Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge Books

Book SynopsisA general and systematic account of the role of knowledge in society aimed to stimulate both critical discussion and empirical investigations.This book is concerned with the sociology of everything that passes for knowledge in society'. It focuses particularly on that common-sense knowledge' which constitutes the reality of everyday life for the ordinary member of society.The authors are concerned to present an analysis of knowledge in everyday life in the context of a theory of society as a dialectical process between objective and subjective reality. Their development of a theory of institutions, legitimations and socializations has implications beyond the discipline of sociology, and their humanistic' approach has considerable relevance for other social scientists, historians, philosophers and anthropologists.

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Book SynopsisWhat is knowledge? How does it differ from mere belief? Do you need to be able to justify a claim in order to count as knowing it? How can we know that the outer world is real and not a dream?Questions like these are ancient ones, and the branch of philosophy dedicated to answering them - epistemology - has been active for thousands of years. In this thought-provoking Very Short Introduction, Jennifer Nagel considers these classic questions alongside new puzzles arising from recent discoveries about humanity, language, and the mind. Nagel explains the formation of major historical theories of knowledge, and shows how contemporary philosophers have developed new ways of understanding knowledge, using ideas from logic, linguistics, and psychology. Covering topics ranging from relativism and the problem of scepticism to the trustworthiness of internet sources, Nagel examines how progress has been made in understanding knowledge, using everyday examples to explain the key issues and debates ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade ReviewI am in love with this series - it's like having an extended course of study in one's rucksack or handbag that's designed to educate the modern polymath. * GrrlScientist, Guardian Books *[A]dmirably clear and engaging * Steven Poole, The Guardian *Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. Scepticism ; 3. Rationalism and empiricism ; 4. The analysis of knowledge ; 5. Internalism and externalism ; 6. Testimony ; 7. Shifting standards? ; 8. Knowing about knowing ; Further reading ; Index

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Book Synopsis''What exactly is knowledge?''The Theaetetus is a seminal text in the philosophy of knowledge, and is acknowledged as one of Plato''s finest works. Cast as a conversation between Socrates and a clever but modest student, Theaetetus, it explores one of the key issues in philosophy: what is knowledge? Though no definite answer is reached, the discussion is penetrating and wide-ranging, covering the claims of perception to be knowledge, the theory that all is in motion, and the perennially tempting idea that knowledge and truth are relative to different individuals or states. The inquirers go on to explore the connection between knowledge and true judgement, and the famous threefold definition of knowledge as justified true belief. Packed with subtle arguments, the dialogue is also a work of literary genius, with an unforgettable portrait of Socrates as a midwife of wisdom. This new edition uses the acclaimed translation by John McDowell. It includes a valuable introduction that locates the work in Plato''s oeuvre, and explains some of the competing interpretations of its overall meaning. The notes elucidate Plato''s arguments and draw connections within the work and with other philosophical discussions.ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade Reviewstrongly recommended for undergraduates and anyone with a serious interest in Plato. * Colin Leach, Classics for All *

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Book SynopsisThis is a corrected second impression of the original bilingual critical edition of Poinsot’s work on signs completed in 1632. New materials include a new “Foreword” by the translator and a full table of correlations between the independent Tractatus edition and the original Cursus Philo-sophicus from which that edition was established. The Cursus Philosophicus was one of the two great syntheses of Latin thought made in the lifetime of Descartes. Yet only that of Francis Suarez in 1597, the Disputationes Metaphysicae, was destined to be read by the early moderns. This is a work of immense erudition that synthesizes the matter of signs philosophy from Aristotle and his successors in Greece and Rome to the pre-eminent St. Thomas Aquinas in the Middle Ages and so on through the leading schools of Renaissance thought. Poinsot was instrumental in the twentieth-century revival of Thomism led by Jacques Maritain. His seminal Introduction to the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas (St. Augustine’s Press, 2004)

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Book SynopsisSolipsism is the ultimate empirical theory of human existence. It is the metaphysical position that there is only one self-conscious person in the universe, i.e., the present selfconscious being reading these paragraphs. A weaker version is the position that one can know for certain that there is only one conscious person in the universe, oneself. The present study is the only book-length examination of solipsism. It treats the origin of solipsism in the works of St. Augustine and René Descartes as well as all serious attempts to refute the thesis of solipsism. Such attempts were made primarily by British empiricists, specifically by George Santayana. Santayana concludes that solipsism cannot be refuted. Watson also concludes that solipsism cannot be refuted. He examines attempts by Descartes, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, British Idealists, Logical Positivists, Sense Datum Philosophers, and in particular Nelson Goodman and Gilbert Ryle (they are just pathetic). The spector haunting Modern Philosophy is not the Ghost in the Machine; it is solipsism. Watson argues that the foundations of Western Philosophy are solipsistic, and that all the major figures recognize this and know that solipsism cannot be refuted, but nevertheless continue by ignoring it, by pretending that it cannot be taken seriously, by offering inadequate solutions, and by treating solipsism as a joke. Watson’s book is the only study of solipsism by a professional philosopher, other than Santayana, in which solipsism is taken seriously as a threat to Modern Philosophy

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Book SynopsisThe masterpiece of the father of modern philosophyA seminal text of modern philosophy, Immanuel Kant''sCritique of Pure Reason(1781) made history by bringing together two opposing schools of thought: rationalism, which grounds all our knowledge in reason, and empiricism, which traces all our knowledge to experience. Published here in a lucid reworking of Max Müller''s classic translation, the Critique is a profound investigation into the nature of human reason, establishing its truth, falsities, illusions, and reality.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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Book SynopsisPaul Feyerabend's globally acclaimed work, which sparked and continues to stimulate fierce debate, examines the deficiencies of many widespread ideas about scientific progress and the nature of knowledge. Feyerabend argues that scientific advances can only be understood in a historical context. He looks at the way the philosophy of science has consistently overemphasized practice over method, and considers the possibility that anarchism could replace rationalism in the theory of knowledge.This updated edition of the classic text includes a new introduction by Ian Hacking, one of the most important contemporary philosophers of science. Hacking reflects on both Feyerabend's life and personality as well as the broader significance of the book for current discussions.Trade ReviewA devastating attack on the claims of philosophy to legislate for scientific practice. * New Society *A brilliant polemic. * New Scientist *Since it was first published in 1975, Against Method has followed Popper's The Logic of Scientific Discovery and Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions into becoming a classic text in the debate about scientific methodology and scientific reasoning. * The Philosopher *A powerful critique. * London Review of Books *Against Method is more than a book: it is an event. * Archives de Philosophie *

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Book SynopsisEpistemology is the philosophical study of knowledge. Without knowledge, scientific enquiry is meaningless and we can’t begin to analyse the world around us. What is knowledge? How do you know you are not dreaming? Should we trust our senses? Presuming no prior experience of philosophy, this book covers everything in the topic from scepticism and possible worlds to Kant’s transcendentalism. Clear and readable, Epistemology: A Beginner’s Guide is essential reading for students and aspiring thinkers.

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Book SynopsisInvestigates the antinomy between history and truth, or between historicity and meaning. This book argues that history has meaning insofar as it approaches universality and system, but has no meaning insofar as this universality violates the singularity of individuals' lives.

