Mystical Experience

Scharfstein, Ben-Ami

Religion & Spirituality

Penguin??Books

This highly readable volume offers a broad introduction to modern philosophy and philosophers. Ben-Ami Scharfstein contends that personal experience, especially that of childhood, affects philosophers' sense of reality and hence the content of their philosophies. He bases his argument on biographical studies of twenty great philosophers, beginning with Descartes and ending with Wittgenstein and Sartre. Taken together, these studies provide the beginnings of a psychological history of the philosophy of the period. Scharfstein first focuses on the philosophers' efforts to arrive at the objective truth and to persuade themselves and others of its existence. He then explores truth and relevance, both proposing the broadening of the traditional philosophical conception of relevance and considering philosophers' need to create something that belongs to and transcends them as individuals.

The Philosophers: Their Lives and the Nature of their Thought

Humor & Entertainment

Oxford University Press

An introduction to modern philosophy examines how philosopher's personal experience, especially childhood, influenced their sense of reality and the development of their philosophy

Literature & Fiction

Classics

What if Immanuel Kant floated down from his transcendental heights, straight through Alice’s rabbit hole, and into the fabulous world of Lewis Carroll? For Ben-Ami Scharfstein this is a wonderfully instructive scenario and the perfect way to begin this wide-ranging collection of decades of startlingly synthesized thought. Combining a deep knowledge of psychology, cultural anthropology, art history, and the history of religions―not to mention philosophy―he demonstrates again and again the unpredictability of writing and thought and how they can teach us about our experiences.             Scharfstein begins with essays on the nature of philosophy itself, moving from an autobiographical account of the trials of being a comparativist to philosophy’s function in the outside world to the fear of death in Kant and Hume. From there he explores an impressive array of art: from China and Japan to India and the West; from an essay on sadistic and masochistic body art to one on the epistemology of the deaf and the blind. He then returns to philosophy, writing on Machiavelli and political ruthlessness, then on the ineffable, and closes with a review of Walter Kaufmann’s multivolume look at the essence of humanity, Discovering the Mind. Altogether, these essays are a testament to adventurous thought, the kind that leaps to the furthest reaches of the possible.   

The Nonsense of Kant and Lewis Carroll: Unexpected Essays on Philosophy, Art, Life, and Death

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

University of Chicago Press

People all over the world make art and take pleasure in it, and they have done so for millennia. But acknowledging that art is a universal part of human experience leads us to some big questions: Why does it exist? Why do we enjoy it? And how do the world’s different art traditions relate to art and to each other? Art Without Borders is an extraordinary exploration of those questions, a profound and personal meditation on the human hunger for art and a dazzling synthesis of the whole range of inquiry into its significance. Esteemed thinker Ben-Ami Scharfstein’s encyclopedic erudition is here brought to bear on the full breadth of the world of art. He draws on neuroscience and psychology to understand the way we both perceive and conceive of art, including its resistance to verbal exposition. Through examples of work by Indian, Chinese, European, African, and Australianartists, Art Without Borders probes the distinction between accepting a tradition and defying it through innovation, which leads to a consideration of the notion of artistic genius. Continuing in this comparative vein, Scharfstein examines the mutual influence of European and non-European artists. Then, through a comprehensive evaluation of the world’s major art cultures, he shows how all of these individual traditions are gradually, but haltingly, conjoining into a single current of universal art. Finally, he concludes by looking at the ways empathy and intuition can allow members of one culture to appreciate the art of another. Lucid, learned, and incomparably rich in thought and detail, Art Without Borders is a monumental accomplishment, on par with the artistic achievements Scharfstein writes about so lovingly in its pages.

Art Without Borders: A Philosophical Exploration of Art and Humanity

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

An introduction to modern philosophy examines how philosopher's personal experience, especially childhood, influenced their sense of reality and the development of their philosophy

The philosophers: Their lives and the nature of their thought

B. Blackwell

Mystical experience

Blackwell

Scharfstein describes the extraordinary powers that have been attributed to language everywhere, and then looks at ineffability as it has appeared in the thought of the great philosophical cultures: India, China, Japan, and the West. He argues that there is something of our prosaic, everyday difficulty with words in the ineffable reality of the philosophers and theologians, just as there is something unformulable, and finally mysterious in the prosaic, everyday successes and failures of words.

Ineffability: The Failure of Words in Philosophy and Religion (Toward Comparative Phil (Dis))

State University of New York Press

After exploring the theory and practice of politics in ancient China, ancient India, and modern Europe, Scharfstein argues that the justification for deception and force is inseparable from political life and assesses the chances for a better political future. This is a study of how and why politics is amoral. It deals especially with what the author terms Machiavellism―the disregard of moral scruples for political ends that leads to the justification and use of deception and force in all aspects of political life. A comparative cultural study, it examines the theory and practice of politics in ancient China, ancient India, Renaissance Italy, and modern Europe, as well as tribal cultures, in order to test how widespread such political amorality has been throughout history. Scharfstein concludes that political or ethical theories that do not view Machiavellism as inseparable from political life are inadequate to human affairs and of doubtful relevance to politics. In reaching this conclusion, he explores such topics as why people readily accept political violations of truthfulness and fairness; whether decisive philosophical arguments have been advanced against Machiavellism; whether the use of deception in politics is in politicians’ own best interests; and whether the prevalence of Machiavellism rules out the likelihood of a better political future.

Amoral Politics: The Persistent Truth of Machiavellism

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Books by Scharfstein, Ben-Ami

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Scharfstein, Ben-Ami. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Mystical Experience

The Philosophers: Their Lives and the Nature of their Thought

The Philosophers: Their Lives and the Nature of their Thought

The Nonsense of Kant and Lewis Carroll: Unexpected Essays on Philosophy, Art, Life, and Death

Art Without Borders: A Philosophical Exploration of Art and Humanity

The philosophers: Their lives and the nature of their thought

Mystical experience

Ineffability: The Failure of Words in Philosophy and Religion (Toward Comparative Phil (Dis))

Ineffability: The Failure of Words in Philosophy and Religion (Toward Comparative Phil (Dis))

Amoral Politics: The Persistent Truth of Machiavellism