Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge Books
Oxford University Press The Quest for Reality
Book SynopsisWe say the grass is green or lemons are yellow to state what everyone knows. But are the things we see around us really colored, or do they only look that way because of the effects of light rays on our eyes and brains? Is color somehow unreal or subjective and dependent on our human perceptions and the conditions under which we see things? Distinguished scholar Barry Stroud investigates these and related questions in The Quest for Reality. In this long-awaited book, he examines what a person would have to do and believe in order to reach the conclusion that everyone''s perceptions and beliefs about the color of things are illusions and do not accurately represent the way things are in the world as it is independently of us. Arguing that no such conclusion could be consistently reached, Stroud finds that the conditions of a successful unmasking of color cannot all be fulfilled. The discussion extends beyond color to present a serious challenge to many other philosophical attempts to dTrade ReviewThis strange and absorbing book sets out to undermine the central metaphysical ambition which has dominated philosophy since the 17th century - that of reachinga comprehensive understanding of the world, consistent with modern science, which distinguishes between what exists objectively, independent of our minds, and what is merely subjective - due to the effects of the world on our minds and our responses to it. Barry Stroud writes against the temper of the times. His style is clear, explicit, methodical and relentless. He tries to block every exit. The Quest for Reality displays a profound grasp of the history and logical structure of philosophical problems and theories, and a feeling for the derangement of thought that underlies them. Whatever one thinks of the conclusion, it is illuminating to think through the argument. This is philosophy of an exemplary purity, tenacity, and depth. * Thomas Nagel, The London Review of Books *Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction: The Philosophical Project ; Chapter 2. The Philosophical Conception of an Independent Reality ; Chapter 3. The Idea of Physical Reality ; Chapter 4. Unmasking Explanation and the "Unreality" of Colour ; Chapter 5. Perception, Predication, and Belief ; Chapter 6. Perceptions of Colour and the Colour of Things ; Chapter 7. Perception, Judgement, and Error ; Chapter 8. Discomforts and Distortions of Metaphysical Theory ; Chapter 9. Engagement, Invulnerability, and Dissatisfaction ; Chapter 10 Morals ; Bibliography ; Index
£33.14
Oxford University Press Ecological Thinking
Book SynopsisHow could ecological thinking animate an epistemology capable of addressing feminist, multicultural, and other post-colonial concerns? Starting from an epistemological approach implicit in Rachel Carson''s scientific practice, Lorraine Code elaborates the creative, restructuring resources of ecology for a theory of knowledge. She critiques the instrumental rationality, abstract individualism, and exploitation of people and places that western epistemologies of mastery have legitimated, to propose a politics of epistemic location, sensitive to the interplay of particularity and diversity, and focused on responsible epistemic practice. Drawing on ecological theory and practice, on naturalized epistemology, and on feminist and post-colonial theories, Code analyzes extended examples from developmental psychology, and from two natural institutions of knowledge production--medicine and law. These institutions lend themselves well to a reconfigured naturalism. They are, in practice, empiricalTrade ReviewProfessor Code provides a rich and sensitive epistemology, an erudite yet eminently readable account of how we know and ought to behave. Her insights, arguments, and examples break new ground in helping us understand the dangers of autonomy, the role of advocacy, and the wisdom of ecological thinking. Anyone in ethics, epistemology, or feminist philosophy must read her book. * Kristin Shrader-Frechette, University of Notre Dame *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Ecological Thinking: Subversions and Transformations 2: Ecological Naturalism 3: Negotiating Empiricism 4: Ecological Subjectivity in the Making: "The Child" as Fact and Artifact 5: Patterns of Autonomy, Acknowledgment, and Advocacy 6: Rational Imagining, Responsible Knowing 7: Public Knowledge, Public Trust: Toward Democratic Epistemic Practices Conclusion Bibliography Index
£44.00
Oxford University Press, USA Cognition and Commitment in Humes Philosophy
Book SynopsisIt is widely believed that Hume often wrote carelessly and contradicted himself, and that no unified, sound philosophy emerges from his writings. Don Garrett demonstrates that such criticisms of Hume are without basis. Offering fresh and trenchant solutions to longstanding problems in Hume studies, Garrett''s penetrating analysis also makes clear the continuing relevance of Hume''s philosophy.Trade ReviewA significant contribution to Hume studies. * Jonathan Bennett, Syracuse University *I know of no other writer on Hume who has been this assiduous in finding interpretive difficulties in the text and then taking them head on....Beautifully written. * Robert J. Fogelin, Dartmouth College *Garrett's Cognition and Commitment is a first-rate interpretive study, one that unties a great many interpretive knots. * Ethics *Garrett seeks mainly to show that Hume's position is internally consistent and to build a portrait of Hume as essentially a cognitive psychologist. * The Review of Metaphysics *
£31.02
Oxford University Press Problems from Kant
Book SynopsisThis rigorous examination of Kant''s Critique of Pure Reason provides a comprehensive analysis of the major metaphysical and epistemological questions of Kant''s most famous work. Author James Van Cleve presents clear and detailed discussions of Kant''s positions and arguments on these themes, as well as critical assessments of Kant''s reasoning and conclusions. Expansive in its scope, Van Cleves study covers the overall structure of Kant''s idealism, the existence and nature of synthetic a priori knowledge, the epistemology of geometry, and the ontological status of space, time, and matter. Other topics explored are the role of synthesis and the categories in making experience and objects of experience possible, the concepts of substance and causation, issues surrounding Kant''s notion of the thing in itself, the nature of the thinking self, and the arguments of rational theology. A concluding chapter discusses the affinities between Kant''s idealism and contemporary antirealism, in Trade Review"This book will be enjoyed not only by those philosophers interested in Kant, but by those interested in metaphysics and epistemology more generally. He writes with directness and accessibility and care; there can be few recent books on the problems of Kant's First Critique that treat so great a range of arguments with such seriousness and sophistication. Van Cleve is a sympathetic interpreter, often finding himself on Kant's side. Clarity and rigor are among the book's notable virtues. There is an impressive knowledge of the contemporary English language. In their precision, originality and brevity, these are gems of analysis, which prove as useful for introducing students to these topics as for shedding light on Kant. This is a splendid book."--The Philosophical Review
£39.09
Oxford University Press Inc What Does It All Mean
Book SynopsisIn this cogent and accessible introduction to philosophy, the distinguished author of Mortal Questions and The View From Nowhere sets forth the central problems of philosophical inquiry for the beginning student. Arguing that the best way to learn about philosophy is to think about its questions directly, Thomas Nagel considers possible solutions to nine problems--knowledge of the world beyond our minds, knowledge of other minds, the mind-body problem, free will, the basis of morality, right and wrong, the nature of death, the meaning of life, and the meaning of words. Although he states his own opinions clearly, Nagel leaves these fundamental questions open, allowing students to entertain other solutions and encouraging them to think for themselves.
