Alison Stone

This volume brings together essential writings by the unjustly neglected nineteenth-century philosopher Frances Power Cobbe (1822-1904). A prominent ethicist, feminist, champion of animal welfare, and critic of Darwinism and atheism, Cobbe was well known and highly regarded in the Victorian era. This collection of her work introduces contemporary readers to Cobbe and shows how her thought developed over time, beginning in 1855 with her Essay on Intuitive Morals, in which she set out her duty-based moral theory, arguing that morality and religion are indissolubly connected. This work provided the framework within which she addressed many theoretical and practical issues in her prolific publishing career. In the 1860s and early 1870s, she gave an account of human duties to animals; articulated a duty-based form of feminism; defended a unique type of dualism in the philosophy of mind; and argued against evolutionary ethics. Cobbe put her philosophical views into practice, campaigning for women's rights and for first the regulation and later the abolition of vivisection. In turn her political experiences led her to revise her ethical theory. From the 1870s onwards she increasingly emphasized the moral role of the emotions, especially sympathy, and she theorized a gradual historical progression in sympathy. Moving into the 1880s, Cobbe combatted secularism, agnosticism, and atheism, arguing that religion is necessary not only for morality but also for meaningful life and culture. Shedding light on Cobbe's philosophical perspective and its applications, this volume demonstrates the range, systematicity and philosophical character of her work and makes her core ethical theory and its central applications and developments available for teaching and scholarship.

When Love Finds You in the Most Unexpected Place...Cassie Parker swore off romance after her trust was shattered by a workplace affair gone wrong. Trading hospital shifts for storytime and snack breaks, she's helping her sister through a divorce by babysitting her lively five-year-old niece.Tech genius John Corbyn thought he had everything figured out-until single fatherhood brings him back to his small hometown. With his plans in chaos and his daughter needing stability, Cassie steps in as a temporary nanny.But as the days blur into weeks, sparks fly. Cassie's walls start to crumble, and John begins to see the charm of a quieter life-especially with Cassie by his side. Can they overcome their fears and build a future together?Discover this heartfelt romance about second chances, small-town charm, and the unexpected ways love can heal.The Walleye Point Small-Town series of romantic comedies includes A Fine Mess, Cache Me If You Can, and All I Knead for Christmas. Each story is a full-length novel that can be read and enjoyed separately. The town of Walleye Point is the common theme, with some crossover of characters from each book. If you are a stickler for series order, here it is: Book 1: A Fine MessBook 2: Cache Me If You CanBook 3: All I Knead for Christmas

Some messes are bigger than others.I never planned on returning to Walleye Point. The small-town whispers and high school mean girls were memories I thought I'd left behind for good. But life has a funny way of pulling the rug out from under you-losing my job was bad enough, and then came the call about Grandma's illness. So here I am, back at her little lakefront bungalow, wading through a sea of memories and clutter that Grandma insists are all treasures.Enter Nicholas Moretti, the youngest of the Moretti clan, who's supposed to have it all figured out. His latest grand plan? Transforming the chaos of my grandmother's house into a chic waterfront hotel. As we spend more time together, the line between irritation and attraction blurs. I'm standing in the way of his perfect project, and to my surprise, I'm also falling for him.Now, as bulldozers threaten and old secrets emerge, I have to decide what I'm fighting for-my past or a possible future with Nicholas. Can I clean up this mess without throwing away a chance at love? Dive into A Fine Mess, where hearts and history collide, proving that the biggest challenges can lead to the most unexpected romances.A Fine Mess is a romantic comedy filled with emotion and heartwarming romance. It's perfect for readers who enjoy sweet romances that evoke warm and fuzzy feelings without on-page sexy times. If you prefer a closed-door romantic comedy, A Fine Mess is the perfect choice for you.

