Analytical philosophy and Logical Positivism Books

Book SynopsisThis is a collection of the key articles written by renowned Wittgenstein scholar, G.P. Baker, on Wittgenstein's later philosophy, published posthumously. Following Baker's death in 2002, the volume has been edited by collaborator and partner, Katherine Morris. Contains articles previously only available in other languages, and one previously unpublished paper. Completely distinct from the widely-known work Baker did with P.M.S. Hacker in the Analytical Commentary on the Philosophical Investigations (Blackwell Publishing, 1980-1996). Trade ReviewGordon Baker, together with P. M . S. Hacker, was instrumental in the elaboration of what has become the standard interpretation of Wittgenstein's later work. In a dramatic turnabout, in his later years, Baker came to the conclusion that that interpretation, which he had done so much to help consolidate, was fundamentally flawed, exegetically and philosophically. He embarked on the task of putting forward a radically new interpretation of Wittgenstein's later philosophy -- an interpretation which has seemed to some to be a perverse dismantling of his life's work, while seeming to others, myself included, to open up exciting new possibilities and to help put us in a position to better understand what Wittgenstein was really up to. Baker was in the midst of developing this new interpretation in a series of articles, when his tragic early death brought the project to an abrupt halt. This volume collects those articles. Any serious student of Wittgenstein's philosophy will want to own this book. James Conant, University of Chicago `The essays in this volume are replete with a wealth of historical and linguistic detail. They contain the combination of careful textual exegesis and rigorous analysis which was characteristic of Baker's work generally.' Dr Mark Addis, International Journal of Philosophical Studies (2005) Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ix Introduction by Katherine J. Morris 1 Part I: Reading Wittgenstein 19 A. Methodological Concepts: 21 1. Philosophical Investigations §122: Neglected Aspects 22 2. Some Remarks on ‘Language’ and ‘Grammar’ 52 3. Wittgenstein’s ‘Depth Grammar’ 73 4. Wittgenstein on Metaphysical/Everyday Use 92 B. Applications: the ‘Private Language Argument': 108 5. The Reception of the Private Language Argument 109 6. Wittgenstein’s Method and the Private Language Argument 119 7. The Private Language Argument (extract) 130 Part II: Wittgenstein and Waismann: 141 A. The Analogy with Psychoanalysis: 143 8. ‘Our’ Method of Thinking about ‘Thinking’ 144 9. A Vision of Philosophy 179 10. Wittgenstein’s Method and Psychoanalysis 205 B. Aspects and Conceptions: 223 11. Italics in Wittgenstein 224 12. Wittgenstein: Concepts or Conceptions? 260 13. The Grammar of Aspects and Aspects of Grammar 279 Bibliography of the Works of Gordon Baker 294 General Bibliography 299 Index 305