£28.01
Oxford University Press Social Epistemology Essential Readings
Book SynopsisWhat if anything justifies us in believing the testimony of others? How should we react to disagreement between ourselves and our peers, and to disagreement among the experts when we ourselves are novices? Can beliefs be held by groups of people in addition to the people composing those groups? And if so, how should groups go about forming their beliefs? How should we design social systems, such as legal juries and scientific research-sharing schemes, to promote knowledge among the people who engage in them? When different groups of people judge different beliefs to be justified, how can we tell which groups are correct? These questions are at the heart of the vital discipline of social epistemology. The classic articles in this volume address these questions in ways that are both cutting-edge and easy to understand. This volume will be of great interest to scholars and students in epistemology.Trade ReviewThis is a collection of essays that offers comprehensive and detailed information on the basic problems and the concepts of social epistemology. A source of valuable knowledge and will not disappoint those who will study it carefully. * Metapsychology *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION; BY DENNIS WHITCOMB; I. CONCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL EPISTEMOLOGY; II. TRUST IN TESTIMONY AND EXPERTS; III. REASONABLE PEER DISAGREEMENT; IV. JUDGMENT AGGREGATION; V. SYSTEMS DESIGN
£34.39
Oxford University Press Metaphor
Book SynopsisCombining up-to-date scholarship with clear and accessible language and helpful exercises, Metaphor: A Practical Introduction is an invaluable resource for all readers interested in metaphor. This second edition includes two new chapters-on ''metaphors in discourse'' and ''metaphor and emotion''-along with new exercises, responses to criticism and recent developments in the field, and revised student exercises, tables, and figures.Trade ReviewAn excellent introduction to conceptual metaphor, one which undergraduate students, graduate students, and general readers will find accessible yet thought-provoking. This edition has been significantly updated and improved, while retaining the features that have made it a well-loved book for students, such as clear expression, interesting exercises with a useful key, concise chapter summaries, and a very handy index of metaphors and metonymies. * Linguist List *Table of ContentsGLOSSARY; SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES; REFERENCES; GENERAL INDEX; METAPHOR AND METONYMY INDEX
£30.87
Oxford University Press Causal Models
Book SynopsisHuman beings are active agents who can think. To understand how thought serves action requires understanding how people conceive of the relation between cause and effect, between action and outcome. In cognitive terms, how do people construct and reason with the causal models we use to represent our world? A revolution is occurring in how statisticians, philosophers, and computer scientists answer this question. Those fields have ushered in new insights about causal models by thinking about how to represent causal structure mathematically, in a framework that uses graphs and probability theory to develop what are called causal Bayesian networks. The framework starts with the idea that the purpose of causal structure is to understand and predict the effects of intervention. How does intervening on one thing affect other things? This is not a question merely about probability (or logic), but about action. The framework offers a new understanding of mind: Thought is about the effects of iTable of Contents1. Agency and the Role of Causation in Mental Life ; Part I. The Theory ; 2. The Information Is in the Invariants ; 3. What Is a Cause? ; 4. Causal Models ; 5. Observation Versus Action ; Part II. Evidence and Application ; 6. Reasoning About Causation ; 7. Decision Making via Causal Consequences ; 8. The Psychology of Judgment: Causality Is Pervasive ; 9. Causality and Conceptual Structure ; 10. Categorical Induction ; 11. Locating Causal Structure in Language ; 12. Causal Learning ; 13. Conclusion: Causation in the Mind ; Notes ; References ; Index
£25.64
British Academy Evidence Inference and Enquiry
£95.00
Oxford University Press Inc Racial Climates Ecological Indifference An
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewDeveloping an ecointersectional analysis, Tuana (philosophy, women's studies, Pennsylvania State Univ.) has produced an elegant, meticulously crafted, deep, and yet accessible text on how racism is entangled in the environmental justice movement. * Choice *Table of ContentsChapter 1 - The Interlocking Domains of Racism and Ecological Indifference Chapter 2 - Racial Climates Chapter 3 - Climate Apartheid: The Forgetting of Race Chapter 4 - Through the Eye of a Hurricane Chapter 5 - Weathering the Climate Conclusion - Cultivating Anthropocenean Sensibilities Acknowledgements References Index
£24.49
Oxford University Press Inc Analytic Philosophy and Human Life
Book SynopsisThis book collects Thomas Nagel''s recent philosophical reflections on topics of fundamental interest: ethics, moral psychology, science and religion, death, the holocaust, and the metaphysics of mind. Among the figures discussed are Peter Singer, Alvin Plantinga, Christine Korsgaard, Tony Judt, Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Iris Murdoch, T. M. Scanlon, Ronald Dworkin, Samuel Scheffler, Daniel Kahneman, Jonathan Haidt, Joshua Greene, and Daniel Dennett. Nagel consistently defends a realist interpretation of moral truth and resists reductive attempts to subsume ethics to psychology and evolutionary theory. He also defends a pluralistic conception of the content of morality as opposed to utilitarianism, one that includes deontological elements such as rights and special responsibilities. A realist outlook also informs his discussion of metaphysical and epistemological questions. The book closes with tributes to a number of people Nagel has known over the course of his career. The esTrade ReviewThere is much to be savoured in this entertaining and fascinating compendium of views that have done so much to shape the philosophical landscape over the past half century and for which [Nagel] is justly renowned. * A.W. Moore, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Table of Contents1. Analytic Philosophy and Human Life Life and Death 2. Tony Judt, Life and Memory 3. After We've Gone 4. Can We Survive? 5. Assistance in Dying 6. Theresienstadt Ethics 7. Peter Singer and You 8. Effective Altruism 9. Korsgaard, Kant, and Our Fellow Creatures 10. Regret and Its Limits 11. Four Women 12. Law, Morality, and Truth 13. The Illusion of Tax Fairness Moral Psychology 14. Scanlon on the Reality of Reasons 15. Kahneman's Thinking 16. The Cortex and the Trolley Problem 17. Modular Morality 18. Fictions and Ideals Reality 19. The Core of Mind and Cosmos 20. Plantinga on Science and Religion 21. Is Metaphysics Possible? 22. Creators of the Modern Mind 23. Dennett's Illusions Tributes 24. Betsy Dworkin 1933-2000 25. Robert Nozick 1938-2002 26. John Rawls 2021-2002 27. Bernard Williams 1929-2003 28. Donald Davidson 1917-2003 29. Peter Strawson 1919-2006 30. Ronald Dworkin 2006 31. John Searle 2009 32. Ronald Dworkin 1931-2013 33. Barry Stroud 1935-2019
£19.99
Oxford University Press Inc Citizen Knowledge
Book SynopsisMany democratic societies currently struggle with issues around knowledge: fake news, distrust of experts, a fear of technocratic tendencies. In Citizen Knowledge, Lisa Herzog discusses how knowledge, understood in a broad sense, should be dealt with in societies that combine a democratic political system with a capitalist economic system. How do citizens learn about politics? How do new scientific insights make their way into politics? What role can markets play in processing decentralized knowledge? Herzog takes on the perspective of democratic institutionalism, which focuses on the institutions that enable an inclusive and stable democratic life. She argues that the fraught relation between democracy and capitalism gets out of balance if too much knowledge is treated according to the logic of markets rather than democracy. Complex societies need different mechanisms for dealing with knowledge, among which markets, democratic deliberation, and expert communities are central. Citizen Knowledge emphasizes the responsibility of bearers of knowledge and the need to support institutions that promote active and informed citizenship. Through this lens, Herzog develops the vision of an egalitarian society that considers the use of knowledge in society not a matter of markets, but of shared democratic responsibility, supported by epistemic infrastructures. As such, Herzog''s argument contributes to political epistemology, a new subdiscipline of philosophy, with a specific focus on the interrelation between economic and political processes. Citizen Knowledge draws from both the history of ideas and systematic arguments about the nature of knowledge to propose reforms for a more unified and flourishing democratic system.This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Knowledge - social, practical, political Chapter 3: Markets, deliberators, experts Chapter 4: The rise of free market thinking Chapter 5: What's wrong with the "marketplace of ideas"? Chapter 6: Democratic institutionalism Chapter 7: Putting the market in its place Chapter 8: Experts in democracies Chapter 9: The epistemic infrastructure of democracy Chapter 10: The epistemic benefits of social justice Chapter 11: Defending democracy--socially, institutionally, pragmatically Bibliography Index
£54.00
Oxford University Press Inc Moral Feelings Moral Reality and Moral Progress
Book SynopsisThis volume presents two closely related essays by Thomas Nagel: Gut Feelings and Moral Knowledge and Moral Reality and Moral Progress. Both essays are concerned with moral epistemology and our means of access to moral truth; both are concerned with moral realism and with the resistance to subjectivist and reductionist accounts of morality; and both are concerned with the historical development of moral knowledge. The second essay also proposes an account of the historical development of moral truth, according to which it does not share the timelessness of scientific truth. This is because moral truth must be based on reasons that are accessible to the individuals to whom they apply, and such accessibility depends on historical developments. The result is that only some advances in moral knowledge are discoveries of what has been true all along.Table of ContentsPreface 1. Gut Feelings and Moral Knowledge 2. Moral Reality and Moral Progress Index
£16.99
Oxford University Press Inc The End of Epistemology As We Know It
Book SynopsisIn The End of Epistemology As We Know It Brian Talbot explores various ways in which epistemic norms could matter, and shows how epistemic norms as standardly understood fall short on each. He argues that we can and should replace existing norms with norms that matter more. These replacement norms will be quite different from the norms standardly accepted by philosophers.In whichever way we try to explain the importance of the epistemic, it does not matter at all what we believe about most topics or why we believe it. When what we believe does matter, it is often not particularly important that our beliefs are true, but rather just that they are good enough for our purposes. When the truth is not what really matters, then no truth-connected epistemic notions, such as reliability, evidence, coherence, accuracy, or knowledge, are really normatively significant. Even when truth is genuinely important, Talbot argues, the standard epistemic norms do not properly aim at truth, because they d
£59.00
Clarendon Press On Ideas
Book SynopsisThe Peri ideon (On Ideas) is the only work in which Aristotle systematically sets out and criticizes arguments for the existence of Platonic forms. Gail Fine presents the first full-length treatment in English of this important but neglected work . She asks how, and how well, and why and with what justification he favours an alternative metaphysical scheme. She also examines the significance of the Peri ideon for some central questions about Plato''s theory of forms - whether, for example, there are forms corresponding to every property or only to some, then to which ones; whether forms are universals, particulars, or both; and whether they are meanings, properties, or both.In addition to discussing the Peri ideon and its sources in Plato''s dialogues, Fine also provides a general discussion of Plato''s theory of forms, and of our evidence about the date, scope, and aims of the Peri ideon. While she pays careful attention to the details of the text, she also relates the issues to curreTrade Reviewit is the first full-length philosophical monograph on the subject in English ... It deserves the most careful attention of anyone interested in Plato's metaphysics. It is also a splendid example of how analytic philosophy and the history of philosophy can be mutually enriching. * Bryn Mawr Classica Review *
