The domain of nonlinear dynamical systems and its mathematical underpinnings has been developing exponentially for a century, the last 35 years seeing an outpouring of new ideas and applications and a concomitant confluence with ideas of complex systems and their applications from irreversible thermodynamics. A few examples are in meteorology, ecological dynamics, and social and economic dynamics. These new ideas have profound implications for our understanding and practice in domains involving complexity, predictability and determinism, equilibrium, control, planning, individuality, responsibility and so on.

Our intention is to draw together in this volume, we believe for the first time, a comprehensive picture of the manifold philosophically interesting impacts of recent developments in understanding nonlinear systems and the unique aspects of their complexity. The book will focus specifically on the philosophical concepts, principles, judgments and problems distinctly raised by work in the domain of complex nonlinear dynamical systems, especially in recent years.

-Comprehensive coverage of all main theories in the philosophy of Complex Systems

-Clearly written expositions of fundamental ideas and concepts

-Definitive discussions by leading researchers in the field

-Summaries of leading-edge research in related fields are also included

Editorial Review

2. Law and Religion in Public Life: The Contemporary Debate

Nadirsyah Hosen, Richard Mohr (eds.) 28th April 2011 by Routledge – 288 pages (details)

The book is unique in bringing together leading scholars and respected religious leaders to examine legal, theoretical, historical and religious aspects of the most pressing social issues of our time. In addressing each other’s concerns, the authors ensure accessibility to interdisciplinary and non-specialist audiences: scholars and students in social sciences, human rights, theology and law, as well as a broader audience engaged in social, political and religious affairs. Five of the book’s thirteen chapters address specific contemporary issues in Australia, one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world and a pioneer of multicultural policies. Australia is a revealing site for contemporary studies in a world afraid of immigration and terrorism. The other chapters deal with political, legal and ethical issues of global significance. In conclusion, the editors propose increasing dialogue with and between religions. Law may intervene in or guide such dialogue by defending the free exchange of religious ideas, by adjudicating disputes over them, or by promoting a civil society that negotiates, rather than litigates.

 3.Theism and Explanation

By Gregory W Dawes, Routledge, (04/2009), 222 Pages. (details)

General Description:

In this timely study, Dawes defends the methodological naturalism of the sciences. Though religions offer what appear to be explanations of various facts about the world, the scientist, as scientist, will not take such proposed explanations seriously. Even if no natural explanation were available, she will assume that one exists. Is this merely a sign of atheistic prejudice, as some critics suggest? Or are there good reasons to exclude from science explanations that invoke a supernatural agent? On the one hand, Dawes concedes the bare possibility that talk of divine action could constitute a potential explanation of some state of affairs, while noting that the conditions under which this would be true are unlikely ever to be fulfilled. On the other hand, he argues that a proposed explanation of this kind would rate poorly, when measured against our usual standards of explanatory virtue.

The Publisher

4.The New Philosophy of Universalism - The Infinite and the Law of Order
Nicholas Hagger, O - Books, July 2009, 384 Pgages. (details)

General Description:

At the origin of Western civilization, philosophy reflected the One universe and man's position in it. The last 350 years of increasing materialism and reductionism have fragmented the universe. In the 20th century philosophy preferred to focus on logic and language and has become increasingly irrelevant. Now a new philosophy, Universalism, takes philosophy back to its original aim: focus on the universe – the universe known to contemporary cosmologists, astrophysicists, physicists, biologists and geologists, who identify systems of order as well as randomness.

Reflecting the most up-to-date scientific evidence for what the universe is, Universalism focuses on cosmological bio-friendliness and the universal principle of order, and reconnects philosophy to the metaphysical tradition rejected by the Vienna Circle. A systematic philosophy of the expanding universe, Nature and man, Universalism identifies a Law of Order that counterbalances a Law of Randomness and offers a new philosophy that has global applications. Excitingly, it reconnects philosophy to Nature and the thinking of the pre-Socratic Greeks and reunifies the universe and the scientific disciplines so philosophy can once again consider the whole of reality.

The Publisher
 

5. "Critical Republicanism, The Hijab Controversy and Political Philosophy"

 Cécile Laborde, Oxford University Press, Nov. 2008, 312 Pages. (details)

General Description:

The first comprehensive analysis of the philosophical issues raised by the hijab controversy in France, this book also conducts a dialogue between contemporary Anglo-American and French political theory and defends a progressive republican solution to so-called multicultural conflicts in contemporary societies. It critically assesses the official republican philosophy of laïcité which purported to justify the 2004 ban on religious signs in schools. Laïcité is shown to encompass a comprehensive theory of republican citizenship, centered on three ideals: equality (secular neutrality of the public sphere), liberty (individual autonomy and emancipation) and fraternity (civic loyalty to the community of citizens). Challenging official interpretations of laïcité, the book then puts forward a critical republicanism which does not support the hijab ban, yet upholds a revised interpretation of three central republican commitments: secularism, non-domination and civic solidarity. Thus, it articulates a version of secularism which squarely addresses the problem of status quo bias--the fact that Western societies are historically not neutral towards all religions. It also defends a vision of female emancipation which rejects the coercive paternalism inherent in the regulation of religious dress, yet does not leave individuals unaided in the face of religious and secular, patriarchal and ethnocentric domination. Finally, the book outlines a theory of immigrant integration which places the burden of civic integration on basic socio-political institutions, rather than on citizens themselves. Critical republicanism proposes an entirely new approach to the management of religious and cultural pluralism, centered on the pursuit of the progressive ideal of non-domination in existing, non-ideal societies.

The Publisher.

6. Epistemology and Emotions

by Georg Brun (Author, Editor), Ulvi Doguoglu and Dominique Kuenzle (Author), Ulvi Doguoglu (Editor), Dominique Kuenzle (Editor), (Ashgate Epistemology and Mind Series), Aug. 2008, 220 pages. (details), (review)  
 

General Description:

Undoubtedly, emotions sometimes thwart our epistemic endeavours. But do they also contribute to epistemic success? The thesis that emotions "skew the epistemic landscape", as Peter Goldie puts it in this volume, has long been discussed in epistemology. Recently, however, philosophers have called for a systematic reassessment of the epistemic relevance of emotions. The resulting debate at the interface between epistemology, theory of emotions and cognitive science examines emotions in a wide range of functions. These include motivating inquiry, establishing relevance, as well as providing access to facts, beliefs and non-propositional aspects of knowledge. This volume is the first collection focusing on the claim that we cannot but account for emotions if we are to understand the processes and evaluations related to empirical knowledge. All essays are specifically written for this collection by leading researchers in this relatively new and developing field, bringing together work from backgrounds such as pragmatism and scepticism, cognitive theories of emotions and cognitive science, Cartesian epistemology and virtue epistemology.

The Publisher

7. Experimental Philosophy
Joshua Knobe  and Shaun Nichols (eds.), Oxford University Press, July 2008, 256 Pages (details)