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Book SynopsisMats Bergman is a Junior Research Fellow at the Academy of Finland and the Department of Communication, University of Helsinki, Finland.Trade Review'Mats Bergman has executed a remarkable feat. He has, at once, offered a lucid exposition of Peirce's theory of signs accessible to those unfamiliar with this theory and a carefully argued, textually substantiated re-interpretation of Peirce's position ... Peirce's Philosophy of Communication makes an extremely important contribution to Peirce no less than communication studies.' - Vincent Colapietro, Liberal Arts Research Professor, Pennsylvania State University, USA 'Bergman takes a novel approach to the study of Peirce 's semeiotic by modeling it as a theory of communication, rather than as an epistemological or logical theory ... In making his case, Bergman provides a comprehensive and exciting review of the critical controversies in Peirce 's semeiotic. This is a book not only for those interested in theories of communication, but also those seeking a solid overview of Peirce's theory of signs.'-James Liszka, Professor of Philosophy, University of Alaska Anchorage, USATable of Contents1. Introduction; 2. A Social Conception of Science; 3. Beyond the Doctrine of Signs; 4. From Representation to Mediation; 5. Prospects of Communication; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisFeaturing updates and the inclusion of nine new chapters, Analytic Philosophy: An Anthology, 2nd Edition offers a comprehensive and authoritative collection of the most influential readings in analytic philosophy written over the past hundred years. Features broad coverage of analytic philosophy, including such topics as ethics, methodology, and freedom and personal identity Focuses on classic or seminal articles that were especially influential or significant New articles in this edition include Proof of an External World by G. E. Moore, Criteria, Defeasibility, and Knowledge by John McDowell, Sensations and Brain Processes by J. J. C. Smart, selections from Sense and Sensibilia by J. L. Austin, Other Bodies by Tyler Burge, Individualism and Supervenience by Jerry Fodor, Responsibility and Avoidability by Roderick Chisholm, Alternative Possibilities and Moral Responsibility by Harry Frankfurt, and Personal Identity bTable of ContentsAcknowledgments. Introduction. Part I :Philosophy of Language. 1 “On Sense and Reference”(Gottlob Frege). 2 “Thought”(Gottlob Frege. 3 “On Denoting”(Bertrand Russell). 4 “On Referring”(P. F. Strawson). 5 “Meaning”(H. P. Grice). 6 “Truth and Meaning”(Donald Davidson). 7 “Identity and Necessity”(Saul Kripke). 8 “Meaning and Reference”(Hilary Putnam). Further Reading in Philosophy of Language. Part II: Metaphysics. 9 “On the Relations of Universals and Particulars”(Bertrand Russell). 10 From the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus(Ludwig Wittgenstein). 11 “Particular and General”(P. F. Strawson). 12 “On What There Is”(W. V. Quine). 13 “The Identity of Indiscernibles”(Max Black). Further Reading in Metaphysics. Part III: Epistemology. 14 “Proof of an External World”(E. Moore). 15 From On Certainty:( Ludwig Wittgenstein). 16 “Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge by Description”(Bertrand Russell). 17 “The Problem of the Criterion”(Roderick Chisholm). 18 “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?”(Edmund Gettier). 19 “Studies in the Logic of Explanation”(Carl Hempel and Paul Oppenheim). 20 “The New Riddle of Induction”(Nelson Goodman). 21 “Epistemology Naturalized”(W. V. Quine). 22 “Criteria, Defeasibility, and Knowledge”(John McDowell). Further Reading in Epistemology. Part IV: Philosophy of Mind. 23 “Sensations and Brain Processes”(J. J. C. Smart). 24 “The Nature of Mental States”(Hilary Putnam). 25 Sense and Sensibilia(J. L. Austin). 26 “Mental Events”(Donald Davidson). 27 “What is it Like to Be a Bat?”(Thomas Nagel). 28 “Mad Pain and Martian Pain”(David Lewis). 29 “Can Computers Think?”(John Searle). 30 “Other Bodies”(Tyler Burge). 31 “Individualism and Supervenience”(Jerry Fodor). Further Reading in Philosophy of Mind. Part V: Freedom and Personal Identity. 32 “The Conceivability of Mechanism”(Normal Malcolm). 33 “Freedom and Resentment”(P. F. Strawson). 34 “Human Freedom and Self”(Roderick Chisholm). 35 “Alternative Possibilities and Moral Responsibility”(Harry Frankfurt). 36 “The Self and the Future”(Bernard Williams). 37 “Personal Identity”(Derek Parfit). 38 “Action, Reasons, and Causes”(Donald Davidson). Further Reading in Freedom and Personal Identity. Part VI :Ethics. 39 “The Subject Matter of Ethics”(G. E. Moore). 40 “The Emotive Meaning of Ethical Terms”(Charles Stevenson). 41 “Justice as Fairness”(John Rawls). 42 “Modern Moral Philosophy”(G. E. M. Anscombe). 43 “Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives”(Philippa Foot). Further Reading in Ethics. Part VII: Methodology. 44 “The Elimination of Metaphysics”(A. J. Ayer). 45 “Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology”(Rudolf Carnap). 46 “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”(W. V. Quine). 47 “In Defense of a Dogma”(H. P. Grice and P. F. Strawson). 48 “Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man”(Wilfrid Sellars). 49 The Blue and the Brown Books(Ludwig Wittgenstein). Further Reading in Methodology. Index.

