Analytical philosophy and Logical Positivism Books

Book SynopsisMetaphysics asks questions about existence: for example, do numbers really exist? Metametaphysics asksquestions about metaphysics: for example, do its questions have determinate answers? If so, are these answers deep and important, or are they merely a matter of how we use words? What is the proper methodology for their resolution? These questions have received a heightened degree of attention lately with new varieties of ontological deflationism and pluralism challenging the kind of realism that has become orthodoxy in contemporary analytic metaphysics. This volume concerns the status and ambitions of metaphysics as a discipline. It brings together many of the central figures in the debate with their most recent work on the semantics, epistemology, and methodology of metaphysics.Trade ReviewMetametaphysics is an excellent collection of papers about the nature and methodology of metaphysics written by the subject's movers and shakers. It will be of great interest to anyone enamored, repulsed, or mystified by metaphysics. * Philosophical Review *Even if you're not a metaphysician - indeed, even if you're deeply suspicious of metaphysics - Metametaphysics is interesting.... Metametaphysics hosts a debate that is much more nuanced than a simple 'skeptics vs. enthusiasts' dichotomy. Skepticism about metaphysics can take different forms and come in different degrees. It is also, unsurprisingly, resistible in a variety of ways. Metametaphysics develops many of the central issues in this dialectic, making it essential reading, not just for the metaphysician, but for the skeptic about metaphysics as well. * Elizabeth Barnes, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Table of Contents1. Introduction: A Guided Tour of Metametaphysics ; 2. Composition, Colocation, and Metaontology ; 3. Ontological Anti-Realism ; 4. Carnap and Ontological Pluralism ; 5. The Question of Ontology ; 6. The Metaontology of Abstraction ; 7. Superficialism in Ontology ; 8. Ontology and Alternative Languages ; 9. Ambitious, Yet Modest, Metaphysics ; 10. Ways of Being ; 11. Metaphysics after Carnap: The Ghost Who Walks? ; 12. On What Grounds What ; 13. Ontological Realism ; 14. Ontology, Analyticity, and Meaning: The Quine-Carnap Dispute ; 15. Answerable and Unanswerable Questions ; 16. Being, Existence, and Ontological Commitment ; 17. Must Existence-Questions Have Answers?

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is a unique and accessible reference guide to the work of figures who have played an important role in the development of ideas about language. It includes 80 entries on individual thinkers in the Western tradition, ranging from antiquity to the present day, chosen because of their impact on the description or theory of language.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is a unique and accessible reference guide to the work of figures who have played an important role in the development of ideas about language. It includes 80 entries on individual thinkers in the Western tradition, ranging from antiquity to the present day, chosen because of their impact on the description or theory of language.Trade ReviewDue to the wide variety of disciplines represented and the encyclopaedic nature of the entries, the book will be of interest not only to students and scholars from many different backgrounds, but also to the general reader. Year's Work in English Studies ! the volume is of good quality, a valuable endeavour for bringing together linguistics and the philosophy of language. I find the volume very useful, quite easy to consult and use in teaching and research, especially valuable for under and postgraduates and I really believe that it filled a gap when this was really needed. -- Anca Gata LINGUIST list Due to the wide variety of disciplines represented and the encyclopaedic nature of the entries, the book will be of interest not only to students and scholars from many different backgrounds, but also to the general reader. ! the volume is of good quality, a valuable endeavour for bringing together linguistics and the philosophy of language. I find the volume very useful, quite easy to consult and use in teaching and research, especially valuable for under and postgraduates and I really believe that it filled a gap when this was really needed.