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Book SynopsisBertrand Russell famously quipped that he didn't believe in God for the same reason that he didn't believe in a teapot in orbit between the earth and Mars: it is a bizarre assertion for which no evidence can be provided. Is belief in God really like belief in Russell's teapot? Kenneth L. Pearce argues that God is no teapot. God is a real answer to the deepest question of all: why is there something rather than nothing? Graham Oppy argues that we should believe that there are none but natural causal entities with none but natural causal propertiesand hence should believe that there are no gods. Beginning from this basic disagreement, the authors proceed to discuss and debate a wide range of philosophical questions, including questions about explanation, necessity, rationality, religious experience, mathematical objects, the foundations of ethics, and the methodology of philosophy. Each author first presents his own side, and then they interact through two rounds of objections and repTrade Review"Kenneth Pearce and Graham Oppy are first-rate philosophers of religion. This book offers an engaging and fruitful dialogue between a theist and an atheist, addressing all key concepts and arguments in the contemporary debate on the existence of God. I recommend the book to all readers who are interested in studying both sides of the debate."Yujin Nagasawa, H. G. Wood Professor of the Philosophy of Religion, University of Birmingham, U.K."This exchange between Oppy and Pearce represents the finest in philosophical inquiry. Together they create a new chandelier with structure and detail as they systematically discuss questions of worldview along the cutting edge of philosophical inquiry. Their exchange is professional, productive, and elegant."Joshua Rasmussen, Department of Philosophy, Azusa Pacific University, U.S.A.Table of ContentsForeword: Worldview comparison and religious commitment, by Helen De Cruz Opening Statements 1. Classical Theism: An Exposition and Defense 2. Are There Any Gods? First Round of Replies 3. Reply to Graham Oppy’s Opening Statement4. Reply to Kenny Pearce’s Opening Statement Second Round of Replies 5. Reply to Graham Oppy's Reply 6. Reply to Kenny Pearces’s Reply

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Book SynopsisNothing is not. Yet it seems that we invoke absences and nothings often in our philosophical explanations. Negative metaphysics is on the rise. It has been claimed that absences can be causes, there are negative properties, absences can be perceived, there are negative facts, and that we can refer to and speak about nothing. Parmenides long ago ruled against such things. Here we consider how much of Parmenides'' view can survive. A soft Parmenidean methodology is adopted in which we aim to reject all supposed negative entities but are prepared to accept them, reluctantly, if they are indispensable and irreducible in our best theories. We then see whether there are any negative entities this survive this test. Some can be dismissed on metaphysical grounds but other problems are explained only once we reject another strand in Parmenides and show how we can think and talk about nothing. Accounts of perception of absence, empty reference, and denial are gathered. With these, we can show how no truthmakers are required for negative truths since we can have negative beliefs, concerning what-is-not, without what-is-not being part of what is. This supports a soft ontological Parmenideanism, which accepts much though not all of Parmenides'' original position.Table of ContentsPreface 1: Soft Parmenideanism 2: Negative Properties 3: Nonentities 4: Causation by Absence 5: Mere Possibilities 7: Perception of Absence 8: Empty Reference 9: Negative Truth 10: Negation and Denial 11: Negative Belief

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Book SynopsisHow do we know what we think we know? The answer is evidence, but evidence is no simple thing. What counts as evidence in a scientific context or private dispute may not stand up in court. Frederick Schauer combines perspectives from law, statistics, psychology, and philosophy to assess the nature of evidence in the era of “fake news.”Trade ReviewSchauer displays a level of intellectual honesty one rarely encounters these days…This is delightful stuff, all the more so coming from an author whose political sympathies clearly lie far from the Trump family. Chapters on the state of criminology and the nature of lying are similarly engaging. -- Barton Swaim * Wall Street Journal *[Schauer’s] essential argument is that in assessing evidence, we need, first of all, to recognize that evidence comes in degrees (from weak to strong, from extraneous to relevant) and that probability, the likelihood that the evidence or testimony is accurate, matters…[He] has fascinating things to say about the reliability of eyewitnesses, hearsay and lie detectors, the efficacy of honor codes and courtroom oath taking, and the trustworthiness of letters of recommendation. -- Steven Mintz * Inside Higher Education *I would make Proof one of a handful of books that all incoming law students should read…Essential and timely. -- Emily R. D. Murphy * Law and Society Review *Schauer is inviting us to distrust ourselves, to look for an external ground in our evidence assessments, one that reaches out for empirical evidence and verifiable inferences, instead of feelings, senses, perception, and intuition…The elucidation of this value (of distrusting ourselves) is a great achievement…[A] fascinating book. -- Thomas Bustamante * Jotwell *At a time when the concept of truth itself is in trouble, this lively and accessible account provides vivid and deep analysis of the practices addressing what is reliably true in law, science, history, and ordinary life. Schauer's The Proof integrates knowledge of legal doctrine, social science studies, philosophy, and history and offers both timely and enduring insights. -- Martha Minow, former Dean of Harvard Law School and author of When Should Law Forgive?The Proof is an engaging tour of a range of knotty problems relating to evidence and reasoned inference. Fred Schauer shares a wealth of insights he has developed over several decades of teaching and writing about evidence law and the nature of proof. A pleasure to read. -- David Alan Sklansky, author of A Pattern of ViolenceA thoroughly enjoyable and accessible book on how the insights of evidence law can help all of us make better decisions in our everyday lives. A much-needed guide in a confusing world awash in information and misinformation. The Proof is sure to become a classic! -- Edward K. Cheng, Vanderbilt Law SchoolWith his uncanny ability to blend erudition and accessibility, Fred Schauer unpacks how to think about proof—what people tell us, what we see, what the experts say—in everyday life. An extraordinarily readable book with breathtaking range and clarity, The Proof is an indispensable guide for those who seek to thoughtfully navigate the world. I cannot recommend it highly enough. -- Kimberly Kessler Ferzan, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law SchoolIf you care about evidence, the search for the truth, about what we know and how we know it, you have a lot to learn from this timely and masterful book. -- Lee C. Bollinger, President and Seth Low Professor of the University, Columbia UniversityAssessing evidence: that is the essence of judgment. Schauer’s The Proof imparts the disturbing lesson that we, be we individuals or organizations, are poor judges. Fortunately, this book wields tools from law, psychology, and statistics, plus an array of historic examples and contemporary accounts, to show how we can dramatically improve as assessors. Even better, it does so with wit. -- Richard Zeckhauser, Frank P. Ramsey Professor of Political Economy, Harvard University

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Book SynopsisThis book identifies eight key mechanisms that can transform a set of ideas into a psychological flytrap. The author suggests that, like the black holes of outer space, from which nothing, not even light, can escape, our contemporary cultural landscape contains numerous intellectual black-holes-belief systems constructed in such a way that unwary passers-by can similarly find themselves drawn in. While such self-sealing bubbles of belief will most easily trap the gullible or poorly educated, even the most intelligent and educated of us are potentially vulnerable. Some of the world's greatest thinkers have fallen in, never to escape. This witty, insightful critique will help immunize readers against the wiles of cultists, religious and political zealots, conspiracy theorists, promoters of flaky alternative medicines, and others by clearly setting out the tricks of the trade by which such insidious belief systems are created and maintained.Trade Review""Offers flashes of wit and insight.” —Times Higher Education “I would like to see this book read by college freshmen, and certainly anybody running for public office. The witty, insightful, and often amusing arguments might help to immunize readers against religious and political zealots, conspiracy theorists, and new agers by understanding their stocks in trade….” —San Francisco Book Review “