Women on Philosophy of Art is the first study of women's philosophies of art in long nineteenth-century Britain. It looks at seven women spanning the time from the Enlightenment to the beginning of modernism. They are Anna Barbauld, Joanna Baillie, Harriet Martineau, Anna Jameson, Frances Power Cobbe, Emilia Dilke, and Vernon Lee. The central issue that concerned them was how art related to morality and religion. Baillie and Martineau treated art as an agency of moral instruction, whereas Dilke and Lee argued that art must be made for beauty's sake. Barbauld, Jameson, and Cobbe thought that beauty and religion were linked, while other women believed that art and religion must be decoupled. Other topics explored are gender and genius, tragedy, literary realism, why we enjoy the sufferings of fictional characters, the hierarchy of the art-forms, whether art can transcend its historical circumstances, and critical issues around the artistic canon. Examining the print culture that made these women's interventions possible, this book shows that these women were doing a particular kind of philosophy of art, which was interdisciplinary and closely tied to artistic criticism and practice. The book traces how these seven women influenced one another, as well as engaging with their male contemporaries. But unlike their male interlocutors, these women have been unjustly left out of narratives about the history of aesthetics. By including these women, we can enrich and broaden our understanding of the history of philosophy of art.

Pulling traditional forms into the 21st century, Alison Stone uses pantoums, ghazals, a jeweled sonnet crown, and other structures to explore the subjects of contemporary life. Love, sex, family, politics, and the pandemic are both confined and liberated into the frameworks in which Stone places them. Claiming and owning these forms allows Stone to bring a rich and layered music to these poems, leaving the reader both moved and transformed.Pulling traditional forms into the 21st century, Alison Stone uses pantoums, ghazals, a jeweled sonnet crown, and other structures to explore the subjects of contemporary life. Love, sex, family, politics, and the pandemic are both confined and liberated into the frameworks in which Stone places them. Claiming and owning these forms allows Stone to bring a rich and layered music to these poems, leaving the reader both moved and transformed.

The stage is set for murder.Jayne Murphy knew her first case as a private investigator was going to be tough, but she never expected to become a witness to a gruesome murder. When a long-time family friend falls from high above the stage during a production of a holiday favorite, The Nutcracker, Jayne is the only one who suspects foul play.Can she navigate the perils of an investigation that puts her in the crosshairs of a ruthless villain while also helping her aging mother run the dance studio? It's enough to make Jayne question her choices, but she's spent a lifetime feeling obligated to do the right thing. Why stop now?If Jayne can't become a cop, she'll solve mysteries on her own terms.

Jayne Murphy is at it again. As the dance competition season kicks off, a snowstorm strands Jayne and her dancers at a convention. When the beloved emcee is found dead, Jayne refuses to dismiss it as an accident like the local police had. Armed with her newly refined investigative skills and aided by her on-again, off-again police officer boyfriend, Danny Nolan, Jayne is determined to uncover the truth behind Dale Diamond's untimely demise. The deeper she digs, the more she unearths a sinister secret capable of ruining lives, putting Jayne squarely in the sights of those desperate to keep it hidden.Meanwhile, rumors swirl back home that Jayne's unstable neighbor has been released on bail. Could this explain her constant sense of being watched? Or has her relentless pursuit of the truth exposed her to an enigmatic adversary willing to end her fledgling career as a private investigator?Jayne understands that if she can't become a police officer, she'll forge her own path. But can she unravel this mystery before more lives are lost?

The dance world can be ruthless-even deadly.Jayne Murphy has always prioritized her family above all else. That's why she sacrificed her dream of joining the police force to manage her aging mother's dance studio.When one of the studio's most talented dance instructors dies in a car crash, Jayne suspects foul play. Determined to uncover the truth, she teams up with Officer Danny Nolan, her brother Patrick's best friend and partner who tragically lost his life in the line of duty. Haunted by Patrick's death, Danny begins to question his own career as a cop.As Jayne delves deeper, a list of suspects emerges, including the victim's possessive ex-boyfriend and a rival from the cutthroat dance world. The case reignites Jayne's passion for police work, and sparks fly between her and Danny, who also finds a renewed sense of purpose. As long as Jayne can stay out of harm's way, she and Danny might have a chance at a second shot-both in their careers and with each other.