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Book SynopsisFrederick Kroon is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.Stuart Brock is Associate Professor in Philosophy at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.Jonathan McKeown-Green was Senior Lecturer in the Philosophy Department at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.Trade ReviewA Critical Introduction to Fictionalism offers enough overview and background to serve as a genuine introduction to the topic to those not already immersed in the literature, but also, by bringing together strands from debates over fictionalisms in different areas, includes enough food for thought for the more seasoned fictionalist to prompt reflection on how best to develop core fictionalist insights ... recommend[ed] to both of these groups of readers. * Philosophia Mathematica *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Existence examined 2. Objectivity and independence 3. Relegating existence: prefixing, prefacing, reducing and nonfactualism 4. What is fictionalism? 5. Fictionalism: a confusing past and a divided present 6. Fiction and Fictionalism 7. Fictionalism: why, where, how 8. Objections 9. Close Cousins Extended Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisPeta Mitchell is Senior Lecturer in the School of English, Media Studies, and Art History at the University of Queensland, Australia, and author of Cartographic Strategies of Postmodernity (Routledge, 2008).Trade ReviewThis book is a treasure-trove for references to ‘social contagion’ metaphors past and present and has interesting historical commentaries. * Modern Language Review *Peta Mitchell's highly readable ContagiousMetaphor explores medical and popular beliefs and practices aboutcontagion—and the metaphors that shape them. Reaching back through thenineteenth century and then ranging widely through more recent decades, sheshows how ambivalence about figurative language and misunderstanding ofmetaphor itself has shaped our responses to epidemics both imaginedand experienced. From miasma to Dionysian frenzy to memes on theinternet, Mitchell challenges our assumptions about both language andcontagion, providing engaging and provocative analyses of examples from film,philosophy, linguistics and literature. -- Pamela K. Gilbert, Department of English, University of Florida, USA'The history of medicine and metaphor come together inContagious Metaphor; Peta Mitchell perceptively chronicles the circulation ofthe metaphor of contagion and the contagion of metaphor in the current momentto show how ideas travel through language to shape lived experience. ContagiousMetaphor anatomizes the transmission of thought itself as it brings together astudy of the social phenomenon of a veritable obsession with the concept ofcontagion and a profound understanding of the role of language in creating notjust individual, but a broadly cultural consciousness. This study will enrichcontemporary understanding of the longstanding appeal of contagion as a conceptand of the power of metaphor as they circulate through, and register awidespread attempt to make sense of, the networks of contemporary social life.' -- Priscilla Wald, Department of English, Duke University, USAThisis a captivating book: interdisciplinary scholarship at its best. Moving deftlybetween meme theory and modern literature, nineteenth-century French socialscience and fifth-century theological debates, Peta Mitchell's genealogy ofcontagion metaphor reveals the intimacy, and indeed interdependency, of thesetwo concepts. The subtlety, sophistication and scholarly rigour of ContagiousMetaphor all but guarantee the spread of its ideas. -- Angela Woods, Centre for Medical Humanities, Durham University, UKTable of ContentsAcknowledgements \ Introduction: Due Preparations \ 1. Contagious metaphor \ 2. Pestilence and poison winds: Literary contagions and the endurance of miasma theory \ 3. The French fin de siècle and the birth of social contagion theory \ 4. The contagion of example \ 5. Infectious ideas: Richard Dawkins, meme theory, and the politics of metaphor \ 6. Networks of contagion \ Bibliography \ Index

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Book SynopsisMollie Gerver considers when bodies such as the UN, government agencies and NGOs ought to help refugees to return home. Drawing on original interviews with 172 refugees before and after repatriation, she resolves six moral puzzles arising from repatriation using the methods of analytical philosophy to provide a more ethical framework.

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Book SynopsisMollie Gerver considers when bodies such as the UN, government agencies and NGOs ought to help refugees to return home. Drawing on original interviews with 172 refugees before and after repatriation, she resolves six moral puzzles arising from repatriation using the methods of analytical philosophy to provide a more ethical framework.

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Book SynopsisIn these newly commissioned essays, leading Whitehead scholars ask a range of important questions about Whitehead's first year of philosophy lectures. Also included in this volume is the text of Whitehead's first lecture at Harvard, allowing for a clearer understanding of Whitehead's plans and goals for his first philosophy lectures.

