Philosophy Publishing

“Over the past few decades, Penn State Press has published some of the most interesting philosophy being written in the United States. It has made available the writings of important, but unfashionable, philosophers who are not part of the analytic ‘mainstream.’ Penn State has also published many books that link up philosophy with other areas of the humanities, and others that bring together analytic and Continental philosophy. Its editorial policies have resulted in a very impressive philosophy backlist.”

—Richard Rorty, Stanford University

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Publishing in philosophy has been part of the Press’s program since its inception. Indeed, Philosophy and Argument (1959), by Henry W. Johnstone Jr., was the second book published by Penn State Press. Then, in 1968, the Press launched Philosophy and Rhetoric, a journal edited by Johnstone—and P&R quickly became a leader in the field.

For its first three decades the Press published a modest number of titles in philosophy, principally in ancient philosophy, ethics, history of philosophy, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and rhetoric. Beginning in 1989, however, the Press consciously aimed to expand the list’s depth, breadth, and quality. In addition to maintaining its established concentrations, the Press sought to forge connections between philosophy and other areas of the Press’s list, launching major initiatives in aesthetics, feminist studies, philosophy of literature, and political philosophy.

Helping gain visibility for the Press’s endeavors were three newly created series: Literature and Philosophy, edited by Anthony J. Cascardi, begun in 1990; Re-Reading the Canon, edited by Nancy Tuana, initiated in 1991; and Studies of the Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium, edited by Michael Krausz and inaugurated in 1993. These series produced more than four dozen new titles for the Press. Another boost came in the early 1990s, as the Press developed an alliance with England’s Polity Press. The co-publishing agreement with Polity brought the first two titles in the Literature and Philosophy series and enabled the Press to publish such well-known authors as Jay Bernstein (The Fate of Art), Peter Bürger (The Decline of Modernism), and Anne Phillips (Engendering Democracy and Democracy and Difference). An equally important transatlantic relationship with the University of Edinburgh Press saw the Press’s co-publication of The Edinburgh Edition of Thomas Reid, one of the most influential figures in the eighteenth-century Scottish Enlightenment.

A newer series, American and European Philosophy, began in 1997 under the editorship of Charles Scott and John Stuhr. Its titles have confirmed the Press’s reputation as a publisher interested in linking the worlds of American and Continental philosophy—an important aim, as well, of the Journal of Speculative Philosophy since its revival in 1987. Indeed, such synergy between the Press’s book and journal publishing programs motivated the Press to assume publication of The Journal of Nietzsche Studies in 2000 and The Good Society in 2001.

Further developing the subfields in which it has already earned regard, the Press plans to maintain its program in publishing philosophy with about six to eight new titles a year. The list is purposely eclectic with respect to methodology, welcoming contributions from the Anglo-American analytic, the American pragmatic, and the Continental traditions and especially from those scholars who—like Joseph Margolis, Todd May, and Nancy Tuana—are conversant in all three discourses.

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“The rapid rise to prominence of Penn State Press is reason indeed for celebration in its fiftieth year. It has become a leading publisher of books at the cutting edge of philosophy, and has achieved a particular eminence in my own field of aesthetics and philosophy of art. As well, its ongoing publication of the works of Thomas Reid, a philosopher of the first rank who is only now receiving the attention he deserves, will, on its completion, constitute a major contribution to the history of philosophy in general and the history of the Scottish Enlightenment in particular. For philosophers seeking publication of their work, Penn State Press is presently right up there with the best of them.”

—Peter Kivy, Rutgers University

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Choice Outstanding Academic Books

Tom Huhn, Imitation and Society: The Persistence of Mimesis in the Aesthetics of Burke, Hogarth, and Kant (2005)

George E. Marcus, The Sentimental Citizen: Emotion in Democratic Politics (2002)

Reed Way Dasenbrock, Truth and Consequences: Intentions, Conventions, and the New Thematics (2001)

Daniel R. Ahern, Nietzsche as Cultural Physician (1995)

Sylvia Walsh, Living Poetically: Kierkegaard’s Existential Aesthetics (1994)

Ernest A. Menze and Karl Menges, eds., Johann Gottfried Herder: Selected Early Works, 1764–1767 (1993)

Howard P. Kainz, Paradox, Dialectic, and System: A Contemporary Reconstruction of the Hegelian

Problematic (1989)

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Book Prizes

Kok-Chor Tan, Toleration, Diversity, and Global Justice (Runner-up, 2003 Book Prize, Canadian Philosophical Association)

James C. Edwards, The Plain Sense of Things: The Fate of Religion in an Age of Normal Nihilism (1999 John N. Findlay Award, Metaphysical Society of America)

Michael Forman, Nationalism and the International Labor Movement: The Idea of the Nation in Socialist and Anarchist Theory (1999 Michael Harrington Award, Caucus for a New Political Science)

Arabella Lyon, Intentions: Negotiated, Contested, and Ignored (1999 W. Ross Winterowd Book Award, Association of Teachers of Advanced Composition)

Mary Lyndon Shanley and Uma Narayan, eds., Reconstructing Political Theory: Feminist Perspectives (Honorable Mention, 1998 Victoria Schuck Award, American Political Science Association)

Mark Kingwell, A Civil Tongue: Justice, Dialogue, and the Politics of Pluralism (1997 Elaine and David Spitz Book Prize, Conference for the Study of Political Thought)

Anne Phillips, Engendering Democracy (1992 Victoria Schuck Award, American Political Science Association)

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Best Sellers

Chris Matthew Sciabarra, Ayn Rand (1995): 9,500+

Mary Lyndon Shanley and Carole Pateman, eds., Feminist Interpretations and Political Theory (1991): 5,500+

Anne Phillips, Engendering Democracy (1991): 4,500+

David Carrier, Principles of Art History Writing (1991): 4,000+

J. M. Bernstein, The Fate of Art (1992): 2,000+

Philip Alperson, ed., What Is Music? (1994): 2,000+

Mimi Reisel Gladstein and Chris Matthew Sciabarra, eds., Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand (1999): 2,000+

Tomas Kulka, Kitsch and Art (1996): 2,000+

David Carrier, The Aesthetics of Comics (2000): 2,000+

Nancy Tuana, ed., Feminist Interpretations of Plato (1994): 2,000+

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“Penn State Press has made a distinctive contribution to philosophy by publishing excellent work in new interdisciplinary areas, such as feminism and philosophy-and-literature, as well as in more traditional areas such as aesthetics, philosophy of religion, and history of philosophy. Particularly admirable has been the Press’s strong commitment to feminist philosophy, in which it has published some of the best-quality work around, especially in its valuable series exploring feminist interpretations of traditional figures in the history of philosophy.”

—Martha Nussbaum, University of Chicago