£60.30
Clarendon Press Essays on Aristotles de Anima
Book SynopsisAristotle''s philosophy of mind has recently attracted renewed attention and respect from philosophers. This volume brings together outstanding new essays on De Anima by a distinguished international group of contributors including, in this paperback efdition, a new essay by Myles Burnyeat. The essays form a running commentary on the work, covering such topics as the relation between body and soul, sense-perception, imagination, memory, desire, and thought. the authors, writing with philosophical subtlety and wide-ranging scholarship, present the philosophical substance of Aristotle''s views to the modern reader. they locate their interpretations firmly within the context of Aristotle''s thought as a whole.Trade Reviewquite simply a blockbuster ... will form the indispensable starting-point for all future work * Greece and Rome *
£60.30
Clarendon Press The Seas of Language
Book SynopsisMichael Dummett is one of the most important and influential of contemporary philosophers; this book covers his work in the closely related fields of metaphysics and the philosophy of language.Trade ReviewDummett is clear and concise. * The Philosophers' Magazine *An impressive collection by one of the most influential of living English philosophers ... Reading him, one has the impression of being at the hub of the discussion in the philosophy of language and his points in other areas are invariably authoritative and original. It is welcome as an elaborate and useful contribution to contemporary philosophical thinking. * History and Philosophy of Logic *His observations are of great interest ... The publishers should be thanked for making it less likely that these important papers will escape the attention of philosophers. * International Philosophical Quarterly *Table of Contents1. What is a Theory of Meaning? (I) ; 2. What is a Theory of Meaning? (II) ; 3. What do I Know When I Know a Language? ; 4. What does the Appeal to Use do for the Theory of Meaning? ; 5. Language and Truth ; 6. Truth and Meaning * ; 7. Language and Communication ; 8. The Source of the Concept of Truth ; 9. Mood, Force, and Convention * ; 10. Frege and Husserl on Reference ; 11. Realism ; 12. Existence ; 13. Does Quantification Involve Identity? ; 14. Could there be Unicorns? + ; 15. Causal Loops ; 16. Common Sense and Physics ; 17. Testimony and Memory * ; 18. What is Mathematics About? ; 19. Wittgenstein on Necessity: Some Reflections ; 20. Realism and Anti-Realism *
£47.70
Clarendon Press The Principles of History
Book SynopsisPublished here for the first time is much of a final and long-anticipated work on philosophy of history by the great Oxford philosopher and historian R. G. Collingwood (1889-1943). The original text of this uncompleted work has only recently been discovered. It is accompanied by further, shorter writings by Collingwood on historical knowledge and inquiry, selected from previously unpublished manuscripts held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. All these writings, besides containing entirely new ideas, discuss further many of the issues which Collingwood famously raised in The Idea of History and in his Autobiography. The volume includes also two conclusions written by Collingwood for lectures which were eventually revised and published as The Idea of Nature, but which have relevance also to his philosophy of history. A lengthy editorial introduction sets these writings in their context, and discusses philosophical questions to which they give rise. The editors also consider why CollingwoTrade Reviewlong and quite masterly Introduction * Michael Bentley, EHR Vol. 116 *an important venture * Michael Bentley, EHR Vol. 116 *The cumulative effect of this labour of love, indeed, is to confound Knox's prejudice that the later years of Collingwood's writing merit suppression and to round off the project of bringing the entire gamut of Collingwood's work out of the archives and into the public domain. The result will surely be a continuing reappraisal of the only British philosopher of history whose work is still read by historians. * Michael Bentley, EHR *an important venture * Michael Bentley, EHR *Table of ContentsEDITORS' INTRODUCTION; PART I: THE PRINCIPLES OF HISTORY: INTRODUCTION TO BOOK I; 1. EVIDENCE; 2. ACTION; 3. NATURE AND ACTION; 4. THE PAST; HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY; PART II: ESSAYS AND NOTES ON PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY 1933-1939: NOTES TOWARDS A METAPHYSIC; HISTORY AS THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRESENT; INAUGURAL: ROUGH NOTES; REALITY AS HISTORY; CAN HISTORIANS BE IMPARTIAL? NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF HISTORIOGRAPHY AND PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY; NOTES ON HISTORIOGRAPHY; CONCLUSIONS TO LECTURES ON NATURE AND MIND; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX.
£144.00
Clarendon Press Epistemic Injustice
Book SynopsisIn this exploration of new territory between ethics and epistemology, Miranda Fricker argues that there is a distinctively epistemic type of injustice, in which someone is wronged specifically in their capacity as a knower. Justice is one of the oldest and most central themes in philosophy, but in order to reveal the ethical dimension of our epistemic practices the focus must shift to injustice. Fricker adjusts the philosophical lens so that we see through to the negative space that is epistemic injustice. The book explores two different types of epistemic injustice, each driven by a form of prejudice, and from this exploration comes a positive account of two corrective ethical-intellectual virtues. The characterization of these phenomena casts light on many issues, such as social power, prejudice, virtue, and the genealogy of knowledge, and it proposes a virtue epistemological account of testimony. In this ground-breaking book, the entanglements of reason and social power are traced iTrade Reviewan exciting examination of a widespread problem that is rarely discussed in such terms so that it can be understood and communicated, and perhaps, someday, solved * Feminist Review *An original and stimulating contribution to contemporary epistemology... There is much to admire in Fricker's book. It is clear, well-written and well-structured. The explanations and arguments are rigorous without being overly technical, and the illustrations are interesting and felicitous. In particular, the book constitutes a striking example of how contemporary epistemology can be enriched by a close attention to our experiences, and of how our understanding of epistemic matters can be deepened through the deployment of ideas from ethics, plitical theory and feminist philosophy. As a result, Epistemic Injustice makes a significant contribution, not just to epistemology, but to all of the disciplines * Michael Brady, Analysis Reviews *Compelling and gracefully argued book. * Karyn L. Freedman, Times Higher Education *Fricker's Epistemic Injustice constitutes a systematic attempt to explicate epistemic injustice, articulate the harm it inevitably causes, and expound its remedy. In these goals, Fricker is largely successful. In an often gripping manner, Fricker cuts across philosophical subdisciplines in order to expose some of the more sinister aspects of our epistemic practices. For anyone interested in ethics, epostemology, or social and political philosophy, this is surely a must-read. * Francesco Pupa, Metaphilosophy *Miranda Fricker's excellent monograph occupies some relatively uncharted philosophical territory, being 'neither straightforwardly a work of ethics nor straightforwardly a work of epistemology', but instead seeking to '[renegotiate] a stretch of the border between these two regions'...her discussion is outstandingly lucid and persuasive...the book is an admirable reminder of what can be accomplished in under two hundred pages of crisp yet free-flowing philosophical prose. It deserves, and will surely command, widespread attention. * Sabina Lovibond, Philosophy *...excellent snd well argued book...This is an important and timely book, argued with care and illustrated with detailed and compelling examples...this is an exemplary discussion of the intersection of knowledge and power. * Kathleen Lennon The Philosophical Quarterly *This is a wonderful book not just for social or feminist epistemologists, but for the discipline as a whole. Fricker succeeds admirably in achieving her main goal of offering a detailed and wide-ranging ethical and epistemological analysis of testimonial injustice...Moreover, the book is beautifully written... * Martin Kusch MIND *bold and well-argued... [a] rich and elegantly written study... Anyone whose philosophical interest in the concept of knowledge extends beyond merely definitional issues, and addresses its ethical and political dimensions as well as it s genealogy, can ill afford to ignore this book * Axel Gelfert, Times Literary Supplement *In this elegantly crafted book, Miranda Fricker's timely project of "looking at the negative space that is epistemic injustice" (viii) comes to fruition...this is a path-breaking study. With this book Miranda Fricker has opened space for the new meanings the "more squarely political" analysis will require. Her readers will look forward to the next phase of this creative, vitally important project. * Lorraine Code, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *In this elegant and ground-breaking work, Fricker names the phenomenon of epistemic injustice, and distinguishes two central forms of it, with their two corresponding remedies. As the title conveys, Fricker is working in the newly fertile borderland between theories of value and of knowledge. We are social creatures-something that tends to be forgotten by traditional analytic epistemology. We are also knowers-something that tends to be forgotten by power-obsessed postmodern theorizing. Fricker steers a careful passage between the Scylla of the one and the Charybdis of the other... The book is not only a wonderful, ambitious attempt to bring ethics and epistemology together in a way that has rarely been done before, it is also a beautiful, and powerful, attempt to name something that matters. What progress, to be able to name the enemy, be it sexual harassment or epistemic injustice! * Rae Langton, Hypatia *Table of ContentsPreface ; Introduction ; 1. Testimonial Injustice ; 2. Prejudice In The Credibility Economy ; 3. Towards A Virtue Epistemological Account of Testimony ; 4. The Virtue of Testimonial Justice ; 5. The Genealogy of Testimonial Justice ; 6. Original Significances: The Wrong Revisited ; 7. Hermeneutical Injustice ; Conclusion ; Index
£92.25
Oxford University Press Engaging Reason
Book SynopsisEngaging Reason offers a penetrating examination of a set of fundamental questions about human thought and action. In these tightly argued and interconnected essays Joseph Raz examines the nature of normativity, reason, and the will; the justification of reason; and the objectivity of value. He argues for the centrality, but also demonstrates the limits, of reason in action and belief. He suggests that our life is most truly our own when our various emotions, hopes, desires, intentions, and actions are guided by reason. He explores the universality of value and of principles of reason on one side, and on the other side their dependence on social practices, and their susceptibility to change and improvement. He concludes with an illuminating explanation of self-interest and its relation to impersonal values in general and to morality in particular.Joseph Raz has been since the 1970s a prominent, original, and widely admired contributor to the study of norms, values, and reasons, not jusTrade ReviewOne comes away with a feeling of having been chided for one's simple-mindedness by a teacher determined to coax one towards a grasp of complicated truth. * Political Studies *It will be of enormous interest to those working in ethics and those in the occupied territories within the philosophy of mind, known as the philosophy of action ... written from a stand-point of insight, intelligence and complexity of thought, and it deserves to be widely read and discussed. * Jonathan Wolff, Times Higher Education Supplement *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION; 1. WHEN WE ARE OURSELVES; 2. AGENCY, REASON AND THE GOOD; 3. INCOMMENSURABILITY AND AGENCY; 4. EXPLAINING NORMATIVITY: ON RATIONALITY AND THE JUSTIFICATION OF REASON; 5. EXPLAINING NORMATIVITY: REASON AND THE WILL; 6. NOTES ON OBJECTIVITY AND VALUE; 7. MORAL CHANGE AND SOCIAL RELATIVISM; 8. MIXING VALUES; 9. THE VALUE OF PRACTICE; 10. THE TRUTH IN PARTICULARISM; 11. THE MORAL POINT OF VIEW; 12. THE AMORALIST; 13. THE CENTRAL CONFLICT: MORALITY AND SELF-INTEREST; INDEX.
