Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge Books

Book SynopsisThis text explores the intersection of the questions: ""What is human being?"", ""What is language?"" and ""What is theology?"" The text seeks to answer them by investigating problems that arise when modes of thought disagree on the relationship between experience, language and theological inquiry.Trade ReviewIn religious discourse, what are the warrants for truth-claims of statements about God or about human existence under the ordinance of God? Kelly (theology, St. Anselm Coll.) addresses this question by examining the proposals of several significant thinkers of the 19th and 20th centuries, asking whether theological conversation is moving toward something or toward nothing at all. He begins with Friedrich Schleiermacher, who claimed that we experience God and then use language to mediate this human experience. Kelly next considers Wayne Proudfoot and George Lindbeck, two postmodern critics of Schleiermacher for whom language forms experience and does not simply mediate it. Kelly then turns to literary critic George Steiner, who proposes that both language and experience move the subject beyond the limits of the self to the experience of some "other," and, finally, to Karl Rahner, for whom the problems of circularity and solipsism inherent in postmodern struggles are best addressed by asserting the self-evident nature of mystery and the quotidian function of human transcendence. Because of the specialized nature of the book, it is recommended exclusively for university and seminary libraries. David I. Fulton, Coll. of St. Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ

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Book SynopsisHuman Destinies brings together a wide range of approaches to the central questions posed by the philosophy of religion and philosophical anthropology.Trade Review"This is an admirable collection of essays honoring the memory of Gerald Hanratty as an inspiring teacher, admired colleague, and valued friend. It ranges impressively over the history of philosophy from Aristotle to the present. It does so with precise focus on the recurrent perplexities of the human condition. A remarkable tribute, it is full of diverse contributions marked by scholarly and intellectual excellence." —William Desmond, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, and Villanova University"This volume offers a significant contribution to the various fields within philosophy that its authors address. Many of the essays have an intrinsic contemporary appeal to scholars, academics, intellectuals, clergy, and students who are concerned with matters touching on both philosophical and theological issues of some significance—especially those essays that deal with classic models of human nature, popular atheist authors, Heidegger, and other twentieth-century thinkers such as Adorno, Ricoeur, Edith Stein, and Derrida." —Glenn Hughes, St. Mary's University, San Antonio“What is perhaps most compelling about the volume is that Human Destinies presents so many potentially competitive frameworks and approaches to investigating human reality, and highlights the significant way in which our contemporary discourse still draws so heavily from classical, medieval, and Enlightenment sources. The wide variety of topics and the depth of these investigations make very evident the richness of human being and this world, and indicate possibilities for continued investigation.” —Augustinian Studies

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Book SynopsisWritten to introduce English audiences to logical positivism, this book lays out Reichenbach's responses to scientific advances and his work in space-time theories, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanis, and in the development of probability theory.Trade Review“. . . reprints the classic treatise by German-American philosopher of science Hans Reichenbach (1891-1953). . . Experience and Prediction breaks down the fundamental conundrums of existence, reduction, projection, construction, the nature of the ego, probability logic, and much more.” —Midwest Book Review"Hans Reichenbach's Experience and Prediction is one of the most important books in twentieth-century philosophy of science. Its author was, along with Rudolf Carnap, one of the two principal ambassadors to North America of the exciting new European philosophical movement known here under the names 'Logical Positivism' and 'Scientific Philosophy.' In 1938, when the book was published, Reichenbach was an exile from his native Germany, teaching in Istanbul, Turkey, and about to emigrate to the United States to take up a prestigious position at UCLA. He wrote Experience and Prediction in English as his calling card to his new American colleagues. More than any other single book, Experience and Prediction set the agenda for the new discipline of the philosophy of science that was to emerge after World War II as, perhaps, the most exciting new area in North American philosophy. Many of the problems still at the focus of discussion were given their classic formulations in this book. Long out of print, Experience and Prediction appears here in a new edition accompanied by a splendid historical introduction by the noted young philosopher and historian of the philosophy of science, Alan Richardson. A jewel of a book may once again be appreciated in its proper setting." —Don A. Howard, University of Notre Dame"Experience and Prediction reprints the classic treatise by German-American philosopher of science Hans Reichenbach (1891-1953). . . Experience and Prediction breaks down the fundamental conundrums of existence, reduction, projection, construction, the nature of the ego, probability logic, and much more." —Wisconsin Bookwatch

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Book SynopsisJames F. Ross is a creative and independent thinker in contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of mind. In this concise metaphysical essay, he argues clearly and analytically that meaning, truth, impossibility, natural necessity, and our intelligent perception of nature fit together into a distinctly realist account of thought and world. Ross articulates a moderate realism about repeatable natural structures and our abstractive ability to discern them that poses a challenge to many of the common assumptions and claims of contemporary analytic philosophy. He develops a broadly Aristotelian metaphysics that recognizes the hidden necessities of things, which are disclosed through the sciences, which ground his account of real impossibility as a kind of vacuity, and which require the immateriality of the human ability to understand. Those ideas are supported by a novel account of false judgment. Ross aims to offer an analytically and historically respectable alternative to the prevailinTrade Review“In Thought and World, James F. Ross synthesizes and develops much of his work from the last two decades; and as he did in his two other major works (Philosophical Theology and Portraying Analogy) he challenges many of the common dogmatic assumptions from the mainstream of analytic philosophy. While relentlessly challenging these assumptions from a unique and unorthodox perspective, he is nonetheless able to masterfully articulate his position using the dialect of philosophical discourse in analytic philosophy.” —John Zeis, Canisius College"Those [philosophers] who feel the need to consider a wider range of views, and who are willing to work through a book that leaves a significant amount of thinking to them, will find it a fascinating and even worldview-changing look into how Aristotelian-Scholastic ideas can be developed today. If a few follow in Ross's footsteps, the path to truth might come to be more clearly marked." —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews“In this challenge to much of contemporary Anglo-American analytic philosophy, Ross begins from a position of moderate realism, arguing that there are de re (‘of the thing’) necessities hidden in the complexity of nature that overflow our linguistic meaning but are part of de re truth conditions (for example, the genetic coding of organisms was a de re necessity long before we were able or even around to comprehend or discuss it), which leads to a recognition of the independent reality of things and the affirmation of the real sameness of the known and the real.” —Reference and Research Book News“Ross offers a wide-ranging survey of a number of issues and problems, mainly in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind, including modality, counterfactuals, truth, perception and abstraction, consciousness, and the natures or essences of things. . . . He is a self-described ‘structural realist’: he affirms the existence of an objective, mind-independent physical world, the things of which possess real natures that explain and underlie the powers and causal interactions of those things.” —Choice“James Ross’ work Thought and World is far-reaching. . . Ross’ incorporation of the history of philosophy, while still addressing much of the contemporary thought on the issues, makes this book an accessible and solid philosophical work.” —Dialogue“Thought and World pivots on an attractive central idea, namely that the philosophically important modal concepts of possibility, actuality, and necessity are inherently reality-geared in being based upon ‘the intelligible structures in nature and . . . our abstractive ability to discern them.’” —American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly“Thought and World is an important book. It is important because it offers a critical look at much that is taken for granted in contemporary analytic philosophy; it is also important because it offers a cogent argument for a realistic metaphysics . . . . A brilliant book from first to last, Thought and World is an outstanding example, if not in form, then surely in its wealth of ideas and penetrating insights, of the fruitfulness of bringing the best of the philosophic tradition into dialogue with contemporary problems and currents of thought.” —The Review of Metaphysics

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Book SynopsisIt has long been a commonplace of literary history that in the twelfth century, first in the French-speaking territories controlled by the Anglo-Norman and Capetian ruling families, and especially within the milieu of the English royal court, antique and chivalric romances appear simultaneously with a new kind of historical chronicle driven by contemporary affairs. In short order, historiography and romance, whether written in Latin or in the vernaculars, became culturally dominant kinds of narrative expression throughout the rest of Europe. Why did this happen? Why did these two new kinds of writing appear simultaneously and spread so rapidly within the same cultural milieu? In Reality Fictions, Robert M. Stein argues that the emergence of historiography and romance was linked to large-scale transformations in the structure of power attendant on Capetian and Anglo-Norman state-making. He maintains that an understanding of the changes in the twelfth-century literary coTrade Review“This book makes the claim that the changes in power relationships in northwestern Europe led to a need for new representations of that power, in turn creating new genres: a sort of historical writing that focused on contemporary history, the romance, and a reconfigured epic.” —American Historical Review“Reality Fictions concerns boundaries between genres, concepts of history and epistemology, eternal realities and worldly ones, one level of truth and another, as conceived of by eleventh- and twelfth-century writers and by present-day scholars. Stein addresses the fluid relationships between power and makers of texts on religion, history, politics and romance; opening up this array of historical and theoretical approaches for discussion in a single book is an important service to medievalists; situating his new work therein is a major achievement.” —Journal of Medieval Latin"Stein explains how post-Norman Conquest texts of the 12th century reflect social issues regarding kingship and power. Basing his discussion on texts from 'border' areas that were sites of political unrest, the author begins with the writings of Gerard I, bishop of Cambria, exploring how his historical chronicles were used as political tools. . . Theoretically sophisticated and certain to be a groundbreaking work in Old French studies, this volume includes copious notes. Summing Up: Essential." —Choice“There is no doubt that Stein can write well and engagingly, knows his texts thoroughly, and is able to argue his point clearly and convincingly.” —Journal of English and Germanic Philology“Lucid, vivid, consistently intelligent, and deeply informed in documentary and literary sources, Reality Fictions explains why writing the real mattered to diverse eleventh- and twelfth-century people. Stein shows how history, hagiography, epic, and romance developed together, constituting something of a cultural breakthrough for medieval Europe, which was built on a powerful social, political, and psychological platform.” —The Historian“It is a tribute to this provocative and elegant study that it raises as many questions as it answers. Whether dealing with texts as familiar as Marie de France's Guigemar or as unfamiliar as the Latin life of St. Aubert, which remains untranslated and is available only in the eighteenth-century edition of the Bollandists, Stein's readings are subtle, persuasive, and-deliberately and commendably-inconclusive. . . offers the most convincing and complex account to date of the relation between epic, romance, and history in the long twelfth century.” —Speculum“Reality Fiction's greatest strength lies in the intriguing challenges it presents both to medievalists and theorists of nationalism to re-consider ways in which pre-modern peoples imagined political communities.” —Arturiana“This book is an exploration of the relationship between literary innovation and changing socio-political structures. Its four chapters cover the key literary genres of the Middle Ages: hagiography, historiography, romance, and epic, with four extended 'case studies' discussed in the book's four chapters. . . . It will certainly be a classic, and should be read by medievalists and non-medievalists, literary critics, and historians alike.” —Medium Aevum“This is one of the scholarly works I have most enjoyed reading in the last several years. Part of my pleasure stems, of course, from my own interests and tastes-which seem to overlap in large part with those of the book's author-but the larger part stems from the author's intelligence, erudition, his choice of texts to be studied, and the quality of his thinking and writing. The chronological, geographical, and cultural coherence of the texts lends the book real historical weight-these texts deserve to be studied together because they belong together-while the variety of languages, styles, and genres in which they are written provides a series of thought-provoking changes of perspective. This is a particularly rewarding study.” —Encomia"Richly grounded in literary theory, Stein is never its captive; he knows when and how to allow the written text its rejoinder as theory's necessary corrective. Severe with unconsidered teleologies, always deeply contexted, this fine book abounds in conceptual payoffs. Among my revisionary favorites: his aptly titled (and wittily inverted) concluding chapter, 'From Romance to Epic.'" —Paul Strohm, Anna S. Garbedian Professor of Humanities, Columbia University