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFirst published in French in 1907, Henri Bergson's L'évolution créatrice is a scintillating and radical work by one of the great French philosophers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This outstanding new translation, the first for over a hundred years, brings one of Bergson's most important and ambitious works to a new generation of readers.A sympathetic though critical reader of Darwin, Bergson argues in Creative Evolution against a mechanistic, reductionist view of evolution. For Bergson, all life emerges from a creative, shared impulse, which he famously terms élan vital and which passes like a current through different organisms and generations over time. Whilst this impulse remains as forms of life diverge and multiply, human life is characterized by a distinctive form of consciousness or intellect. Yet as Bergson brilliantly shows, the intellect's fragmentary and action- oriented nature, which he likens to the cinematograph, means Trade Review"I have been re-reading Bergson's books, and nothing that I have read for years has so excited and stimulated my thoughts. I am sure that his philosophy has a great future; it breaks through old frameworks and brings things to a solution from which new crystallizations can be reached." - William James (1903)"An updated translation of Bergson’s most significant and most misunderstood book was long overdue. … Landes – who has previously translated Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception, another, notoriously elegant yet challenging text – more than meets these requirements. … There is no doubt that this new translation will become an absolute reference, not least because Landes has included illuminating passages from the critical apparatus of the most recent French edition of L’Evolution créatrice. But Landes’s most remarkable improvement is in his recreation of the effortless flow of Bergson’s philosophical prose." - Emily Herring, Times Literary Supplement"This new translation by Donald Landes captures the mesmerizing work that turned Henri Bergson into one of the century’s most provocative thinkers—with expert annotations, correspondence and additional material by influential thinkers from William James to Gilles Deleuze." - Jimena Canales, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA"Henri Bergson, who personally oversaw the translation of all his books into English, would be delighted by this new edition of his greatest work. Donald Landes’s translation is exquisite and the extensive editorial notes are indispensable for the serious study of Creative Evolution." - Alexandre Lefebvre, University of Sydney, Australia"This splendid new translation provides an exceptional, scholarly tool for serious specialists as well as all readers interested in Bergson’s work. It will swiftly become the definitive reference text for all Anglophone Bergson scholarship." - Christina Howells, University of Oxford, UK"A major event in post-Kantian philosophy. Featuring a lucid introduction, helpful translator’s notes, and a judicious selection from Arnaud François’s illuminating critical dossier, this fine translation of Creative Evolution means that English-language Bergson scholarship has begun to gain the serious editions of his texts that it deserves." - Mark Sinclair, Roehampton University, UK"This superb translation will introduce a new generation to Bergson. Landes's cogent introduction and editorial notes and the accompanying dossier of correspondence, reception and commentaries not only situates Creative Evolution in relation to Bergson's oeuvre, but also to the myriad scientific and philosophical sources informing his thought. An outstanding achievement." - Mark Antliff, Duke University, USA"This wonderful new translation of Bergson’s classic Creative Evolution is warmly welcomed, as are the rich introduction, comprehensive editorial notes, and thoughtful selection of commentaries. There are many improvements to the original translation published over a century ago." - Emily Thomas, Durham University, UK"Creative Evolution is essential reading today. To translate it well requires a serious engagement with Bergson’s entire body of work, sustained philosophical attention, a feel for context (including discoveries in thermodynamics) and, most importantly, enormous care. Happily, this is what Donald Landes offers us here." - Suzanne Guerlac, University of California, Berkeley, USA"I have been re-reading Bergson's books, and nothing that I have read for years has so excited and stimulated my thoughts. I am sure that his philosophy has a great future; it breaks through old frameworks and brings things to a solution from which new crystallizations can be reached." - William James (1903)"An updated translation of Bergson’s most significant and most misunderstood book was long overdue. … Landes – who has previously translated Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception, another, notoriously elegant yet challenging text – more than meets these requirements. … There is no doubt that this new translation will become an absolute reference, not least because Landes has included illuminating passages from the critical apparatus of the most recent French edition of L’Evolution créatrice. But Landes’s most remarkable improvement is in his recreation of the effortless flow of Bergson’s philosophical prose." - Emily Herring, Times Literary Supplement"This new translation by Donald Landes captures the mesmerizing work that turned Henri Bergson into one of the century’s most provocative