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The Cambridge Critical Guides series offers cutting-edge research volumes on some of the most important works of philosophy. Each volume presents newly-commissioned essays by an international team of contributors, and will appeal to a scholarly and graduate-level audience.

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52 results in Cambridge Critical Guides

Page 1 of 3

Heidegger's Being and Time
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Aaron James Wendland, Tobias Keiling
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    May 2025
    Print publication:
    31 May 2025
  • Martin Heidegger's Being and Time, published in 1927, is widely regarded as his most important work and it has had a profound influence on twentieth-century philosophy. This Critical Guide draws on recently translated and published primary sources as well as the latest developments in Heidegger scholarship to provide a series of in-depth studies of this influential text. Twelve newly-written essays examine the unity of Being and Time; the nature of human communication; truth as a catalyst of cultural transformation; feminist approaches to Being and Time; the essence of authenticity; curiosity as an epistemic vice; the nature of rationality; realism and idealism; the ontological difference; the origin of time; the possibility of death; and the failure of the Being and Time project. The volume will be particularly valuable to students and scholars interested in phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, metaphysics, epistemology, feminism, and ethics.

Hume's Essays
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Max Skjönsberg, Felix Waldmann
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    January 2025
    Print publication:
    09 January 2025
  • David Hume's Essays, which were written and published at various junctures between 1741 and his death in 1776, offer his most accessible and often most profound statements on a range of subjects including politics, philosophy, aesthetics, and political economy. In Hume's lifetime, the readable and wide-ranging Essays acquired considerable fame throughout Europe and North America, influencing the writings of such diverse figures as James Madison and William Paley, yet they have not been given the same scholarly attention as his more famous philosophical works. This Critical Guide provides a series of in-depth studies of the Essays, as well as an account of the state of scholarship on the work. Thirteen chapters examine the Essays from historical, political and philosophical perspectives, with the aim of restoring the work to its rightful place among Hume's works and in intellectual history more broadly.

Hegel's Philosophy of Nature
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Marina F. Bykova
  • Published online:
    19 December 2024
    Print publication:
    12 December 2024
  • Hegel's Philosophy of Nature constitutes the second part of his mature philosophical system presented in the Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences, and covers an exceptionally broad spectrum of themes and issues, as Hegel considers the content and structure of how humanity approaches nature and how nature is understood by humanity. The essays in this volume bring together various perspectives on Hegel's Philosophy of Nature, emphasizing its functional role within the Encyclopaedia and its importance for understanding the complexity of Hegel's philosophical project. Together they illuminate the core ideas which form Hegel's philosophical framework in the realm of nature.

Plato's Gorgias
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by J. Clerk Shaw
  • Published online:
    25 May 2024
    Print publication:
    30 May 2024
  • Plato's Gorgias depicts a conversation between Socrates and a number of guests, which centers on the question of how one should live. This "choice of lives" is presented both as a choice between philosophy and ordinary political rhetoric, and as a choice between justice and injustice. The essays in this Critical Guide offer detailed analyses of each of the main candidates in the choice of lives, and of how the advocates for these ways of life understand and argue with each other. Several essays also relate the Gorgias to the philosophical and political context of its time and place. Together, these features of the volume illuminate the interpretive issues in the Gorgias and enable readers to achieve a thorough understanding of the philosophical issues which the work raises.

Boethius’ ‘Consolation of Philosophy’
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Michael Wiitala
  • Published online:
    23 May 2024
    Print publication:
    30 May 2024
  • Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy was one of the most widely read and influential texts in medieval Europe, considering questions such as How can evil exist in a world governed by God? And how is happiness still attainable despite the vicissitudes of fortune? Written as a dialogue between Boethius and Lady Philosophy, and alternating between poetry and prose, the Consolation is of interest not only to philosophers but to students of classics and literature as well. In this Critical Guide, the first collection of philosophical essays devoted exclusively to the Consolation, thirteen new essays demonstrate its ongoing vitality and break open its riches for a new generation of readers. The essays reflect the diverse array of approaches in contemporary scholarship and attend to both the literary features and the philosophical content of the Consolation. The volume will be invaluable for scholars of medieval philosophy, medieval literature, and the history of ideas.

Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by José L. Zalabardo
  • Published online:
    07 March 2024
    Print publication:
    14 March 2024
  • Published just over a century ago, Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is the only book-length work to have been published during his lifetime and it continues to generate interest and scholarly debate. It is structured as a series of propositions on metaphysics, language, the nature of philosophy, and the distinction between what can be said and what can be shown. This volume brings together eleven new essays on the Tractatus covering a wide variety of topics, from the central Tractarian doctrines concerning representation, the structure of the world and the nature of logic, to less prominent issues including ethics, natural science, mathematics and the self. Individual essays advance specific exegetical debates in important ways, and taken as a whole they offer an excellent showcase of contemporary ideas on how to read the Tractatus and its relevance to contemporary thought.

Kierkegaard's Either/Or
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Ryan S. Kemp, Walter Wietzke
  • Published online:
    16 November 2023
    Print publication:
    30 November 2023
  • Either/Or is Kierkegaard's first major work and arguably his most virtuosic. It introduces many of the most important philosophical themes that define the rest of his authorship and showcases - through its several pseudonyms and genres - Kierkegaard's prodigious literary scope. In this Critical Guide, a diverse group of scholars strike new ground in our understanding of both this work, and Kierkegaard's authorship as a whole. Their essays highlight the text's philosophical range, with substantial discussions of issues in aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, phenomenology, and philosophy of religion. The volume will be essential reading for any person seeking to deepen their understanding of Either/Or and Kierkegaard's work more generally.

Cicero's ‘De Officiis'
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Raphael Woolf
  • Published online:
    15 June 2023
    Print publication:
    29 June 2023
  • Cicero's De Officiis, perhaps his most influential philosophical work, ranges over a wide variety of themes, from the role of the family in society to the question of whether our duties can conflict with one another, and from the moral significance of offence to the question of whether it is right to kill a dictator. This Critical Guide, the first collection of essays devoted to the work, is helpfully organised in thematic sections and aims to illuminate both the main individual topics of De Officiis and their interconnections, with essays by an international team of contributors that will allow readers to appreciate the work's distinctive blend of philosophical theory and social and political reality. It will be valuable for a range of readers in fields including philosophy, classics and political theory.

Schopenhauer's 'The World as Will and Representation'
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Judith Norman, Alistair Welchman
  • Published online:
    08 December 2022
    Print publication:
    22 December 2022
  • Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation is one of the central texts in the history of Western philosophy. It is one of the last monuments to the project of grand synthetic philosophical system-building, where a single, unified work could aim to clarify, resolve, and ground all the central questions of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, religion, aesthetics and science. Poorly received at its initial publication, it soon became a powerful cultural force, inspiring not only philosophers but also artists, writers and musicians, and attracting a large popular audience of non-scholars. Perhaps equally importantly, Schopenhauer was one of the first European philosophers to take non-Western thought seriously and to treat it as a living tradition rather than as a mere object of study. This volume of new essays showcases the enormous variety of contemporary scholarship on this monumental text, as well as its enduring relevance.

Kant's Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Michael Bennett McNulty
  • Published online:
    22 October 2022
    Print publication:
    11 August 2022
  • In his Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science (1786), Kant accounts for the possibility of an acting-at-a-distance gravitational force, demonstrates the infinite divisibility of matter, and derives analogues to Newtonian laws of motion. The work is his major statement in philosophy of science, and was especially influential in German-speaking countries in the nineteenth century. However, this complex text has not received the scholarly attention it deserves. The chapters of this Critical Guide clarify the accounts of matter, motion, the mathematization of nature, space, and natural laws exhibited in the Metaphysical Foundations; elucidate the relationship between its metaphysics of nature and Kant's critical philosophy; and describe the historical context for Kant's account of natural science. The volume will be an invaluable resource for understanding one of Kant's most difficult works, and will set the agenda for future scholarship on Kant's philosophy of science.

