The Enchantment Of Words

Recent years have seen a great revival of interest in Wittgenstein's early masterpiece, the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. The Enchantment of Words is a study of that book, offering novel readings of all its major themes and shedding light on issues in metaphysics, ethics and the philosophies of mind, language, and logic. McManus argues that Wittgenstein's aim in this deeply puzzling work is to show that the 'intelligibility of thought' and the 'meaningfulness of language', which logical truths would delimit and metaphysics and the philosophy of mind and language would explain, are issues constituted by confusions. What is exposed is a mirage of a kind of self-consciousness, a misperception of the ways in which we happen to think, talk and act as reasons why we ought to think, talk and act as we do. The root of that misperception is our confusedly endowing words with a life of their own: we 'enchant', and are 'enchanted by', words, colluding in a confusion that transposes on to them, and the world which we then see them as 'fitting', responsibilities that are actually ours to bear. Such words promise to spare us the trouble, not only of thinking, but of living. In presenting this view, McManus offers readings of all of the major themes of the Tractatus, including its discussion of logical truth, objects, names, inference, subjectivity, solipsism and the ineffable; McManus offers novel explanations of what is at stake in Wittgenstein's comparison of propositions with pictures, of why Wittgenstein declared the point of the Tractatus to be ethical, of how a bookwhich infamously declares itself to be nonsensical can both clarify our thoughts and require of us that we exercise our capacity to reason in reading it, and of how Wittgenstein later came to re-evaluate the achievement of the Tractatus.

Presenting a study of Wittgenstein's early masterpiece, 'The Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus', this work offers readings of its major themes and focuses on issues in metaphysics, ethics and the philosophies of mind, language, and logic.

The Work of Enchantment suggests that it is a lack of "enchantment" in rich, developed countries that causes soul-starved Westerners to experience mental (and sometimes physical) illness. Del Nevo argues that this "enchantment" is most often experienced in childhood, but can also be found in adulthood, particularly through art. However, adults must cultivate within themselves the ability to appreciate art by reading, listening, and gazing-activities often misconceived in advanced industrial societies. Del Nevo describes the framework of enchantment and its philosophical and historical roots. He then concentrates on the work of enchantment within literature, considering what enchantment might entail taking the works of Proust, Rilke, and Goethe as examples. Del Nevo shows how a sense of enchantment forms within and between art works, using his literary examples, as well as between the work and the audience. The reader will learn along the way that enchantment may be found in the power of words, as an expression of the desire of the soul, a compliment of melancholy, and in art that points to something beyond itself. Enchantment may be found in many places, ranging from philosophy, religion, and psychology to sociology and culture, but here Del Nevo focuses on literature. His audience is people who are searching for something beyond money or glamour-perhaps the meaning of art and culture. His focus on literary masterpieces such as the Duino Elegies, Remembrance of Things Past, Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years, and others will make it of interest to those in cultural studies. Well written and engaging, and accessible to non-specialist readers, this unusual work in philosophy and aesthetics is free of jargon and complicated verbiage. Inspiring and enlivening, it is, in the author's words, "a stirring call to idleness."

Through interviews with British herbalists, the importance of hidden experiences of meetings with plants is explored alongside how such 'enchantment' has influenced the narrative of their lives. Some herbalists have visible entryways into studying, such as personal experience of taking herbal medicine, a search for a new career or a love of nature. Other entryways are more hidden, with many noting 'crossings' and 'callings' with plants at a young age. This sensual ability of herbs raises questions about the agency of living plants and of herbal medicines, and about how the relationship between herbalists and plants may be reconceived. Meetings with plants and herbal medicines allow herbalists to draw easily from a diverse range of influences that others may see as incommensurable."This fascinating, original and challenging book convincingly explores modern-day herbalists understanding of their place in the complementary health world, against the backdrop of encroaching professionalisation, legitimacy and scientism. In his case study interviews with herbalists, Guy Waddell draws our attention to the enchanting power of plants and their agentic qualities. In his quest for greater understanding of their sensual power, the author rejects the conventional modernity/rationalisation thesis, seen both in the sensual- affective energy that herbalists draw upon and in the ontological implications of human/nonhuman crossings. This book is an excellent contribution to our understanding of Western herbal medicine and contemporary thought." - Dr Stuart McClean, PhD. Associate Professor in Public Health (Health and Wellbeing), University of the West of England"In the field of herbal medicine, few seem to know their history and the lessons it teaches us. In The Enchantment of Western Herbal Medicine, Dr Guy Waddell not only provides the reader with a detailed history of the trials and triumphs of British Phytotherapy, but also travels into uncharted territory looking at how herbalists come to find their passion for plants and the use of them to help heal others. This is a new area of research and exploring the entryways to practice though interviews and clinician narratives is both a fascinating undertaking and a unique way of understanding our own motivations and experiences as herbalists." - David Winston, RH(AHG), DSc (hc), author of Adaptogens; Herbs for Strength, Stamina and Stress Relief"Both compelling and challenging, Guy Waddell's unique book is filled with the voices of herbalists and makes essential reading for anyone on their own journey into herbalism or those interested in human- plant relationships. Here is a much-needed roadmap for all who are exploring the diverse choices between ancient and modern, science and tradition, evidence and intuition, and human and nonhuman agency. My congratulations to the author for so brilliantly signposting the fundamental unity that resides at the heart of herbal practice." - Phil Deakin. President of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists

Dwellings of Enchantment: Writing and Reenchanting the Earth offers ecocritical and ecopoetic readings that focus on multispecies dwellings of enchantment and reenchant our rapport with the more-than-human world. It sheds light on the marvelous entanglements between humans and other life forms coexisting with us–entanglements that, when fully perceived, call onto humans to shift perspectives on both the causes and solutions to current ecological crises. Working against the disenchantment of humans’ relationships with and perceptions of the world entailed by a modern ontology, this book illustrates the power of ecopoetics to attune humans to the vibrant matter both within and outside of us. Braiding indigenous with non-indigenous worldviews, this book tackles ecopoetics emerging from varying locations in the world. It underscores the postmodernist, remythologizing processes going on in many ecopoetic texts, via magical realist modes and mythopoeia.

The Republic of Color delves deep into the history of color science in the United States to unearth its origins and examine the scope of its influence on the industrial transformation of turn-of-the-century America. For a nation in the grip of profound economic, cultural, and demographic crises, the standardization of color became a means of social reform—a way of sculpting the American population into one more amenable to the needs of the emerging industrial order. Delineating color was also a way to characterize the vagaries of human nature, and to create ideal structures through which those humans would act in a newly modern American republic. Michael Rossi’s compelling history goes far beyond the culture of the visual to show readers how the control and regulation of color shaped the social contours of modern America—and redefined the way we see the world.

This book concerns the experience of enchantment in art. Considering the essential characteristics, dynamics and conditions of the experience of enchantment in relation to art, including liminality, it offers studies of different kinds of artistic experience and activity, including painting, music, fiction and poetry, before exploring the possibility of a life oriented to enchantment as the activity of art itself. With attention to the complex relationship between wonder in art and the programmatic disenchantment to which it is often subject, the author draws on the thought of a diverse range of philosophers, sociological theorists and artists, to offer an understanding of art through the idea of enchantment, and enchantment through art. An accessible study, richly illustrated with experience – both that of the author and others – Art and Enchantment will appeal to scholars and students of sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and anyone with interests in the nature of aesthetic experience.