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Book SynopsisWith this volume of the Collected Works of Jacques Maritain, the University of Notre Dame Press published the first English edition of a remarkable group of essays that Maritain had prepared for publication in the year before his death. He brought together various writings that had not appeared in print or had circulated privately. The heart of the book is to be found in two groups of articles.The first consists of philosophical essays. Several deal with truth, with philosophy at the time of Vatican II, and with the divine aseity; two are on philosophy of nature, dealing with evolution and with animal instinct; and three are on moral philosophy.A second group consists of primarily theological essays. Four are contributions to what Maritain calls an existential epistemology. They are followed by a moving meditation on the Mass and essays on the Church triumphant, resurrection, and the priesthood.When he lay dying at Fossanova, Thomas Aquinas, in deferenc

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Book SynopsisKenneth Dorter's Can Different Cultures Think the Same Thoughts? is a study of fundamental issues in metaphysics and ethics across major philosophical traditions of the world, including the way in which metaphysics can be a foundation for ethics, as well as the importance of metaphysics on its own terms. Dorter examines such questions through a detailed comparison of selected major thinkers and classic works in three global philosophical traditions, those of India, China, and the West.In each chapter Dorter juxtaposes and compares two or more philosophers or classic works from different traditions, from Spinoza and Shankara, to Confucius and Plato, to Marcus Aurelius and the Bhagavad Gita. In doing so he explores different perspectives and reveals limitations and assumptions that might otherwise be obscure.The goal of Dorter's cross-cultural approach is to consider how far works from different cultures can be understood as holding comparable philosophical views.Trade Review"Kenneth Dorter’s Can Different Cultures Think the Same Thoughts? is a welcome contribution to the burgeoning multicultural revolution in philosophy. Dorter demonstrates that when we compare cultures there is a middle ground between abstract universalism and radical incommensurability. Dorter leads the reader through elegant comparisons among a range of thinkers and texts in the European, Indian, and Chinese traditions, including Parmenides, Shankara, Confucius, Plato, the Bhagavad Gita, and Laozi. Through these comparisons, Dorter persuasively shows that ethics cannot be innocent of metaphysics. This book is sure to engage readers from a variety of fields, including philosophy, religious studies, intellectual history, and comparative literature." —Bryan W. Van Norden, author of Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto"The analyses of this book are lucid and profound, attending to the roles of individual experience and cultural influence in the formation of philosophical doctrines. Throughout the chapters the author has presented nuanced discussions with regard to both similarities and differences of philosophers from a variety of cultures. Written in a clear language, this book is accessible to scholars from various fields and to non-academic readers as well." —Lin Ma and Jaap van Brakel, authors of Fundamentals of Comparative and Intercultural Philosophy“Dorter makes a persuasive case for the proposition that, despite great differences in cultural formation, philosophers from disparate cultures can entertain the same metaphysical and moral conceptions. . . . The presentation is well researched, subtle, and historically grounded.” —Choice“The book makes a number of worthwhile comparisons. I hope this book will prompt other philosophers to embark upon careful, nuanced work on figures in non-Western traditions, fully aware of the potential benefits and risks of doing so.” —Notre Dame Philosophical ReviewsTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Going Beyond the Visible: Zhuangzi and the Upaniṣads 2. Appearance and Reality: Spinoza, Shankara, Parmenides 3. Metaphysics and Morality: Zhu Xi, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus 4. Indeterminacy and Moral Action: Laozi and Heraclitus 5. Virtue is Knowledge: Socrates and Wang Yangming 6. The Ethical Mean: Confucius and Plato 7. Non-Violent Warriors: The Bhagavadgita and Marcus Aurelius Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisBranching out from his earlier works providing a history and a theory of apophatic thinking, William Franke''s newest book pursues applications across a variety of communicative media, historical periods, geographical regions, and academic disciplinesmoving from the literary humanities and cultural theory and politics to more empirical fields such as historical anthropology, evolutionary biology, and cognitive science. On the Universality of What Is Not: The Apophatic Turn in Critical Thinking is an original philosophical reflection that shows how intransigent deadlocks debated in each of these arenas can be broken through thanks to the uncanny insights of apophatic vision. Leveraging Franke''s distinctive method of philosophical, religious, and literary thinking and practice, On the Universality of What Is Not proposes a radically unsettling approach to answering (or suspending) perennial questions of philosophy and religion, as well as to dealing with some of our mosTrade Review“Most impressive is what has now become William Franke’s hallmark: an erudite interdisciplinarity that moves with seeming ease between various disciplines within the humanities in order to reach a more comprehensive position from which to examine any one issue. On the Universality of What Is Not brings a strong career focused on apophatic thinking to an important high point.” —Andrew W. Hass, author of Hegel and the Art of Negation"Taking his classic work The Philosophy of the Unsayable beyond philosophy, Franke argues that the unsayable can be a universal unground shared by thinking across disciplines, times, and even cultures. What he has to say about what must go unsaid gives both new urgency and new hope to conversations that can reach across boundaries, letting us think together that there is more than thinking can reach." —Karmen MacKendrick, author of Failing Desire"This magister apophaticus guides the reader on a meditation between and beyond academic disciplines, political identities, and religious and irreligious certitudes. There opens a space, an underground Ungrund, of the 'indefinably common.' Its dark luminosity can illumine unexpected possibilities within our most critical current concerns." —Catherine Keller, author of Political Theology of the Earth

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Book SynopsisWith this volume of the Collected Works of Jacques Maritain, the University of Notre Dame Press published the first English edition of a remarkable group of essays that Maritain had prepared for publication in the year before his death. He brought together various writings that had not appeared in print or had circulated privately. The heart of the book is to be found in two groups of articles.The first consists of philosophical essays. Several deal with truth, with philosophy at the time of Vatican II, and with the divine aseity; two are on philosophy of nature, dealing with evolution and with animal instinct; and three are on moral philosophy.A second group consists of primarily theological essays. Four are contributions to what Maritain calls an existential epistemology. They are followed by a moving meditation on the Mass and essays on the Church triumphant, resurrection, and the priesthood.When he lay dying at Fossanova, Thomas Aquinas, in deferenc

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“This book is a well-written introduction to philosophy that has a systematic approach informed by the history of philosophy. There are many introductory philosophy books available, but I am not aware of one with quite this approach and spin on the issues.” —Christopher Kaczor, author of Disputes in Bioethics“Philosophy, Reasoned Belief, and Faith is a solid, well-written, well-organized, theistic-leaning introduction to philosophy.” —Gregory Bassham, co-author of Critical Thinking: A Student’s IntroductionTable of ContentsTo The Instructor To The Student Acknowledgements Dedication Unit One. Three Things to Know before You Dive into Philosophy 1. How Philosophy Began 2. The Socratic Method 3. And a Little Bit of Logic Unit Two. Philosophy of Religion 4. The Design Argument 5. Design and Evolution 6. The Cosmological Argument Interlude 1: A Survey of Modern Cosmology 7. The Problem of Evil Unit Three. Epistemology 8. What Can We Know? 9. C. S. Lewis and the Argument from Reason Unit Four. Philosophy of the Human Person 10. The Mind-Body Problem 11. Do We Have Free Will? Unit Five. Philosophical Ethics 12. Is It Reasonable to be Moral? Interlude 2: Or Should We All Become Moral Relativists? 13. Moral Reasoning Applied to the State 14. God and Morality

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Book SynopsisHow do we judge whether we should be willing to follow the views of experts or whether we ought to try to come to our own, independent views? This book seeks the answer in medieval philosophical thought.In this engaging study into the history of philosophy and epistemology, Peter Adamson provides an answer to a question as relevant today as it was in the medieval period: how and when should we turn to the authoritative expertise of other people in forming our own beliefs? He challenges us to reconsider our approach to this question through a constructive recovery of the intellectual and cultural traditions of the Islamic world, the Byzantine Empire, and Latin Christendom.Adamson begins by foregrounding the distinction in Islamic philosophy between taqlid, or the uncritical acceptance of authority, and ijtihad, or judgment based on independent effort, the latter of which was particularly prized in Islamic law, theology, and philosophy Trade Review“This is a highly original work in its combination of popular and scholarly themes. Adamson weaves together a number of disparate sources under the broad theme of the epistemic legitimacy of authority, many of them unexpected companions.” —Deborah L. Black, author of Logic and Aristotle’s “Rhetoric” and “Poetics” in Medieval Arabic Philosophy"Don’t Think for Yourself is a timely intervention from the past into the present. And while it is up to the individual reader to decide who they think offers the best insight today, Peter Adamson offers us a chance to have a dialogue across the generations, cultures and geographies. . . . We may not agree with what our predecessors thought about expertise and our relationship to it, but reading them might trigger a new way of thinking about our problems. A thoughtful, engaging and erudite book that leaves one wanting more." —The New Arab"Thoughtful, lucid, and concise... A book which can be read fruitfully not only by medievalists of all disciplines, but also by anyone interested in the philosophic contributions of the past." —The Medieval ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Taqlīd: Authority and the Intellectual Elite in the Islamic World 2. Too High a Standard: Knowledge and Skepticism in Medieval Philosophy 3. Testing the Prophets: Reason and the Choice of Faiths 4. Using the Pagans: Reason in Interreligious Debate 5. Some Pagans are Better than Others: the Merits of Plato and Aristotle 6. Finding Their Voices: Women in Byzantine and Latin Christian Philosophy 7. The Rule of Reason: Human and Animal Nature

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Book SynopsisMoses Mendelssohn (17251786) is considered the foremost representative of Jewish Enlightenment. In No Religion without Idolatry, Gideon Freudenthal offers a novel interpretation of Mendelssohn's general philosophy and discusses for the first time Mendelssohn's semiotic interpretation of idolatry in his Jerusalem and in his Hebrew biblical commentary. Mendelssohn emerges from this study as an original philosopher, not a shallow popularizer of rationalist metaphysics, as he is sometimes portrayed. Of special and lasting value is his semiotic theory of idolatry. From a semiotic perspective, both idolatry and enlightenment are necessary constituents of religion. Idolatry ascribes to religious symbols an intrinsic value: enlightenment maintains that symbols are conventional and merely signify religious content but do not share its properties and value. Without enlightenment, religion degenerates to fetishism; without idolatry it turns into philosophy and frustrates religiouTrade Review"In this lucid and provocative study, Gideon Freudenthal offers an original and compelling reading of Mendelssohn as well as a defense of the possibility of religious rationalism more generally. This book is not only an excellent contribution to a growing body of scholarship on Mendelssohn and early modern philosophy, but it also significantly sharpens and advances contemporary conversations about the relations between religion and reason." —Leora Batnitzky, Princeton University"In this masterful study, Gideon Freudenthal demonstrates how Mendelssohn’s philosophy, including his philosophy of religion, is grounded in semiotics. The result is a landmark work that not only successfully challenges standard interpretations of Mendelssohn’s 'enlightened Judaism' and its alleged inconsistency but also effectively invites reconsideration of the very possibility of 'religion without idolatry.'" —Daniel O. Dahlstrom, Boston University"In focusing on Mendelssohn's 'semiotics of idolatry,' Gideon Freudenthal writes as a philosopher fully at home in multiple traditions: contemporary philosophy, eighteenth-century philosophy, Jewish biblical exegesis, and comparative religion. The result is a systematic and penetrating study, based on the Hebrew as well as the German texts, that engages Mendelssohn on perhaps the most critical issue of his understanding of religion with unprecedented philosophical rigor and imagination." —David Sorkin, City University of New York Graduate Center“This is an innovative study of the views of the ‘father’ of modern Jewish philosophy, Moses Mendelssohn. It emphasizes correctly that Mendelssohn’s philosophy of Judaism was thoroughly rational in the Enlightenment’s sense of the notion of rationality, and concentrated not on metaphysical arguments and disputations about matters of faith but, rather, on the role and significance of religious practices. . . . As a result, this is a valuable, provocative, unconventional interpretation of Mendelssohn that is sure to stir scholarly debate” —Choice“Freudenthal’s book introduces us to a Mendelssohn who is a serious, consistent, and careful philosopher, an independent thinker whose true philosophical position has gone underappreciated for too long. . . . We are indebted to Freudenthal’s book for challenging us to rethink Mendelssohn’s philosophical project and thereby to rethink the relevance Enlightenment philosophers may still have today.” —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews“Freudenthal’s book is highly to be recommended. Its scholarship is impressive, the writing lucid and engaging. It represents an important and original contribution to our understanding of Mendelssohn, complementing the work of Altmann, Allan Arkush, and others.” —H-Judaic“Freudenthal expands the notion of idolatry beyond its common restriction to false objects of devotion and renders it a heuristic principle to examine not only Judaism but all religions as semiotic systems.” —Theological Studies“In all, Freudenthal’s book is highly to be recommended. Its scholarship is impressive, the writing lucid and engaging. It represents an important and original contribution to our understanding of Mendelssohn, complementing the work of Altmann, Allan Arkush, and others.” —H-Net“This book offers a thorough and robust defense of Moses Mendelssohn’s (1729–86) philosophical and religious project. Freudenthal’s familiarity not only with Mendelssohn’s philosophical, but also with his theological works—including scriptural commentaries in Hebrew—allow him to offer a more complete and consistent view of Mendelssohn’s project.” —The Review of Metaphysics