Kierkegaard's The Sickness Unto Death
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Jeffrey Hanson, Sharon Krishek
  • Published online:
    26 August 2022
    Print publication:
    21 July 2022
  • The Sickness unto Death (1849) is commonly regarded as one of Kierkegaard's most important works – but also as one of his most difficult texts to understand. It is a meditation on Christian existentialist themes including sin, despair, religious faith and its redemptive power, and the relation and difference between physical and spiritual death. This volume of new essays guides readers through the philosophical and theological significance of the work, while clarifying the complicated ideas that Kierkegaard develops. Some of the essays focus closely on particular themes, others attempt to elucidate the text as a whole, and yet others examine it in relation to other philosophical views. Bringing together these diverse approaches, the volume offers a comprehensive understanding of this pivotal work. It will be of interest to those studying Kierkegaard as well as existentialism, religious philosophy, and moral psychology.

Nietzsche's ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra'
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Keith Ansell-Pearson, Paul S. Loeb
  • Published online:
    09 June 2022
    Print publication:
    23 June 2022
  • Nietzsche regarded Thus Spoke Zarathustra as his most important philosophical contribution because it proposes solutions to the problems and questions he poses in his later books – for example, his cure for the human disposition to vengefulness and his creation of new values as the antidote to nihilism. It is also the only place where he elaborates his concepts of the superhuman and the eternal recurrence of the same. In this Critical Guide, an international group of distinguished scholars analyze the philosophical ideas in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, discussing a range of topics that include literary parody as philosophical critique, philosophy as a way of life, the meaning of human life, philosophical naturalism, fatalism, radical flux, human passions and virtues, great politics, transhumanism, and ecological conscience. The volume will be invaluable for philosophers, scholars and students interested in Nietzsche's thought.

Aristotle's On the Soul
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Caleb Cohoe
  • Published online:
    06 January 2022
    Print publication:
    20 January 2022
  • Aristotle's On the Soul aims to uncover the principle of life, what Aristotle calls psuchē (soul). For Aristotle, soul is the form which gives life to a body and causes all its living activities, from breathing to thinking. Aristotle develops a general account of all types of living through examining soul's causal powers. The thirteen new essays in this Critical Guide demonstrate the profound influence of Aristotle's inquiry on biology, psychology and philosophy of mind from antiquity to the present. They deepen our understanding of his key concepts, including form, reason, capacity, and activity. This volume situates Aristotle in his intellectual context and draws judiciously from his other works as well as the history of interpretation to shed light on his intricate views. It also highlights ongoing interpretive debates and Aristotle's continuing relevance. It will prove invaluable for researchers in ancient philosophy and the history of science and ideas.

Kant's Prolegomena
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Peter Thielke
  • Published online:
    08 October 2021
    Print publication:
    21 October 2021
  • The Prolegomena is often dismissed as Kant's failed attempt to popularize his philosophy, but as the essays collected here show, there is much to be gained from a careful study of the work. The essays explore the distinctive features of the Prolegomena, including Kant's discussion of philosophical methodology, his critical idealism, the nature of experience, his engagement with Hume, the nature of the self, the relation between geometry and physics, and what we cognize about God. Newly commissioned for this volume, the essays as a whole offer sophisticated and innovative interpretations of the Prolegomena, and cast Kant's critical philosophy in a new light.

Hegel's Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Sebastian Stein, Joshua Wretzel
  • Published online:
    07 August 2021
    Print publication:
    16 September 2021
  • Hegel regarded his Enyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences as the work which most fully presented the scope of his philosophical system and its method. It is somewhat surprising, therefore, that scholars regularly accord it only a secondary status. This Critical Guide seeks to change that, with sixteen newly-written essays from an international group of leading Hegel scholars that shed much-needed light on both the whole and the parts of the Encyclopedia system. Topics include the structure and aim of the Encyclopedia system as a whole, the differences between the greater and lesser Logics, the role of nature in Hegel's thinking, and the shapes of absolute spirit as art, religion, and philosophy. This book will be invaluable to students and scholars with an interest in Hegel and the history of philosophy.

Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Daniel Frank, Aaron Segal
  • Published online:
    18 June 2021
    Print publication:
    01 July 2021
  • Moses Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed (c. 1190) is the greatest and most influential text in the history of Jewish philosophy. Controversial in its day, the Guide directly influenced Aquinas, Spinoza, and Leibniz, and the history of Jewish philosophy took a decisive turn after its appearance. While there continues to be keen interest in Maimonides and his philosophy, this is the first scholarly collection in English devoted specifically to the Guide. It includes contributions from an international team of scholars addressing the most important philosophical themes that range over the three parts of this sprawling work - including topics in the philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of law, ethics, and political philosophy. There are also essays on the Guide's hermeneutic puzzles, and on its overall structure and philosophical trajectory. The volume will be of interest to philosophers, Judaists, theologians, and medievalists.

Fichte's System of Ethics
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Stefano Bacin, Owen Ware
  • Published online:
    20 May 2021
    Print publication:
    20 May 2021
  • The System of Ethics was published at the height of Fichte's academic career and marks the culmination of his philosophical development in Jena. Much more than a treatise on ethics narrowly construed, the System of Ethics presents a unified synthesis of Fichte's core philosophical ideas, including the principle I-hood, self-activity and self-consciousness, and also contains his most detailed treatment of action and agency. This volume brings together an international group of leading scholars on Fichte, and is the first of its kind in English to offer critical and interpretive perspectives on this work, covering topics such as normativity, belief, justification, desire, duty, and the ethical life. It will be an essential guide for scholars wanting to deepen their understanding of Fichte's ethical thought, as well as for those interested in the history of ethics more broadly.

Hume's An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Esther Engels Kroeker, Willem Lemmens
  • Published online:
    08 January 2021
    Print publication:
    07 January 2021
  • Hume considered his Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals to be one of his best works. In it he offers his most elegant and approachable account of the origins and scope of morality. With the hope of reaching a broad audience, he argues that morality is neither rigid nor austere, but is rather a product of sentiments that all human beings share, and which they are naturally inclined to recognize and act upon. In this Critical Guide, a team of distinguished scholars discuss each section of the Enquiry, its place in Hume's philosophy as a whole, and its historical context; their topics include the nature of morals, talents and moral virtues, benevolence, sympathy, and the sources of moral disagreement. The volume will be valuable for scholars and advanced students working on Hume.

Hobbes's On the Citizen
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Robin Douglass, Johan Olsthoorn
  • Published online:
    15 November 2019
    Print publication:
    05 December 2019
  • This is the first book-length study in English of Thomas Hobbes's On the Citizen. It aims to show that On the Citizen is a valuable and distinctive philosophical work in its own right, and not merely a stepping-stone toward the more famous Leviathan. The volume comprises twelve original essays, written by leading Hobbes scholars, which explore the most important themes of the text: Hobbes's accounts of human nature, moral motivation, and political obligation; his theories of property, sovereignty, and the state; and, finally, his ideas on the relation between secular and ecclesiastical authority, and the politics behind his religious ideas. Taken together, the essays bring to light many distinctive aspects of Hobbes's thought that are often concealed by the prevailing focus on Leviathan, making for a richer and more nuanced picture of his moral, legal, and political philosophy.

Hegel's Philosophy of Spirit
  • A Critical Guide
  • Edited by Marina F. Bykova
  • Published online:
    24 June 2019
    Print publication:
    04 July 2019
  • The essays in this volume address topics prominent in current debates about Hegel's Philosophy of Spirit, which originally appeared as the third part of his Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences (1817, 1827, 1830). Together, a group of internationally recognized Hegel scholars presents a sophisticated, well-researched, and considered account of Hegel's text, approaching it from different perspectives, philosophical schools, and traditions. Each essay focuses on a specific issue relevant to Hegel scholarship, carefully and clearly setting out established views of the text and putting forward incisive new interpretations. The essays will enable readers to obtain a broad yet analytically nuanced understanding of Hegel's thought and in particular of the Philosophy of Spirit, a rich and important work that has relevance for contemporary debates in philosophy of mind and action, philosophy of law and religion, ethics, aesthetics, and social and political philosophy.

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