thinkers—with expert annotations, correspondence and additional material by influential thinkers from William James to Gilles Deleuze." - Jimena Canales, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA"Henri Bergson, who personally oversaw the translation of all his books into English, would be delighted by this new edition of his greatest work. Donald Landes’s translation is exquisite and the extensive editorial notes are indispensable for the serious study of Creative Evolution." - Alexandre Lefebvre, University of Sydney, Australia"This splendid new translation provides an exceptional, scholarly tool for serious specialists as well as all readers interested in Bergson’s work. It will swiftly become the definitive reference text for all Anglophone Bergson scholarship." - Christina Howells, University of Oxford, UK"A major event in post-Kantian philosophy. Featuring a lucid introduction, helpful translator’s notes, and a judicious selection from Arnaud François’s illuminating critical dossier, this fine translation of Creative Evolution means that English-language Bergson scholarship has begun to gain the serious editions of his texts that it deserves." - Mark Sinclair, Roehampton University, UK"This superb translation will introduce a new generation to Bergson. Landes's cogent introduction and editorial notes and the accompanying dossier of correspondence, reception and commentaries not only situates Creative Evolution in relation to Bergson's oeuvre, but also to the myriad scientific and philosophical sources informing his thought. An outstanding achievement." - Mark Antliff, Duke University, USA"This wonderful new translation of Bergson’s classic Creative Evolution is warmly welcomed, as are the rich introduction, comprehensive editorial notes, and thoughtful selection of commentaries. There are many improvements to the original translation published over a century ago." - Emily Thomas, Durham University, UK"Creative Evolution is essential reading today. To translate it well requires a serious engagement with Bergson’s entire body of work, sustained philosophical attention, a feel for context (including discoveries in thermodynamics) and, most importantly, enormous care. Happily, this is what Donald Landes offers us here." - Suzanne Guerlac, University of California, Berkeley, USATable of ContentsForeword Elizabeth Grosz Translator’s Introduction Donald A. Landes Creative Evolution, by Henri Bergson, translated by Donald A. Landes Bilingual Table of Contents Introduction 1. On the Evolution of Life. Mechanism and Finality 2. The Diverging Directions of Life: Torpor, Intellect, and Instinct 3. On the Meaning of Life, the Order of Nature, and the Form of the Intellect 4. The Cinematographic Mechanism of Thought and the Mechanistic Illusion. A Glance at the History of Systems. Real Becoming and False Evolutionism Correspondence, Reception, and Commentaries Introduction 1. Correspondence James–Bergson Correspondence (1907) Letter to H. Wildon Carr (1908) Letter to Florian Znaniecki (1911) 2. Critical Reception in Biology Bergson and Le Dantec in Dialogue Ruyer as Reader of Bergson 3. Critical Reception in Mathematics Bergson and Borel in Dialogue 4. Critical Reception in Theology Bergson and Tonquédec in Dialogue 5. Notable Commentaries Canguilhem as Reader of L’évolution créatrice Merleau-Ponty as Reader of L’évolution créatrice Deleuze as Reader of L’évolution créatrice Critical Apparatus Editorial Endnotes Bibliographies Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisJames Robert Brown is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, Canada.Trade ReviewA well-thought complement to traditional introductions to the philosophy of science. Introduced by leading scholars in their fields, the key debates in the discipline, from inductivism to realism, are not only clarified but enlightened so as to be of interest to students and scholars alike. * Giancarlo Ianulardo, Lecturer in Economics, University of Exeter, UK *In this classic introductory textbook, now at its second edition, Jim Brown brings together a stellar array of philosophers of science. Each chapter is organised around a central theme — from conventionalism to realism and feminist philosophy of science, among several others — and introduces some classic authors in the field. Study questions and Further Reading suggestions accompany each chapter. This book will continue to be an extremely valuable resource for students approaching the field for the first time and for anyone else wishing to have an introduction to philosophy of science. * Michela Massimi, Professor of Philosophy of Science, University of Edinburgh, UK *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Notes on Contributors Preface Introduction, James Robert Brown (University of Toronto, Canada) 1. Experience and Necessity: The Whewell and Mill Debate, Laura Snyder (St. John’s University, USA) 2. Conventionalism: Poincaré, Duhem, Reichenbach, Torsten Wilholt (Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany) 3. The Vienna Circle: Moritz Schlick, Rudolf Carnap, Otto Neurath, Friedrich Stadler (University of Vienna, Austria) 4. Carl G. Hempel: Logical Empiricist, Martin Curd (Purdue University, USA) 5. Anti-Inductivism as Worldview: The Philosophy of Karl Popper, Steve Fuller (University of Warwick, UK) 6. Historical Approaches: Kuhn, Lakatos and Feyerabend, Martin Carrier (Bielefeld University, Germany) 7. The Contingency of the Causal Nexus: Ghazali and Modern Science, Arun Bala (National University of Singapore, Singapore) 8.Sociology of Science: Bloor, Collins, Latour, Martin Kusch (University of Vienna, Austria) 9. One Cannot Be Just a Little Bit Realist: Putnam and van Fraassen, Stathis Psillos (University of Athens, Greece) 10. Beyond Theories: Hacking and Cartwright, William Seager (University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada) 11. Feminist Critiques: Harding and Longino, Janet Kourany (University of Notre Dame, USA) Afterword Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisSpanning the period between Wittgenstein's return to Cambridge in 1929 and the first version of Philosophical Investigations in 1936, Piotr Dehnel explores the middle stage in Ludwig Wittgenstein's philosophical development and identifies the major issues which engrossed him, including phenomenology, philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of language. Contrary to the dominant perspective, Dehnel argues that this period was intrinsically different from the early and late stages and should not be viewed as a mere transitional phase. The distinctiveness of Wittgenstein's middle work can be seen in his philosophical thinking as it unfolds in a non-linear trajectory: thoughts do not follow upon each other, ideas do not appear sequentially one by one, and insights do not form a straight chain. Dehnel portrays the diffused and multifarious quality of Wittgenstein's middle thinking, enabling readers to form a more comprehensive view of his entire philosophy and acquire a better grasp Trade ReviewThe book sheds an interesting new light on interpretations of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophy as it offers one of the first explorations of his concepts between the Tractatus and the Philosophical Investigations. The author argues that, rather than developing in a linear sequence from insight to insight and from idea to idea, Wittgenstein’s thought in the middle period expands radially, unfolding in several directions at the same time. A must-read for Wittgenstein researchers, the book is certainly of profound interest to humanities scholars and social scientists alike. * Leszek Koczanowicz, Professor of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Poland *This book offers broad hermeneutic explanations of Wittgenstein’s writings from 1929 to 1936. They are based on a thorough knowledge of the source material, which they place in the context of his thought and its philosophical environment. I am impressed with the scientific merit of the present work. * Herbert Hrachovec, Associate Professor at the Institute for Philosophy, University of Vienna, Austria *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Phenomenological Turn 2. Verification: 1929-1932 3. Wittgenstein’s Critique of Frege in the Notes of 1929-1932 4. ‘A Clever Man got Caught in this Net of Language’: Wittgenstein’s Attack on Set Theory 5. The Big Typescript as a Work of the Middle Period 6. P.S. Understanding, Expecting, Wishing 7. Magic, Rituals and Philosophy: Wittgenstein on Frazer’s The Golden Bough 8. Wittgenstein as a Philosopher of Culture Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisSpanning the period between Wittgenstein's return to Cambridge in 1929 and the first version of Philosophical Investigations in 1936, Piotr Dehnel explores the middle stage in Ludwig Wittgenstein's philosophical development and identifies the major issues which engrossed him, including phenomenology, philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of language. Contrary to the dominant perspective, Dehnel argues that this period was intrinsically different from the early and late stages and should not be viewed as a mere transitional phase. The distinctiveness of Wittgenstein's middle work can be seen in his philosophical thinking as it unfolds in a non-linear trajectory: thoughts do not follow upon each other, ideas do not appear sequentially one by one, and insights do not form a straight chain. Dehnel portrays the diffused and multifarious quality of Wittgenstein's middle thinking, enabling readers to form a more comprehensive view of his entire philosophy and acquire a be

Read more less