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Book SynopsisThe View from Within examines the character of reason and the ability of an individual to effectively distance himself from the normative framework in which he functions in order to be self-critical and innovative. To accomplish this task, Menachem Fisch and Yitzhak Benbaji critically employ or reject the recent writings of Brandom, Friedman, Frankfurt, Walzer, Davidson, Williams, Habermas, Rorty, and McDowell to offer a fundamental analysis of the character of reason and the problem of relativism. This ambitious book forcefully raises the problem of rational normative change and makes the unique and insightful claim that although we cannot be convinced by normative criticism to modify or replace our norms, we can be rationally motivated to do so by the effect of exposure to trusted critics. Its unprecedented analysis, with its solution to the problem of normative self-criticism that has baffled philosophers for the past sixty years, will be welcomed by both students aTrade Review"This is a bold and wide-ranging book that offers a novel solution to a central problem of philosophy: if there is no normatively neutral language in which to compare normatively distinct vocabularies, how can transitions from one vocabulary to another ever be rational? Combining great analytic subtlety with deep knowledge of the history of science, Fisch and Benbaji argue that a central role is played by the ambivalence induced in insiders when they engage external critics within the 'trading zones' of discourse. A tour de force, this book sheds new light on many areas of philosophy. Indeed, by examining the role of familiar phenomena that philosophers often neglect, such as ambivalence and indecision, The View from Within illuminates the destabilizing as well as the creative potential of reason throughout human life." —Paul Franks, University of Toronto and Yale University“The View from Within is a thorough evaluation of the arguments made by contemporary philosophers about the normative character of reason and the derivative problem of relativism. Fisch and Benbaji have admirably compared and contrasted competing positions, and with a balanced critique, they have made a sustained effort to ‘save’ rationality and provide new guideposts for its philosophical evaluation. A timely and important contribution.” —Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University"How can one change one’s mind about the very standards one applies as a critical thinker without losing a grip on one's reasons? Fisch and Benbaji assess the state of the question in a remarkably wide range of fields: Kuhnian philosophy of science, interpretive social theory, pragmatism from Rorty to Brandom, and Frankfurt's philosophy of personal identity. Then they offer an answer of their own, which integrates a social account of rationality as a trait agents exhibit when exchanging reasons with one another and a subject-centered account of rationality as a trait agents exhibit when criticizing their own commitments from within. The result is a fresh and illuminating approach to the nature of rationality and normativity." —Jeffrey Stout, Princeton University“. . . this thought-provoking study is important for anyone interested in rationality and the normativity of rational standards.” —Choice“Fisch and Benbaji frame their critique in dialogue with the recent writings of leading contemporary philosophers in a detailed analysis of the character of reason, the problem of relativism, and how to comprehend scientific change more generally. Firmly placed within the context of current debate, the authors provide a thorough evaluation of recent arguments as well as offering an important critique of normative reason in scientific discourse.” —Philosophy in Review“. . . there is a lot to admire here and the book is likely to find a cross-disciplinary audience among those interested in broad questions about facts and norms, cultural diversity and the plurality of values.” —The Philosophical Quarterly

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Book SynopsisExamines churches and chapels built on campuses during the twentieth century to reveal declining role of religion within the mission of the modern American university.Trade Review"In this important new book, Margaret Grubiak tells the fascinating story of how religion declined on twentieth-century American campuses and yet, at the same time, administrators persisted in building college chapels, including some of great size and striking architectural merit. This well-written and thoroughly researched account reveals much about American architecture but even more about the larger cultural retreat from Protestantism by the nation's intellectual elites. We have long needed such a study, and Grubiak has done a masterful job in presenting it." —W. Barksdale Maynard, Princeton University“In White Elephants on Campus, architectural historian Margaret M. Grubiak examines the changing role of religion within certain elite American universities and colleges and concludes that because these institutions’ core missions and identities are no longer religious, their magnificent chapels and other religiously informed structures have become white elephants. . . . As Grubiak notes, the massive chapels built during the fat 1920s represented university administrators’ attempts to reinforce the notion that religion was a positive and eternal force even as religion’s place in society and the academy was in transition.” —Christian Century"When I first saw the gothic chapel at Princeton University many years ago, I was quite taken aback. It was large, beautiful inside and out with a spectacular stained glass window over the altar, and seemed surprisingly Catholic for a university that I had always taken to be professionally secular, neutral and mainly disinterested in religious matters. Margaret Grubiak's book offers a great deal of enlightenment on the unusual circumstances and controversies over chapel construction and gives intriguing thoughts on the reasons for their decline. When finished with the book, I actually wished for an extension of it into current times to see what has since been the fate of the 'white elephants.'" —America“What can campus architecture tell us about the shifting tides of religion in American higher education? Architectural historian Margaret M. Grubiak addresses this question through five case studies. . . . Grubiak supports her discussion of these symbolically charged building projects with thorough archival work and attention to the architectural and decorative features of the buildings.” —American Historical Review“In taking readers to various campuses, Grubiak, an associate professor of architectural history at Villanova University, places them in the midst of the debates and the decisions regarding not only chapels, but also libraries and science labs. She explains the architectural styles of various structures – explanations that might be a challenge to comprehend for those not versed in that field. But what is more important is her explanation of the significance of those structures, their locations, e.g., the Yale Divinity School being constructed nearly a mile from the campus center, and even their names, e.g., the University of Pittsburgh’s library, the Cathedral of Learning.”—TheBostonPilot.com“The reasons for the building of these white elephants are complicated and fascinating, and Grubiak deftly explores the intersection of the rise of science with the decline of Christianity, and the social and cultural causes and effects of these changes. . . . In the end, Grubiak provides a thorough history that explains architectural shifts in the light of religious shifts in American higher education.”—History of Education Quarterly“Grubiak has written a model micro-history that has macro implications beyond ‘the decline of the university chapel in America, 1920-1960.’ This study demonstrates how buildings reflect the relative strengths of sacred and secular in the university.” —Anglican and Episcopal History“. . . Grubiak traces the declining influence of conventional Christian religion in American higher education, particularly at large, prestigious universities. However, she does not merely rehearse that now familiar narrative; instead, drawing upon her expertise as an architectural historian, Grubiak investigates campus chapels (and some other buildings), demonstrating effectively that they were designed and erected as tangible strategies to secure a continuing, yet contemporary role for religion in university life even as scientific disciplines gained prominence. Scholars of higher education, American religion, and religious architecture, as well as those involved in campus ministry, will find the book engaging and instructive.” —Lutheran Quarterly“What is the relationship between architecture and cultural, social, religious, and spiritual values? To what extent do our buildings reflect our core values and commitments? . . . Margaret M. Grubiak approaches these questions through a particular lens: religious buildings, notably chapels, on the campuses of what she identifies as ‘elite’ American universities, each of which had something of a Protestant heritage, including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Yale, and MIT.” —International Journal of Christianity and Education“By presenting the history of the plans for and construction of chapel buildings on private university campuses, Margaret M. Grubiak advances the argument that colleges and universities in the United States became more secularized in the twentieth century. Especially interesting is Grubiak’s inclusion in her study of nonchapel buildings that were given religious meaning and design.” —The Catholic Historical Review

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Book SynopsisIn this historical introduction to philosophical hermeneutics, Jean Grondin discusses the major figures from Phyla to Habermas, analyzes conflicts among various interpretive schools, and provides a critique of Gadamer's view of hermeneutic history.Table of ContentsPart 1 On the prehistory of hermeneutics: linguistic delimitations; the semantics of Hermeneuein; allegorical interpretations of myth; Philo - the universality of allegory; Origen - the universality of typology; Augustine - the Universality of the inner logos; Luther - sola scriptura?; Flacius - the universality of the grammatica1. Part 2 Hermeneutics between grammar and critique: Dannhauer - true interpretation and interpretive truth; Chladenius - the universality of the pedagogical ; Meier - the universality of signs; pietism - the universality of the affective. Part 3 Romantic hermeneutics and Schleiermacher: the post-Kantian transition from the enlightenment to romanticism - Ast and Schlegel; Schleiermacher's universalization of misunderstanding; limiting hermeneutics to psychology?; the dialectical ground of hermeneutics. Part 4 The problems of historicism: Boch and the dawn of historical awareness; Droysen's universal historiology - understanding as research in the moral world; dilthey - on the way to hermeneutic. Part 5 Heidegger - hermeneutics as the interpretation of existence: the "fore" of fore-understanding; its transparency in interpretation; the idea of a philosophical hermeneutics of facticity; the derivative status of statements?; hermeneutics after the turn. Part 6 Gadamer and the universe of hermeneutics: back to the human sciences; the overcoming of historicist hermeneutics; effective history as principle; understanding as questioning and therefore application; language as dialogue; the universality of the hermeneutic universe. Part 7 Hermeneutics in dialogue: Betti's epistemological return to the inner spirit; Habermas's critique of hermeneutics in the name of agreement; the deconstructive challenge to hermeneutics.