£128.25
Clarendon Press Being Known
Book SynopsisBeing Known is a response to a philosophical challenge which arises for every area of thought. The challenge is one of reconciling our conception of truth in an area with the means by which we think we come to know truth about that area. Meeting the challenge may require a revision of our conception of truth in that area; or a revision of our theory of knowledge for that area; or a revision in our conception of the relations between the two. Christopher Peacocke presents a framework for addressing the challenge, a framework which links both the theory of knowledge and the theory of truth with the theory of concept-possession. It formulates a set of constraints and a general form of solution for a wide range of topics. He goes on to propose specific solutions within this general form for a series of classically problematic subjects: the past; metaphysical necessity; the intentional contents of our own mental states; the self; and freedom of the will. Being Known will interest anyone conTrade Reviewimpressively crafted forays into metaphysics, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of logic. This kind of work, however, inevitably invites different readers to pick different fruits. There are many nourishing fruits here that are ripe for picking, not just this season but for many seasons to come. * Mind, vol. 110, no. 440 *Peacecocke's book deserves admiration both for its bold architectonic and for its subtle treatments of numerous special topics. * Mind, vol. 110, no. 440 *Table of Contents1. The Integration Challenge ; 2. Truth, Content, and the Epistemic ; 3. The Past ; 4. Necessity ; 5. Self-knowledge and Intentional Content ; 6. Self-knowledge and Illusions of Transcendence ; 7. Freedom ; 8. Concluding Remarks ; Bibliography ; Index
£42.27
Clarendon Press Aristotle on Perception Clarendon Aristotle Series
Book SynopsisStephen Everson presents a comprehensive new study of Aristotle''s account of perception and related mental capacities. Recent debate about Aristotle''s theory of mind has focused on this account, which is Aristotle''s most sustained and detailed attempt to describe and explain the behaviour of living things. Everson places it in the context of Aristotle''s natural science as a whole, showing how he applies the explanatory tools developed in other works to the study of perceptual cognition. Everson demonstrates that, contrary to the claims of many recent scholars, Aristotle is indeed concerned to explain perceptual activity as the activity of a living body, in terms of material changes in the organs which possess the various perceptual capacities. By emphasizing the unified nature of the perceptual system, Everson is able to explain how Aristotle accounts for our ability to perceive not only such things as colours and sounds but material objects in our environment. This rich and broad-ranging book will be essential reading not only for students of Aristotle''s theory of mind but for all those concerned to understand the explanatory principles of his natural science. ''No part of Aristotle''s psychological theory has been of greater interest to scholars over the past few years than his account of perception. . . . this excellent book . . . will appeal to Aristotelian scholars and philosophers of mind alike . . . Everson manifests a thorough understanding of much of the literature on Aristotle''s psychological theory and displays a talent for offering sophisticated arguments that are informed by the conceptual possibilities demarcated in both ancient and modern philosophy . . . Everson has presented a rich and insightful critique of a thesis which has had significant impact upon contemporary discussions of Aristotle''s psychological theory. Further, in offering ths critique, he has avoided many of the snares and entanglements to which others have fallen prey.'' John E. Sisko, Oxford Studies in Ancient PhilosophyTrade ReviewHis treatment of perception as one case of Aristotle's general explanation of natural change, including mental changes, is a very fruitful one. * Richard Wallace, Greece and Rome *although it is a tough read, it is rich and rewarding. * Robin Waterfield, Heythrop Journal *E's discussion is philosophically refined: and his reader is expected to have a nodding acquantaince with various notions in contemporary philosophical psychology ... The book is good enough to deserve detailed criticism. Indeed, I am not sure that I have read a better book on Aristotle's psychology. I enjoyed it, and I learned from it. It is rare that such things can be said about a book on ancient philosophy. * Jonathan Barnes, The Classical Review *Spiritualists and materialists alike will learn from reading this book. * Allan Siverman, Ancient Philosophy 19, 1999 *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION; 1. PERCEPTION AND ITS PROPER OBJECTS; 2. PERCEPTUAL CHANGE AND MATERIAL CHANGE; 3. PROPER SENSIBLES AND SECONDARY QUALITIES; 4. THE PERCEPTUAL SYSTEM; 5. PERCEPTUAL CONTENT; 6. PERCEPTION AND MATERIAL EXPLANATION; GLOSSARY; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEXES.
£51.30
Clarendon Press History as ReEnactment
Book SynopsisA central motif of R. G. Collingwood''s philosophy of history is the idea that historical understanding requires a re-enactment of past experience. However, there have been sharp disagreements about the acceptability of this idea, and even its meaning. This book aims to advance the critical discussion in three ways: by analysing the idea itself further, concentrating especially on the contrast which Collingwood drew between it and scientific understanding; by exploring the limits of its applicability to what historians ordinarily consider their proper subject-matter; and by clarifying the relationship between it and some other key Collingwoodian ideas, such as the place of imagination in historical inquiry, the sense in which history deals with the individual, the essential perspectivity of historical judgement, and the importance of narrative and periodization in historical thinking. Professor Dray defends Collingwood against a good deal of recent criticism, while pointing to ways in Trade ReviewDray is a very careful writer, and his analysis of Collingwood's philosophy of history is unparalleled in its scope and in its balance. Dray is also a very clear writer, and the book is well organized ... this is a fine study, perhaps the single best account of the pertinent ideas of this century's most eminent philosopher of history. * Rex Martin, American Historical Review *It is something of an event then, to have his new work, the culmination of a lifetime of thought, appear in his retirement. As one would expect, it is a deeply considered book, lucidly written, and scrupulously fair to all parties. ... a sound and serious philosophical commentary, and anyone interested in either Collingwood or the philosophy of history should consider joining the dialogue and will learn much in the process. * Canadian Journal of History, April 1997 *Table of Contents1. History and Philosophy ; 2. Re-enactment and Understanding ; 3. Re-enactment and Laws ; 4. Intellect, Rationality, Feeling ; 5. The Physical and the Social ; 6. The Historical Imagination ; 7. The Ideality of History ; 8. The Perspectivity of History ; Epilogue ; Bibliography ; Index
£45.12
Oxford University Press, USA Objects of Thought
Book SynopsisDivided into two parts, the first concentrates on the logical properties of propositions, their relation to facts and sentences, and the parallel objects of commands and questions. The second part examines theories of intentionality and discusses the relationship between different theories of naming and different accounts of belief.
