This study concerns itself with a now-forgotten religious group, Spiritualists, and how their ensuing discussions of Shakespeare's meaning, his writing practices, his possible collaborations, and the supposed purity and/or corruption of his texts anticipated, accompanied, or silhouetted similar debates in Shakespeare Studies.

Morning Light is a romance that begins in the year 1950, when Ian and Leah, two young children and neighbors in the west coast village of Belmullet, Ireland attend the grand wedding of Ian’s older sister. Their childhood romance matures into a lasting and passionate bond as they experience the festivals, teen apprenticeships and the native beauty of their coastal village. Ian learns the skills of a locksmith working in the village hardware store and Leah tends flowers with her mother in the florist section of the village market. Ian journeys off to America before his twentieth birthday, taking little money and vast ambition, energy and love for his sweetheart in Ireland. He finds a way to buy a small locksmith shop in Norwood, Bronx, to bring Leah to the New World and to start a hardware store business. Leah opens a florist shop in the building beside him. Like the Botanical Gardens nearby, their marriage is filled with seasonal change; children, work, the struggle to overcome tragedy and to nurture rich possibilities for everlasting color and beauty.

The term “scientism” is used in several ways. It is used to denote an epistemological thesis according to which science is the source of our knowledge about the world and ourselves. Relatedly, it is used to denote a methodological thesis according to which the methods of science are superior to the methods of non-scientific fields or areas of inquiry. It is also used to put forward a metaphysical thesis that what exists is what science says exists. In recent decades, the term “scientism” has acquired a derogatory meaning when it is used in defense of non-scientific ways of knowing. In particular, some philosophers level the charge of “scientism” against those (mostly scientists) who are dismissive of philosophy. Other philosophers, however, embrace scientism, or some variant thereof, and object to the pejorative use of the term. This book critically examines arguments for and against different varieties of scientism in order to answer the central question: Does scientism pose an existential threat to academic philosophy? Or should philosophy become more scientific?