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Book SynopsisIn these newly commissioned essays, leading Whitehead scholars ask a range of important questions about Whitehead's first year of philosophy lectures. Also included in this volume is the text of Whitehead's first lecture at Harvard, allowing for a clearer understanding of Whitehead's plans and goals for his first philosophy lectures.Table of ContentsAbbreviations; Acknowledgements; Preface; A Brief History of the Critical Edition of Whitehead, Brian G. Henning; Introduction; Tales from the Whitehead Mines: On Whitehead, His Students, and the challenges of Editing the Critical Edition, Joseph Petek; Part I: The First Lecture; 1. First lecture: September, 1924, Alfred North Whitehead; 2. Examining Whitehead’s ‘First lecture: September, 1924, Paul A. Bogaard; Part II: The Fitness of the Environment; 3. Whitehead and his Philosophy of Evolution, Paul A. Bogaard; 4. Some Clarifications on Evolution and Time, Maria-Teresa Teixeira; 5. Whitehead’s Biological Turn, Dennis Sölch; Part III: Physics and Relativity; 6. Quanta and Corpuscles: The Influence of Quantum Mechanical Ideas on Whitehead's Transitional Philosophy in Light of The Harvard Lectures, Gary L. Herstein; 7. From Physics to Philosophy, and from Continuity to Atomicity,Ronny Desmet; 8. Whitehead’s Highly Speculative Lectures on Quantum Theory, Ronny Desmet; 9. On Herstein’s ‘Quanta and Corpuscles’, Ronny Desmet; 10. Reply to Desmet, Gary L. Herstein; Part IV: Whitehead’s Philosophical Context; 11. Whitehead and Kant at Copenhagenm, Jason Bell, Seshu Iyengar; 12. Whitehead’s Early Harvard Period, Hartshorne, and the Transcendental Project, George W. Shields; 13. Footnotes to Plato, Aljoscha Berve; Part V: Metaphysical Reflections; 14. Diagrams and Myths, George Allan; 15. How ‘Eternity’ got ‘Thrown Forward’ into ‘Perishing’, Jude Jones; Part VI: Reinterpreting Whitehead; 16. Uncovering a ‘New’ Whitehead, George R. Lucas, Jr; 17. Whitehead in Class: Do the Harvard-Radcliffe Course Notes Change How we Understand Whitehead’s Thought?, Brian G. Henning; Notes on Contributors; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book attempts to reconcile the analytic philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein with those issues that consumed his personal life and which lay outside the confines of analytic philosophy: his "religious disposition," his ascetic lifestyle, and his concern with the mystical. Sontag reveals the influence of the mystical on Wittgenstein's life and philosophy, his respect for Augustine, Kierkegaard, and William James, and the profound effect of Tolstoy's religious writings on the development of his philosophy.

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Book SynopsisIn this volume, Maria Cerezo examines Wittgenstein's "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" as a response to some of Frege's and Russell's logical problems. In analyzing the tractarian conditions for the possibility of language, she explains the two main theories of the proposition in "Tractatus": the truth-functions theory and the picture theory. Cerezo shows that Wittgenstein initially separates the account of the structure of a proposition from the expression of its expression. However, contrary to his intention, the combination of these theories creates new difficulties, since the requirements of each theory cannot be fully respected by the others. Cerezo also argues that Wittgenstein's theory of language cannot be fully understood unless attention is paid to his theory of expression and his doctrine of projection by the metaphysical subject.

