Oxford University Press

This fresh and timely book argues that we can detach Marx the critic of current society from Marx the prophet of future society, and that he remains the most impressive critic we have of liberal, capitalist, bourgeois society. Wolff also shows that the value of the 'great thinkers' does not depend on their views being true, but on other features such as their originality, insight, and systematic vision. For these reasons, and more, Wolff shows us why Marx still richly deserves to be read.

Why do some superheroes have day jobs? Why do villains keep trying even though they almost never win? Why don't heroes simply take over the world? With brilliant deadpan humour, comic aficionado professor J. Brian O.!Roark uses the tools of economics to explain superheroes, and the world of superheroes to explain economics.

The question, 'Why is there something rather than nothing?', has a strong claim to be philosophy's central, and most perplexing, question; it has a capacity to set the head spinning which few other philosophical problems can rival. Bede Rundle challenges the stalemate between theistic and naturalistic explanations with a rigorous, properly philosophical approach, and presents some startlingly novel conclusions.

The question, 'Why is there something rather than nothing?', has a strong claim to be philosophy's central, and most perplexing, question; it has a capacity to set the head spinning which few other philosophical problems can rival. Bede Rundle challenges the stalemate between theistic and naturalistic explanations with a rigorous, properly philosophical approach, and presents some startlingly novel conclusions.

Is human nature something that the natural and social sciences aim to describe, or is it a pernicious fiction? What role, if any, does human nature play in directing and informing scientific work? Leading figures from the life sciences, philosophy, psychology, and anthropology present new essays exploring these questions.

N. Ángel Pinillos explores what is going on in our minds when we experience skeptical doubt. He suggests that there is a hidden mental rule which, for better or worse, motivates our skeptical inclinations; he gives an account of the broader cognitive purpose of this rule; and he suggests that it may also lie behind certain pathologies.

Leading scholars in the field examine the highly topical issue of the future the welfare state in Europe. They argue that welfare states need to adjust, and examine which kind of welfare architecture will further Europe's stated goal of maximum social inclusion and justice. The volume concentrates on four principal social policy domains; the aged and transition to retirement; the welfare issues related to profound changes in working life; the new risks and needs that arise in households and, especially, in child families; and the challenges of creating gender equality.

Constant exchange of information is integral to our societies. Jean-Louis Dessalles explores how this came into being. Presenting language evolution as a natural history of conversation, the author sheds light on the emergence of communication in the hominine congregations, as well as on the human nature.