For many of us, the image of the cowboy hero facing off against the villain dominates our memories of the movies. Peter French examines the world of the western, one in which death is annihilation, the culmination of life, and there is nothing else. In that world he finds alternatives to Judeo-Christian traditions that dominate our ethical theories, alternatives that also attack the views of the most prominent ethicists of the past three centuries. More than just a meditation on the portrayal of the good, the bad, and the ugly on the big screen, French's work identifies an attitude toward life that he claims is one of the most distinctive and enduring elements of American culture.

"In this stunning philosophical accomplishment, McCumber sheds important new light on the history of substance metaphysics and Heidegger's challenge to metaphysical thinking. . . . Well-documented, brilliant, definitely a major contribution to philosophy!" —Choice In this compelling work, John McCumber unfolds a history of Western metaphysics that is also a history of the legitimation of oppression. That is, until Heidegger. But Heidegger himself did not see how his conception of metaphysics opened doors to challenge the domination encoded in structures and institutions—such as slavery, colonialism, and marriage—that in the past have given order to the Western world.

This book introduces the profound reflections of Xavier Zubiri (1898-1983) on the history of philosophy to English-speaking audiences. As a philosopher who rethought much of philosophy and theology, Zubiri felt it necessary to be in continuous dialogue with earlier thinkers both to avoid past mistakes and to extract all that is valuable from them. The theme of the present book is the transcendental in Western philosophy and how a firm grasp of it reveals underlying unity in Western philosophy, but also fundamental problems that Zubiri believed require a complete rethinking of certain basic notions and theories. Zubiri develops this theme by analyzing the work of six major philosophers: Aristotle, St. Thomas, Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, and Hegel. To conclude, he sketches his own resolution of the problems of Western philosophy, a subject addressed in greater depth in his major work, Sentient Intelligence. This translation was made possible by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

In Questioning Martin Heidegger, Martin Heidegger’s “Overcoming Metaphysics” provides the jumping-off point for a wide-ranging critique and deconstruction of Western metaphysics from the Pre-Socratics and Sophists to Descartes, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Derrida. Besides questioning Martin Heidegger’s controversial relationship with German National Socialism (Nazism) and the Holocaust, Questioning Martin Heidegger also takes off onto diverse topics like the question of being and the problem of nothingness, the birth of subjectivity and the death of God, and the Kehre and the emergence of a global ecological consciousness. Written in straightforward, jargon-free language, Questioning Martin Heidegger will be stimulating and exciting reading for professional scholars and enthusiastic laypersons, philosophy students and the general public.

Essays about how stories of the Old West reflect—and affect—our beliefs and values. The solitude of the lone rider, the loyalty of his horse, and the unspoken code of the West—for many, Western movies embody America and its values, though the view of the country’s history they present isn’t always accurate. In recent years, scholars had declared the genre dead, but a steady resurgence of western themes in literature, film, and television has reestablished its importance and influence. In The Philosophy of the Western, editors Jennifer L. McMahon and B. Steve Csaki examine philosophical themes in the western genre. Investigating subjects of nature, ethics, identity, gender, environmentalism, and animal rights, the essays in this volume draw from a wide range of westerns including the more recent popular and critical successes Unforgiven, All the Pretty Horses, 3:10 to Yuma, and No Country for Old Men, as well as literature and television serials such as Deadwood. The Philosophy of the Western reveals the powerful role of the western in the American psyche.

For generations, women have had to channel their strength and power into the role of muse, priestess, or earth mother—and always in the shadow of male magicians. This groundbreaking book shatters outdated notions of the Western magical tradition and presents a new paradigm that celebrates and empowers the woman magician. Drawing on thirty years of study and personal experience, Brandy Williams boldly revisions metaphysics from a female perspective. She introduces a new Magia Femina—a female-centered exploration of tradition, history, philosophy, science, culture, theology, and magic—and shares unique wisdom on how to live authentically as a woman and as a dedicated practitioner of her craft. Williams discusses women's roles in magic and philosophy throughout history as well as issues of gender, sexuality, feminism, cultural identity, God as divine feminine, the Qabbalah, and the evolution of such magical systems as the Golden Dawn and modern Witchcraft. Offering a complete and workable ritual system based on Egyptian cosmology, The Woman Magician invites you to become a practicing member of the Sisters of Seshat, the first all-female initiatory magical order since the French Revolution. Experience powerful hands-on individual and group initiatory rituals, and help launch this new order into the greater world.

Heimsoeth enters boldly into the historical drama of Western philosophical thought at its deepest level and tells a story focused not so much on actors as on the plot itself: the great metaphysical questions about philosophy and life.