The Rare Books Gallery is located in the Verostko Center for the Arts within the Dale P. Latimer Library building. The collection includes handwritten manuscripts dating back to the 14th century and incunabula from the mid-15th century. Also housed in the collection are books with special significance to Saint Vincent, including those that were written by monks, faculty, and alumni.
Contact latimerlibrary@stvincent.edu for more information.
The John Deely Collection in Semiotics is located within the John Deely Reading Room on the 2nd floor of the Dale P. Latimer Library. The collection includes selected books authored by John Deely and other artifacts from the Deely archive. The Reading Room offers a space for scholarly reading, consultation, and discussion. Clicking the title of the book will take you to the catalog entry, where you can also place a request for the book.
Intentionality and Semiotics by
How can philosophy or science claim to discover objective truth when their arguments originate from subjective beings? In Intentionality and Semiotics, John Deely offers a controversial solution to the problem of subjectivity in inquiry. He creates an interface between semiotics and the concept of intentionality, as it appears in Aquinas’s work, to demonstrate that every sign is irrevocably linked to the reality of relations. In the process, Deely builds a bridge between classical thinkers such as Aristotle and modernists such as Heidegger and Peirce in this innovative volume.
Medieval Philosophy Redefined by
With Medieval Philosophy Redefined John Deely provides an in-depth, original history of medieval philosophy, tracing a common thread that coherently unifies and defines what he calls "the Latin Age"--which reaches unbroken from the fifth-century work of Augustine through to the seventeenth-century work of Poinsot. That common thread is the philosophy of sign. Sure to be controversial, this volume will be required reading for all students and scholars of the history of philosophy and medieval specialists.
Purely Objective Reality by
In his 'Letter on Humanism' of 1947, Heidegger declared that the subject/object opposition and the terminology that accrues to it had still not been properly addressed in the history of philosophy, and he awaited a proper disquisition that resolved the problem. To date, that has not been provided. This volume explains and solves the prevailing problems in the subjectivity/objectivity couplet, in the process making an indispensable contribution both to semiotics and to philosophy. This book shows that what is thought to be 'objective' in the commonplace use of the term is demonstrably different from what objectivity entails when it is revealed by semiotic analysis. It demonstrates in its exegesis of the 'objective' that human existence is frequently governed by examples of a 'purely objective reality' - a fiction which nevertheless perfuses, is perfused by, and guides experience. The ontology of the sign can be mind-dependent or mind-independent, just as the status of relation can be as legitimate on its own terms whether it is found in ens rationis or in ens reale. The difference in the awareness of human animals consists in this very contextualization that Deely's writings in general have made so evident: the ability to identify signs as sign relations, and the ability to enact relations on a mind-dependent basis. Purely Objective Reality offers the first sustained and theoretically consistent interrogation of the means by which human understanding of 'reality' will be instrumental in the survival - or destruction - of planet Earth.
Realism for the 21st Century by
Realism for the 21st Century is a collection of thirty essays from John Deely--a major figure in contemporary semiotics and an authority on scholastic realism and the works of Charles Sanders Peirce. The volume tracks Deely's development as a pragmatic realist, featuring his early essays on our relation to the world after Darwinism; crucial articles on logic, semiotics, and objectivity; overviews of philosophy after modernity; and a new essay on "purely objective reality."
These books are part of The Felton Art and Art History Collection. You can visit the ramp leading to the 2nd floor of the Dale P. Latimer Library to find them and check them out at the Circulation Desk. Clicking the title of the book will take you to the catalog entry, where you can also place a request for the book.
Architecture on the Edge of Postmodernism by
Robert A. M. Stern is one of contemporary architecture's most influential figures, with a career encompassing every facet of the profession: he has a flourishing private practice; he is a noted authority on New York architectural history; his own architectural work has been featured in numerous monographs; and as Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, he has undeniably shaped the field of architectural education. As a preeminent force in the discourse of the field, Stern was one of the first critics to use and analyze the term "postmodern" in architecture. This collection of essays-Stern's first-brackets the years defined by the changes in architectural thinking introduced by Robert Venturi in 1966 and the exhibition Deconstructivist Architecture at the Museum of Modern Art in 1988. Throughout, Stern provides close readings of architectural events and offers firsthand accounts of transformations in architectural thinking during a critical period.
The Borgias and Their Enemies by
The first major biography of the Borgias in thirty years, Christopher Hibbert's latest history brings the family and the world they lived in--the glittering Rome of the Italian Renaissance--to life. The name Borgia is synonymous with the corruption, nepotism, and greed that were rife in Renaissance Italy. The powerful, voracious Rodrigo Borgia, better known to history as Pope Alexander VI, was the central figure of the dynasty. Two of his seven papal offspring also rose to power and fame--Lucrezia Borgia, his daughter, whose husband was famously murdered by her brother, and that brother, Cesare, who served as the model for Niccolò Machiavelli'sThe Prince. Notorious for seizing power, wealth, land, and titles through bribery, marriage, and murder, the dynasty's dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to its occupation of the highest position in Renaissance society forms a gripping tale. Erudite, witty, and always insightful, Hibbert removes the layers of myth around the Borgia family and creates a portrait alive with his superb sense of character and place.
Florence, Rome, and the Origins of the Renaissance by
This study sets out to place the remarkable cultural events of the early Renaissance in a full historical perspective. Dealing with both literary and visual art, it describes the world of Dante and Giotto and explains the circumstances in which their innovations became possible. The political,economical, cultural, and religious life of Tuscany between 1260 and 1320 is explored, and the importance of the relationship with the papal court emphasized. Papal patronage encouraged classical influence on the visual arts; but the Papacy also played a leading role in the political and economiclife of the 'Guelf League', in which it was linked with Florence, Siena, Naples, and France. Papal intervention in Florence in 1301, leading to Dante's exile, and the Papacy's removal to France in 1305, created new conditions in which the masterpieces of Dante and Giotto were created.This is the first paperback edition of Florence, Rome and the Origins of the Renaissance, which was published in hardback in 1986.
Italian Art 1250-1550 by
This survey of Italian Renaissance art, from a new and different perspective, shows how art was a vital part of society and how all types of art and artists reflected the needs and aspirations of the culture from which they arose. Most books on Renaissance art are based on a chronological study of the major artists and their works. In this book, Bruce Cole covers the major types of art from c. 1250 to c. 1550, discusses their origins and development, documents their use and function, and describes their form and how and why the artists shaped them that way. Art is thus firmly connected with the life and society of the Renaissance rather than viewed as a separate entity: painting and sculpture are seen in their proper context. After a wide-ranging introduction, there are chapters on Italian Renaissance art in relation to domestic life, worship, civic life, death and afterlife, and Renaissance images and ideals.