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Book SynopsisMuch more than just an anthology, this survey of humanity''s search for the meaning of life includes the latest contributions to the debate, a judicious selection of key canonical essays, and insightful commentary by internationally respected philosophers. Cutting-edge viewpoint features the most recent contributions to the debate Extensive general introduction offers unprecedented context Leading contemporary philosophers provide insightful introductions to each section Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors viii Preface x Personal Acknowledgments xii Acknowledgments xiii General Introduction 1 Joshua W. Seachris Section I Understanding the Question of Life’s Meaning 21 Introduction 23 Thaddeus Metz 1.1 Why 29 Paul Edwards 1.2 Untangling the Questions 40 Garrett Thomson 1.3 Questions about the Meaning of Life 48 R. W. Hepburn 1.4 Philosophy and the Meaning of Life 62 Robert Nozick 1.5 The Concept of a Meaningful Life 79 Thaddeus Metz 1.6 Assessing Views of Life: A Subjective Affair? 95 Arjan Markus Section II What Does God Have to Do with the Meaning of Life? 113 Introduction 115 John Cottingham 2.1 Ecclesiastes 121 2.2 On Living in an Atomic Age 133 C. S. Lewis 2.3 Is the Existence of God Relevant to the Meaning of Life? 138 Jeffrey Gordon 2.4 The Absurdity of Life without God 153 William Lane Craig 2.5 Is Nature Enough? 173 John Haught 2.6 Religion and Value: The Problem of Heteronomy 183 John Cottingham 2.7 Could God’s Purpose Be the Source of Life’s Meaning? 200 Thaddeus Metz Section III The Loss of Meaning in a World Without God: Pessimistic Naturalism 219 Introduction 221 Garrett Thomson 3.1 On the Vanity of Existence 227 Arthur Schopenhauer 3.2 A Free Man’s Worship 230 Bertrand Russell 3.3 The Absurd 236 Thomas Nagel 3.4 Why Coming into Existence Is Always a Harm 245 David Benatar 3.5 Secular Philosophy and the Religious Temperament 262 Thomas Nagel Section IV Finding Meaning in a World Without God: Optimistic Naturalism 275 Introduction 277 Erik J. Wielenberg 4.1 The Human World 282 John Kekes 4.2 Time and Life’s Meaning 296 Richard Taylor 4.3 The Meanings of Lives 304 Susan Wolf 4.4 Intrinsic Value and Meaningful Life 319 Robert Audi 4.5 God and the Meaning of Life 335 Erik J. Wielenberg 4.6 The Varieties of Non-Religious Experience 353 Richard Norman 4.7 Emergent Religious Principles 367 Ursula Goodenough Section V The Meaning of Life and the Way Life Ends: Death, Futility, and Hope 371 Introduction 373 John Martin Fischer 5.1 A Confession 380 Leo Tolstoy 5.2 Annihilation 388 Steven Luper-Foy 5.3 Why Immortality Is Not So Bad 404 John Martin Fischer 5.4 The Immortality Requirement for Life’s Meaning 416 Thaddeus Metz 5.5 Human Extinction and the Value of Our Efforts 428 Brooke Alan Trisel 5.6 Free Will, Death, and Immortality: The Role of Narrative 445 John Martin Fischer 5.7 Death, Futility, and the Proleptic Power of Narrative Ending 461 Joshua W. Seachris 5.8 Divine Hiddenness, Death, and Meaning 481 Paul K. Moser

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Book SynopsisThis title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Pressâs mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1965.

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Book SynopsisOffers the student a well-organized presentation of material relating to scepticism, to various philosophical accounts of knowledge and justification, to theories of perception, and more.Trade Review"Offers the student a clear and well-organized presentation of material relating to scepticism, to various philosophical accounts of knowledge and justification, to theories of perception, and much more.... Dancy has written an ambitious book.... He gives both the student and the professional much to think about."MindTable of ContentsPreface. Introduction. Part I: Knowledge:. 1. Scepticism. 2. Knowledge. 3. The Conditional Theory of Knowledge. Part II: Justification:. 4. Foundationalism. 5. Foundationalism and Other Minds. 6. Empiricism and Theories of Meaning. 7. Holism and Indeterminacy. 8. Coherence Theories. 9. Coherence, Justification and Knowledge. Part III: Forms of Knowledge:. 10. Theories of Perception. 11. Perception: A Choice of a Theory. 12. Memory. 13. Induction. 14. A Priori Knowledge. 15. Is Epistemology Possible?. References. Index.

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Book SynopsisJohn Searle and His Critics proceeds from an analysis of the importance and influence of Searlea s seminal works to an overall assessment of Searlea s impact in the philosophy of language, of mind, of social explanation, and of reference and intentionality.Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors. Editors' Introduction. Part I: Meaning and Speech Acts:. Part II: The Mind-Body Problem:. Part III: Perception and the Satisfaction of Intentionality:. Part IV: Reference and Intentionality:. Part V: The Background of Intentionality and Action:. Part VI: Social Explanation:. Part VII: Applications: Ontology and Obligation:. Selected Bibliography of the Works of J. R. Searle. Index.

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Book SynopsisThis text introduces students to the central arguments that motivate contemporary work in the philosophy of thought and language, and offers a continuous engagement with the core epistemological, metaphysical and methodological issues that have shaped and been shaped by work in the field.Trade Review"Luntley writes clearly...and defends his philosophical claims with arguments. The breadth and depth of his scholarship are impressive. This book should be in the library of any school where philosophy is studied." H. Pospesel, Choice "...lucid and engaging style...ability to cover well-trodden ground in a fresh and informative way...Luntley is to be commended for the scope of his project. He pursues the neo-Fregean methodology wherever it leads and many of the topics it leads him to are dealt with extremely well. Luntley is able to condense often difficult and complex material, making it accessible even to fairly novice readers, and providing new insights and outlooks which will be of benefit to all those with an interest in the...philosphy of mind and language." Emma Borg, Mind, Vol. 109, No. 436, October 2000Table of ContentsPreface. 1. Methodologies. 2. Russell's Theory of Descriptions. 3. The Semantic Theory of Truth. 4. Truth and Meaning. 5. Interpretation, Minimal Truth and the World. 6. Meaning, Metaphysics and Logic. 7. The Possibility of a Naturalistic Theory of Meaning. 8. What is a Theory of Reference?. 9. Sense and Reference. 10. The Causal Theory of Reference and the Social Character of Meaning. 11. Content and Context. 12. Contextual Content. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

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Book SynopsisMichael Payne introduces the principal writings of Roland Barthes, Michael Foucault and Louis Althusser by means of a detailed focus on their common interest in the forms and conditions of knowledge.Trade Review“The attention given to what I think is essential in my research-the semiotic and symbolic, rejection, negativity, practice, in particular their close connection with Husserl, Hagel, and Freud- is unique among works which have previously dealt with my books.” Julia Kristeva “For this reader’s money. Payne’s discussion is the best non-polemical introduction to Lacan he has come across.” Jesse W. Nash, History of European Ideas “I have never read a more lucid explanation of Derrida’s ideas.” James R. Bennett, Style “Reading Theory is an enormously study and, given its complexity, remarkably accessible.” John Schad, Review of English StudiesTable of ContentsPreface. Acknowledgements. Abbreviations. 1. Barthes: From Work to Text. 2. Foucault: Nietzsche, Genealogy, History. 3. Althusser: Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. 4. Foucault: The Order of Things. 5. Barthes: S/Z. . 6. Althusser: Reading Capital. 7. Signs, Images, and the Real: Barthes, Althusser, and Foucault on Photography and Painting. 8. Deleuze: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Capitalism. Index.

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Book SynopsisA philosophical treatment of intentionality, this book argues for a view of intentional content which is at once Fregean and Kantian in its conception of the relation between the mind and the external world.Trade Review"Bilgrami's fine study penetrates deeply into some of the most lively areas of contemporary philosophy of language and mind. He makes a distinctive and original contribution to the vexed questions of the role of social factors and objective reference in the theory of belief and meaning, and the problem of constructing a unified theory that will integrate the semantic requirements on these fundamental notions with an account of behavior, the apparent public character of meaning, and the exigencies of communication. It is very thoughtful and enlightening work." Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology " Belief and Meaning stakes out a position which is highly original, and which is bound to make Akeel Bilgrami a central figure in the ongoing debates in philosophy of language and philosophy of mind. This book presents nothing less than a new conception of the contents of thoughts, one which is sensitive to the considerations that led philosophers like myself to stress the role of factors external to the speaker in fixing content. There is no doubt that this is an important work -- not just an important book, but an important position. In addition, it has the merit of being written in an exceptionally clear, lively, and decidedly vigorous prose." Hilary Putnam, Harvard University Table of Contents1. Belief, Meaning and the External World. 2. The Unity of Intentional Content. 3. Norm and Society. 4. Truth and the Locality of Content. 5. The Case for Externalism. Epilogue. Appendix: Self-Knowledge and Intentionality.

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Book SynopsisIn this important new work, Haack develops an original theory of empirical evidence or justification, and argues its appropriateness to the goals of inquiry. In so doing, Haack provides detailed critical case studies of Lewis''s foundationalism; Davidson''s and Bonjour''s coherentism; Popper''s ''epistemology without a knowing subject''; Quine''s naturalism; Goldman''s reliabilism; and Rorty''s, Stich''s, and the Churchlands'' recent obituaries of epistemology.Trade Review".philosophers will enjoy Haack's verve, and profit from her many insights." Jonathatn Vogel, Amherst College, Book Reviews "This book is at once a fine introduction and a significant contribution to contemporary epistemology. In addition to elaborating and persuasively defending a position of her own which adroitly steers between the Scylla of apriorism and the Charybdis of scientism, Haack discusses and makes powerful and highly detailed criticisms of the views of a range of contemporary philosophers - Sir Karl Popper, W. V. O. Quine, Richard Rorty, Alvin Goldman, and Paul and Patricia Churchland, among others - criticisms to which these philosophers and their numerous admirers will have to reply." Hilary Putnam, Harvard University "In summary, the book presents a good critical examination of recent work in epistemology. Even if one questions the adequacy of Haack's justification of foundherentism, the theory deserves careful examination." Daniel E Flage, James Madison University for The Review of Metaphysics "This book lives up to its subtitle. It includes a powerful and valuable critique of recent epistemology, meticulously distinguishing theses which are often merged; and it argues for a theory of justification which is strongly coherentist but allows for empirical input." Australasian Journal of Philosophy "Susan Haack here offers a new look at traditional theory of knowledge. She knows the subject well and proposes reasonable and original solutions to its problems. The book is forceful and refreshing and very much worth the attention of anyone who is interested in epistemology." Roderick M. Chisholm, Brown University "I read Susan Haack's book with both pleasure and profit. It contains a uniquely thorough critique of standard epistemological theories and of more recent attempts (eg. Rorty's) to discredit, or replace, the whole analytical enterprise. The failures of traditional foundationalist and coherence accounts are plainly displayed and a satisfying synthesis of the legitimate elements in both is achieved. The whole is done with an exemplary clarity." Sir Peter Strawson, Magdalen College, Oxford "Susan Haack's book is a most impressive contribution to the recent revival of epistemology. It is at once comprehensive - both in the range of problems that it deals with and in the wealth of recent discussion that it examines - and judicious - in the care with which things often confused are discriminated and with which conclusions are kept firmly in touch with the reasons that support them. Susan Haack's demolition of various forms of fashionable relativism is admirably effective. I was pleased to discover that I have, without realizing it, always been some kind of foundherentist." Anthony Quinton, Trinity College, Oxford "It is likely to be the theory that will carry epistemology into the 21st century." Peirce Project Newsletter, Summer 1995 "The entire book is a model of clear analysis and rigorous argument, but this latter critique is also entertaining because Haack directs sharp wit as well as sharp arguments against today's philosophical avant-garde." John Greco, Fordham University "Susan Haack's Evidence and Inquiry: Towards Reconstruction in Epistemology is a wide-ranging, lively, and provocative contribution to recent epistemology." Richard Feldman, Mind "Professor Haack has humour and commonsense, both well displayed in her chastisements of Steven Stich and Richard Rorty in Chapter 9, 'Vulgar Pragmatism: An Unedifying Prospect,' and - more gently- in other obligatory putdowns of rival theorists..." Wallace Matson, Reason Papers " Susan Haack is a philosopher of great distinction, one of the world's leading experts in logic and the theory of knowledge" National ReviewTable of ContentsPreface. Introduction. 1. Foundationalism versus Coherentism: The Dichotomy Disclaimed. 2. Foundationalism Undermined. 3. Coherentism Discomposed. 4. Foundherentism Articulated. 5. The Evidence of the Senses: Refutations and Conjectures. 6. Naturalism Disambiguated. 7. The Evidence Against Reliabilism. 8. Revolutionary Scientism Subverted. 9. Vulgar Pragmatism: An Unedifying Prospect. 10. Foundherentism Ratified. Notes. Bibliography of Works Cited. Index.