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Book SynopsisTwo lectures in Bologna: on 31 March 2011 at the International Conference to Mark the Centenary of Rudolf Steiner's Lecture in Bologna, and on 8 April 1911 at the Fourth International Philosophy Congress A special conference took place in Bologna in Spring 2011, marking the hundredth anniversary of a unique lecture Rudolf Steiner delivered to a philosophically-trained audience in the same city. In his key exposition, Steiner had given a concise description of the spiritual-scientific theory of knowledge as well as a brief outline of the anthroposophical path of schooling. In his contribution to the 2011 congress, Sergei O. Prokofieff tackles two principal aspects. On the one hand, he describes how Steiner's Bologna lecture contained the essential foundations for a new 'science of the human ego'. On the other hand, Prokofieff states that Rudolf Steiner was the first person to transform this same theory into a practical path of knowledge, following it to its very conclusion. Thus, the words of Rudolf Steiner's lecture were based entirely on personal experience. Together with a transcript of Rudolf Steiner's full Bologna lecture, Sergei O. Prokofieff's own lecture is reproduced here in an expanded version. In addition, this volume features Rudolf Steiner's important 'summaries of essential points', in which he develops and connects some of his key thoughts with further aspects of anthroposophy, especially in relation to their Christological foundations.Table of ContentsForeword by Sergei O. Prokofieff Part I: Sergei O. Prokofieff RUDOLF STEINER'S PATH OF INITIATION AND THE MYSTERY OF THE EGO Lecture held in Bologna on 31 March 2011 during the International Conference to mark the Centenary of Rudolf Steiner's Lecture in Bologna Part II: Rudolf Steiner THE FOUNDATIONS OF ANTHROPOSOPHICAL METHODOLOGY 1. Lecture held in Bologna on 8 April 1911 at the Fourth International Philosophy Conference The Psychological Foundations of Anthroposophy and its Standpoint in Relation to the Theory of Knowledge A Spiritual-Scientific Mode of Perception Based upon Potential Psychological Facts The Experiences of the Spiritual Researcher and the Theory of Knowledge 2. Two Summaries of Essential Points from the Lecture in Bologna Theosophy and Modern Cultural Life A Statement about Theosophy at the Fourth International Philosophy Conference Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] compellingly topical book, which ranges from genetics to fake news."---Andrew Robinson, Nature"Elegant and compelling."---Linsey McGoey, The Philosopher"A thoughtful, nuanced examination of the social and psychological motivations for—and consequences of—ignorance or denial. . . . At a time when fake news, propaganda, political rhetoric, and dueling experts dominate the media, [Salecl]’s analysis offers a fresh way to think about the decisions each of us make to 'embrace ignorance and denial." * Kirkus Reviews *"This is a well-written account of the nature of ignorance by a philosopher and sociologist, illustrated by numerous case studies of ignorance in different contexts. It will repay anyone interested in this problem, whether philosopher, sociologist, or information scientist."---Tom Wilson, Information Research

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Book SynopsisThis volume presents a new translation of Aristotle''s Topics Book VI by Annamaria Schiaparelli, accompanied by a detailed commentary and textual notes providing insight into the history of the transmission of the text with its variants. In the Topics, Aristotle aims at developing his dialectical method. He introduces the four predicables (property, genus, accident, and definition) which are necessary for the classification and application of the topoi, or commonplaces. Book VI of the Topics is entirely devoted to the discussion of definition, the most extended and refined discussion of this subject handed down to us from the classical period. The concept of definition plays a central role not only in Aristotle''s logic but also in his ontology. Issues connected with definitions emerge constantly throughout his works. Moreover, definitions are at the centre of Platonic philosophy and sparked a lively discussion in philosophy of the Hellenistic and late classical periods.Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION I: The Place of the Topics in Aristotle's Corpus II: The Contents of the Topics III: The Four Predicables IV: The Classifications of the Predicables V: The Logical Relations among the Predicables VI: The Predicable Definition VII: Types of Definition and their Rules VIII: The Notion of Causality in the Topics IX: Some Prominent Themes concerning Standard Definitions X: Structure and Interpretations of Book VI of the Topics TRANSLATION COMMENTARY Notes on the Text Appendix: The Predicables Logical Relations Select Bibliography Glossary: English-Greek / Greek-English Indexes

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Book SynopsisA radical shift took place in medieval Europe that still shapes contemporary intellectual life: freeing themselves from the fixed beliefs of the past, scholars began to determine and pursue their own avenues of academic inquiry. In Knowledge True and Useful, Frank Rexroth shows how, beginning in the 1070s, a new kind of knowledge arose in Latin Europe that for the first time could be deemed “scientific.” In the twelfth century, when Peter Abelard proclaimed the primacy of reason in all areas of inquiry (and started an affair with his pupil Heloise), it was a scandal. But he was not the only one who wanted to devote his life to this new enterprise of “scholastic” knowledge. Rexroth explores how the first students and teachers of this movement came together in new groups and schools, examining their intellectual debates and disputes as well as the lifelong connections they forged with one another through the scholastic communities to which they belonged. Rexroth shows how the resulting transformations produced a new understanding of truth and the utility of learning, as well as a new perspective on the intellectual tradition and the division of knowledge into academic disciplines—marking a turning point in European intellectual culture that culminated in the birth of the university and, with it, traditions and forms of academic inquiry that continue to organize the pursuit of knowledge today.Trade Review"A fresh and insightful book that takes the question of early scholasticism in a new and significant direction. " * Patrick Geary, author of The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Marion argues that being clear about what one cannot know is philosophically important, because such acknowledgement makes one realize that even some properly formed questions will remain unanswerable.” * Choice *“A rich and profound philosophical vision that liberates us from our self-imposed nihilistic chains.” * The Review of Metaphysics *“The concluding work in the phenomenological project in which [Marion] has been engaged for the past twenty-five years: the broadening of the field of phenomenality.” * The Journal of Religion *“Crowned by the Académie Française . . . the philosopher in a bow tie, Jean-Luc Marion, loosens our Borromean knots: the human enigma, the mystery of God, and the unknown of birth as well as death, are so many inexplicable events. Negative Certainties, his latest book, questions the very possibility of these impossibilities.” * Le Monde, on the French edition *“Marion is one of today’s most important philosophers. . . . If certain knowledge is impossible, must we condemn ourselves to hazardous understandings and skepticism? For Marion, there is a third way, through negative certainty.” * Libération, on the French edition *Table of ContentsForeword Translator’s Acknowledgments Introduction § 1 Attempt to Introduce the Concept of Negative Certainties into Philosophy I The Undefinable, or the Face of Man § 2 “What Is Man?” § 3 “Ipse mihi magna quaestio” § 4 What It Costs to Know (Oneself) § 5 Proscription § 6 The Fund of Incomprehensibility § 7 The Indefinite and the Unstable II The Impossible, or What Is Proper to God § 8 The Impossible Phenomenon § 9 The Irreducible § 10 Possibility without Conditions § 11 The (Im)possible: From Contradiction to Event § 12 The (Im)possible from My Point of View § 13 The (Im)possible from God’s Point of View III The Unconditioned, or the Strength of the Gift § 14 The Contradictions of the Gift § 15 The Terms of Exchange § 16 Reducing the Gift to Givenness § 17 Without the Principle of Identity § 18 Without the Principle of Sufficient Reason IV The Unconditioned and the Variations of the Gift § 19 Sacrifice According to the Terms of Exchange § 20 Regiving, Beginning from the Recipient § 21 The Confirmation of Abraham § 22 Forgiveness According to the Terms of Exchange § 23 Regiving, Beginning from the Giver § 24 The Return of the Prodigal Son V The Unforeseeable, or the Event § 25 What the Object Excludes § 26 The Condition of the Object § 27 Concerning the Distinction of Phenomena into Objects and Events § 28 Without Cause § 29 The Original Unknown § 30 The Double Interpretation Conclusion § 31 In Praise of the Paradox Bibliographical Note Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThe Renaissance, scholars have long argued, was a period beset by the loss of philosophical certainty. In Possible Knowledge, Debapriya Sarkar argues for the pivotal role of literature—what early moderns termed poesie—in the dynamic intellectual culture of this era of profound incertitude. Revealing how problems of epistemology are inextricable from questions of literary form, Sarkar offers a defense of poiesis, or literary making, as a vital philosophical endeavor. Working across a range of genres, Sarkar theorizes “possible knowledge” as an intellectual paradigm crafted in and through literary form. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century writers such as Spenser, Bacon, Shakespeare, Cavendish, and Milton marshalled the capacious concept of the “possible,” defined by Philip Sidney as what “may be and should be,” to construct new theories of physical and metaphysical reality. These early modern thinkers mobilized the imaginative habits of thought constitutive to major genres of literary writing—including epic, tragedy, romance, lyric, and utopia—in order to produce knowledge divorced from historical truth and empirical fact by envisioning states of being untethered from “nature” or reality. Approaching imaginative modes such as hypothesis, conjecture, prediction, and counterfactuals as instruments of possible knowledge, Sarkar exposes how the speculative allure of the “possible” lurks within scientific experiment, induction, and theories of probability. In showing how early modern literary writing sought to grapple with the challenge of forging knowledge in an uncertain, perhaps even incomprehensible world, Possible Knowledge also highlights its most audacious intellectual ambition: its claim that while natural philosophy, or what we today term science, might explain the physical world, literature could remake reality. Enacting a history of ideas that centers literary studies, Possible Knowledge suggests that what we have termed a history of science might ultimately be a history of the imagination.Trade Review"This pathbreaking book will be at the vanguard of a new movement in literature and science studies." * Jenny C. Mann, New York University *"An ambitious, brilliant, and genuinely original account of the constitutive relationship between poesy and science in early modernity." * Vin Nardizzi, University of British Columbia *"This important book provides compelling evidence that early modern literature in the age of the new science helped readers develop sophisticated forms of knowing about what existed in the world, and, more crucially, what might possibly come to be." * Mary Thomas Crane, Boston College *

