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In this important book, Richard J. Bernstein argues that an adequate conception of humans and nature, capable of facing up to the existential threats of our time, requires taking full account of the major projects dealing with nature in the past. Focusing on key figures of modernity – Spinoza, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud – Bernstein reconstructs their conceptions of nature and uncovers the reasons that led them to their distinctive views. Working through the contradictions and incompatibilities among these diverse thinkers, Bernstein identifies common themes that have shaped their struggles in dealing with the relation of humans to nature. He offers a critical overview of the challenges illuminated by each perspective that must be confronted in our thinking of nature today.
As a prolegomenon to rethinking humanity and nature, this book uncovers the rich conceptual resources available within the modern tradition that can help us to develop an adequate understanding of nature for our time.
Preface
Introduction
Part I The Philosophy of Nature
Chapter 1 Spinoza: Founder of Modern Naturalism
Chapter 2 Hume: The Experimental Method and the Science of Man
Chapter 3 Kant: Copernican Turn––Nature, Reason, and Freedom
Chapter 4 Hegel: Nature and Geist
Part II The Hermeneutics of Suspicion
Prologue
Chapter 5 Marx: The Transaction of Nature and Social Man
Chapter 6 Nietzsche: Nature and the Affirmation of Life
Chapter 7 Freud: Human Nature, Psychic Reality, and Cosmological Speculation
Coda
Concluding Remarks
Notes
References
Description
In this important book, Richard J. Bernstein argues that an adequate conception of humans and nature, capable of facing up to the existential threats of our time, requires taking full account of the major projects dealing with nature in the past. Focusing on key figures of modernity – Spinoza, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud – Bernstein reconstructs their conceptions of nature and uncovers the reasons that led them to their distinctive views. Working through the contradictions and incompatibilities among these diverse thinkers, Bernstein identifies common themes that have shaped their struggles in dealing with the relation of humans to nature. He offers a critical overview of the challenges illuminated by each perspective that must be confronted in our thinking of nature today.
As a prolegomenon to rethinking humanity and nature, this book uncovers the rich conceptual resources available within the modern tradition that can help us to develop an adequate understanding of nature for our time.