£92.25
Oxford University Press Ignorance
Book SynopsisIn this controversial volume (originally published in 1975) Peter Unger suggests that, not only can nothing ever be known, but no one can ever have a reason at all for anything. A consequence of this is that we cannot have any realistic emotional ties: it can never be conclusively said that someone is happy or sad about anything. Finally he argues that no one can ever say, let alone believe, that anything is the case. In order to get beyond this apparent bind - and this condition of ignorance - Unger proposes a radical departure from the linguistic and epistemological systems we have become accustomed to. Epistemologists, as well as philosophers of mind and language will undoubtedly find in this study of the limitations of language an invaluable philosophical perspective.Trade ReviewOxford University Press has done well to reissue Ignorance, Peter Unger's first book in epistemology. Unger follows the argument to great depth, wherever it may lead, and the reader who follows along will be amply rewarded, which shows how impressively fresh and relevant this work remains after all these years. * Ernest Sosa, Brown University and Rutgers University *
£32.84
Clarendon Press The Varieties of Reference
Book SynopsisGareth Evans, one of the most brilliant philosophers of his generation, died in 1980 at the age of thirty-four. He had been working for many years on a book about reference, but did not complete it before his death. The work was edited for publication by John McDowell, who contributes a Preface.Trade Review`A brilliant example of contemporary analysis ... I would enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone interested in problems of reference, logic, epistemology, philosophy of mind, or existence - and that should be every philosopher.'Philosophical Studies `a powerful, coherent work' Times Literary Supplement
£39.14
Oxford University Press, USA Occasionalism Causation Among the Cartesians
Book SynopsisSteven Nadler presents a collection of essays on the problem of causation in seventeenth-century philosophy. Occasionalism is the doctrine, held by a number of early modern Cartesian thinkers, that created substances are devoid of any true causal powers, and that God is the only real causal agent in the universe. All natural phenomena have God as their direct and immediate cause, with natural things and their states serving only as occasions for God to act. Rather than being merely an ad hoc, deus ex machina response to the mind-body problem bequeathed by Descartes to his followers, as it has often been portrayed in the past, occasionalism is in fact a full-blooded, complex and philosophically interesting account of causal relations. These essays examine the philosophical, scientific, theological and religious themes and arguments of occasionalism, as well as its roots in medieval views on God and causality.Trade Reviewa fine work of scholarship. * Susan Peppers Bates, Philosophy in Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Acknowledgements ; Abbreviations ; 1. Occasionalism and the Mind-Body Problem ; 2. Descartes and Occasional Causation ; 3. Occasionalism and General Will in Malebranche ; 4. Postscript to "Occasionalism and General Will in Malebranche" ; 5. Knowledge, Volitional Agency and Causation in Malebranche and Geulincx ; 6. Dualism and Occasionalism: Arnauld and the Development of Cartesian Metaphysics ; 7. The Occasionalism of Louis de la Forge ; 8. Louis de la Forge and the Development of Occasionalism: Continuous Creation and the Activity of the Soul ; 9. Cordemoy and Occasionalism ; 10. 'No Necessary Connection': The Medieval Roots of the Occasionalist Roots of Hume ; 11. Choosing a Theodicy: The Leibniz-Malebranche-Arnauld Connection
£78.20
Oxford University Press Points of View
Book SynopsisA. W. Moore argues in this bold and ambitious book that it is possible to think about the world ''from no point of view''. He examines this idea, explains its significance, and considers reasons for thinking that such a thing is not possible. In particular, drawing on the work of Kant and Wittgenstein, he considers transcendental idealism. This leads to the heart of his project: a study of ineffability and nonsense. His fundamental idea is that transcendental idealism is nonsense resulting from the attempt to express certain inexpressible insights. This idea is applied to a wide range of fundamental philosophical issues, including the nature of persons, the subject-matter of mathematics, anti-realism, value, and God; Moores original approach forges unexpected connections between the various questions he addresses. Points of View is a lucid and lively study of the relation between reality and our representations of it, the upshot of which is a powerful critique of our own finitude.Trade Reviewsuperb * Tom Stoneham, Oxford Magazine *Table of Contents[NO CHAPTER-TITLES - THE BOOK IS SET OUT MORE LIKE A NOVEL THAN A MONOGRAPH]
£52.20
Oxford University Press Oxford IB Diploma Programme Philosophy Being
Book SynopsisThis Course Book has been updated for the new syllabus (first teaching 2023).The most comprehensive coverage of the core content Being Human, this course book will help learners grasp complex philosophical ideas and develop the crucial thinking skills. Developed directly with the IB, dedicated assessment support straight from the IB builds confidence. The most comprehensive coverage of the core content Being Human, developed directly with the IB.Engage learners in the course, connecting philosophical ideas with contemporary and relevant real situations.Build practical skills and develop student confidence with skills application.Help students understand exam achievement levels and progress attainment with clear student samples.Assessment support straight from the IB cements assessment potential.Support all learning styles and simplify complex philosophical ideas using clear visuals and illustrations.Reinforce all the key ideas with integrated activities, helping you extend and deepen understanding.The only DP Philosophy resource developed directly with the IB.This pack includes one print Course Book and one online Course Book. The online Course Book will be available on Oxford Education Bookshelf until 2031. Access is facilitated via a unique code, which is sent in the mail. The code must be linked to an email address, creating a user account. Access may be transferred once to a new user, once the initial user no longer requires access. You will need to contact your local Educational Consultant to arrange this.
£82.32
Oxford University Press Reasoning
Book SynopsisThinking about reasoning suffers from a failure of vision. Philosophers, social scientists, and others who discuss and analyze reasoning have a particular activity in view: reasoning to figure things out, solve problems, and reach judgments. But there is a different activity we engage in that we call reasoning. We reason in the course of living together, when we are responsive to those with whom we live and neither commanding nor deferring to them, neither manipulating nor ignoring them. Analysis of this second kind of activity has relied on the tools and frameworks developed to make sense of the first kind of activity. In this book, Anthony Simon Laden invites his readers to approach this activity of reasoning on its own terms. He claims that if we are to truly see and appreciate the role and value of reasoning in living together, we need a new, social picture of the activity of reasoning. According to the social picture of reasoning developed here, reasoning is a species of conversatTrade ReviewThis is a deeply thought and beautifully crafted book ... It offers a serious and substantial challenge to much contemporary thinking about reason in philosophy. But true to its ideal, Laden does not present it as a challenge but as an invitation to engage in some real reasoning about how we should understand the activity of reasoning * Simone Chambers, Contemporary Political Theory *Laden's argument is extremely rich in content and introduces This is a deeply thought and beautifully crafted book ... It offers a serious and substantial challenge to much contemporary thinking about reason in philosophy. But true to its ideal, Laden does not present it as a challenge but as an invitation to engage in some real reasoning about how we should understand the activity of reasoning * Simone Chambers, Contemporary Political TheoryTitus Stahl, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Laden has offered us a very detailed and compelling social picture of reasoning . . . path-breaking. * Jonathan Havercroft, Political Theory *Table of ContentsPART I: AN ALTERNATIVE PICTURE; PART II: REASONING TOGETHER; PART III: RESPONDING
£32.84
Oxford University Press Fundamentals of Bayesian Epistemology 1
Book SynopsisFundamentals of Bayesian Epistemology provides an accessible introduction to the key concepts and principles of the Bayesian formalism. This volume introduces degrees of belief as a concept in epistemology and the rules for updating degrees of belief derived from Bayesian principles.Table of ContentsQuick Reference Preface I Our Subject 1: Beliefs and Degrees of Belief II The Bayesian Formalism 2: Probability Distributions 3: Conditional Credences 4: Updating by Conditionalization 5: Further Rational Constraints
£68.40
Oxford University Press Fundamentals of Bayesian Epistemology 1
Book SynopsisBayesian ideas have recently been applied across such diverse fields as philosophy, statistics, economics, psychology, artificial intelligence, and legal theory. Fundamentals of Bayesian Epistemology examines epistemologists'' use of Bayesian probability mathematics to represent degrees of belief. Michael G. Titelbaum provides an accessible introduction to the key concepts and principles of the Bayesian formalism, enabling the reader both to follow epistemological debates and to see broader implicationsVolume 1 begins by motivating the use of degrees of belief in epistemology. It then introduces, explains, and applies the five core Bayesian normative rules: Kolmogorov''s three probability axioms, the Ratio Formula for conditional degrees of belief, and Conditionalization for updating attitudes over time. Finally, it discusses further normative rules (such as the Principal Principle, or indifference principles) that have been proposed to supplement or replace the core five.Volume 2 gives arguments for the five core rules introduced in Volume 1, then considers challenges to Bayesian epistemology. It begins by detailing Bayesianism''s successful applications to confirmation and decision theory. Then it describes three types of arguments for Bayesian rules, based on representation theorems, Dutch Books, and accuracy measures. Finally, it takes on objections to the Bayesian approach and alternative formalisms, including the statistical approaches of frequentism and likelihoodism.Table of ContentsQuick Reference Preface I Our Subject 1: Beliefs and Degrees of Belief II The Bayesian Formalism 2: Probability Distributions 3: Conditional Credences 4: Updating by Conditionalization 5: Further Rational Constraints