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Book SynopsisWestern civilization is over. So begins Jan Zwicky’s trenchant exploration of the roots of global cultural and ecological collapse. Once Upon a Time in the West documents how a narrow epistemological style has left us blind to critical features of reality, and how the terrifying consequences of that shuttered vision are now unfolding.Trade Review“Zwicky's distinctive voice – warm, wise, sometimes colloquial or cutting – brings together these essays on diverse topics. Her sensibility is of course poetic, but also critical in the best sense: rigorous, probing, and committed. This is an engaging and enlightening portrait of a fine thinker in action.” Mark Kingwell, University of Toronto and author of Singular Creatures: Robots, Rights, and the Politics of Posthumanism“Lyric philosophy of the highest calibre. Jan Zwicky addresses the dilemmas we as a species are faced with today with great lucidity, seamlessly weaving together a wide variety of themes from philosophy, poetry, and ecology. Anyone interested in understanding the more-than-human world and our place in it is bound to find food for thought in these beautifully written and provoking philosophical essays.” Leonor María Martínez Serrano, University of Córdoba and author of Breathing Earth: The Polyphonic Lyric of Robert Bringhurst

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Book SynopsisLearning to Look is a wandering journey through the nature of art - and the ways it can transform us, if we let it. Author of Infinite Baseball, Alva Noë, presents a collection of short, stimulating essays that explore how we experience art and what it means to be an observer. Experiencing art - letting it do its work on us - takes thought, attention, and focus. It requires creation, even from the beholder. And it is in this process of confrontation and reorganization that artworks can lead us to remake ourselves. Ranging far and wide, from Pina Bausch to Robocop, from Bob Dylan to Vermeer, Noë uses encounters with specific artworks to gain entry into a world of fascinating issues - like how philosophy and science are represented in film; what evolutionary biology says about art; or the role of relics, fakes, and copies in our experience of a work. The essays in Learning to Look are short, accessible, and personal. Each one arises out of an art encounter - in a museum, listening to records, or going to a concert. Each essay stands on its own, but taken together, they form an intimate picture of our relationship with art. Carefully articulating the experience of each of these encounters, Noë proposes that, like philosophy, art is a sort of technology for understanding ourselves. Put simply, art is an opportunity for us to enact ourselves anew.Table of ContentsPreface Encounters 1 Soup is an anagram of opus 2 I am sitting in a room 3 40 speakers in a room 4 Two left hands 5 Rock art 6 The power of performance 7 Cheap thrills at the Whitney 8 Whaling with Turner 9 Take my breath away 10 Speak, draw, dance 11 Beach beasts on the move 11 Making the work work 13 Irrational man 14 RoboCop's philosophers 15 Pointing the way to liberation, in Star Trek: Voyager 16 An Awkward Synthesis Pictures 17 The anatomy lesson 18 The importance of being dressed 19 The art of the brain 20 Faces and masks 21 The philosophical eye 22 The camera and the dance 23 Why are 3-D movies so bad? 24 The myth of 3-D immersion 25 Storying telling and the

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Book SynopsisIn Heidegger’s Way of Being, the follow-up to his 2010 book, Engaging Heidegger, Richard Capobianco makes the case clearly and compellingly that the core matter of Heidegger’s lifetime of thought was Being as the temporal emergence of all beings and things. Drawing upon a wide variety of texts, many of which have been previously untranslated, Capobianco illuminates the overarching importance of Being as radiant manifestation – “the truth of Being” – and how Heidegger also named and elucidated this fundamental phenomenon as physis (Nature), Aletheia, the primordial Logos, and as Ereignis, Lichtung, and Es gibt.Heidegger’s Way of Being brings back into full view the originality and distinctiveness of Heidegger’s thought and offers an emphatic rejoinder to certain more recent readings, and particularly those that propose a reduction of Being to “Trade Review'This book will prove indispensable to anybody working within Heidegger studies, especially those interested in his work on poetry, language, and Heraclitus.' -- S. Montgomery Ewegen Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews January 2015

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Book SynopsisPhilosopher Daniel Milo offers a vigorous critique of the quasi-monopoly that Darwin’s natural selection has on our idea of the natural world. In popular thought, Darwinism has even acquired the trappings of an ethical system, focused on optimization, competition, and innovation. Yet in nature, imperfect creatures often have the evolutionary edge.Trade ReviewTakes aim at this image of evolution as relentless improvement. -- Gregory Radick * Times Literary Supplement *Good Enough wonders why evolutionary biologists shun the scientific thinking called the null hypothesis… Some of nature’s wonders might be happy accidents, rather than masterpieces of adaptation… It is a charming argument, suited to lazy, sunny afternoons: ‘Why should we struggle and strain when we are all good enough?’ -- Simon Ings * New Scientist *Bold but carefully reasoned…An argument that pays reverence to Darwin as revolutionary thinker while nonetheless insisting that both he and many others have indeed ‘extend[ed] too far the action of natural selection.’…Milo insists that nature is full not of excellence but of mediocrity—not cut-throat competitive champions but merely the manifold forms of life that survive just well enough not to die…Good Enough is an important intervention that boasts none of the mediocrity that Milo finds everywhere at work—or rather, asleep on the job—in the natural world. -- Ben Murphy * PopMatters *A thought-provoking critique of the dominance of adaptationist explanations. He argues that, while natural selection is important, it is not the only, possibly not even the default mechanism, in evolution. No, Milo claims, the mediocre also survive and thrive…Insightful and unsettling…What a fantastic book! -- Leon Villager * Inquisitive Biologist *Milo aims to give the messy side of nature its due—to stand up for the wasteful and inefficient organisms that nevertheless survive and multiply…Imperfection is not just good enough: it may at times be essential to survival. * Southeastern Naturalist *Stimulating. * La Recherche *Through a marshaling of facts and a careful reading of scientific opinions, Milo shows himself to be a persuasive analyst and historical detective, revealing critical sides of the evolution argument that have often been ignored. The book, full of humor and unexpected examples, showcases Milo’s skill for storytelling. -- Marc Kirschner, Founding Chair, Department of Systems Biology, Harvard UniversityGood Enough is a book that changes key cultural assumptions, offering a radical revision of the ideas of evolution and selection. Daniel Milo argues that nature follows the law of inertia, makes do with mediocrity, and relies on chance rather than maximization. It is a rare book that will leave a lasting impact on scientific discourse and on popular imagination. -- Eva Illouz, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, ParisIn this salutary essay, Daniel Milo tells biologists with delight what they already know but never confess. Rooting his argument in the genesis of Darwin’s theory, Milo emphasizes the place of the mediocre, the useless, and the level-down in natural variation. Without contradicting the power of natural selection, Good Enough suggests that the long tails of trait variation govern survival more than optimization, subsequently shaping the diversity of life. -- Nicolas Gompel, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich

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Book SynopsisHumanity on the Threshold focuses on strengthening human resilience though spiritual development. This lets us see beyond the normal inner and outer limits of consciousness into sound knowledge of the higher self. Deeper wonders of nature can also appear. If boundaries break down without preparation, then mental breakdowns might follow. Guidelines are suggested for working therapeutically with such issues with those experiencing threshold issues.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A bracing book that might make you less gullible about gullibility."---Barbara Kiser, Nature"At the risk of being seen as credulous, I’d say [Mercier] makes a strong case for gullibility being a far less prevalent and important trait than we thought." * New Scientist *"[Not Born Yesterday] will be of interest to anyone who wonders how to trust what people say and do, especially in the digital, free-for-all age of unfettered, often suspect, information. The breadth and depth of research studies presented by Mercier will be especially appealing to science aficionados."---Karen Koenig, New York Journal of Books"In Not Born Yesterday, the cognitive scientist Hugo Mercier brings the conceptual reversal to a domain in desperate need of new insights: that of truth and falsehood, knowledge and ignorance."---N. J. Enfield, Times Literary Supplement"[Not Born Yesterday] marshals a convincing body of research . . . from history and sociology, from anthropology and from the psychology laboratory."---Timandra Harkness, UnHerd"[Mercier's argument] is refreshingly optimistic."---Daniel Akst, Strategy+Business"[A] thought-provoking book about the science of who we trust." * Paradigm Explorer *"At a time when large swaths seem to believe that we are hopelessly doomed because everyone else is stupid and easily misled or manipulated, Mercier’s book provides a nuanced antidote to such thinking, grounded in a careful examination of a wealth of evidence from psychology and the social sciences."---Felix Simon, Medium"[A] lucidly written introduction to the social psychology of communication and reasoning."---Shreeharsh Kelkar, Public Books

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Book SynopsisThe first English-language collection to establish curiosity studies as a unique field From science and technology to business and education, curiosity is often taken for granted as an unquestioned good. And yet, few people can define curiosity. Curiosity Studies marshals scholars from more than a dozen fields not only to define curiosity but also to grapple with its ethics as well as its role in technological advancement and global citizenship. While intriguing research on curiosity has occurred in numerous disciplines for decades, no rigorously cross-disciplinary study has existed—until now. Curiosity Studies stages an interdisciplinary conversation about what curiosity is and what resources it holds for human and ecological flourishing. These engaging essays are integrated into four clusters: scientific inquiry, educational practice, social relations, and transformative power. By exploring curiosity through the practice of scientific inquiry, the contours of human learning, the stakes of social difference, and the potential of radical imagination, these clusters focus and reinvigorate the study of this universal but slippery phenomenon: the desire to know. Against the assumption that curiosity is neutral, this volume insists that curiosity has a history and a political import and requires precision to define and operationalize. As various fields deepen its analysis, a new ecosystem for knowledge production can flourish, driven by real-world problems and a commitment to solve them in collaboration. By paying particular attention to pedagogy throughout, Curiosity Studies equips us to live critically and creatively in what might be called our new Age of Curiosity.Contributors: Danielle S. Bassett, U of Pennsylvania; Barbara M. Benedict, Trinity College; Susan Engel, Williams College; Ellen K. Feder, American U; Kristina T. Johnson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Narendra Keval; Christina León, Princeton U; Tyson Lewis, U of North Texas; Amy Marvin, U of Oregon; Hilary M. Schor, U of Southern California; Seeta Sistla, Hampshire College; Heather Anne Swanson, Aarhus U.Table of ContentsContentsForewordPamela Grossman and John L. Jackson Jr.Introduction: What Is Curiosity Studies?Perry Zurn and Arjun Shankar Part I. Interrogating the Scientific Enterprise1. Exploring the Costs of Curiosity: An Environmental Scientist’s DilemmaSeeta Sistla2. Curious Ecologies of Knowledge: More-than-Human AnthropologyHeather Anne Swanson3. Curiosity, Ethics, and the Medical Management of Intersex AnatomiesEllen K. FederPart II. Relearning How We Learn4. A Network Science of the Practice of CuriosityDanielle S. Bassett5. Why Should This Be So? The Waxing and Waning of Children’s CuriositySusan Engel6. The Dude Abides, or, Why Curiosity Is Important for Education TodayTyson Lewis7. “The Campus is Sick”: Capitalist Curiosity and Student Mental HealthArjun ShankarPart III. Reimagining How We Relate8. Autism, Neurodiversity, and CuriosityKristina T. Johnson9. Obstacles to Curiosity and Concern: Exploring the Racist ImaginationNarendra Keval10. Curious Entanglements: Opacity and Ethical Relation in Latina/o AestheticsChristina León11. Transsexuality, the Curio, and the Transgender Tipping PointAmy MarvinPart IV. Deconstructing the Status Quo12. Peeping and Transgression: Curiosity and Collecting in English LiteratureBarbara M. Benedict13. Curiosity and Political ResistancePerry Zurn14. Curiosity at the End of the World: Women, Fiction, ElectricityHilary M. SchorConclusion: On Teaching CuriosityArjun Shankar and Perry Zurn AfterwordHelga NowotnyAcknowledgmentsContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisA Guide for the Perplexed is E. F. Schumacher''s classic work of philosophy and a statement of the philosophies that underpin his economic masterpiece Small is Beautiful. Schumacher asserts that it is the task of philosophy to provide a map of life and knowledge, which exhibits the most important features of life in their proper prominence.Trade ReviewA condensation of a vast and refreshingly unorthodox system of ideas -- Arthur Koestler * Observer *Schumacher's arguments are invigorating, provoking, and often dramatic * New Statesman *The most exciting philosophical book for ages * Daily Mail *There is a rich store of wisdom and understanding, embedded in the religions of East and West, which our dangerous preoccupation with science has scanted and ignored... This book is about the different ways in which people may see and the blindness of only seeing in one particular way. * Sunday Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisIn his essay, Locke rejects all appeals to authority and the theory of innate knowledge, arguing that knowledge derives from sense, perceptions and experience, as analysed and developed by reason.Table of ContentsIntroductionFurther ReadingBibliographical AbbreviationsA Note on the TextTitle-page of the Fifth EditionAN ESSAY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDINGThe Epistle DedicatoryThe Epistle to the ReaderThe ContentsBook I: Of Innate NotionsI IntroductionII No Innate Principles in the MindIII No Innate Practical PrinciplesIV Other Considerations concerning Innate Principles, both Speculative and PracticalBook II: Of Innate NotionsI Of Ideas in General, and their OriginalII Of Simple IdeasIII Of Ideas of One SenseIV Of SolidityV Of Simple Ideas of Divers SensesVI Of Simple Ideas of ReflectionVII Of Simple Ideas of both Sensation and ReflectionVIII Some further Considerations concerning our Simple IdeasIX Of PerceptionX Of RetentionXI Of Discerning, and other Operations of the MindXII Of Complex IdeasXIII Of Simple Modes; and first, of the Simple Modes of SpaceXIV Of Duration, and its Simple ModesXV Of Duration and Expansion, considered togetherXVI Of NumberXVII Of InfinityXVIII Of other Simple ModesXIX Of the Modes of ThinkingXX Of Modes of Pleasure and PainXXI Of PowerXXII Of Mixed ModesXXIII Of our Complex Ideas of SubstancesXXIV Of Collective Ideas of SubstancesXXV Of RelationXXVI Of Cause and Effect, and other RelationsXXVII Of Identity and DiversityXXVIII Of other RelationsXXIX Of Clear and Obscure, Distinct and Confused IdeasXXX Of Real and Fantastical IdeasXXXI Of Adequate and Inadequate IdeasXXXII Of True and False IdeasXXXIII Of the Association of IdeasBook III: Of WordsI Of Words or Language in GeneralII Of the Signification of WordsIII Of General TermsIV Of the Names of Simple IdeasV Of the Names of Mixed Modes and RelationsVI Of the Names of SubstancesVII Of ParticlesVIII Of Abstract and Concrete TermsIX Of the Imperfection of WordsX Of the Abuse of WordsXI Of the Remedies of the Foregoing Imperfections and AbusesBook IV: Of Knowledge and OpinionI Of Knowledge in GeneralII Of the Degrees of Our KnowledgeIII Of the Extent of Human KnowledgeIV Of the Reality of KnowledgeV Of Truth in GeneralVI Of Universal Propositions, their Truth and CertaintyVII Of MaximsVIII Of Trifling PropositionsIX Of our Knowledge of ExistenceX Of our Knowledge of the Existence of a GodXI Of our Knowledge of the Existence of ThingsXII Of the Improvement of our KnowledgeXIII Some further Considerations concerning our KnowledgeXIV Of JudgmentXv Of ProbabilityXVI Of the Degrees of AssentXVII Of ReasonXVIII Of Faith and Reason, and their Distinct ProvincesXIX Of EnthusiasmXX Of Wrong Assent, or ErrorXXI Of the Division of the SciencesAppendix: John Locke's Debate with Edward Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, as it figures in footnotes in the Fifth Edition of the EssayIndex to the Fifth EditionNotes