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Book SynopsisHinge Epistemology is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting areas of epistemology and Wittgenstein studies. In connecting these two fields it brings a revived energy to both, opening them up to fresh developments. The essays in this volume extend the subject in terms of both depth and breadth. They present new voices and challenges within hinge epistemology. They explore new applications and directions of hinge epistemology, particularly as it relates to the philosophy of mind, society, ethics, and the history of ideas.Trade Review‘Edited by two leading authorities on Wittgenstein’s philosophy, this volume further extends and consolidates the burgeoning research programme on ‘hinge epistemology’. The epistemic lessons to be derived from reflection on the epistemology of certainty are opened out to domains beyond the purely epistemic such as, politics, ideology, the extended individual, etc.’ — Dr. Nigel Pleasants, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Sociology, University of Exeter, UK.‘Never before have epistemologists been so genuinely interested in Wittgenstein’s later work as in recent years. Extending Hinge Epistemology brings together insightful essays by some of the leading scholars in the field and will be essential reading for anyone seeking to go beyond the mere exegesis of On Certainty.’ — Nuno Venturinha, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal.‘Hinge Epistemology: Fastening the Hinges, Opening the Door provides a further demonstration of the wide-ranging significance of Wittgenstein’s thoughts on knowledge, doubt and certainty for philosophical epistemology and for our thinking about human life more generally. The authors, comprising both established experts in the field and more up-and- coming scholars, develop the approach of hinge epistemology in fruitful ways, bringing out its relevance to multiple areas of human thought and activity, including religion, politics, scepticism and enactivism, as well as considering the extent to which the approach was prefigured in the work of earlier philosophers such as David Hume and Thomas Reid. The volume constitutes a valuable contribution to contemporary epistemology and Wittgenstein studies.’ — Dr Mikel Burley, Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy, University of Leeds, UK.This book is an impressive collection of essays on hinge epistemology that provide clarification on both existing debates and original interventions. This collection brings together well-known names in hinge epistemology with newer voices engaging with a range of philosophical areas and presenting a range of philosophical positions — Samuel Laves, Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Filosofia, Lisbon, Portugal.Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors; Acknowledgements; Introduction: Fastening the Hinges, Opening the Door; Part I Fastening the Hinges, Chapter One Wittgenstein’s Hinge Certainty, Danièle Moyal-Sharrock; Chapter Two Exploring Quasi-Fideism, Duncan Pritchard; Chapter Three Which Hinge Epistemology between Animal, Biscopic and Constitutivist? Annalisa Coliva; Chapter Four Something Animal, Something Unpredictable: On the Difficulty of Finding the Beginning and Not Trying to Go Further Back, Paul Standish; Chapter Five Closure-Based Scepticism and Epistemic Restrictions: A Dialectical Approach to Hinge Epistemology, Xavier Maréchal; Chapter Six ‘Hinges’ of Trust: Wittgenstein on the Other Minds Problem, Jasmin Trächtler; Part II Opening the Door, Chapter Seven Political Hinge Epistemology, Chris Ranalli; Chapter Eight Collective Thought and Collective Trust, Michel Le Du; Chapter Nine Deep Impact: Wittgenstein’s Enduring Enactivist Legacy, Victor Loughlin; Chapter Ten In Defence of a Reidian Moderate View of Our Hinge Commitments, Angélique Thébert; Chapter Eleven Consider the Squirrel: Hume as Hinge Epistemologist, Constantine Sandis; Index

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Book SynopsisCharles Sanders Peirce, the founder of pragmatism, is a hugely important and influential thinker in the history of American philosophy. His philosophical interests were broad and he made significant contributions in several different areas of thought. Moreover, his contributions are intimately connected and his philosophy designed to form a coherent and systematic whole. Peirce: A Guide for the Perplexed is a clear and thorough account of Peirce's life and thought, his major works and ideas, providing an ideal guide to this important and complex thinker. The book introduces all the key concepts and themes in Peirce's thought, exploring his contributions to logic, pragmatism, truth, semiotics and metaphysics and demonstrating how his ideas developed into a coherent system of thought. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Peirce's ideas, the book serves as a clear and concise introduction to his philosophy. This is the idea companion to study of this most influential and challenging of thinkers.Trade ReviewPeirce has a new way to think about things and de Waal describes this quite well. -- Jesse J. Thomas * Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies *Table of Contents1: Life and Work Chapter 2: Logic Chapter 3: The Doctrine of the Categories Chapter 4: Semiotics Chapter 5: Philosophy of Science Chapter 6: Pragmatism but Not Practicalism Chapter 7: A Pragmatist Theory of Truth Chapter 8: The Perpetual Fight against Nominalism Chapter 9: The Impact of Darwin Chapter 10: Mathematics Chapter 11: Mind and Self Chapter 12 (Conclusion): The Architectonic Philosopher Bibliography Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThe series, "Wittgenstein Studies", collects together many of the major texts of recent years, making available books that have proved relevant to the study of Wittgenstein. This title is from the second collection in the series. In this study of Wittgenstein's "Tractatus", Alexander Maslow tries to clarify some of its more obscure pronouncements and interpret the philosophy underlying the work as a whole. Influenced by the logical positivism of Mortiz Schlick, and by Russell and Ramsey, the author's interpretation is that Wittgenstein's basic philosophy is a kind of Kantian phenomenology. He also examines Wittgenstein's solipsism and mysticism.Trade Review"One of the earliest, most neglected, and most thorough works covering several important aspects of the Tractatus." - Plochmann and Lawson, 'Terms in their Propositional Contexts in Wittgenstein's Tractatus'