£23.99
Oxford University Press Philosophical Writings
Book SynopsisThis volume presents twenty-two uncollected philosophical essays by Sir Peter Strawson, one of the leading philosophers of the second half of the twentieth century. The essays (two of them previously unpublished) are drawn from seven decades of work, from 1949 to 2003. They span the broad range of Strawson''s work: metaphysics, epistemology, philosophical logic, philosophy of language, ethical theory, and history of philosophy, along with metaphilosophical reflections and intellectual autobiography.Table of ContentsPreface ; 1. Ethical Intuitionism ; 2. In Defence of a Dogma ; 3. Construction and Analysis ; 4. Proper Names ; 5. The Post-Linguistic Thaw ; 6. Analysis, Science, and Metaphysics ; 7. Bennett on Kant's Analytic ; 8. Does Knowledge have Foundations? ; 9. Knowledge and Truth ; 10. Scruton and Wright on Anti-Realism ; 11. Perception and its Objects ; 12. Liberty and Necessity ; 13. Sensibility, Understanding, and the Doctrine of Synthesis ; 14. Two Conceptions of Philosophy ; 15. Review of Paul Grice, Studies in the Way of Words ; 16. Knowing from Words ; 17. What have we learned from Philosophy in the Twentieth Century? ; 18. A Category of Particulars ; 19. Paul Grice ; 20. Why Philosophy? ; 21. Intellectual Autobiography ; 22. A Bit of Intellectual Autobiography ; Index
£29.59
Oxford University Press Cognitive Phenomenology
Book SynopsisDoes thought have distinctive experiential features? Is there, in addition to sensory phenomenology, a kind of cognitive phenomenology--phenomenology of a cognitive or conceptual character? Leading philosophers of mind debate whether conscious thought has cognitive phenomenology and whether it is part of conscious perception and conscious emotion.Trade ReviewThe volume is an important contribution to the debate on cognitive phenomenology. It should be of interest to philosophers of mind working on consciousness, cognition, and their intersections. * Anders Nes, Mind *Cognitive Phenomenology is an excellent collection of articles on an important debate in contemporary philosophy of mind. We strongly recommend it to anyone interested in consciousness, or philosophy of mind more generally. * Mendelovici and Bourget, Australasian Journal of Philosophy *Table of ContentsContents ; 1. Cognitive Phenomenology: An Introduction ; 2. The Case Against Cognitive Phenomenology ; 3. From Agentive Phenomenology to Cognitive Phenomenology: A Guide for the Perplexed ; 4. Cognitive Phenomenology as the Basis of Unconscious Content ; 5. On The Phenomenology of Thought ; 6. The Phenomenology of Particularity ; 7. Introspection, Phenomenality, and the Availability of Intentional Content ; 8. The Sensory Basis of Cognitive Phenomenology ; 9. A Frugal View of Cognitive Phenomenology ; 10. On Behalf of Cognitive Qualia ; 11. Phenomenal Thought ; 12. Disagreement about Cognitive Phenomenology ; 13. Cognitive Phenomenology: real life ; 14. Is There a Phenomenology of Thought? ; 15. Phenomenology of Consciously Thinking
£35.99
Oxford University Press Hegels Critique of Kant
Book SynopsisSally Sedgwick presents a fresh account of Hegel''s critique of Kant''s theoretical philosophy. She argues that Hegel offers a compelling critique of and alternative to the conception of cognition that Kant defended in his ''Critical'' period. The book examines key features of what Kant identifies as the ''discursive'' character of our mode of cognition, and considers Hegel''s reasons for arguing that these features condemn Kant''s theoretical philosophy to scepticism as well as dualism. Sedgwick goes on to present in a sympathetic light Hegel''s claim to derive from certain Kantian doctrines clues to a superior form of idealism, a form of idealism that better captures the nature of our cognitive powers and their relation to objects.Trade ReviewHegel's Critique of Kant is a well-written attempt to make a plausible case for Hegel's reasons for diverging from Kant, and it is mandatory reading for anybody interested in the complex, multifaceted relation between Hegel and Kant. * Dennis Schulting, Kant-Studien *her careful development of the Hegelian criticism of Kant's theoretical philosophy makes available wholly new and helpful ways of seeing the relation between these philosophers ... penetrating, patient, and generous book. * Sebastian Rand, Critique *The volume is clearly written, impressively argued, and transparently structured. * Journal of the History of Philosophy *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Intuitive versus Discursive Forms of Understanding in Kant's Critical Philosophy: Introduction ; 2. Organic Unity as the 'True Unity' of the Intuitive Intellect ; 3. Hegel on the 'Subjectivity' of Kant's Idealism ; 4. Hegel on the Transcendental Deduction of the First Critique ; 5. Subjectivity as Part of an Original Identity ; 6. The Question-Begging Nature of Kantian Critique: Kant on the Arguments of the Antinomies ; Bibliography ; Index
£34.19
Oxford University Press Epistemological Disjunctivism
Book SynopsisDuncan Pritchard offers an original defence of epistemological disjunctivism. This is an account of perceptual knowledge which contends that such knowledge is paradigmatically constituted by a true belief that enjoys rational support which is both factive and reflectively accessible to the agent. In particular, in a case of paradigmatic perceptual knowledge that p, the subject''s rational support for believing that p is that she sees that p, where this rational support is both reflectively accessible and factive (i.e., it entails p). Such an account of perceptual knowledge poses a radical challenge to contemporary epistemology, since by the lights of standard views in epistemology this proposal is simply incoherent. Pritchard''s aim in Epistemological Disjunctivism is to show that this proposal is theoretically viable (i.e., that it does not succumb to the problems that it appears to face), and also to demonstrate that this is an account of perceptual knowledge which we would want to eTrade Review[T]his is a clearly written and carefully argued book that has made significant progress in developing and defending episte mological disjunctivism -- it is a must -- read for anyone with interests in the epistemology of perception. * Heather Logue, International Journal for the Study of Skeptiscism *Table of ContentsPART ONE: EPISTEMOLOGICAL DISJUNCTIVISM IN OUTLINE; PART TWO: FAVOURING VERSUS DISCRIMINATING EPISTEMIC SUPPORT; PART THREE: RADICAL SCEPTICISM
£25.19
Oxford University Press Knowledge on Trust
Book SynopsisWe know a lot about the world and our place in it. We have come to this knowledge in a variety of ways. And one central way that we, both as individuals and as a society, have come to know what we do is through communication with others. Much of what we know, we know on the basis of testimony. In Knowledge on Trust, Paul Faulkner presents an epistemological theory of testimony, or a theory that explains how it is that we acquire knowledge and warranted belief from testimony. The key questions addressed in this book are: what makes it reasonable to accept a piece of testimony? And what warrants belief formed on this testimonial basis? Faulkner argues that existing theories of testimony largely fail because they do not recognise how issues of practical rationality motivate the first question, and this is what makes testimony distinctive as a source of knowledge. At the heart of the theory this book presents is the idea that trust is central to answering these two questions. An attitude oTrade Reviewa rich, multi-faceted, and carefully argued work * Thomas W. Simpson, Mind *Since everyone working on testimony should read Knowledge on Trust, I have a good reason for thinking they will * Peter J. Graham, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *I recommend his book highly to anyone interested in these challenging issues * Guy Longworth, Analysis *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ; 1. The Epistemology of Testimony ; 2. The Reductive Theory ; 3. Trust and the Transmission of Knowledge ; 4. The Non-Reductive Theory ; 5. Trust and the Uptake of Testimony ; 6. The Assurance Theory ; 7. Trust and The Institution of Testimony ; 8. The Trust Theory ; References ; Index
£34.49
Oxford University Press Beyond Concepts
Book SynopsisRuth Garrett Millikan presents a highly original account of cognition - of how we get to grips with the world in thought. The question at the heart of her book is Kant''s ''How is knowledge possible?'', but answered from a contemporary naturalist standpoint. The starting assumption is that we are evolved creatures that use cognition as a guide in dealing with the natural world, and that the natural world is roughly as natural science has tried to describe it. Very unlike Kant, then, we must begin with ontology, with a rough understanding of what the world is like prior to cognition, only later developing theories about the nature of cognition within that world and how it manages to reflect the rest of nature. And in trying to get from ontology to cognition we must traverse another non-Kantian domain: questions about the transmission of information both through natural signs and through purposeful signs including, especially, language. Millikan makes a number of innovations. Central to the book is her introduction of the ideas of unitrackers and unicepts, whose job is to recognize the same again as manifested through the jargon of experience. She offers a direct reference theory for common nouns and other extensional terms; a naturalist sketch of conceptual development; a theory of natural information and of language function that shows how properly functioning language carries natural information; a novel description of the semantics/pragmatics distinction; a discussion of perception as translation from natural informational signs; new descriptions of indexicals, demonstratives and intensional contexts; and a new analysis of the reference of incomplete descriptions.Trade ReviewBeyond Concepts is an impressive work of systematic philosophy. * Mikio Akagi, The Philosophical Quarterly *This book is a great philosophical achievement. The breadth and originality of Millikan's view are remarkable. She shows how a naturalistic approach can provide a fresh perspective on central philosophical puzzles and puts forward several new ideas that will engender lively debates. The systematic character of her work is especially impressive - Millikan tackles many different themes, but the various components of her account fit together beautifully and mutually support each other. This book has much to offer to both those already familiar with her work and new readers. * Andrea Onofri, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Brilliant. * Geoffrey Pullum, Chronicle of Higher Education *Table of ContentsPart I 0: Introduction to Part I 1: A Clumpy World 2: Direct Reference for Extensional Terms 3: Introducing Unitrackers and Unicepts 4: Functions of Same-Tracking 5: How Unicepts Get Their Referents 6: Misrepresentation, Redundancy, Equivocity, Emptiness (and Swampman) 7: Some Implications Part II 8: Introduction to Part II 9: Indexicals and Self-Signs 10: An Anatomy of Signs 11: Infosigns and Natural Information 12: Intentional Signs 13: Linguistic Signs 14: Perception, Especially Perception through Language 15: Markers of Identity and Grounded Infosigns 16: Out-side Pragmatics: Descriptions, Quantifiers, Directives Glossary