Many women wrote philosophy in nineteenth-century Britain, and they wrote across the full range of philosophical topics. Yet these important women thinkers have been left out of the philosophical canon and many of them are barely known today. The aim of this book is to put them back on the map. It introduces twelve women philosophers - Mary Shepherd, Harriet Martineau, Ada Lovelace, George Eliot, Frances Power Cobbe, Helena Blavatsky, Julia Wedgwood, Victoria Welby, Arabella Buckley, Annie Besant, Vernon Lee, and Constance Naden. Alison Stone looks at their views on naturalism, philosophy of mind, evolution, morality and religion, and progress in history. She shows how these women interacted and developed their philosophical views in conversation with one another, not only with their male contemporaries. The rich print and periodical culture of the period enabled these women to publish philosophy in forms accessible to a general readership, despite the restrictions women faced, such as having limited or no access to university education. Stone explains how these women became excluded from the history of philosophy because there was a cultural shift at the end of the nineteenth century towards specialised forms of philosophical writing, which depended on academic credentials that were still largely unavailable to women.

Every moment of Alison Stone's new collection is one of stillness, of waiting, to see what glimmers may rise from the ashes, and the earth.

This Element introduces the philosophy of Frances Power Cobbe (1822-1904), a very well-known moral theorist, advocate of animal welfare and women's rights, and critic of Darwinism and atheism in the Victorian era. After locating Cobbe's achievements within nineteenth-century British culture, this Element examines her duty-based moral theory of the 1850s and then her 1860s accounts of duties to animals, women's rights, and the mind and unconscious thought. From the 1870s, in critical response to Darwin's evolutionary ethics, Cobbe put greater moral weight on the emotions, especially sympathy. She now criticised atheism for undermining morality, emphasised women's duties to develop virtues of character, and recommended treating animals with sympathy and compassion. The Element links Cobbe's philosophical arguments to her campaigns for women's rights and against vivisection, brings in critical responses from her contemporaries, explains how she became omitted from the history of philosophy, and shows the lasting importance of her work.

All human beings are born and all human beings die. In these two ways we are finite: our lives begin and our lives come to an end. Historically philosophers have concentrated attention on our mortality—and comparatively little has been said about being born and how it shapes our existence. Alison Stone sets out to overcome this oversight by providing a systematic philosophical account of how being born shapes our condition as human beings. Drawing on both feminist philosophy and existentialist concerns about the structure of meaningful human existence, Stone offers an original perspective on human existence. She explores how human existence is shaped by the way that we are born. Taking natality into account transforms our view of human existence and illuminates how many of its aspects are connected with our birth. These aspects include dependency, the relationality of the self, vulnerability, reception and inheritance of culture and history, embeddedness in social power, situatedness, and radical contingency. Considering natality also sheds new light on anxiety, mortality, and the temporality of human life. This book therefore bears on death and the meaning of life, as well as many debates in feminist and continental philosophy.

This volume brings together essential writings by the unjustly neglected nineteenth-century philosopher Frances Power Cobbe (1822-1904). A prominent ethicist, feminist, champion of animal welfare, and critic of Darwinism and atheism, Cobbe was well known and highly regarded in the Victorian era. This collection of her work introduces contemporary readers to Cobbe and shows how her thought developed over time, beginning in 1855 with her Essay on Intuitive Morals, in which she set out her duty-based moral theory, arguing that morality and religion are indissolubly connected. This work provided the framework within which she addressed many theoretical and practical issues in her prolific publishing career. In the 1860s and early 1870s, she gave an account of human duties to animals; articulated a duty-based form of feminism; defended a unique type of dualism in the philosophy of mind; and argued against evolutionary ethics. Cobbe put her philosophical views into practice, campaigning for women's rights and for first the regulation and later the abolition of vivisection. In turn her political experiences led her to revise her ethical theory. From the 1870s onwards she increasingly emphasized the moral role of the emotions, especially sympathy, and she theorized a gradual historical progression in sympathy. Moving into the 1880s, Cobbe combatted secularism, agnosticism, and atheism, arguing that religion is necessary not only for morality but also for meaningful life and culture. Shedding light on Cobbe's philosophical perspective and its applications, this volume demonstrates the range, systematicity and philosophical character of her work and makes her core ethical theory and its central applications and developments available for teaching and scholarship.

Alison Stone's sixth collection deals with the myths, both classic and contemporary, that shape our psyches and our world. From Caligula and Medusa to Gabby Douglas and Ivanka Trump, these speakers illuminate the timeless struggles for power and love that play a central role in literature and art. Stone's speakers tell their stories in poems that both transcend culture and time and illuminate this particular historical moment.