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Book SynopsisPhilosophy in the twentieth century has been dominated by the urge for analysis, a methadology that is supposed to be comparable in clarity and correctness to scientific thought. In this brilliant and devestating attack on such exaggerated claims, Stanley Rosen demonstrates how analysis alone lacks the power to approach the deepest and most important philosophical questions. He thus provides us with a new deeper understanding of the nature and limits of analytic thinking.Trade Review'The growing importance of reason in philosophy concerns Stanley Rosen in this essay. Rosen's primary objective is to defend Plato and classical philosophy against Martin Heidegger's radical existentialist criticism. . . . Many critics of Heidegger consider his dubious politics during the early days of Nazi rule irrelevant to the understanding of his work. Rosen argues, on the contrary, that Heidegger's philosophy helps explain his initial enthusiasm for, and later submission to, the Nazi regime. The argument yields genuine insight into the connection between philosophical and political nihilism. Furthermore, exposing the evil consequences of nihilistic thought adds to his stout defense of the classical tradition.' - Elliot Feingold, Book Week 'Those who ignore his book do so at their peril. It vigorously poses issues which have been too long neglected by both political scientists and political theorists.' - R. L. Nichols, American Political Science Review 'This is an impressive book. . . . Part of the interest of this book resides in its structure, which analyses moments in the history of ideas to sketch a systematic critique of theoretical and practical reason.' - Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisThis book provides both an introduction to the philosophy of scientific modeling and a contribution to the discussion and clarification of two recent philosophical conceptions of models: artifactualism and fictionalism. These can be viewed as different stances concerning the standard representationalist account of scientific models. By better understanding these two alternative views, readers will gain a deeper insight into what a model is as well as how models function in different sciences.Fictionalism has been a traditional epistemological stance related to antirealist construals of laws and theories, such as instrumentalism and inferentialism. By contrast, the more recent fictional view of models holds that scientific models must be conceived of as the same kind of entities as literary characters and places. This approach is essentially an answer to the ontological question concerning the nature of models, which in principle is not incompatible with a representationalist account of the function of models. The artifactual view of models is an approach according to which scientific models are epistemic artifacts, whose main function is not to represent the phenomena but rather to provide epistemic access to them. It can be conceived of as a non-representationalist and pragmatic account of modeling, which does not intend to focus on the ontology of models but rather on the ways they are built and used for different purposes. The different essays address questions such as the artifactual view of idealization, the use of information theory to elucidate the concepts of abstraction and idealization, the deidealization of models, the nature of scientific fictions, the structural account of representation and the ontological status of structures, the role of surrogative reasoning with models, and the use of models for explaining and predicting physical phenomena.Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction: Theories, Models, and Scientific Representations (Alejandro Cassini and Juan Redmond).- Chapter 2. An Artifactual Perspective on Idealization: Constant Capacitance and the Hodgkin and Huxley Model (Natalia Carrillo and Tarja Knuuttila).- Chapter 3. Informative Models: Idealization and Abstraction (Mauricio Suárez and Agnes Bolinska).- Chapter 4. Deidealized Models (Alejandro Cassini).- Chapter 5. Scientific Representation as Ensemble-Plus-Sanding-for: A Moderate Fictionalist Account (José A. Díez).- Chapter 6. Seven Myths About the Fiction View of Models (Roman Frigg and James Nguyen).- Chapter 7. Bridging the Gap: The Artefactual View Meets the Fiction View of Models (Fiora Salis).- Chapter 8. Models as Hypostatizations: The Case of Supervaluationism in Semantics (Manuel García-Carpintero).- Chapter 9. Structural Representation and the Ontology of Models (Otávio Bueno).- Chapter 10. Representation and Surrogate Reasoning: A Proposal from Dialogical Pragmatism (Juan Redmond).- Chapter 11. Prediction and Explanation by Theoretical Models:An Instrumentalist Stance (Andrés Rivadulla).- Chapter 12. Commented Bibliography on Models and Idealizations (Alejandro Cassini).- Name Index.- Subject Index.-

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Book SynopsisThis book investigates the impact of misinformation and the role of truth in political struggle. It develops a theory of objective truth for political controversy over topics such as racism and gender, based on the insights of intersectionality, the Black feminist theory of interlocking systems of oppression. Truth is defined using the tools of model theory and formal semantics, but the theory also captures how social power dynamics strongly influence the operation of the concept of truth within the social fabric. Systemic ignorance, propagated through false speech and misinformation, sustains oppressive power structures and perpetuates systemic inequity. Truth tends to empower marginalized groups precisely because oppressive systems are maintained through systemic ignorance. If the truth sets people free, then power will work to obscure it. Hence, the rise of misinformation as a political weapon is a strategy of dominant power to undermine the political advancement of marginalized groups.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction: Truth in Political StruggleChapter 2: Politically Contested TerminologyChapter 3: On the Possibility of Semantic CorruptionChapter 4: Toward a Conception of Misinformation as Epistemic ViolenceChapter 5: Model-Theoretic Semantics for Politically Contested TerminologyChapter 6: Toward an Intersectional MetasemanticsChapter 7: Power and Regimes of TruthChapter 8: An Analytic Philosopher’s Unified Theory of IntersectionalityChapter 9: Intersectional Metasemantic AdequacyChapter 10: A Metasemantics for IntersectionalityChapter 11: Situated Knowledge and the Regime of Truth