£26.49
Oxford University Press, USA Passions and Projections
Book SynopsisThis volume presents fourteen original essays which explore the philosophy of Simon Blackburn, one of the UK''s most influential contemporary philosophers. Blackburn is best known to the general public for his attempts to make philosophy accessible to those with little or no formal training, but in professional circles his reputation is based on a lifetime pursuit of his distinctive version of a projectivist and anti-realist research program. As he sees things, we must always try first to understand and explain what we are doing when we think and talk as we do. This research program reaches into nearly all of the main areas of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, moral philosophy, and moral psychology. The books and articles he has written provide us with perhaps the most comprehensive statement and defense of projectivism and anti-realism since Hume. The essays collected here document the range and influence of Blackburn''s work. They reveal, among other things, Trade ReviewThe range and influence of Simon Blackburn's work is reflected in the thematic variety of the contributions to this excellent volume edited by Robert N. Johnson and Michael Smith. The quality of the essays is consistently high, and together they provide a comprehensive, in-depth treatment of Blackburn's many original and controversial ideas * Camil Golub, Journal of Moral Philosophy *Anyone who has any interest in Blackburn's workor more generally in any version of expressivism, projectivism, prescriptivism, pragmatism, or anti-realismshould get their hands on this volume. The collection certainly provides a fitting, and very personal, tribute to the philosophical themes developed in Blackburn's pioneering workin the sense that many of the contributors, as indicated in the essays, have been profitably engaged with Blackburn's work for decades. * Noell Birondo, The Philosophical Quarterly *[T]his is a rather good anthology overall, and there is much here for those interested, not simply in the specifics of Blackburn's arguments, but in realism and projectivism as such, largely of course as such things apply to ethics, but to no small extent as these positions apply elsewhere as well * Steven Ross, Philosophical Forum *Written by a distinguished bunch of philosophers, this wonderful book collects together fourteen papers on various aspects of Blackburn's work. The papers cover what seems like a fitting selection of topics. They are polished, and many of them are a real joy to read. * Teemu Toppinen, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Online *Anyone who has any interest in Blackburn's workor more generally in any version of expressivism, projectivism, prescriptivism, pragmatism, or antirealism should get their hands on this volume. * Noell Birondo, Philosophical Quarterly *Table of ContentsPART ONE: METAPHYSICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY; PART TWO: METAETHICS AND MORAL PSYCHOLOGY
£74.70
Oxford University Press The Minds Construction The Ontology of Mind and Mental Action
Book SynopsisPhilosophers working on the ontology of mind have highlighted various distinctions that can be drawn between the ways in which different aspects of our minds fill time. For example, they note that whereas some elements of our mental lives obtain over time, others unfold over time, and some continue to occur throughout intervals of time. Matthew Soteriou explores ways in which such distinctions can be put to work in helping to inform philosophical accounts of both sensory and cognitive aspects of consciousness. Part One of The Mind''s Construction argues that work in the ontology of mind that focuses on distinctions of temporal character has much to contribute to philosophical accounts of the phenomenology of various elements of sensory consciousness--e.g. the phenomenology of perceptual experience, bodily sensation, and perceptual imagination. Part Two argues that these ontological considerations can inform our understanding of conscious thinking, and the form of self-conscious conscioTrade ReviewThe Mind's Construction makes light dawn across vast swathes of philosophy of action, epistemology, philosophy of perception and philosophy of consciousness. It is a marvellous book, with which it is absolutely impossible to remain unimpressed. * Helen Steward, Mind *Table of ContentsPART I. SENSORY CONSCIOUSNESS; PART II. CONSCIOUS THINKING
£45.49
Oxford University Press The Epistemology of Disagreement New Essays
Book SynopsisThe Epistemology of Disagreement brings together essays from a dozen philosophers on the epistemic significance of disagreement; all but one of the essays are new. Questions discussed include: When (if ever) does the disagreement of others require a rational agent to revise her beliefs? Do ''conciliatory'' accounts, on which agents are required to revise significantly, suffer from fatal problems of self-defeat, given the disagreement about disagreement? What is the significance of disagreement about philosophical topics in particular? How does the epistemology of disagreement relate to broader epistemic theorizing? Does the increased significance of multiple disagreeing agents depend on their being independent of one another? John Hawthorne and Amia Srinivasan, Thomas Kelly, and Brian Weatherson all weigh in with attacks on conciliatory views or defenses of non-conciliatory approaches. David Christensen and Stewart Cohen take up the opposite side of the debate. Bryan Frances, Sanford GTrade Reviewthis book advances our previous understanding of the topic and draws attention to new issues for exploration. It is essential reading for anyone interested in epistemological and meta-philosophical topics. * Nathan Ballantyne, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Table of ContentsPART ONE: THE DEBATE BETWEEN CONCILIATORY AND STEADFAST THEORISTS; A. FOR STEADFASTNESS; B. FOR CONCILIATION; PART TWO: DISAGREEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY; PART THREE: NEW CONCEPTS AND NEW PROBLEMS IN THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF DISAGREEMENT
£36.49
Clarendon Press Aristotle
Book SynopsisTranslated from Classical Greek, this text includes an English-Greek and Greek-English glossary, textual notes and detailed introduction to Aristotle's work.Trade ReviewIt is extremely satisfactory to have a commentary on the work as a whole. * Greece & Rome *Table of ContentsBOOK I
£132.75
Clarendon Press Aristotle
Book SynopsisOn the Parts of Animals is at the heart and soul of Aristotle''s scientific investigation of animals. It not only contains the results of his investigation of why different kinds of animals have the parts that they do; it also opens with a book devoted to laying the philosophical stones of the entire biological enterprise. Those philosophical foundations, in turn, reflect and build on Aristotle''s theory of knowledge, as found in the Analytics, and his metaphysics and natural philosophy, as found in the Metaphysics, Physics, and De Anima. Whether one is interested in Aristotle the philosopher, or Aristotle the biologist, the De Partibus Animalium has a great deal to offer. The translation of the entire four books, with commentary, gives the reader an opportunity to judge the integrity of Aristotle''s zoological practice in books II-IV, in light of the philosophical recommendations for such a study presented in book I. The translation aims to reflect the fine details of Aristotle''s reaTrade Reviewa fine philosophical analysis of the dialogue * Gabor Betegh, Classical World *It is extremely satisfactory to have a commentary on the work as a whole. * Greece & Rome *Table of ContentsBOOK I
£54.90
Oxford University Press, USA Meaning And Reference Oxford Readings In Philosophy
Book SynopsisPart of the "Oxford Readings in Philosophy" series, this volume presents a selection of the major writings in the debate on the nature of meaning and reference which started 100 years ago with Frege's essay "On Sense and Reference". This subject lies at the heart of the philosophy of language.Trade Review`Since the 1960's, the Oxford Readings in Philosophy have provided an essential service to all teachers of the subject. ... in a colourful and attractive new format, but the essential aim of the series remains unchanged: to introduce students, as gently as is realistically possible, to the best work in a given area. ... the volume on time is very wide-ranging Cogito:Winter 1993`Excellent for my second year undergraduate course - right on the topics - and making central papers easily available.' Martin Bell, University of York`This is a valuable collection of articles: the quality is outstanding, and the choice is excellent, for courses on the philosophy of language.' David Bell, University of Sheffield`This is a really excellent book.' Hugh Bredin, Queen's University, Belfast`It is excellent for teaching the subject in a British University' Dr G. McCulloch, University of Nottingham`A very useful anthology of seminal essays in this field.' Stephen P. Thornton, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland`This is an excellent selection of articles.' R. Fellows, University of Bradford`Excellent, nicely priced volume with many of the classic texts.' D.E. Cooper, University of Durham`This is an excellent collection of articles.' Maria Baghramian, University College Dublin`An extremely useful collection on meaning and reference containing classic papers students ought to read.' Dr C. Macdonald, University of Manchester`One of the most useful texts in the series Oxford Readings in Philosophy. It has the most important of the relevant essays.' B.B. Rundle, Trinity College, OxfordTable of ContentsOn sense and reference, Gottlob Frege; letter to Jourdain, Gottlob Frege; descriptions, Bertrand Russell; on referring, P.F. Strawson; mind and verbal dispositions, W.V. Quine; truth and meaning, Donald Davidson; on the sense and reference of a proper name, John McDowell; what does the appeal to use do for the theory of meaning, Michael Dummett; meaning and reference, Hilary Putnam; identity and necessity, Saul Kripke; Putnam's doctrine of natural kind words and Frege's doctrines of sense, reference and extension - can they cohere?, David Wiggins; the causal theory of names, Gareth Evans; Frege's distinction between sense and reference, Michael Dummett; Wittgenstein on following a rule, John McDowell.