All human beings are born and all human beings die. In these two ways we are finite: our lives begin and our lives come to an end. Historically philosophers have concentrated attention on our mortality--and comparatively little has been said about being born and how it shapes our existence. Alison Stone sets out to overcome this oversight by providing a systematic philosophical account of how being born shapes our condition as human beings. Drawing on both feminist philosophy and existentialist concerns about the structure of meaningful human existence, Stone offers an original perspective on human existence. She explores how human existence is shaped by the way that we are born. Taking natality into account transforms our view of human existence and illuminates how many of its aspects are connected with our birth. These aspects include dependency, the relationality of the self, vulnerability, reception and inheritance of culture and history, embeddedness in social power, situatedness, and radical contingency. Considering natality also sheds new light on anxiety, mortality, and the temporality of human life. This book therefore bears on death and the meaning of life, as well as many debates in feminist and continental philosophy.

Argues that affirming the irreducible differences between men and women can lead to more transformative politics than the struggle for abstract equality between the sexes.In The Symbolic Order of the Mother Luisa Muraro identifies the bond between mother and child as ontologically fundamental to the development of culture and politics, and therefore as key to achieving truly emancipatory political change. Both corporeal development and language acquisition, which are the sources of all thinking, begin in this relationship. However, Western civilization has been defined by men, and Muraro recalls the admiration and envy she felt for the great philosophers as she strove to become one herself, as well as the desire for independence that opposed her to her mother. This conflict between philosophy and culture on the one hand and the relationship with the mother on the other constitutes the root of patriarchy's symbolic disorder, which blocks women's (and men's) access to genuine freedom. Muraro appeals to the feminist practice of gratitude to the mother and the recognition of her authority as a model of unconditional nurture and support that must be restored. This, she argues, is the symbolic order of the mother that must overcome the disorder of patriarchy. The mediating power of the mother tongue constitutes a symbolic order that comes before all others, for both women and men.

This book provides an account of the development of ideas about nature from the Early German Romantics into the philosophies of nature of Schelling and Hegel. In clear and accessible language, Alison Stone explains how the project of philosophy of nature took shape and made sense in the post-Kantian context. She also shows how ideas of nature were central to the philosophical and literary projects of the Early German Romantics, with attention to Friedrich Schlegel, Novalis and Hölderlin. Stone advances a distinctive, original perspective on Romantic and Idealist accounts of nature and their ethical implications regarding human-nature relations and intra-human political relations, especially but not only around gender and race. The book demonstrates how these approaches to nature have contemporary relevance to a range of current debates such as those over naturalism, the environmental crisis, and the politics of gender, race and colonialism.

This book provides an account of the development of ideas about nature from the Early German Romantics into the philosophies of nature of Schelling and Hegel. In clear and accessible language, Alison Stone explains how the project of philosophy of nature took shape and made sense in the post-Kantian context. She also shows how ideas of nature were central to the philosophical and literary projects of the Early German Romantics, with attention to Friedrich Schlegel, Novalis and Hölderlin. Stone advances a distinctive, original perspective on Romantic and Idealist accounts of nature and their ethical implications regarding human-nature relations and intra-human political relations, especially but not only around gender and race. The book demonstrates how these approaches to nature have contemporary relevance to a range of current debates such as those over naturalism, the environmental crisis, and the politics of gender, race and colonialism.

In this book, Alison Stone argues that popular music since rock-‘n’-roll is a unified form of music which has positive value. That value is that popular music affirms the importance of materiality and the body, challenging the long-standing Western elevation of the intellect above all things corporeal. Stone also argues that popular music’s stress on materiality gives it aesthetic value, drawing on ideas from the post-Kantian tradition in aesthetics by Hegel, Adorno, and others. She shows that popular music gives importance to materiality in its typical structure: in how music of this type handles the relations between matter and form, the relations between sounds and words, and in how it deals with rhythm, meaning, and emotional expression. Extensive use is made of musical examples from a wide range of popular music genres. This book is distinctive in that it defends popular music on philosophical grounds, particularly informed by the continental tradition in philosophy.