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Book SynopsisThis book addresses controversies concerning the epistemological foundations of data science: Is it a genuine science? Or is data science merely some inferior practice that can at best contribute to the scientific enterprise, but cannot stand on its own? The author proposes a coherent conceptual framework with which these questions can be rigorously addressed. Readers will discover a defense of inductivism and consideration of the arguments against it: an epistemology of data science more or less by definition has to be inductivist, given that data science starts with the data. As an alternative to enumerative approaches, the author endorses Federica Russo’s recent call for a variational rationale in inductive methodology. Chapters then address some of the key concepts of an inductivist methodology including causation, probability and analogy, before outlining an inductivist framework. The inductivist framework is shown to be adequate and useful for an analysis of the epistemological foundations of data science. The author points out that many aspects of the variational rationale are present in algorithms commonly used in data science. Introductions to algorithms and brief case studies of successful data science such as machine translation are included. Data science is located with reference to several crucial distinctions regarding different kinds of scientific practices, including between exploratory and theory-driven experimentation, and between phenomenological and theoretical science. Computer scientists, philosophers and data scientists of various disciplines will find this philosophical perspective and conceptual framework of great interest, especially as a starting point for further in-depth analysis of algorithms used in data science. Trade Review“Readers are taken on a journey where they will discover step-by-step methodologies for data-driven research. Judiciously, each key concept of data science is concisely defined, and examples and the when, why, and how to use them are provided. … I fully recommend it.” (Thierry Edoh, Computing Reviews, February 7, 2023)Table of ContentsPreface.- Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Inductivism.- Chapter 3. Phenomenological Science.- Chapter 4. Variational Induction.- Chapter 5. Causation As Difference Making.- Chapter 6. Evidence.- Chapter 7. Concept Formation.- Chapter 8. Analogy.- Chapter 9. Causal Probability.- Chapter 10. Conclusion.- Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book contains a selection of papers from the workshop Women in the History of Analytic Philosophy held in October 2019 in Tilburg, the Netherlands. It is the first volume devoted to the role of women in early analytic philosophy. It discusses the ideas of ten female philosophers and covers a period of over a hundred years, beginning with the contribution to the Significs Movement by Victoria, Lady Welby in the second half of the nineteenth century, and ending with Ruth Barcan Marcus’s celebrated version of quantified modal logic after the Second World War. The book makes clear that women contributed substantially to the development of analytic philosophy in all areas of philosophy, from logic, epistemology, and philosophy of science, to ethics, metaphysics, and philosophy of language. It illustrates that although women's voices were no different from men's as regards their scope and versatility, they had a much harder time being heard. The book is aimed at historians of philosophy and scholars in gender studiesTable of ContentsINTERNAL NOTE: See the file "ob.Contents.pdf" in the attachments tab.

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Book SynopsisHow ought you to evaluate your options if you're uncertain about what's fundamentally valuable? A prominent response is Expected Value Maximisation (EVM)—the view that under axiological uncertainty, an option is better than another if and only if it has the greater expected value across axiologies. But the expected value of an option depends on quantitative probability and value facts, and in particular on value comparisons across axiologies. We need to explain what it is for such facts to hold. Also, EVM is by no means self-evident. We need an argument to defend that it’s true. This book introduces an axiomatic approach to answer these worries. It provides an explication of what EVM means by use of representation theorems: intertheoretic comparisons can be understood in terms of facts about which options are better than which, and mutatis mutandis for intratheoretic comparisons and axiological probabilities. And it provides a systematic argument to the effect that EVM is true: the theory can be vindicated through simple axioms. The result is a formally cogent and philosophically compelling extension of standard decision theory, and original take on the problem of axiological or normative uncertainty.

