Bøger af F. R. Ankersmit

Metaphor lies at the heart of the contemporary debate in aesthetics, semantics and the philosophy of science. It is generally recognised now that metaphor is not an obfuscation of the truth (as so many philosophers since Plato have argued); on the contrary, it is essential that we consider metaphor if we strive for an optimal understanding of how truth is gained both in science and in our everyday dealings with reality. Hence, metaphor is not of interest only for the literary theorists, but for all those who wish to understand science and how to grasp the structure of our social world. This volume presents eleven essays on the role of metaphor in philosophy, poetry, semiotics, art, literary criticism, economics, medical science and in political theory. Through the use of metaphor, the contributors provide a unique and exciting picture of these disciplines.

Taking as its point of departure a sharp critique of Rawls's influential A Theory of Justice, this book looks at politics from an aesthetic perspective.

This work aims to reintroduce history into political theory. Contemporary political philosophy - liberalism, communitarianism, and republicanism - disregards history as irrelevant to the nature of politics and to what constitutes a political problem.

Focusing on the notion of representation and on the necessity of distinguishing between representation and description, this book argues that the traditional semantic apparatus of meaning, truth, and reference that we use for description must be redefined if we are to understand properly the nature of historical writing.

Why are we interested in history at all? Why do we feel the need to distinguish between past and present? This book investigates how the notion of sublime historical experience complicates and challenges existing conceptions of language, truth, and knowledge.