Trousson, Raymond / Vercruysse, Jeroom (dir.), Dictionnaire general de Voltaire. (Champion classiques, references et dictionnaires 18) 1272 p. 2020:10 (Champion, FR) <670-9>
ISBN 978-2-38096-016-7 paper ¥7,064.- (税込) EUR 38.00

Brzechczyn, Krzystof (ed.), New Developments in the Theory of the Historical Process: Polish Contributions to Non-Marxian Historical Materialism. (Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 119) 378 pp. 2022:5 (Brill, NE) <674-1707>
ISBN 978-90-04-50727-2 hard ¥37,428.- (税込) EUR 159.00

The first part of this book contains a selection of Leszek Nowak's (1943-2009) works on non-Marxian historical materialism, which are published here in English for the first time. In these papers, Nowak constructs a dynamic model of religious community, reconstructs historiosophical assumptions of liberalism and considers the methodological status of prognosis of totalitarization of capitalist society. In the second part of the book, new contributions to non-Marxian historical materialism are presented. Their authors analyze mechanisms of the oligarchization of liberal democracy, the democratization of real socialism, and the development of early modern Ottoman and post-war Chinese societies.

Brzechczyn, Krzysztof (ed.), Non-Marxian Historical Materialism: Reconstructions and Comparisons. (Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 120) 286 pp. 2022:5 (Brill, NE) <674-1708>
ISBN 978-90-04-50726-5 hard ¥30,366.- (税込) EUR 129.00

The authors of this book reconstruct the philosophical, methodological and theoretical assumptions of non-Marxian historical materialism, a theory of historical process authored by Leszek Nowak (1943-2009), a co-founder of the Poznan School of Methodology. This book compares this theory with the concepts of Robert Michels, Vilfredo Pareto and Karl August Wittfogel.

Romizi, Donata / Wulz, Monika / Nemeth, Elisabeth (eds.), Edgar Zilsel: Philosopher, Historian, Sociologist. (Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook 27) 440 pp. 2022:5 (Springer, GW) <674-102>
ISBN 978-3-030-93686-0 hard ¥35,306.- (税込) EUR 149.99

This book provides a new all-round perspective on the life and work of Edgar Zilsel (1891-1944) as a philosopher, historian, and sociologist. He was close to the Vienna Circle and has been hitherto almost exclusively referred to in terms of the so-called "Zilsel thesis" on the origins of modern science. Much beyond this "thesis", Zilsel's brilliant work provides original insights on a broad number of topics, ranging from the philosophy of probability and statistics to the concept of "genius", from the issues of scientific laws and theories to the sociological background of science and philosophy, and to the political analysis of the problems of his time. Praised by Herbert Feigl as an "outstanding brilliant mind", Zilsel, being as a Social-Democrat of Jewish origins, mostly led a life of hardship marked by emigration and coming to a sudden and tragic end by suicide in 1944. The impossibility of an academic career has hindered the reception of Zilsel's scientific work for a longtime. This volume is a contribution to its late reception, providing new insights especially into his work during his years in Vienna; moreover, it shows the heuristic value of Zilsel's ideas for future scholarly research - in philosophy, history, and sociology.