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Book SynopsisOur ability to attribute mental states to others ("to mentalize") has been the subject of philosophical and psychological studies for a very long time, yet the role of language acquisition in the development of our mentalizing abilities has been largely understudied. This book addresses this gap in the philosophical literature. The book presents an account of how false belief reasoning is impacted by language acquisition, and it does so by placing it in the larger context of the issue, how language impacts cognition in general. The work provides the reader with detailed and critical literature reviews, and draws on them to argue that language acquisition helps false belief reasoning by boosting the ability to create schemata that facilitate processing of information in some social contexts. According to this framework, it is a combination of syntactic clues and cultural narratives that helps the child to solve the classic false belief task. The book provides a novel, original account of how language helps false belief reasoning, while also giving the reader a broad, precise and well-documented picture of the debate around some of the most fundamental issues in social cognition.

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Book SynopsisThis volume focuses on controversial issues that stem from Philippa Foot’s later writings on natural goodness which are at the center of contemporary discussions of virtue ethics. The chapters address questions about how Foot relates judgments of moral goodness to human nature, how Foot understands happiness, and addresses objections to her framework from the perspective of empirical biology. The volume will be of value to any student or scholar with an interest in virtue ethics and analytic moral philosophy.Trade Review“It is no understatement to say that Hacker-Wright’s collection lifts up critical engagement with Foot’s naturalism to an entirely new level and therefore represents required reading for anyone who intends to work on it in the future.” (Sascha Settegast, Zeitschrift für Ethik und Moralphilosophie, Vol. 2, 2019)Table of Contents1 Introduction: From Natural Goodness to Morality John Hacker-Wright 2 The Grammar of Goodness in Foot’s Ethical Naturalism Rosalind Hursthouse 3 How to be an Ethical Naturalist Jennifer A. Frey 4 Practically Self-Conscious Life Matthias Haase 5 Traditional Naturalism Kristina Gehrman 6 “Why Should I?”: Can Foot Convince the Skeptic? Anselm W. Müller 7 The Deep and the Shallow Gavin Lawrence 8 Foot’s Grammar of Goodness Micah Lott 9 Neo-Aristotelian Naturalism and the Evolutionary Objection: Rethinking the Relevance of Empirical Science Parisa Moosavi

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Book SynopsisDas biomedizinische Verständnis der modernen (Schul-)Medizin darf als Resultat einer seit über 160 Jahren andauernden Ver-Naturwissenschaftlichung der Medizin verstanden werden. Infolgedessen resümiert Petra Lenz eine „Krise der Medizin“, die sich im Vertrauensverlust der Menschen in das Medizinsystem zeigt. Es wird gezeigt, dass der theoretische Krankheitsbegriff als sinnspezifischer Faktenbegriff der Naturwissenschaften nicht als Hoffnungsträger für Medizin und Gesundheitspolitik infrage kommt, sondern erst durch ihn medizinethische und gesundheitspolitische Herausforderungen entstehen. Trade Review“... In einem Überblick von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart stellt Petra Lenz in ihrer Arbeit exemplarische Stationen dar ...” (Dominik Baltes, in: Zeitschrift für Medizinische Ethik, Jg. 66, Heft 3, 2020)Table of ContentsKulturelle und medizinhistorische Antwortversuche auf die Frage nach der Krankheit.- Die philosophische Diskussion um den Krankheitsbegriff.- Die Krise der Medizin als Folge der Orientierung an einem theoretischen Krankheitsbegriff.- Die Erklärungslücke am Beispiel der Migräne.- Der Krankheitsbegriff im Klammergriff der Rationalitäten.- Vorschlag zum Umgang mit gegenwärtigen Herausforderungen durch die Moderne Medizin.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisMany people go through life in a rather hit-or-miss fashion, casting about for ideas to explain why their projects improve or decline, why they are successful or why they are not. Guessing and "hunches," however, are not very reliable. And without the knowledge of how to actually investigate situations, good or bad, and get the true facts, a person is set adrift in a sea of unevaluated data. Accurate investigation is, in fact, a rare commodity. Man's tendency in matters he doesn't understand is to accept the first proffered explanation, no matter how faulty. Thus investigatory technology had not actually been practiced or refined. However, L. Ron Hubbard made a breakthrough in the subject of logic and reasoning which led to his development of the first truly effective way to search for and consistently find the actual causes for things. Knowing how to investigate gives one the power to navigate through the random facts and opinions and emerge with the real reasons behind success or failure in any aspect of life. By really finding out why things are the way they are, one is therefore able to remedy and improve a situation-any situation. This is an invaluable technology for people in all walks of life.

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