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Book SynopsisConcise, chronologically-arranged collection of the classic readings in theory of knowledge. Includes non-western philosophical texts. Includes substantial editorial introduction to epistemology and useful introductions to each classic reading.Table of Contents1. Plato, Republic, 475e-480a and 506d-518c. 2. Aristotle, Posterior Analytics, Book I, 1-4 & 31 and Book II, 19. 3. Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Book I, 1-16 & 18-27. 4. The Book of Chuang Tzu, Chapter 2. 5. The Nyaya-Sutras, from Book I, Chapter I & Book II, Chapter 1, with Vatsyayana Commentary. 6. Nagarjuna, Vigrahavyavartani, 5-6, 30-51. 7. Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy I-III and Objections and Replies (Selections). 8.(A) John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book I, Chapter 2, 1-24.(B) G. W. Leibniz, New Essays on Human Understanding, Preface. 9. David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 12. 10. Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, Essay 6, Chapter 5. 11. Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Introduction. (2nd Edition), I-VI. 12. Friedrich Nietzsche, On truth and lies in a nonmoral sense. 13. Charles S. Pierce, Some consequences of four incapacities (excerpt) and the fixation of belief. 14. Edmund Husserl, The Idea of Phenomenology, Lectures 1-2. 15. Bertrand Russell, Knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description. 16. Moritz Schlick, On the foundation of knowledge. 17. Ludwig Wittgenstein, On Certainty, 1-42, 91-105, 192-284.

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Book SynopsisContains contributions by leading scholars, who examine the following areas: intensionality and intentionality; language ontology and truth; rule-following; the nature of the mental; consciousness and qualia: a symposium; and naturalism and actualism - an exchange.Table of ContentsPart I: The Sixth Philosophical Perspectives Lecture: . Computer Proof, Apriori Knowledge, and Other Monds: Tyler Burge. Part II: Intensionality and Intentionality: . Teh Subject Verb Object Class I: Joseph Almog. The Subject Verb Object Class II: Joseph Almog. Why Holism is Harmless and Necessary: Akeel Bilgrami. Actions, Norms, and Practical Reasoning: Robert Brandom. Semantics for Opaque Contexts: Kirk Ludwig and Greg Ray. Proportionality and Mental Causation: A Fit?: Matthew McGrath. Part III: Language, Ontology and Truth:. Identity and General Similarity: Harry Deutsch. Reference and Description Revisited: Frank Jackkson. Some Reflections on the Sport of Language: Mark Norris Lance. Three Norms of Assertibility, or How the MOA Became Extinct: Huw Price. Commitment: Mark Richard. Part IV: Rule-Following:. Rules and Powers: C. B. Martin and John Neil. Facts, Truth Conditions, and the Skeptical Solution to the Rule-Following Paradox. Part V: The Nature of the Mental. . Numbers, Minds, and Bodies: A Fresh Look at Mind-Body Dualism: John O'Leary-Hawthorne and Jeffrey K. McDonough. Mind the Gap: David Papineau. The Boadness of the Mental: Some logical Considerations: Timothy Williamson. Part VI: Consciousness and Qualia: A Symposium: . The Division of Phenomenal Labor: A Problem for Representational Theories of Consciousness. A Narrow Representationalist Account of Qualitative Experience: Georges Rey. Inverted Earth, Swampman, and Representationism: Michael Tye. In Defense of the Representational Theory of Qualia (Replies to Neander, Rey, and Tye): William G. Lycan. Part VII: Naturalism and Actualism: An Exchange: . Naturalism, Actualism, and Ontology: James E. Tomberlin. Putting Metaphysics First: A Response to James Tomberlin. Actualism, Quantification, and Contextual Semantics: Terence Horgan.

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Book SynopsisThis book presents and analyzes the most important arguments in the history of Western philosophy''s skeptical tradition. It demonstrates that, although powerful, these arguments are quite limited and fail to prove their core assertion that knowledge is beyond our reach. Argues that skepticism is mistaken and that knowledge is possible Dissects the problems of realism and the philosophical doubts about the accuracy of the senses Explores the ancient argument against a criterion of knowledge, Descartes'' skeptical arguments, and skeptical arguments applied to inductive inference and self-knowledge Uses Moore''s proof of an external world and the reliabilist conception of knowledge to illustrate that the traditional skeptical arguments fail to meet their mark. Trade Review"This book is a beautifully written introduction to a number of important sceptical themes and issues. The clarity and economy of the writing is outstanding. Another virtue of the book is Landesman's easy command of a range of historical authors and positions... These features, along with welcome breadth of coverage, make the book an excellent choice for an introductory course in philosophy or epistemology" Mind "A splendidly insightful and original examination of skepticism from the ancient skeptics through Descartes and Hume to Moore and Quine, closely argued, but in a clear and accessible manner, so that both layman and professional should enjoy and profit from this work. The best book I have read on skepticism." Louis Pojman, United States Military Academy "Skepticism is the central issue in epistemology, but often it is discussed superficially as just a seminar-room puzzle. Landesman has the philosophical depth and solid historical grasp needed for a proper treatment of it." Panayot Butchvarov, University of Iowa "Landesman has written a well-reasoned book that reveals both the power of the arguments for skepticism and the limitations of that position. At its core is an extended discussion of skepticism regarding the senses and the problem of the external world. This terrific book should be in all libraries supporting programs in philosophy." Choice "This is an excellent introduction to an important topic. Its style makes it accessible to those unfamiliar with the subject, while its content should interest expert and novice alike." Practical PhilosophyTable of ContentsPreface. 1. Skepticism and the Retreat from Realism. 2. The Great Deception of Sense. 3. Justification, Truth, and Realism. 4. Global Skepticism, Pyrrhonism, and the Criterion Argument. 5. The Argument Against the Criterion. 6. Two Pyrrhonian Problems. 7. Descartes' Dream Argument. 8. Skepticism and Common Sense. 9. Moore's Proof of an External World. 10. Defending Moore's Proof. 11. The Problem of the Shaky Inference. 12. Inference and Interpretation. 13. Hume's Riddle of Induction. 14. Descartes' Cogito and the Problem of Self Knowledge. 15. The Problem of Knowledge. Bibliography. Index.

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Book SynopsisThis text questions the internal consistency of causal physicalism and vindicates a novel approach to mental causation. The volume includes a lucid discussion of recent developments by philosophers such as Block, Davidson, Mellor, Putnam, Shoemaker and Yablo.Trade Review'In their interesting and important book, Corbí and Prades successfully identify and question the metaphysical assumptions behind current orthodoxy about mental causation, making an original and important contribution to our understanding of this central topic.' Christopher Hookway, University of Sheffield 'Minds, Causes, and Mechanisms is a timely and highly valuable contribution that will re-energize the ongoing debate and take it to another level. It offers refeshingly lucid and illuminating analysis and critique of the basic assumptions and arguments that have shaped the dominant physicalist outlook in this area, what Corbí and Prades call "causal physicalism". This book is an essential contribution. Highly recommended.' Jaegwon Kim, Brown University 'A thorough and subtle critique of physicalism. After reading it, even committed physicalists may conclude that their doctrine is beyond resurrection.' George Couvalis, Flinders UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgements. Introduction. 1. Physicalism and the Mental: The Dominant View. 2. An Initial Tension: Narrowness and Multiple Realization. 3. Dispositions, Minimality, and Intrinsic Causal Powers. 4. 'Ceteris Paribus' Laws and the Autonomy of Nonbasic Properties. 5. Strict Laws, Causes, and Background Conditions. 6. Mental Causation. Notes. References. Index.

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Book SynopsisThis collection of essays was presented to David Wiggins to mark his 60th birthday and his accession to the Wykeham Chair of Logic at Oxford. The contributors, who include both long-established and younger writers, take up some of the many important philosophical debates on which Wiggins has made an impact. Their chosen topics range from ancient philosophy to contemporary questions in ethics, metaphysics and the theory of meaning. An attractive feature of the volume is that it contains Wiggins''s comments on each of the papers, and so offers an accessible guide to his present thinking.Table of ContentsAristotelian Society Monographs Series. Aristotelian Society Monograph Committee: Martin Davies (Monograph Editor), Thomas Baldwin, Jennifer Hornsby, Mark Sainsbury, Anthony Savile. 1. Wittgenstein on Meaning: An Interpretation and Evaluation: Colin McGinn. 2. Modes of Occurrence: Verbs, Adverbs and Events: Barry Taylor. 3. Reasoning with Arbitrary Objects: Kit Fine. 4. Thoughts: An Essay on Content: Christopher Peacocke. 5. Metaphor: David E. Cooper. 6. Needs, Values, Truth: Essays in the Philosophy of Value (Second Edition): David Wiggins. 7. Colour: Some Philosophical Problems from Wittgenstein (Second Edition): Jonathan Westphal. 8. Aesthetic Reconstructions: The Seminal Writings of Lessing, Kant and Schiller: Anthony Savile. 9. Languages of Possibility: An Essay in Philosophical Logic: Graeme Forbes. 10. Kinds of Being: A Study of Individuation, Identity and the Logic of Sortal Terms: E. J. Lowe. 11. Logical Necessity: I. McFetridge. 12. Psychoanalysis, Mind, and Art: Perspectives on Richard Wollheim: Edited by Jim Hopkins and Anthony Savile. 13. Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity: Metaphysical Intimations of Modern Physics: Tim Maudlin. 14. The Metaphysics of Free Will: An Essay on Control: John Martin Fischer. 15. Universals and Property Instances: The Alphabet of Being: John Bacon. 16. Identity, Truth and Value: Essays for David Wiggins: Sabina Lovibond and S. G. Williams. 17. Minds, Causes, and Mechanisms: A Case Against Physicalism: Josep E. Corbí and Josep L. Prades. 18. Moral Theory and Anomaly: Tom Sorell.

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Book SynopsisThis text brings together some of the most significant contemporary philosophical work on linguistic representation and understanding, providing an introduction to core questions in the philosophy of language. Topics discussed include analyticity and translational indeterminacy.Trade Review"This book covers a wide range of core topics in philosophy of language and strikes a nice balance between classic papers and more recent work. The collection will form the basis for an excellent course on philosophy of language." --Stephen Laurence, University of Sheffield "Meaning takes the reader through many of the most crucial developments in the study of meaning from Frege through to the present day; this book will certainly prove an invaluable resource for both students and professionals." --Emma Borg, University of Reading "This is an excellent collection on meaning, blending classics with insightful recent contributions." --Michael Devitt, City University of New YorkTable of ContentsAcknowledgments. Introduction: Conceptions of Meaning (Mark Richard). 1. 'On Sense and Reference' (Gottlob Frege). 2. From Naming and Necessity (Saul Kripke). 3. 'Meaning and Reference' (Hilary Putnam). 4. 'Predicate Meets Property' (Mark Wilson). 5. From Meaning (Paul Horwich). 6. From 'Ontological Relativity' (W. V. O. Quine). 7. From 'The Indeterminancy of Translation and the Inscrutability of Reference' (Scott Soames). 8. 'Individuation, Causal Relations, and Quine' (Jody Azzouni). 9. 'Radical Interpretation' (Donald Davidson). 10. 'Semantics and Semantic Competence' (Scott Soames). 11. 'Truth and Understanding' (James Higginbotham). 12. From 'Indexicals and Demonstratives' (John Perry). 13. Two Dogmas of Empiricism (W.V.O. Quine). 14. Armchair Metaphysics. Mind, Method, & Conditionals (Frank Jackson). Index.

