Premodern Buddhists are sometimes characterized as veritable "mind scientists" whose insights anticipate modern research on the brain and mind. Aiming to complicate this story; Dan Arnold confronts a significant obstacle to popular attempts at harmonizing classical Buddhist and modern scientific thought: since most Indian Buddhists held that the mental continuum is uninterrupted by death (its continuity is what Buddhists mean by "rebirth"); they would have no truck with the idea that everything about the mental can be explained in terms of brain events. Nevertheless; a predominant stream of Indian Buddhist thought; associated with the seventh-century thinker Dharmakirti; turns out to be vulnerable to arguments modern philosophers have leveled against physicalism.By characterizing the philosophical problems commonly faced by Dharmakirti and contemporary philosophers such as Jerry Fodor and Daniel Dennett; Arnold seeks to advance an understanding of both first-millennium Indian arguments and contemporary debates on the philosophy of mind. The issues center on what modern philosophers have called intentionality―the fact that the mind can be about (or represent or mean) other things. Tracing an account of intentionality through Kant; Wilfrid Sellars; and John McDowell; Arnold argues that intentionality cannot; in principle; be explained in causal terms.Elaborating some of Dharmakirti's central commitments (chiefly his apoha theory of meaning and his account of self-awareness); Arnold shows that despite his concern to refute physicalism; Dharmakirti's causal explanations of the mental mean that modern arguments from intentionality cut as much against his project as they do against physicalist philosophies of mind. This is evident in the arguments of some of Dharmakirti's contemporaneous Indian critics (proponents of the orthodox Brahmanical Mimasa school as well as fellow Buddhists from the Madhyamaka school of thought); whose critiques exemplify the same logic as modern arguments from intentionality. Elaborating these various strands of thought; Arnold shows that seemingly arcane arguments among first-millennium Indian thinkers can illuminate matters still very much at the heart of contemporary philosophy.
#466234 in Books Jorg Friedrich 2008-04-14Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.98 x 1.10 x 6.08l; #File Name: 0231133812552 pagesThe Fire The Bombing of Germany 1940 1945
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Sheds light on a very dark episode of World War Two.By CustomerI have read a lot about WWII but this book was news to me. I had no idea quite how devastating the US/UK bombing campaign was for German cities and civilians. Kind of makes you ashamed to have been on the winning side; when such genocidal and cruel methods were used; not to military purpose; but as terror weapons meant to kill civilians; in revenge for the bombing of England. After a while the book becomes a catalog of destruction; and all the historic buildings destroyed are listed; as if every single one was a unique treasure of architectural history. Shows just how morally ambiguous and treacherous a war can be. If you are interested in WWII aviation history; it is worth learning something about the bombs dropped by all those B-17s and B-24s. Despite its many flaws; this should be on your reading list.8 of 9 people found the following review helpful. A tough goBy ScottI have just finished this and feel almost as numb as the bombing victims. I read slowly to begin with but I kept putting this down because it was often too hard to take.My father was a radioman and waist-gunner in B-17s in the 8th Army Air Force and; when I asked; he said that they were only interested in dropping their payloads and getting the hell out. After V-E day they got to fly over many of the destroyed cities; he offered no opinion other than to say they deserved it. The Nazis surely did.The Fire (Der Brand) shows the other side of the story.I'm certain Friedrich was sorely tempted at times to equate the firebombing with the Holocaust (which of course numbered in the millions not the hundreds of thousands). He does not.If architecture is the objectification of history; Friedrich does equate the obliteration of the cities and towns with the loss of Germany's history; heritage and people and asks whether it was necessary.5 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Probably the best book ever written on the bombing of Germany.By NachtjagerTo keep this simple; this is probably the single best book ever written on the fire bombing of Germany during WWII. Intensely personal with first-hand accounts instead of textbook-boring lists of statistics and reports; this is a troubling read that shows what it was like to live under the constant threat of allied bombing. I had to read this book ten or twenty pages at a time because it's troubling and intense; it will pull you into visual nightmares that are difficult to get away from. This is a very intense book; and as my grandparents lived through this and I've heard their stories most of my life; it is an especially important book to me. If you want to look at the allied bombing of Germany in an entirely new perspective; read this book - it's powerful and should be on every WWII history buff's shelf. HIGHLY RECOMENDED!