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Book SynopsisRené Descartes was a central figure in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. In his Discourse on Method he outlined the contrast between mathematics and experimental sciences, and the extent to which each one can achieve certainty. Drawing on his own work in geometry, optics, astronomy and physiology, Descartes developed the hypothetical method that characterizes modern science, and this soon came to replace the traditional techniques derived from Aristotle. Many of Descartes'' most radical ideas - such as the disparity between our perceptions and the realities that cause them - have been highly influential in the development of modern philosophy.

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Book SynopsisThis important book is about truth, and the enemies of truth, and the wars that are fought between them. As Simon Blackburn says in his introduction, the ground is complicated, strewn with abandoned fortresses and trenches, fought over by shifting alliances. Truth is an essential sure-footed guide through the territory, from classical to modern times. It looks at relativism and absolutism, toleration and belief, objectivity and knowledge, science and pseudo-science, and the moral and political implications, as well as the nuances, of all these.

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Book SynopsisJohn Gray is most recently the acclaimed author of Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia, Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, Al Qaeda and What It Means to be Modern, Heresies: Against Progress and Other Illusions and False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism. Having been Professor of Politics at Oxford, Visiting Professor at Harvard and Yale and Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics, he now writes full time. His books and articles have been translated into over thirty languages. His selected writings, Gray's Anatomy, were published by Penguin in 2009.Trade ReviewThe most prescient of British public intellectuals * Financial Times *Gray has consistently anticipated the shape of things to come ... he teaches us that true humanism is to be found in uncertainty and doubt -- Will SelfThe closest thing we have to a window-smashing French intellectual -- Andrew MarrA visionary ... one of the most reliably provocative and heterodox voices in British intellectual life today * New Statesman *Gray is a philosophical maverick, a pricker of bubbles, a deflater of balloons, a true iconoclast for whom our chief competing accounts of existence - the religious and the humanist - are both fatally flawed * Globe and Mail *Deeply thoughtful, brilliantly narrated -- Raymond Tallis * Literary Review *A romp of a read ... John Gray is a connoisseur of human idiocy -- John Banville * Guardian *Our sharpest critic of utopian fantasies skewers the crazed but enduring dream of cheating age, time and death -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *John Gray, the counter-prophet who scorns all claims that humans can transcend the human condition ... You don't have to agree with Gray to enjoy the fireworks -- Marek Kohn * Independent *Elegant ... He is on to something important regarding the delusion that science consists of indefinite progress * Sunday Telegraph *Gray is an engaging writer, an entertaining historian and a controversialist whose opinions can never be taken for granted * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisThis is a collection of very recent essays by the leading proponent of process reliabilism, explaining its relation to rival and/or neighboring theories including evidentialism, other forms of reliabilism, and virtue epistemology. It addresses other prominent themes in contemporary epistemology, such as the internalism/externalism debate, the epistemological upshots of experimental challenges to intuitional methodology, the source of epistemic value, and social epistemology. The Introduction addresses late-breaking responses to ongoing exchanges with friends, rivals, and critics of reliabilism.Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. What Is Justified Belief? ; 2. Immediate Justification and Process Reliabilism ; 3. Reliabilism ; 4. Internalism, Externalism, and the Architecture of Justification ; 5. Toward a Synthesis of Reliabilism and Evidentialism ; 6. Reliabilism and Value of Knowledge (with Erik Olsson) ; 7. Williamson on Knowledge and Evidence ; 8. Epistemic Relativism and Reasonable Disagreement ; 9. A Guide to Social Epistemology ; 10. Why Social Epistemology is Real Epistemology ; 11. Philosophical Naturalism and Intuitional Methodology

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Book SynopsisPerception and Idealism examines how perception makes objects manifest to us, and what the world must be like for objects to be manifest in that way. Howard Robinson argues for a version of sense-datum theory about perception and theistic phenomenalism about metaphysical reality.Trade ReviewRobinson's book is clearly and beautifully written, and argumentatively persuasive ... a refreshing blast of curative air breathed into the dank enclosures of Direct Realism, Disjunctivism and Reductive Representationalism. * David Pitt, California State University, Los Angeles *Robinson argues for a kind of idealism, providing well-organized, well-documented discussions of both early modern and recent philosophers' views on the nature of perception and its relationship to the world. * Choice *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: How the World Manifests Itself to Us 1: The Causal Argument for Sense-Data, 'Philosophers' Hallucinations', and the Disjunctive Response 2: Naïve Realism and the Argument from Illusion 3: Intentionality and Perception (I): The Fundamental irrelevance of Intentionality to Phenomenal Consciousness 4: Intentionality and Perception (II): Attempts to Articulate the 'Content' and 'Object' Distinction 5: Singular Reference and its Relation to Intentionality 6: Objectivity: How is It Possible? 7: Semantic Direct Realism, Critical Realism, and the Sense-Datum Theory 8: Building the Manifest World Part II: What the World Is, in Itself 9: The Problematic Nature of the Modern Conception of Matter 10: Two Suggestive Berkeleyan Arguments 11: Bishop Berkeley and John Foster on Problems with Physical Realism about Space 12: Mentalist Alternatives to Berkeleyan Theism, and their Failure General Conclusion