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Book SynopsisThis text presents classic essays on the conceptual and theoretical problems in the study of vision. In a style that is accessible to the non-expert, it lays out core issues in the theory of vision and then sets up a dialogue on the topics among philosophers and psychologists, past and present.Trade Review“Perception is an outstanding introduction to the conceptual and theoretical problems of visual perception. Robert Schwartz has integrated a well-balanced collection of clear and thought-provoking writings from influential philosophers and psychologists, extending from Aristotle to the present. Perception is essential reading for students of the philosophy and psychology of visual perception.” Donald D. Hoffman, University of California, Irvine “This anthology is unique in combining substantial readings in the psychology and philosophy of visual perception. Through judicious selection, it surveys the historical background from Aristotle to Koffka, then represents in depth the variety of contemporary issues and positions. It will serve as a strong backbone for courses in philosophy of perception or visual studies.” Gary Hatfield, University of PennsylvaniaTable of ContentsAcknowledgments. Introduction.. Part I: Historical Background. Introduction. 1. From On The Soul (Aristotle). 2. From An Essay Towards A New Theory Of Vision (George Berkeley). 3. From Essays On The Intellectual Powers Of Man (Thomas Reid). 4. From The Philosophy Of The Enlightenment (Ernst Cassirer). 5. From Elements Of Physiology (Johannes Müller). 6. From Treatise On Physiological Optics (Hermann Von Helmholtz). 7. From Principles Of Gestalt Psychology (Kurt Koffka). Part II: The Senses. Introduction. 8. From The Senses Considered As Perceptual Systems And The Ecological Approach To Visual Perception (James J. Gibson). 9. From In And Out Of The Black Box (David W. Hamlyn). 10. From Perception And Cognition (John Heil). 11. From The Will (Brian O’Shaughnessy). 12. From The Analysis Of Sensation (Ernst Mach). 13. From Molyneux’s Question (Michael J. Morgan). 14. Molyneux’s Question (Gareth Evans). Part III: Direct Versus Indirect Theories of Perception. Introduction. 15. A Theory Of Direct Perception And From The Ecological Approach To Perception (James J. Gibson). 16. How Direct Is Visual Perception? (Jerry A. Fodor and Zenon W. Pylyshyn). 17. Inference In Perception (Irvin Rock). 18. Is The Visual System As Smart As It Looks? (Patricia Smith Churchland). 19. Tacit Assumptions In The Computational Study Of Vision (Simon Ullman). 20. ‘Why Do Things Look As They Do?’ (William Epstein). Part IV: Perception and Conception. Introduction. 21. Seeing, Believing, And Knowing (Fred Dretske). 22. From Wittgenstein (Robert Fogelin). 23. From Patterns Of Discovery (Norwood Russell Hanson). 24. Analogue Content (Christopher Peacocke). 25. Where Perceiving Ends And Thinking Begins (Elizabeth S. Spelke). 26. Seeing Is Believing – Or Is It? (Daniel C. Dennett). Index.

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Book Synopsis* Discusses the relationship between meaning and representation. * Illustrates the differences that exist on the question of how formal representations relate to semantic representations. * Includes contributions by Tim Crane, Jerry Fodor, Paul Horwich, John Hyman, Ernie Lepore, Gregory McCulloch and Mark Sainsbury.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Emma Borg. -ings and -ers: John Hyman. Let the Vat-Brains Speak for Themselves: Gregory McCulloch. Intentional Objects: Tim Crane. Why Compositionality Won't Go Away: Reflections on Horwich's 'Deflationary' Theory: Jerry Fodor and Ernie Lepore. Deflating Compositionality: Paul Horwich. Two Ways to Smoke a Cigarette: R. M. Sainsbury

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Book SynopsisBrandom is one of the most original philosophers of our day, whose book Making It Explicit covered and extended a vast range of topics in metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of language—the core of analytic philosophy. This new work provides an approachable introduction to the complex system that Making It Explicit mapped out.Trade ReviewDisplaying a sovereign command of the intricate discussion in the analytic philosophy of language, Brandom manages successfully to carry out a program within the philosophy of language that has already been sketched by others, without losing sight of the vision inspiring the enterprise in the important details of his investigation … Using the tools of a complex theory of language, Brandom succeeds in describing convincingly the practices in which the reason and autonomy of subjects capable of speech and action are expressed. -- Jürgen HabermasTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Semantic Inferentialism and Logical Expressivism 2. Action, Norms, and Practical Reasoning 3. Insights and Blindspots of Reliabilism 4. What Are Singular Terms, and Why Are There Any? 5. A Social Route from Reasoning to Representing 6. Objectivity and the Normative Fine Structure of Rationality Notes Index

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Book SynopsisWilfrid Sellars ranks as one of the leading critics of empiricism—a philosophical approach to knowledge that seeks to ground it in human sense experience. Robert Brandom clarifies what Sellars had in mind when he talked about moving analytic philosophy from its Humean to its Kantian phase and why such a move might be of crucial importance today.Trade ReviewOne of the leading U.S. philosophers, Brandom develops his systematic views about language, knowledge, and the mind through a fascinating conversation with the work of Wilfrid Sellars (1912–1989), who influenced English-language philosophy as much as any 20th-century thinker. In Brandom’s hands, the criticisms of empiricism Sellars developed are transformed into a set of powerfully coherent views… Brandom’s scrupulous, illuminating discussion of Sellars’s search for a pragmatic and naturalistic alternative to empiricism should forever establish Sellars’s lasting importance to analytic philosophy. This inspired interpretation of Sellars gradually transitions, chapter by chapter, into Brandom’s thorough development of his own theory of pragmatic expressivism. As a masterwork of late analytic philosophy, this book must be studied as closely as Sellars by those interested in philosophy and linguistics. -- J. R. Shook * Choice *From Empiricism to Expressivism offers an original, critical reading of Sellars and a constructive extension of some of Sellars’s most important ideas. As a contribution to the literature on Sellars, Robert Brandom’s book has no competitor; there are excellent general introductions to Sellars’s philosophical thought, but Brandom’s work is on a different level. It is philosophically adventurous, a superb piece of deep exegesis, and a first rate work of philosophy. -- Michael Williams, Johns Hopkins UniversityFrom Empiricism to Expressivism is a coherently developed and highly original interpretation of Sellars’s philosophy, read in a way that simultaneously defends Brandom’s own very widely discussed analytic pragmatism. One of the most important achievements of the book is to unify and extend crucial ‘metalinguistic’ aspects of Sellars’s work that were central to some of Sellars’s most influential views about meaning, normativity, and modality, but key aspects of which received only scattered and uneven treatment in Sellars’s own writings. This book represents the most sophisticated and penetrating interpretation of Sellars’s philosophy available, past and present. -- James O’Shea, University College Dublin

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Book SynopsisThe goal of philosophers is truth, but for a century or more they have been bothered by Nietzsche's question, What is the good of truth? Barry Allen shows what truth has come to mean in the philosophical tradition, what is wrong with many conceptions of truth, and why philosophers refuse to confront squarely the question of the value of truth.Trade ReviewTwo related yet distinct questions are the central ostensible concerns of this book: what is the objection to a correspondence theory of truth?; why—if we should—should we consider truth to be the ultimate value? These questions are considered in the light of the work of six philosophers: Nietzsche; William James; Heidegger; Derrida; Wittgenstein; and Foucault… [A] thoroughly interesting and valuable book. -- Hugh V. McLachlan * The Philosopher *A good, provocative, and important book. It explains the views of a set of important continental philosophers in a way that will be accessible to students… At the same time, this is not an attempt to sugarcoat continental philosophy for analytic consumption. The views Allen defends—clearly and effectively—are views that I myself am committed to combatting and that I am certain most analytic philosophers will want to combat. But that is all the more reason for reading this book. -- Hilary Putnam, Harvard UniversityTruth in Philosophy does an excellent job explaining that there is in recent continental philosophy (Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida, and Foucault) a viable theory of truth. Allen’s book has the additional virtue of providing this explanation against a remarkably clear account of the historical background of the ancient Greek and early modern theories of truth criticized by the late-modern and post-modern continental thinkers. -- David Hoy, University of California, Santa CruzTable of ContentsAbbreviations Prologue Part 1: Historical Introduction 1. Classical Philosophy of Truth 2. Modern Truth Part 2: Nietzsche's Question 3. Nietzsche, or A Scandal of the Truth 4. William James, or Pragmatism Part 3: From Nature to History, From Being to Politics 5. Heidegger, or The Truth of Being 6. Derrida, or Difference Unlimited 7. Wittgenstein, or The Aufhebung of Logic 8. Foucault, or Truth in Politics Epilogue Notes Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisElizabeth Anderson offers a new theory of value and rationality that rejects costbenefit analysis in our social lives and in our ethical theories. This account of the plurality of values thus offers a new approach, beyond welfare economics and traditional theories of justice, for assessing the ethical limitations of the market.Trade ReviewAnderson is anxious to combat what she sees as a tendency for commercial values to invade areas of human life where they do not belong… A useful contribution to debate about the proper scope of the market. -- Hugo Dixon * Financial Times *Not everything is a commodity, insists Anderson, and her brief should shake up social science technocrats. * Philadelphia Inquirer *The book is rich in both argument and application. -- Alan Hamlin * Times Higher Education Supplement *In this rich and insightful book Elizabeth Anderson develops an original account of value and rational action and then employs this account to address the pragmatic political question of what the proper range of the market should be. Anderson’s principal targets are consequentialism, monism and the crude ‘economistic’ reasoning which underpins much contemporary social policy… This is an important book… For anyone interested in political philosophy this is essential reading. -- A. J. Walsh * Australasian Journal of Philosophy *Table of ContentsPreface 1. A Pluralist Theory of Value A Rational Attitude Theory of Value Ideals and Self-Assessment How Goods Differ in Kind (I): Different Modes of Valuation How Goods Differ in Kind (II): Social Relations of Realization 2. An Expressive Theory of Rational Action Value and Rational Action The Framing of Decisions The Extrinsic Value of States of Affairs Consequentialism Practical Reason and the Unity of the Self 3. Pluralism and Incommensurable Goods The Advantages of Consequentialism A Pragmatic Theory of Comparative Value Judgments Incommensurable Goods Rational Choice among Incommensurable Goods 4. Self-Understanding, the Hierarchy of Values, and Moral Constraints The Test of Self-Understanding The Hierarchy of Values Agent-Centered Restrictions Hybrid Consequentialism A Self-Effacing Theory of Practical Reason? 5. Criticism, Justification, and Common Sense A Pragmatic Account of Objectivity The Thick Conceptual Structure of the Space of Reasons How Common Sense Can Be Self-Critical Why We Should Ignore Skeptical Challenges to Common Sense 6. Monistic Theories of Value Monism Moore's Aesthetic Monism Hedonism Rational Desire Theory 7. The Ethical Limitations of the Market Pluralism, Freedom, and Liberal Politics The Ideals and Social Relations of the Modern Market Civil Society and the Market Personal Relations and the Market Political Goods and the Market The Limitations of Market Ideologies 8. Is Women's Labor a Commodity? The Case of Commercial Surrogate Motherhood Children as Commodities Women's Labor as a Commodity Contract Pregnancy and the Status of Women Contract Pregnancy, Freedom, and the Law 9.