Book SynopsisPhilosophers approach the problem of possibility in two markedly different ways: with reference to worlds, whereby an event is possible if there is a world in which it occurs, and with reference to modal properties, whereby an event is a possible manifestation of a property of some substance or object.Showing how the world-account cannot properly explain the nature of possibilities within worlds, Ferenc Huoranszki argues that the latter approach is more plausible. He develops a theory of contingent possibilities grounded in a distinction between abilities and dispositions as real, first-order modal properties of objects, with fundamentally distinct ontological roles. By understanding abilities as first-order modal properties, and by linking such modal properties to counterfactual conditionals, Huoranszki argues we can distinguish between variably generic or specific abilities and identify more or less abstract possibilities in a world. In doing so, he furthers our understandingTrade ReviewThis book makes a worthwhile contribution to a serious ongoing debate in metaphysics. At times brilliant, The Metaphysics of Contingency has novel and challenging wisdom to offer on the nature and role of dispositions and powers that will interest both the Aristotelian and the Humean alike. Huoranszki’s account provides a worthy addition to a growing contemporary literature. * Stephen Mumford, Professor of Philosophy, Durham University, UK *Your coffee mug could have gotten broken when you accidentally dropped it on the floor this morning. Thank goodness it didn’t! But what makes it the case that there was such a contingent possibility? Ferenc Huoranszki’s book offers a fresh, engaging and valiantly defended contribution to the current debate on this topic. * Anna Marmodoro, Professor of Philosophy at Durham University and Associate Member of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Oxford, UK *Table of Contents1. Introduction: Contingency, Worlds and Properties 2. Abilities and Dispositions 3. Specificity and Intrinsicness 4. Abilities, Dispositions and Conditionals 5. Reasoning with Possibilities 6. Manifestations and Events 7. Concluding Remarks: Abilities, Qualities and the Priority of the Actual References Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis volume is the first English resource to shed light on the philosophy of Joseph Petzoldt (1862-1929), the main pupil of Ernst Mach and founder of the Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Philosophie, later the association of Berlin logical positivists. A central figure in the early debate on the theory of relativity, his work was praised by Einstein himself. Tracing the development of Petzoldt's ideas, starting from his early acceptance of materialism and Kantian agnosticism, Chiara Russo Krauss presents a comprehensive reconstruction of his philosophy in the context of the German milieu. She examines his attempt to develop a new philosophy following Gustav Fechner and the empiriocriticism of Richard Avenarius and Ernst Mach. In the final chapter, she sets out how Petzoldt proposed relativistic positivism as the official interpretation of Einstein's relativity. By illuminating key elements of Petzoldt's work, this is a valuable case study for students and scholars of philosTrade ReviewThis book masterfully combines history of philosophy and history of ideas. It portrays Joseph Petzoldt (1862–1929) who creatively combined elements of thought of his teacher Richard Avenarius (1843–1896) and of the physicist-physiologist and philosopher Ernst Mach (1838–1916). Petzoldt developed a philosophy of “relativistic positivism” and became an influential interpreter of Einstein’s theory of relativity. In her richly contextualized account, Chiara Russo Krauss discusses strengths and weaknesses of Petzoldt’s thought. * Klaus Hentschel, Professor for History of Science and Technology, University of Stuttgart, Germany *Russo Krauss offers a rich and fascinating picture of Petzholt’s positivism, including his accounts of the unity of science, the determinacy of law, and Einstein’s theory of relativity. She shows him to be a significant bridge from nineteenth-century German philosophy to early analytic philosophy of science. * Scott Edgar, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Saint Mary's University, Canada *Chiara Russo Krauss's book on Petzoldt should be obligatory reading for anyone interested in German intellectual history from the 1890s to the 1920s. Russo Krauss situates Petzoldt in the philosophical debates of his time, illuminating not only Petzoldt's own wide-randing oeuvre, but also the work of those authors who influenced him, or who responded to him. The book is chock-a-block with intriguing historical and systematic insights. Russo Krauss' study sets a model of how best to discuss an allegedly 'minor' figure. * Martin Kusch, Professor of Philosophy, University of Vienna, Austria *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. Stability and Eindeutigkeit 3. Subjectivism and Relativistic Positivism 4. Petzoldt and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity 5. Criticism of Petzoldt’s Interpretation of Relativity 6. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less