Bøger i Key Contemporary Thinkers serien

Harvey Sacksa s early death in 1975 robbed the social sciences of one of its most original thinkers. Although he published relatively little in his lifetime, his lectures and papers were enormously influential in sociology and sociolinguistics and they played a major role in the development of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis.

If the logic of the Oedipus myth were subjected to rigorous and thoroughgoing analysis with the tools of anthropology, comparative mythology, and narratology, might it invalidate the approach to the 'Oedipus complex' that Freud derived from his psychoanalytic experience? This book answers 'yes', arguing that instead of the Oedipus complex explaining the myth, the Oedipus myth explains the complex. The author argues that the Oedipus myth is an historical anomaly, a myth of failed royal investiture or of avoided masculine initiation. Does this mean that we must return to the wisdom of tradition and strike out twenty-five centuries of Oedipal history? The author knows very well that such a solution would be fantasy, and he concludes by speculating on how his analysis might contribute to a vision that has eluded Freudian psychoanalysis: how to surpass the Oedipus complex, with all the ethical consequences this would entail.

The work of Erving Goffman (1922-82) has had an enormous impact throughout the social sciences, yet his writings have not received detailed scrutiny. This book not only assesses all of Goffman's seminal works but also demonstrates why his thought has been so influential to modern sociology. The book both explores and complements Goffman's ideas, drawing on the structuration theory of Anthony Giddens and on ethnomethodology to situate Goffman's work in relation to other, more systematic social theories while keeping an eye on how Goffman's work questions their basic presuppositions.

This book provides a lively introduction to the work of Roland Barthes, one of the twentieth century's most important literary and cultural theorists. The book covers all aspects of Barthes's writings including his work on literary theory, mass communications, the theatre and politics. Moriarty argues that Barthes's writing must not be seen as an unchanging body of thought, and that we should study his ideas in the contexts within which they were formulated, debated and developed.

Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State and Utopia is one of the works which dominates contemporary debate in political philosophy. Drawing on traditional assumptions associated with individualism and libertarianism, Nozick mounts a powerful argument for a minimal `nightwatchman' state and challenges the views of many contemporary philosophers, most notably John Rawls. Jonathan Wolff's new book is the first full-length study of Nozick's work and of the debates to which it has given rise. He situates Nozick's work in the context of current debates and examines the traditions which have influenced his thought. He then critically reconstructs the key arguments of Anarchy, State and Utopia, focusing on Nozick's Doctrine of Rights, his Derivation of the Minimal State, and his Entitlement Theory of Justice. The book concludes by assessing Nozick's place in contemporary political philosophy.

"Michael Walzer is one of the world's most important political thinkers. In this book, Toby J. Reiner provides the most wide-ranging and up-to-date introduction to his work available. Examining Walzer's multivarious writings and work, Reiner develops an illuminating new interpretation of his thought that no political theorist can afford to miss"--

This volume deals comprehensively with the work of Michel de Certeau, the author of one of the most diverse bodies of scholarship and cultural theory to emerge from Europe during the exciting decades after the late Sixties.

This title offers a systematic and accessible introduction to the work of Donald Davidson. It begins by discussing Davidson's contribution to the philosophy of mind, including his views on action, events and causation, going on to examine Davidson's work in the philosophy of language.

Until recently, "continental" philosophy has been tied either to the German tradition of phenomenology or to French post-structuralist concerns with the conditions of language and textuality.

Robert Brandom is one of the most renowned American philosophers today, discussed widely in analytic as well as continental philosophical communities on both sides of the Atlantic.

Bruno Latour is among the most important figures in contemporary philosophy and social science. His ethnographic studies have revolutionized our understanding of areas as diverse as science, law, politics and religion.

Francois Laruelle's non-philosophy or non-standard philosophy represents a bold attempt to rethink how philosophy is practiced in relation to other domains of knowledge. There is a growing interest in Laruelle's work in the English-speaking world, but his work is often misunderstood as a wholesale critique of philosophy.

This is the first English-language introduction to Peter Sloterdijk, the distinguished German philosopher and controversial public intellectual.

With his insightful and wide-ranging theory of recognition, Axel Honneth has decisively reshaped the Frankfurt School tradition of critical social theory.

Martin Heidegger is among the most important philosophers of the Twentieth Century. Within the continental tradition, almost every great figure has been deeply influenced by his work. For this reason, a full understanding of the course of modern philosophy is impossible without at least a basic grasp of Heidegger.

Saul Kripke has been a major influence on analytic philosophy and allied fields for a half-century and more. His early masterpiece, Naming and Necessity, reversed the pattern of two centuries of philosophizing about the necessary and the contingent.

* Noam Chomsky is one of the most influential figures in contemporary intellectual life, known for his groundbreaking contributions to a range of fields from linguistics to political theory.

* Ranciere is one of the most interesting and original philosophers in France today, well-known for his work on aesthetics, politics and the philosophy of literature.