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Book SynopsisPerception is our key to the world. It plays at least three different roles in our lives. It justifies beliefs and provides us with knowledge of our environment. It brings about conscious mental states. It converts informational input, such as light and sound waves, into representations of invariant features in our environment. Corresponding to these three roles, there are at least three fundamental questions that have motivated the study of perception. How does perception justify beliefs and yield knowledge of our environment? How does perception bring about conscious mental states? How does a perceptual system accomplish the feat of converting varying informational input into mental representations of invariant features in our environment? This book presents a unified account of the phenomenological and epistemological role of perception that is informed by empirical research. It develops an account of perception that provides an answer to the first two questions, while being sensitive to scientific accounts that address the third question. The key idea is that perception is constituted by employing perceptual capacities, for example, the capacity to discriminate instances of red from instances of blue. Perceptual content, consciousness, and evidence are each analyzed in terms of this basic property of perception. Employing perceptual capacities constitutes phenomenal character as well as perceptual content. The primacy of employing perceptual capacities in perception over their derivative employment in hallucination and illusion grounds the epistemic force of perceptual experience. In this way, this book provides a unified account of perceptual content, consciousness, and evidence.Trade ReviewThe Unity of Perception offers a grand synoptic vision of how perception, consciousness and knowledge fit together. It is a remarkable achievement. . . . there is every reason for philosophers with an interest in mind or epistemology to read The Unity of Perception. * Alex Byrne, Analysis *The Unity of Perception is an ambitious and wide-ranging book - one that presents a unified account and then uses it to address Big Questions about perception. . . . Schellenberg's proposals are important, and will play a role in future discussion of these matters. * Jonathan Cohen, Analysis *Rich and rewarding. * Matthew McGrath, Analysis *The Unity of Perception is an interesting and thought-provoking book. The central view - capacitism - and its broad implications for philosophy of perception, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and cognitive science make this book a valuable contribution to anyone working on perception, and I have no doubt that it will draw a great deal of well-deserved attention. * Arnon Cahen, Perception *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: Foundations 1: Perceptual Particularity 2: Perceptual Capacities Part II: Content 3: Content Particularism 4: Fregean Particularism 5: In Defense of Perceptual Content Part III: Consciousness 6: Perceptual Consciousness as a Mental Activity Part IV: Evidence 7: Perceptual Evidence 8: Justification, Luminosity, and Credences 9: Perceptual Knowledge and Gettier Cases 10: Capacitism and Alternative Views

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Book SynopsisDeveloping original accounts of the many aspects of belief, On Believing puts the believer at the heart of the story. Developing a novel account of the normativity of belief, Hunter argues that the ethics of belief concern how a believer ought to be positioned in a world of possibilities.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: On the Nature of Believing 2: The Ontology of Believing 3: The Objects of Believing 4: Believing without Representing 5: Objectivity and Credal Illusions 6: Subjectivity and Credal Necessities 7: Credal Agency 8: Credal Norms

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Book SynopsisAesthetic judgements that are formed on the basis of testimony are commonly held to be defective, illegitimate, or otherwise problematic. This book assesses the debate surrounding aesthetic testimony and argues for the surprising conclusion that this widespread view is mistaken. Aesthetic testimony is in no way inferior as a source of judgement when compared to either first-hand aesthetic judgement or testimony concerning non-aesthetic matters. Alongside establishing this position (an extreme form of ''optimism'' concerning aesthetic testimony), Jon Robson also responds to the most prominent arguments for the opposing view (''pessimism'' concerning aesthetic testimony). Along the way, it also re-examines our understanding of the norms which govern both judgement and assertion in aesthetics.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Optimism and Pessimism 2: Constitutive Pessimism 3: The Presumption of Optimism 4: Pessimism and the Appeal to Cases 5: Optimism and the Appeal to Cases 6: Pessimism, Assertion, and Signalling 7: The Debate Concerning Assertion

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Book SynopsisGonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra presents two arguments for the principle that no two objects can differ only numerically. He shows that the principle cannot be reduced to a triviality, and that restricted versions concerning only qualitative propeties face problems.Trade ReviewThe book contains four new arguments about the Identity of Indiscernibles. * MathSciNet *

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Book SynopsisMovements of the Mind is about what it is to be an agent. Focusing on mental agency, it integrates multiple approaches, from philosophical analysis of the metaphysics of agency to the activity of neurons in the brain. Philosophical and empirical work are combined to generate concrete explanations of key features of the mind. The book should be relevant and accessible to philosophers and scientists interested in mind and agency.Wu argues that actions have a core psychological structure where attention plays a necessary role in guiding the agent''s response and intentions function as memory for work, a practical memory. Attention and memory are accordingly central parts of an agent''s intentionally doing things. These claims are supported by synthesizing philosophical and empirical work to produce a theory of intention and attention in action. The account explains three phenomena of current philosophical interest: (a) the basis of positively and negatively biased action where attention often leads to implicit bias, (b) the dynamics of deductive reasoning as the focusing of a thinker''s cognitive attention and the development of cognitive skills, and (c) the psychology of introspective access to conscious perceptual experience, making clear when introspection can intelligibly fail and when it can succeed.The book provides a theory of agency, whether human or non-human, along with technical notions of automaticity and control, a theory of attention as selection to guide behavior, an account of intention as memory whose dynamics are revealed in empirical investigation of working memory, explications of sustained attention and vigilance, an explanation of biased behavior driven by biases on attention, normative aspects of attention as a skill, the role of learning in cognitive skill, a theory of deduction as a sharpening of attention, and a psychologically plausible model of introspection that speaks to its accuracy and reliability.Trade ReviewThis book puts forward a theory of action. It synthesises Wayne Wu's extensive work on action and attention going back over a decade, and also substantially extends this foundation... The result is excellent. The book is wide-ranging, systematic, very original, and crammed full of interesting ideas. It draws together scientific work with philosophical argumentation in a way that is both rigorous and unusually readable. I have no doubt that it will be important to thinkers interested in action and attention, as well as philosophers of cognitive science more generally. * Henry Taylor, University of Birmingham, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I 1: The Structure of Acting Appendix 1 2: Attention and Attending Part II 3: Intention as Practical Memory 4: Intending as Practical Remembering Part III 5: Automatic Bias, Experts and Amateurs 6: Deducing, Skill and Knowledge 7: Introspecting Perceptual Experience Epilogue Bibliography

