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A rallying cry to defend democracy from the evils of authoritarianism, prejudice, bigotry and apathyLooks at how dissent can counter the move towards dogmatism and authoritarianism in Western democraciesIdentifies a disturbing upsurge in prejudice and bigotry in contemporary politics and explores methods of resisting thisArgues that we should all take part in dissent in our everyday livesDogmatism, prejudice and bigotry are becoming ever more evident in Western politics. Divisive governments looking to cement their power strive to close down anyone who disagrees with them: political opponents, members of their own parties, the mainstream media, educators, protesters and, ultimately, voters. A Call to Dissent defends dissent as an essential part of democracy. Stuart Sim argues that the political left are falling into despair in the face of growing right-wing populism and extremism, rather than challenging and standing up to it. Taking a wide view, he identifies how dissent works in philosophy, religion, science and the arts as well as in politics. Ultimately, he calls on all of us to become dissenters ourselves in order to challenge authority and counter the growth of prejudice and bigotry in public life

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- Part I The End of Modernity? The Cultural Dimension -- 1 Introduction: The End of Modernity -- 2 Modernity: Promise and Reality -- 3 Beyond Postmodernity -- Part II The End of Modernity? The Economic Dimension -- 4 Marx was Right, But . . . -- 5 Diagnosing the Market: Fundamentalism as Cure, Fundamentalism as Disease -- 6 Forget Friedman -- Part III Beyond Modernity -- 7 Learning from the Arts: Life After Modernism -- 8 Politics After Modernity -- 9 Conclusion: A Post- Progress World -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction: It's All About Profit -- 2 The Tyranny of Profit: Confronting an Addiction and a Fetish -- 3 'What Shall It Profit a Man?': Profitless Activities -- 4 Life Before Profit, Life Minus Profit -- 5 Profit in the Genes? -- 6 Neoliberalism, Financial Crisis, and Profit -- 7 Global Warming and Profit -- 8 Healthcare and Profit -- 9 Education and Profit: The World of Pay-as-You-Learn -- 10 The Arts, the Media Industries, and Profit -- 11 Conclusion: It Needn't All Be About Profit -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Establishes Lyotard as the most politically committed of contemporary sceptical thinkersAnalyses Lyotard's key concepts in terms of their political implicationsApplies the 'little narrative' notion to current ideological strugglesAnalyses the role played by relativism in contemporary political thought, particularly Lyotard's sustained attempts to reconcile relativism with value judgementIt is Jean François Lyotard's political focus that singles him out from his poststructuralist and postmodernist contemporaries. He is invariably 'thinking politics': finding ways of translating philosophical thought into a basis for political action. Stuart Sim explores how Lyotard's brand of pragmatism can provide a focus for political theory and action in our cultural climate, especially in light of the dramatic resurgence of right-wing extremism

Climate change is acknowledged to be the major problem currently facing the human race, and the need to reduce our carbon footprint becomes ever more urgent as the scientific predictions of the effects of climate change become increasingly dire. Whether we are fully aware of the social and political consequences of striving for a significant reduction is more questionable. The Carbon Footprint Wars identifies the many dangers inherent in the projected solutions - such as retreating from the spread of globalization, the current socio-economic paradigm for world trade. The war of words that is being waged over the appropriate way to deal with our collective carbon footprint has critical implications for us all. Stuart Sim examines the issues in detail, raising questions about the assumptions being made on both sides of the climate change divide. He argues that we must urgently address the problem of how to engineer the best possible trade-off between economic survival and ecological disaster - and he puts forward some radical suggestions about how we should set about doing so.Key FeaturesChallenges current policies about how to deal with global warming, outlining their potentially disastrous side-effects on society and the environmentBrings out the political complexities of the links between globalization and global warmingProvides a wide variety of case studiesCalls for a radical re-think of West-Third World relations

Cover -- A Philosophy of Pessimism -- Imprint Page -- Contents -- Preface -- One: The Glass is Always Half-full? Countering the Optimists -- Two: The 'Doomsday Clock' is Always with Us: Pessimism in History -- Three: Optimists v. Pessimists: Economics and Politics -- Four: I Think, Therefore I Expect the Worst: Pessimism in Philosophy -- Five: A World Without Meaning: Pessimism in Literary Fiction -- Six: Visions of Despair: Pessimism in the Arts -- Seven: The Benefits of a Half-empty Glass: Pessimism as a Lifestyle -- References -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgements -- Index.

Challenges various forms of fundamentalism and unexamined belief systems from a philosophical and sceptical viewpoint. Is unquestioning belief making a global comeback? This book outlines the history of scepticism in both the Western and Islamic cultural traditions, and from the Enlightenment to postmodernism