXIST without at least two individuals talking to each other."

"You can't say that this cheerful admission of being part of society falsifies what we say. This is because the economics that results from individualist sociology proclaims self-interest as paramount. This places the apologists for methodological individualism and a dogma which dares not speak its name under the logically identical cloud of suspicion...which works both ways. Now get out of my office."

The most moving part of the book is the end, for Godde and Jephcott have preserved the audience's hissing when Adorno defends another academic's right to speak. He was probably hissed by clowns who are now senior executives at Deutsches Bank and Springer, who unlearned left politics but retained the ability to use methodological discourtesy (and left sexism) as a tactical tool and used it in the corporate climb.

Theodore Adorno (two years after these lectures) died from the stresses of 1968.

We the People, right? Well, it's not obvious anymore, looking around at the usurping of many of our rights. This book states the obvious in simple terms that we can all understand at today's hectic pace. A very good history lesson.

The Jubilee Guide to Rome focuses on the four great basilicas of Rome and how a visit to these churches can be an integral part of a Christian's preparation for the Jubilee Year. Through exquisite photography and descriptive text, the authors point out details that the untrained eye would miss during a visit to these churches. The section on St. Peter's Basilica is especially informative - it weaves the architectural and spiritual details together as one. I wish I had found this book before leading my first pilgrimage to Rome. It will be a regular part of our spiritual preparation from here on. (And the size is perfect to tuck in a purse, pocket, or fanny pack!)

Although critics continue to debate whether Jules Verne's work is "true" science fiction (SF), rather than scientific romance, Verne is widely credited as one of the founders of the genre and in the popular imagination, he and SF are seen as largely synonomous. Verne has received renewed attention since the publication in 1994 of his "Paris au Vingtieme Siecle", and this has highlighted his importance as a key commentator on the anguishes of modernity. Arthur B. Evans provides a detailed account of the relationship between Verne and the French literary canon, demonstrating the "now-ineluctable trend towards rehabilitation and literary canonization". Daniel Compere exmines narrative technique, versimilitude, defamiliarization, naturalization and dialogism in Verne's work, while Timothy Unwin develops the enquiry into the nature of the Vernian text in discussing the role of science and textual repetition. The interface between realism, utopianism and SF in a number of Verne's novels is investigated by Sarah Capitano.

Mr. Barrett has done his research and from this, has created a plausible tale regarding the wife of Siddharta Gautma (ap) later known as Buddha. Yasodara is not formally acknowledged as his wife. This is one of my favorite books. Read it.. I think it may become one of yours too. !

The main character is Kelly. Kelly has a reputation for dumping guys after the second date, usually because by the second date the boy's hands tend to wander. So when she dates this new boy at school named Blackie and he doesn't do anything more than kiss her on the cheek, she thinks it's a miracle. But on the third date, Blackie starts to show off how much he knows about black magic. That's when she decides maybe he isn't as great a guy as she thought he was. She told him she doesn't want to see him anymore but he won't take no for an answer....

Lewis "Buck" Crook was my grandfather. For me, my brothers, my cousins, and the rest of my family, the Crook Book, as it is affectionately known, is a great source of pride. I developed a web site dedicated to the life and work of Buck Crook. A number of pictures from the Crook Book are featured there.

This volume inludes seven essays by the Rev. Edmund A. Opitz, a Congregational minister who spent nearly forty years at The Foundation for Economic Education. Culled from three of Opitz's earlier books -- _The Powers That Be_, _The Kingdom Without God_, and _Religion: Foundation of a Free Society_ -- the essays include a debate between Opitz and the Rev. John C. Bennett of Union Theological Seminary; the "Roots of Amercian Liberty" in biblical principles; the conflicts between New Testament ethics and the "welfare state"; two devastating pieces on "social action" and the "Social Gospel"; a similarly devastating piece on "The Churches and the United Nations"; and the short piece from which the present volume takes its title, "The Libertarian Theology of Freedom." This volume will be of interest not only to Christians but to anyone who wants to know what Christianity really says about political and economic liberty.