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Book SynopsisAlex Byrne sets out and defends a theory of self-knowledge-knowledge of one''s mental states. Inspired by Gareth Evans'' discussion of self-knowledge in his The Varieties of Reference, the basic idea is that one comes to know that one is in a mental state M by an inference from a worldly or environmental premise to the conclusion that one is in M. (Typically the worldly premise will not be about anything mental.) The mind, on this account, is ''transparent'': self-knowledge is achieved by an ''outward glance'' at the corresponding tract of the world, not by an ''inward glance'' at one''s own mind. Belief is the clearest case, with the inference being from ''p'' to ''I believe that p''. One serious problem with this idea is that the inference seems terrible, because ''p'' is at best very weak evidence that one believes that p. Another is that the idea seems not to generalize. For example, what is the worldly premise corresponding to ''I intend to do this'', or ''I feel a pain''? Byrne argues that both problems can be solved, and explains how the account covers perception, sensation, desire, intention, emotion, memory, imagination, and thought. The result is a unified theory of self-knowledge that explains the epistemic security of beliefs about one''s mental states (privileged access), as well as the fact that one has a special first-person way of knowing about one''s mental states (peculiar access).Trade ReviewByrne glides easily through the historical and contemporary literature on self-knowledge, and he culminates in an account of self-knowledge that is "uniformly detectivist, inferential, and economical, and the direction of inference is always from world to mind" (from the preview). The bibliography is impressive. Summing up: Highly recommended * CHOICE *Table of Contents1: Problems of Self-Knowledge 2: Inner Sense 3: Some Recent Approaches 4: The Puzzle of Transparency 5: Belief 6: Perception and Sensation 7: Desire, Intention, and Emotion 8: Memory, Imagination, and Thought

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Book SynopsisThe Importance of Being Rational systematically defends a novel reasons-based account of rationality. The book''s central thesis is that what it is for one to be rational is to correctly respond to the normative reasons one possesses. Errol Lord defends novel views about what it is to possess reasons and what it is to correctly respond to reasons. He shows that these views not only help to support the book''s main thesis, they also help to resolve several important problems that are independent of rationality. The account of possession provides novel contributions to debates about what determines what we ought to do, and the account of correctly responding to reasons provides novel contributions to debates about causal theories of reacting for reasons.After defending views about possession and correctly responding, Lord shows that the account of rationality can solve two difficult problems about rationality. The first is the New Evil Demon problem. The book argues that the account has the resources to show that internal duplicates necessarily have the same rational status. The second problem concerns the deontic significance of rationality. Recently it has been doubted whether we ought to be rational. The ultimate conclusion of the book is that the requirements of rationality are the requirements that we ultimately ought to comply with. If this is right, then rationality is of fundamental importance to our deliberative lives.Trade ReviewErrol Lord's The Importance of Being Rational is a tour de force treatment of the relationship between reasons, rationality, knowledge, and what Lord calls creditworthiness, the kind of achievement where you don't just do what is right, but do it for the right reasons. * Mark Schroeder, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research *a beautiful presentation of how one might defend a reasons-first approach to rationality. And it has many insights that will be useful to non-reasons-firsters as well. As such, there's a great deal in the details of Lord's arguments that repays careful consideration. * Karl Schafer, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research *The Importance of Being Rational marks a new moment in debates about the nature of rationality. It is absolutely compulsory reading for epistemologists, ethicists, and meta-ethicists alike. * Nathan Robert Howard, Ethics *rich, ambitious, and thought-provoking * Olle Risberg, European Journal of Philosophy *an essential reading in the literature on reasons. * Julia Staffel, The Philosophical Review *an admirable philosophical feat that rewards careful study. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the nature, and worth, of rationality. * Carlos Núñez, The Philosophical Quarterly *an informed, original, rich, sophisticated and exceptionally well-illustrated case for the claim that what we are rationally required to do and what we substantially ought to do is really the same thing. To follow Errol Lord on his route to this conclusion is a frequently rewarding experience and one that is well worth undertaking. * Hallvard Lillehammer, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Table of ContentsPart I: Initial Motivations 1: Introduction 2: The Coherent and the Rational Part II: Possessing Reasons 3: Possession: The Epistemic Condition 4: Possession: The Practical Condition Part III: Correctly Responding to Reasons 5: Correctly Responding to Reasons 6: Achievements and Intelligibility Part IV: Two Problems Solved 7: Defeating the Externalist's Demons 8: What you're Rationally Required to Do and What you Ought to Do

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Book SynopsisEpistemic agency is a crucial concept in many areas of philosophy and cognitive sciences. But what is it? The Tinkering Mind argues that epistemic agency has two distinct, incompatible definitions - intentional mental action, or a distinct non-voluntary form of evaluative agency, both of which lead to surprising, counterintuitive consequences.

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Book SynopsisThe concept of a reason is now central to many areas of contemporary philosophy. Key theses in ethics, epistemology, political philosophy, philosophy of action, and the philosophy of the emotions, among others, have come to be framed in terms of reasons. And yet, despite their centrality, theorists seem to take inconsistent things for granted about how reasons work, what kinds of things can be reasons, what reasons favor, and more. Somehow reasons have come to be both indispensable and impenetrable.The Fundamentals of Reasons offers a comprehensive introduction to the philosophy of reasons. Focusing on the twin roles of reasons in explanation and deliberation, the book not only emphasizes what has made reasons central across philosophy but it also explores why philosophers have such incompatible pictures about what reasons are and how they work. Working from the inside out, Howard and Schroeder identify contentious assumptions about not only the internal structure of reasons but also t

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Book SynopsisProfessor Plantinga is known for distinguished work in the fields of epistemology and philosophy of religion. In this companion volume to Warrant: The Current Debate, Plantinga develops an original approach to the question of what justifies belief and makes it knowledge. He argues that what is crucial to turning true belief into knowledge is the proper functioning of one''s cognitive faculties, and this clears the way for the proposal that a belief is warranted whenever it is the product of properly functioning cognitive processes. Although this is in some sense a sequel to the companion volume, the arguments in no way presuppose those of the first book and it can therefore stand alone.Trade Review'There is much that is provocative and of great interest in this new book from Plantinga ... readers of the first two volumes will find much food for thought here, and will have their appetites whetted for the third, forthcoming volume of the trilogy.' Evan Fales, University of Iowa, Mind, Vol. 103, No. 411, July 1994'Alvin Plantinga makes important contributions to a tradition of discussion which has dominated recent epistemology. Warrant: the Current Debate provides a critical survey of the most recent controbutions to American epistemology ... Plantinga discerns a pattern in their failure, and this is exploited in the second volume where he develops an original and important contribution of his own. Warrant and Proper Function undertakes to succeed where Roderick Chisholm, John Pollock, Louis BonJour, Alvin Goldman and others have failed ... Plantinga's books will provide a focus for much future research in these areas, as well as providing invaluable reading for students taking courses in epistemology.' Christopher Hookway, University of Birmingham, The Philosophical Quarterly, 1995

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Book SynopsisAfrican Philosophy is a collection of previously unpublished essays that address epistemological and metaphysical concerns that have emerged from the sub-Saharan regions of Africa. The primary focus of the book is on traditional African conceptions of mind, person, personal identity, truth, knowledge, understanding, objectivity, and reality. The collection also discusses traditional African conceptions of causation, destiny, and free will.Trade ReviewThis anthology is one of a kind in the growing literature in African philosophy: it is a breath of fresh air. * African American Review *Table of ContentsContributors 1: Introduction: Seeing through the Conceptual Languages of Others 2: K. Anthony Appiah: Akan and Euro-American Concepts of the Person 3: Kwasi Wiredu: Truth and an African Language 4: Segun Gbadegesin: An Outline of a Theory of Destiny 5: Leke Adeofe: Personal Identity in African Metaphysics 6: D. A. Masolo: The Concept of the Person in Luo Modes of Thought 7: I. A. Menkiti: Physical and Metaphysical Understanding: Nature, Agency, and Causation in African Traditional Thought 8: Albert Mosley: Witchcraft, Science, and the Paranormal in Contemporary African Philosophy 9: Lee M. Brown: Understanding and Ontology in Traditional African Thought Selected Bibliography of Epistemological and Metaphysical Perspectives in African Philosophical Thought Index of Names Index of Subjects

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