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Book SynopsisSociety needs whistleblowers, yet to speak up and expose wrongdoing often results in professional and personal ruin. Drawing on the stories of men and women who reported unethical and illegal conduct in corporations, Kate Kenny explains why this is so, and what must be done to protect those who have the courage to expose the truth.Trade ReviewAt its heart are the compelling stories of men and women who exposed wrongdoing in financial services companies, and the consequences they bore…Kenny paints a picture of a financial services industry where rules are gamed, ethics are not discussed, and employees fear retaliation if they speak out…Kenny concludes that we should view whistleblowing as a social act and take collective responsibility for what happens to those who expose wrongdoing. -- Sue Lewis * Financial Adviser *Quietly authoritative yet still reasonably accessible. -- Mark Paul * Irish Times *A devastating analysis of the ‘matrix of censorship’ which leads to whistleblowers being abused. This matrix could push us to the brink of another economic catastrophe. -- Greg Wright * Yorkshire Post *This is a superb book that makes an excellent contribution to an important area of our thinking about, lives within, and work for organizations. It is destined to be a landmark volume in this field. -- Mark Stein, University of LeicesterKenny’s book on whistleblowing is a refreshing contribution to the field. Its insightful theoretical approach facilitates her analysis of whistleblowing in a variety of contexts within the financial services to provide qualitative revelations of how even when employed to ensure compliance with regulations, people of conscience are ostracized and often silenced. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned about our future. -- David Knights, Lancaster UniversityKenny has produced a uniquely positioned text of great insight as she weaves philosophical sophistication, especially the writing of Judith Butler, with precise analysis of whistleblowing. A must-read. -- Alison Pullen, Macquarie UniversityThis book provides an insightful study of whistleblowing and widespread corruption in the global financial industry that recent whistleblowers have brought to light. Additionally, it reveals the struggles that whistleblowing entails and develops the concept of ‘affective recognition’ to explain how these are bound up with retaliation against whistleblowers in their fight to be heard. -- Iain Munro, Newcastle UniversityWe live in societies in which organizations are powerful, and their employees are relatively powerless. In this important and beautifully written book, Kenny explains why this is a social issue of great importance. If we want societies that value justice, then speaking truth to power needs to be encouraged and protected by all of us. -- Martin Parker, University of BristolThe arrival of Kenny’s Whistleblowing is very timely given the growing recognition of the important role whistleblowers play in society. It makes a passionate plea for supporting courageous individuals whose disclosures have numerous times saved the public from harm, prevented major disasters, and revealed widespread forms of wrongdoing. The book takes a unique approach to explain what makes individuals who disclose wrongdoing continue their struggle for transparency despite all odds. Readers who seek interpretations extending beyond the villain–hero dichotomy will find this thoughtful and sophisticated analysis of whistleblowing truly rewarding. -- Marianna Fotaki, coauthor of Gender and the Organization: Women at Work in the 21st Century

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Book SynopsisDescartes' works are often treated as a unified, unchanging whole. This book argues that the philosopher's views, particularly in natural philosophy, actually change radically between his early and later works - and that any interpretation of Descartes must take account of these changes.Trade Review"Machamer and McGuire painstakingly trace the development of Descartes' views on the means and extent of human knowledge as it relates to science and metaphysics. Beginning with a conception of knowledge as based on abstraction from sensory experience and as capable of delivering truths about the simple natures of things in his early work, Descartes, they argue, radically changes his mind about the powers and scope of the mind, arriving finally at a conception that relies heavily upon innate ideas and a limitation of humans' cognitive reach to a world that is suitably framed to their natures as mind-body unities."--Choice "Machamer and McGuire are thus to be congratulated for taking on the difficult task of providing a reading of Descartes's entire corpus, spanning over two decades and five completed works, that treats it as a dynamic progression, rather than a static system. In so doing, they pay careful attention to the historical chronology, the Scholastic background, Descartes's replies to his philosophical interlocutors, and the scholarship on issues central to Descartes's mature positions. The result is a rich and controversial story that always engages the reader even if it does not always convince."--Helen Hattab, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews "I believe that [Peter Machamer & J. E. McGuire] are to be commended for enabling us to take seriously the view that Descartes's opinions may have shifted in significant ways and for illustrating a different way to tell the story of the arc of Descartes's career."--Michael Della Rocca, MetascienceTable of ContentsPreface ix CHAPTER ONE: From Method to Epistemology and from Metaphysics to the Epistemic Stance 1 Descartes's Early Work: The Rules 5 The World 14 The Discourse on Method 24 CHAPTER TWO: God and Efficient Causation 36 A Historical Preamble 37 God's Efficient Causation and the Introduction of Causa Secundum Esse 45 God, Time, and Continual Creation: The Emergence of Re-creationism 59 Causal Axioms and Common Notions 73 CHAPTER THREE: Seeing the Implications of His Causal Views: The Response to His Critics 82 God as Causa Sui: The High Tide of Descartes's Causalism 83 Eminent Containment, Transcendence, Divine Powers, and God's Causal Harmony 91 Epistemic Teleology 102 CHAPTER FOUR: Body-Body Causation and the Cartesian World of Matter 111 The Current Debate on Body-Body Causation 111 The Early Descartes 116 Cartesian Conservationism 119 Three Questions of Metaphysics: Principles Parts I and II 127 Mature Motion 134 The Place of Our Position in the Current Debate 157 CHAPTER FIVE: Mind, Intuition, Innateness, and Ideas 164 Intuition and Enumeration 165 Ideas and Descartes's New Theory of Mind 169 Innate Ideas 176 Innateness and Sensory Ideas 183 Innate Ideas: Present but Swamped 186 Innateness and Intellectual Memory 188 Common Notions, Eternal Truths, and Immutable Natures 193 CHAPTER SIX: Mind-Body Causality and the Mind-Body Union: The Case of Sensation 198 Sensation 199 The Physical Side of Perception 202 The Mental Side of Perception 209 How the Soul Moves the Body, or Mind-to-Body Causation 221 The Nature of the Distinction between Mind and Body 224 The Mind-Body (Soul-Body) Union 232 Epistemic Teleology and Dualism 239 References 243 Index 251

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Book SynopsisExplaining the nature of knowledge, this book presents an account of the author's views on epistemic normativity as a form of performance normativity on two levels. It shows how experience should be understood if it is to figure in the epistemic competence that must be manifest in the truth of any belief apt enough to constitute knowledge.Trade Review"[T]his book ... develops further the ideas about grades of knowledge for which [Sosa] is known. It is interesting, novel, often convincing, and extraordinarily clearly written. I admire it."--Adam Morton, Philosophy Reviews "A leading figure in epistemology for three decades, Sosa's reputation in this field could not rise any higher. This new work condenses his overall views on the traditional point of epistemology, namely the effort to justify a consistent preference for knowledge over mere true belief."--Choice "This brilliant book develops and defends the highly influential virtue-theoretic approach to knowledge its author originated three decades ago. An obvious 'must read' for students of contemporary epistemology, the book's breadth and clarity combined with the author's disciplinary stature will make it appealing to a wide range of theorists working outside epistemology, including philosophers of mind and action."--E.J. Coffman, Philosophical Review "Sosa's work has been at the center of many of these debates. Knowing Full Well is the latest and most sophisticated and mature statement of his views on several of the relevant topics. It is a must-read for anyone with an interest in normative epistemology."--Jason Baehr, MindTable of ContentsPreface vii Acknowledgments ix Chapter One: Knowing Full Well 1 Chapter Two: Epistemic Agency 14 Chapter Three: Value Matters in Epistemology 35 Chapter Four: Three Views of Human Knowledge 67 Chapter Five: Contextualism 96 Chapter Six: Propositional Experience 108 Chapter Seven: Knowledge: Instrumental and Testimonial 128 Chapter Eight: Epistemic Circularity 140 Summing Up 159 Index 161

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Book SynopsisThe English philosopher Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) is known as a conservative who rejected philosophically ambitious rationalism and the grand political ideologies of the twentieth century. This title presents an original account of Oakeshott's skepticism about foundations, an account that newly reveals the unity of his thought.Trade Review"During a time when the fragility of things is so palpable, Aryeh Botwinick's re-engagement with the work of Michael Oakeshott is invaluable. He shows us how Oakeshott's skepticism turns sharply back upon itself, how he draws us toward a tacit dimension that is itself both real and fragile, and how, once human anger against the complexity of skepticism is overcome, this stance can provide a live medium from which a generous ethic emerges. Botwinick reads Oakeshott in relation to Hobbes, Wittgenstein, Levinas, and Heidegger, as he also periodically reads Oakeshott against himself. A timely and illuminating study."—William E. Connolly, author of A World of Becoming"The literature on Oakeshott tends to emphasize the independence of his thought and the problem of how to classify him, a problem that Aryeh Botwinick neatly sidesteps by taking an entirely different line. Oakeshott turns out to be in agreement or dialogue with a range of other thinkers, including Nietzsche and Arendt. This is a fresh and rewarding approach that provides a new perspective on Oakeshott's thought and its significance."—Oliver Leaman, University of KentuckyTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments xi Chapter 1: Introduction: Epistemological Backdrop 1 Chapter 2: Metaphysics 29 Chapter 3: Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy of Science 49 Chapter 4: Political Theory 117 Chapter 5: Philosophy of Conversation and Philosophy of Personal Identity 132 Chapter 6: Philosophy of Law and Philosophy of History 194 Notes 223 Index 241

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Seminary Co-Op Notable Book of the Year""Winner of the PROSE Award in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, Association of American Publishers""Fascinating. . . . [Daston] writes with a twinkling wit."---Timothy Farrington, Wall Street Journal"In considering a series of historic anecdotes and texts, Daston helps us see rules (and their neighbors, such as laws and regulations) through the concepts of thickness and thinness, paradigms and algorithms, failures (it was nearly impossible to get eighteenth-century Parisians to stop playing ball in the streets), and states of exception. . . .By the end of Daston’s book, one feels a sense of clarity about how to think about rules, alongside a gentle sense of despair concerning what kinds of rules to hope for."---Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker"Wonderful and wildly ambitious. . . . For those of us who adore the deep and transformative history of concepts, [Rules] is a pure dopamine rush. I read it with jaw dropped and mind racing."---C. Thi Nguyen, Chronicle of Higher Education"[Daston writes] witty, wide-ranging and well-researched inquiries into the picaresque careers of such notions as ‘reality,’ ‘nature,’ ‘rationality,’ ‘objectivity’ and ‘order,’ and in her latest book she brings her wry historical intelligence to bear on the capacious concept of ‘rules.’ The delights of her scholarship are on full display."---Jonathan Rée, Times Literary Supplement"A timely release that will satisfy the mathematically curious, who hunger to know how algorithms actually work, as well anyone who loves debating policy." * Library Journal *"Rules is ultimately one of the best written, most profound, and most far-reaching works of intellectual history that I have ever read."---Ernest Davis, SIAM News"Fascinating and highly readable. . . .This book is a real tour de force of erudition and analysis with richly revealing examples."---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer"The book is an exemplary intellectual history: a rangy, quirky, lucid and profound discussion."---Colin Burrow, London Review of Books

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Book SynopsisIn the most influential chapter of his most important philosophical work, the Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel makes the central and disarming assertions that "self-consciousness is desire itself" and that it attains its "satisfaction" only in another self-consciousness. Hegel on Self-Consciousness presents a groundbreaking new interpretation of thesTrade Review"Pippin, one of the finest contemporary scholars on Kant and post-Kantian German idealism, presents here two essays that focus on two of Hegel's claims--that self-consciousness is desire itself, and that it finds its satisfaction only in others... Pippin's essays provide a skillful interpretation of one of the most important parts of Hegel's corpus, and illuminate Phenomenology of Spirit as well as historical and contemporary interpretations of Hegel's account of self-consciousness."--Choice "This book should appeal to readers interested in the Phenomenology of Spirit, especially graduate students and researches who wish to understand the contemporary significance of Hegel's account of self-consciousness for McDowell and Brandom. Pippin has provided a lucid reading of these very dense passages. Regardless of whether one agrees with Pippin's reading, it will prove difficult for Hegel scholars to ignore."--Corey McCall, Philosophy in Review "Pippin's overall interpretation is clear, insightful, and an important contribution to both Hegel scholarship and philosophical understandings of self-consciousness in general. It will be an important book for those interested in Hegel or self-consciousness."--Joseph Arel, European LegacyTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introductory Remarks 1 Chapter One: On Hegel's Claim That Self-Consciousness Is "Desire Itself" (Begierde uberhaupt) 6 Chapter Two: On Hegel's Claim That "Self-Consciousness Finds Its Satisfaction Only in Another Self-Consciousness" 54 Concluding Remarks 88 Index 99

