What does it mean to live a meaningful life? Can life be meaningful at all, and if it can, what exactly makes it so? This new volume in the Philosophical Dialogues on Contemporary Issues series addresses these questions through fictional dialogues that relate the theoretical problems that philosophers tend to focus on to the lives of ordinary people, the concerns they have, and the problems they face.Overseeing the seven dialogues presented in this book is the Socrates-lik...

This book develops and defends a subjectivist account of meaning in life, which holds that the only place that meaning can ever be found is in the way we experience the living of our lives.Many philosophers consider that a life can only be meaningful if it meets certain objective standards. For a life to be meaningful, they insist, it needs to make a difference and contribute something important, something that is of value, and not just for the person whose life it is.In co...

Nie zuvor herrschte eine solche Unsicherheit wie heute hinsichtlich der Frage, welche Dinge als Kunst gelten dürfen und welche nicht. Verdutzt steht man oft im Museum und fragt sich: Soll dies wirklich Kunst sein? Offenbar wird es von manchen dafür gehalten, sonst wäre es nicht dort, aber warum? Knapp und konzis stellt Michael Hausskeller sechzehn verschiedene Theorien vor, die durch die Jahrhunderte der Frage nachgehen, was es mit der Kunst auf sich hat - von der Antike bis in die Gegenwa...

There are things that can be done and are done to life on earth (whether it be human, animal or plant life) which, even if they do not involve or produce any suffering, are still considered morally wrong by a large proportion of the public. Such things include changing the nature of living beings by means of genetic engineering in order to enhance their health, or, more likely with animals and plants, their utility, or impairing their ability to live autonomously, or unduly instrumentalizi...

This book examines the dependence of transhumanist arguments on the credibility of the narratives of meaning in which they are embedded. By taking the key ideas from transhumanist philosophy – the desirability of human self-design and immortality, the elimination of all suffering and the expansion of human autonomy – Michael Hauskeller explores these narratives and the understanding of human nature that informs them. Particular attention is paid to the theory of transhumanism as a form of ...

Developments in medical science have afforded us the opportunity to improve and enhance the human species in ways unthinkable to previous generations. Whether it's making changes to mitochondrial DNA in a human egg, being prescribed Prozac, or having a facelift, our desire to live longer, feel better and look good has presented philosophers, medical practitioners and policy-makers with considerable ethical challenges. But what exactly constitutes human improvement? What do we mean when we ...

What is the point of living? If we are all going to die anyway, if nothing will remain of whatever we achieve in this life, why should we bother trying to achieve anything in the first place? Can we be mortal and still live a meaningful life? Questions such as these have been asked for a long time, but nobody has found a conclusive answer yet. The connection between death and meaning, however, has taken centre stage in the philosophical and literary work of some of the world's greatest wri...

Jonathan Swift and Philosophy is the first book to analyse and interpret Swift’s writing from a philosophical angle. By placing key texts of Swift in their philosophical and cultural contexts and providing background to their history of ideas, it demonstrates how well informed Swift’s criticism of the politics, philosophy, and science of his age actually was. Moreover, it also sets straight preconceptions about Swift as ignorant about the scientific developments of his time.The auth...

O presente livro repercute os interesses dos pesquisadores da linha de Ética e filosofia política do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia (PPGF) da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (PUCPR), que convidaram colegas e interlocutores para juntos refletirem sobre o desafio de pensar a relação entre vida e liberdade em seus desdobramentos na filosofia do século XX e XXI. O livro se efetiva, assim, como um diálogo mediado por pensadores que, no mundo contemporâneo, possibilitam formas...

A urgência de pensar o animal é a mesma que obriga a refletir criticamente sobre a crença milenar na primazia ontológica do ser humano e em sua superioridade diante das outras espécies, contra as quais ele implementa lancinantes expedientes de exploração, experimentação e consumo que não só têm produzido todo tipo de sofrimento (o que já é terrível e condenável por si só) como têm contribuído para a extinção de muitas formas de vida que povoam ares, terras e águas. Esse primeiro contrassen...

Ist die Aufgabe der Kunst das Wahre, Gute und Schöne oder doch eher die Darstellung ihrer eigenen Künstlichkeit? Michael Hauskeller stellt in diesem Buch sechzehn Theorien über Kunst vor. Die brillanten Kurzessays ergeben zusammen eine kleine Geschichte der Ästhetik von der Antike bis in die Gegenwart – knapp, pointiert und allgemein verständlich.

What does popular culture's relationship with cyborgs, robots, vampires and zombies tell us about being human? Insightful scholarly perspectives shine a light on how film and television evince and portray the philosophical roots, the social ramifications and the future visions of a posthumanist world.