Scepticism (12 results)

PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000.

Condition: New.

Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 80 pages. R M Hare "A School for Philosophers" / N Rotenstreich "Philosophy and the Economic Pattern" / F Zabeeh "Hume's Scepticism with Regard to Deductive Reason" / K Reidemeister "Intuition and Thought" / H Khatchadourian "Works of Art and Physical Reality" / H-J Rinck "Blackstone and the Law of Nature" (U.P.).

Booklet - Unbound Pages. Condition: Very Good. 8 pages. An original essay from the Monthly Review, 1790. An authentic standalone article, extracted from a larger volume. Not a reprint or reproduction, but an original work in its own right. Supplied without title page or cover. Size: 12 x 21 cms. Category: Monthly Review; Cosmo Books : 29 years on ABE, 47 years taking care of customers. A bookseller you can rely on.

Booklet - Unbound Pages. Condition: Very Good. 4 pages. A brief examination of the freethinking movement, considering its intellectual claims, its challenge to religious authority, and its perceived moral implications. The author weighs the appeal of independent inquiry against contemporary anxieties about irreligion and the erosion of traditional belief. An authentic standalone article, extracted from a larger volume. Not a reprint or reproduction, but an original work in its own right. Preserved in a modern card cover, prepared for practicality - an unassuming but serviceable presentation that favours function over finery. Size: 13 x 20 cms. Category: Annual Register; Printed before 1800; Special Features. Cosmo Books : 29 years on ABE, 47 years taking care of customers. A bookseller you can rely on.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Condition: New. Print on Demand.

Hardcover. [1, 8: subscribers], 453 p.; 21.5 cm. After quoting from Calvin's Institutes, book III, ch. 22, sect. 1, `This hateful doctrine of absolute decrees was never thought of in the three first centuries, or before the time of Augustin; an indisputable proof that Scripture does not naturally suggest it.' (47 f.) -- `One of the capital errors of Calvin was his applying tothe whole human race parts of Scripture intended only for partial application: thus the arguments he has chiefly adverted to in support of his doctrine of election and reprobation are selected from St. Paul's 9th chapter to the Romans; which . by no means applies or refers to the universal election or reprobation of the human species, but is entirely applicable to the election of those heathens into Christ's Church, who sought that election by faith in Christ, and to the rejection of such unbelieving Jews.'(50) -- `The chief reason,I apprehend, why men in general have less confidence in the goodness of God than they ought to have, is, that in the events and occurrences of this life they do not make a due discrimination and distinction between such as we have just reason to believe proceed from the will of God, and those which evidently proceed fromthe corrupt and depraved will of man.Whatever proceeds from the will of a Being of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, must necessarily be exactly right, without a possible exception to the contrary; nor are earthquakes or volcanos any exception, for these were either necessary at the original formation of the world, or they are the consequence of the disobedience of Adam; "Cursed is the ground for thy sake."' (403) Fair contemp. sheep, upper cover loose. Lower corner dampstained.

Condition: New. PRINT ON DEMAND.

12mo (128 x 77 mm). [18], 194, [1] pp. Title with woodcut device of Thomas Jolly (who shared the edition), woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials; printed shoulder-notes. (Occasional slight marginal discoloration.) Contemporary French gold-tooled red morocco, sides with two concentric triple fillet panels, fleurons at corners of the inner panel, spine gold-tooled and lettered in six compartments, board edges gilt, gilt edges, marbled endpapers (in the style of Guilleminot-Chrétien no. 22, produced ca. 1668).*** First Edition, a lovely copy, of a paradoxically erudite exposition of the vanity of all branches of knowledge. While expressed in the language and concepts of the time, the work resonates with the 21st-century reader: La Mothe Le Vayer?s argument was profound, for he circled around the principle of uncertainty, recognized by modern physicists as a fundamental property of our interactions with the world. La Mothe Le Vayer, the quintessential libertin érudit, saw himself as the heir of Montaigne, like the latter?s ?adopted daughter? Marie de Gournay, whose salon he frequented. In this late work he passes in review each of the belles lettres (liberal arts or humanities): Grammar, Rhetoric, Physics (in the broad classical sense, including Natural History and Astronomy), Medicine (the most distinguished of the belles lettres, in his view, but still flawed), and Law (he notes that jurists are called letrados in Spanish), exposing the multiple contradictions within each discipline. Discerning endless inconsistencies and the impossibility of finding a single, unchallengeable truth in any of these subject areas, he affirms the ultimate folly of man?s attempt to understand and impose order and logic on that which is infinite, constantly changing, and often irrational. His arguments are interwoven with classical Latin and Greek citations, testifying to his own massive erudition. And yet, he asserts, years of painful scholarship inevitably lead the scholar to nothing but uncertainty, ?difficult to distinguish, if one is to speak frankly, from true ignorance? (p. 11). Usually tolerant of humanity?s foibles, La Mothe Le Vayer comes closest to expressing biting scorn only for those he labels ?Dogmatists.? A pedagogue himself (he tutored Louis XIV and his brother Monsieur), he touches repeatedly on questions of education, especially in the sections on grammar and rhetoric, in which he discusses, for example, the folly of those who insistent rigidly on proper grammar, thus ignoring the properties of real language. The last section is devoted to the reading and writing of books, the one studious activity in which the author discerns genuine rewards, for the reader is preserved from the anxiety and boredom that plague so many, especially courtiers (those who ?follow the Court?), and the writer has the satisfaction of leaving his thoughts and impressions for posterity. Topics include seductive titles which mask mediocre books, plagiarism, squeamish overuse of euphemisms and excessive avoidance of risky homonyms, but also the advisability of discretion and temperance in subject and vocabulary; choosing a happy medium in one?s writing style between the prolix and the telegraphic; and suiting the style to the subject. In conclusion La Mothe le Vayer defends the compatibility of the Philosophie Sceptique with Christianity. Four American libraries hold copies: U. Indiana, U. Miami, U. Michigan, and Harvard. Tchemerzine 3: 981.

Condition: New. Print on Demand pp. 256.