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Book SynopsisEpistemic Angst offers a completely new solution to the ancient philosophical problem of radical skepticism--the challenge of explaining how it is possible to have knowledge of a world external to us. Duncan Pritchard argues that the key to resolving this puzzle is to realize that it is composed of two logically distinct problems, each requiring iTrade Review"[An] innovative, clearly written, and wide-ranging book."--Daniel Immerman, Grazer Philosophische StudienTable of ContentsAcknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 Part 1. Epistemic Angst 9 Chapter 1. Radical Skepticism and Closure 11 1. The Contemporary Radical Skeptical Paradox 11 2. Undercutting versus Overriding Anti-skeptical Strategies 16 3. An Overriding Anti-skeptical Strategy (I): Nonclosure 17 4. An Overriding Anti-skeptical Strategy (II): Epistemic Externalism 19 5. Radical Skepticism about Rationally Grounded Knowledge 22 6. An Overriding Anti-skeptical Strategy (III): Abductivism 25 7. Concluding Remarks 28 Chapter 2. Radical Skepticism and Underdetermination 29 0. Introductory Remarks 29 1. Radical Skepticism and the Underdetermination Principle 29 2. An Overriding Anti-skeptical Strategy: Epistemic Externalism 32 3. Attributer Contextualism as an Overriding Anti-skeptical Strategy 36 4. Attributer Contextualism as an Undercutting Anti-skeptical Strategy 40 5. Comparing the Two Forms of Radical Skepticism 46 6. The Source of Underdetermination-Based Radical Skepticism 49 7. Two Sources of Radical Skepticism 54 8. Anti-skeptical Desiderata 58 Part 2. Wittgenstein and the Groundlessness of Our Believing 61 Chapter 3. Wittgenstein on the Structure of Rational Evaluation 63 0. Introductory Remarks 63 1. Wittgenstein on the Structure of Rational Evaluation 63 2. Wittgenstein contra the Skeptical "Paradox" 66 3. A Core Problem for the Wittgensteinian Account of the Structure of Rational Evaluation 70 4. Epistemic Ways of Developing the Wittgensteinian Account of the Structure of Rational Evaluation (I): The Externalist Reading 73 5. Epistemic Ways of Developing the Wittgensteinian Account of the Structure of Rational Evaluation (II): The Entitlement Reading 77 6. A Nonepistemic Way of Developing the Wittgensteinian Account of the Structure of Rational Evaluation: The Nonpropositional Reading 84 7. Concluding Remarks 87 Chapter 4. Hinge Commitments 89 0. Introductory Remarks 89 1. The Nonbelief Reading 90 2. Hinge Commitments 94 3. Anti-skeptical Contrasts (I): Inferential Contextualism 103 4. Anti-skeptical Contrasts (II): Strawsonian Naturalism 110 5. Anti-skeptical Contrasts (III): Davidsonian Content Externalism 112 6. Wittgensteinian Anti-skepticism and Underdetermination-Based Radical Skepticism 113 7. Epistemic Priority and Underdetermination-Based Radical Skepticism 116 8. Concluding Remarks 118 Part 3. Epistemological Disjunctivism 121 Chapter 5. Epistemological Disjunctivism and the Factivity of Reasons 123 0. Introductory Remarks 123 1. Epistemological Disjunctivism in Outline 123 2. Three Core Problems for Epistemological Disjunctivism 127 3. Epistemological Disjunctivism qua Anti-skeptical Strategy 132 4. Radical Skepticism and Favoring/Discriminating Epistemic Support 136 5. Concluding Remarks 142 Chapter 6. Epistemological Disjunctivism and Closure-Based Radical Skepticism 144 0. Introductory Remarks 144 1. Anti-skeptical Contrasts (I): Rational Support Contextualism 144 2. Anti-skeptical Contrasts (II): Contrastivism 153 3. Anti-skeptical Contrasts (III): Dogmatism 157 4. A Weakness in Epistemological Disjunctivism 160 5. Epistemological Disjunctivism and Its Competitors 163 6. Concluding Remarks 166 Part 4. Farewell to Epistemic Angst 167 Chapter 7. Farewell to Epistemic Angst 169 0. Introductory Remarks 169 1. Recap: The Problem of Radical Skepticism 169 2. The Biscopic Proposal: Epistemic Angst Avoided 173 3. Some Anti-skeptical Contrasts 179 4. Concluding Postscript: Epistemic Vertigo 184 Notes 189 Bibliography 217 Index 237

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Mirror, Mirror is a short, relaxed book, for the educated lay reader... Reading him, we feel as if we were sitting in a comfortable chair, after dinner, listening to our friend Blackburn tell us not so much about politics or social history as about what lies behind them: morals--that is, what we owe to others, as opposed to what we want for ourselves... [H]is prose is clear. It is also unostentatious."--Joan Acocella, New Yorker "Blackburn writes on vanity, pride and amour proper with deep insight."--Marina Gerner, Times Literary Supplement "[A] lucid and graceful philosophical probing of self-consciousness... Simon Blackburn's Mirror, Mirror is a very fine and brilliant book, full of the sort of measured analysis and keen insight you might expect from that excellent University of Cambridge philosopher... Blackburn is not just a sure and supremely knowledgeable narrator in whom we can have utmost confidence, but one with a quirky ear, alert to the curious side note and irrefutable detail that can make his sometimes dusty discipline gleam with a new sheen and edge."--Shahidha Bari, Times Higher Education "[O]ne of the best popularisers of his discipline."--The Economist "[T]he energy of his prose is generally exhilarating, and often funny... [A]n agile, learned tour of the emotions and attitudes that human beings have towards their own and other selves. Drawing on an eclectic array of texts from literature, psychology and philosophy, Blackburn examines the ways in which a healthy self-respect, and pride in one's real achievements, can tip into vanity, envy and hubris. In doing so he puts the heat not only on the richest 1 per cent, but on us all, and all our follies."--Hannah Dawson, Prospect "Blackburn never waxes memoiristic; he uses the first person sparingly. Still, the book implies a quest, Socrates-like, for self-knowledge--by no means to be confused with what Narcissus was after."--Scott McLemee, Inside Higher Ed "Guiding us gracefully through the philosophers and writers of subjectivity ... Blackburn's book is quietly insistent on the potency of rigorous thinking about subjectivity in the face of a deluded, hubristic and dangerous narcissism... Blackburn makes his points with seriousness and severity, but also with a quietly lyrical sensitivity to the necessity of self-respect as a foundation for the respect of others... An admirable calling for philosophers, psychologists and students of myth alike."--Helen Tyson, Literary Review "Simon Blackburn explores the complex phenomena surrounding selves and self-regard, offering deep insights into notions like pride, ambition, vanity, authenticity, and much else."--newbooksinphilosophy.com "Showing the ways pride and shame work together is Blackburn at his best... This is a book by a philosopher who knows the history of ideas as well as anyone working today, written in Blackburn's witty, accessible, self-deprecating style. I recommend it with enthusiasm. With my own tendency toward misanthropy, I closed the book envying him his evident respect for and even love of other human beings."--Clancy Martin, Chronicle of Higher Education "Blackburn's grasp on the subject is impeccable and his lucid narrative is loaded with nuggets of wisdom... The book provides enough resources for self-correction, a search for true self, based on a hard process of analysis, discovery and purification."--Cover Drive Blog "Quoting Miss Piggy and Wittgenstein with equal ease, Blackburn maps the terrain of self-love in its many manifestations from self-esteem to vanity, narcissism, and beyond."--Choice "Writing in his usual witty style, Blackburn weaves together insights from Greek mythology, popular culture, literature, and the history of philosophy to develop a remarkably seamless discussion."--Lorraine Besser-Jones, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews "Blackburn's tone is light-hearted and often entertaining, and I don't doubt the book's appeal to a generalist audience wishing to take pleasure in a well-crafted distillation of philosophical ideas of the good life."--Julie Walsh, Centre for Medical Humanities "Blackburn's wide ranging, engaging, and deeply thoughtful volume is admirable for many reasons, but above all else, one hopes, it is a tool to help liberate the human imagination."--Troy Jollimore, Philosophers' Magazine "I found Blackburn's treatment of issues surrounding self-love and self-consciousness to be engaging, readable, and thought-provoking, and the book is therefore recommended."--Philip T. Yanos, PsycCRITIQUES "Blackburn's wide-ranging, engaging, and deeply thoughtful volume is admirable for many reasons, but above all else, one hopes, it is a tool to help liberate the human imagination."--Troy Jollimore, Philosophers' MagazineTable of ContentsPreface ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1 The Self: Iris Murdoch and Uncle William 12 Chapter 2 Liriope's Son 35 Chapter 3 Worth It? 44 Chapter 4 Hubris and the Fragile Self 61 Chapter 5 Self-Esteem, Amour Propre, Pride 79 Chapter 6 Respect 109 Chapter 7 Temptation 132 Chapter 8 Integrity, Sincerity, Authenticity 163 Chapter 9 Envoi 187 Notes 191 Index 203

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Engaging and humane."---Robert Stern, Mind"The clearest reading of Hegel ever published in English."---Martin Kavka, Modern TheologyTable of ContentsPreface ix A Note on Primary Texts xiii 1 Social Ethics in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit 1 2 Tragedy and the Social Construction of Norms 13 3 Culture War and the Appeal to Authority 35 4 Rituals of Reconciliation 54 5 Religion, Philosophy, and the Absolute 81 6 Commitment, Conversation, and Contestation 101 7 Democratic Authority through Conf lict and Reconciliation 115 Notes 133 Bibliography 151 Index 159

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Magee's writing always makes very easy reading."--Anthony Kenny, Standpoint "[Magee] writes with relaxed fluency."--Rowan Williams, New Statesman "[Bryan Magee] writes with grace and offers a thoughtful summation of human experience."--Library Journal "Living and dying in a world we accept we do not understand may not sound easy, but if Magee is any guide, the reward of doing so is endless and profound wonder."--Julian Baggini, Independent "Magee is refreshingly comfortable acknowledging the uncanniness of human experience, including the aesthetic as well as the ethical... His case for acknowledging the extent of what we do not know is a useful corrective to 'jolly hockey sticks' humanism as well as religious dogma."--Dolan Cummings, Spiked "[Ultimate Questions] is ... a deeply personal and elegant summary of [Magee's] own individual journey to and through profound philosophical questions."--ChoiceTable of Contents1 Time and Space 1 2 Finding Our Bearings 17 3 The Human Predicament 33 4 Can Experience Be Understood? 59 5 Where Such Ideas Come From 69 6 Personal Reflections 87 7 Our Predicament Summarized 105 Index 129

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[An] innovative, clearly written, and wide-ranging book."---Daniel Immerman, Grazer Philosophische Studien"Pritchard is an excellent analytic philosopher and manifests to a high degree the analytic philosophical skills of conceptual sophistication and rigour of reasoning."---Peter Davson-Galle, Science and Education

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Engaging and humane."---Robert Stern, Mind"The clearest reading of Hegel ever published in English."---Martin Kavka, Modern Theology

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[This] book sets out on a journey to determine the appropriate exercise of democratic authority in government in the private sector. While the journey is challenging, the book reaches the destination."--Jack H. Knott, Political Science Quarterly "Authority and Democracy is a tightly argued book. McMahon seeks to differentiate among three types of authority in private and public organizations: authority based on expertise, authority derived from promises, and authority developed as a result of engaging in a cooperative enterprise... this book draws important linkages among the writings on democracy, management theory, and employee self-ownership."--ChoiceTable of ContentsPreface1Introduction3Pt. IAuthority in General and in Government232Authority253Moral Principles and Social Facts524The Justification of Authority855Democracy128Pt. IIManagerial Authority1676Management and Morality1697Managerial Authority as P-Authority1948Managerial Authority as C-Authority2319Managerial Democracy258Works Cited293Index303

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