£47.69
Oxford University Press An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding
Book SynopsisOxford Philosophical Texts Series Editor: John Cottingham The Oxford Philosophical Texts series consists of authoritative teaching editions of canonical texts in the history of philosophy from the ancient world down to modern times. Each volume provides a clear, well laid out text together with a comprehensive introduction by a leading specialist, giving the student detailed critical guidance on the intellectual context of the work and the structure and philosophical importance of the main arguments. Endnotes are supplied which provide further commentary on the arguments and explain unfamiliar references and terminology, and a full bibliography and index are also included. The series aims to build up a definitive corpus of key texts in the Western philosophical tradition, which will form a reliable and enduring resource for students and teachers alike. David Hume''s aim in writing An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748) was to introduce his philosophy to a European culture in Trade ReviewTom Beauchamp has produced two excellent editions, which will remain the standard editions of both Enquiries for years to come. An enormous amount of research has gone into this edition. . . Tom Beauchamp [has given] thirty years of devotion to the writings of Hume brought to . . . a splendid conclusion, . . . Beauchamp has attended to "the extreme Accuracy of Style" that Hume demanded and has produced reliable texts of the two enquires, edited to the highest standards. * O. M. Brack, Eighteenth-Century Scotland *Table of ContentsPART 1: INTRODUCTORY MATERIAL ; PART 2: THE TEXT ; PART 3: SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
£28.49
Oxford University Press Knowledge
Book SynopsisEpistemology, or the theory of knowledge, is concerned with how we know what we do and what justifies us in believing what we do. The philosophical literature in epistemology has mushroomed in the past four decades, and interest in the topic continues to be widespread. In this anthology, Fred Dretske and Sven Bernecker have collected the most important and influential writings in epistemology. It provides the fullest review to date of contemporary epistemology, including frequently neglected topics such as dominant responses to scepticism, introspection, memory, and testimony. Forty-one readings are organized into fifteen subject areas that are key to a broad understanding of contemporary theory of knowledge. A readable introduction to each subject outlines the problems discussed in the essays that follow so readers can more effectively focus on analysing them. The book is primarily designed for undergraduate courses on theories of knowledge. It will also be of use to university studenTable of ContentsPART I. JUSTIFIED TRUE BELIEF ; THE GETTIER PROBLEM ; RESPONSES TO GETTIER ; PART II. EXTERNALISM AND INTERNALISM ; EXTERNALISM ; INTERNALISM ; CRITICISMS AND COMPROMISES ; PART III. FOUNDATIONS AND NORMS ; FOUNDATIONS ; NORMATIVITY ; PART IV. SKEPTICISM ; MOTIVATIONS ; RELEVANT ALTERNATIVES ; SEMANTIC APPROACHES ; PART V. SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE ; PERCEPTION ; INTROSPECTION ; MEMORY AND TESTIMONY ; INDUCTION ; A PRIORI KNOWLEDGE ; INDEX
£52.24
Oxford University Press Action Knowledge and Will
Book SynopsisWhat is the difference between the movements in our bodies we cause personally ourselves, such as the movements of our legs or our lips when we walk or speak, and the movements we do not cause personally, such as the contraction of the heart? Is an act that is done under duress done voluntarily, out of choice? Should duress exculpate a defendant completely, or should it merely mitigate the criminality of an act? When we explain an intentional act by stating our reasons for doing it, do we explain it causally or teleologically, or both? Should we care whether our choices are guided by knowledge or mere true belief?In Action, Knowledge, and Will, John Hyman explores these and other central problems in the philosophy of action and the theory of knowledge, and connects these areas of enquiry in a new way. The main premise of the book is that human action has four irreducibly different dimensions, each with its own family of concepts: - a physical dimension, in which the principal concepts Trade ReviewAction, Knowledge, and Will is a splendid book--insightful, original, elegantly written and carefully edited, and a genuine pleasure to read. John Hyman weaves strands of historical, legal, empirical, and conceptual analysis into a series of arguments that are fresh and exciting at every turn. * John Schwenkler, Australasian Journal of Philosophy *John Hyman is one of the most creative and wide-ranging philosophers working today. * Kieran Setiya, MIT *With this book, John Hyman has done more for action theory than anyone in the field since Anscombe. His arguments in support of the thesis that human agency is best conceived as the integration of four dimensions presents a new picture that, in time, will change the way everyone thinks about human action. * Dennis Patterson, Jurisprudence *[T]he most important treatment of action since Anscombe and Davidson ... It takes the traditional question whether we should give a physical, ethical, psychological or intellectual account of human action and stands it on its head. For Hyman argues that the real question is how to distinguish the physical, the ethical, the psychological and the intellectual dimensions of human action, and he thereby changes the landscape in the philosophy of action. * Evgenia Mylonaki, Philosophical Quarterly *John Hyman brilliantly tackles a problem that has rankled since Plato: what is involved when we voluntarily perform an action? "The will", he argues, has been made too much of a catch-all of the various dimensions of human agency -- physical, psychological, ethical and intellectual. Philosophy is all about fine distinctions. Here they are made acutely yet accessibly to give us a new picture of who we are. * Jane O'Grady, The Tablet, Books of the Year *John Hyman's new book is a masterful blend of the philosophy of action and epistemology. In it he seeks not only to realign the philosophy of action, but to turn epistemology -- at least, that part of it that is concerned with the nature of knowledge -- into a part of the philosophy of action. ... Hyman's book is an invitation to a radical new research programme in epistemology. I hope that others join him in working it out. * Analysis *How could knowledge be even better for us than true beliefs that we have good reason to accept? John Hyman answers this question in Action, Knowledge, and Will. It is by no means the only question he answers in this rich, delightful book. He reaches fresh, insightful conclusions about human action and thought by attending to connections between questions usually treated separately. He explains and defends those conclusions sharply and carefully, with admirable regard for what the words involved in the question actually mean. * Barry Stroud, Times Literary Supplement *[A] vast improvement over the anti-psychologistic accounts of reasons-explanations that have proliferated in recent years. It both allows us to emphasize reasons why as facts that favor actions while allowing us to include an agent's psychological states in genuine reasons-explanations. ... While he challenges many widely endorsed views in contemporary philosophy of action, Hyman does not adopt an unprincipled contrarian stance. Rather, he strikes me as a friendly critic, offering ways to correct mistakes philosophers have made in the past three hundred years. * Andrei A. Buckareff, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Table of ContentsPreface 1: Agency and the Will 2: Action and Integration 3: Acts and Events 4: Voluntariness and Choice 5: Desire and Intention 6: Reason and Knowledge 7: Knowledge as an Ability 8: The Road to Larissa Appendix: The Modern Theory of the Will Endnotes Bibliography Acknowledgements Index
£34.49
Oxford University Press The Mirror of the World Subjects Consciousness and SelfConsciousness Context and Content Context Content
Book SynopsisChristopher Peacocke presents a philosophical theory of subjects of consciousness, together with a theory of the nature of first person representation of such a subject of consciousness. He develops a new treatment of subjects, distinct from previous theories, under which subjects were regarded either as constructs from mental events, or fundamentally embodied, or Cartesian egos. In contrast, his theory of the first person integrates with the positive treatment of subjectsand it contributes to the explanation of various distinctive first person phenomena in the theory of thought and knowledge. These are issues on which contributions have been made by some of the greatest philosophers, and Peacocke brings his points to bear on the contributions to these issues made by Hume, Kant, Frege, Wittgenstein, and Strawson. He also relates his position to the recent literature in the philosophy of mind, and then goes on to distinguish and characterize three varieties of self-consciousness. PerspeTrade Review... this is a very rich and rewarding book -- required reading for anyone interested in the metaphysics and epistemology of the self. * Jose Luis Bermúdez, Philosophical Quarterly *Peacocke's account of subjects is in many ways an appealing one . . . but also complex and multi-layered . . . the book is an impressive piece of work . . . Mirror would serve as an excellent introduction for those coming to Peacocke's writings for the first time. * Barry Dainton, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Table of ContentsI: Introduction II: Primitive Self-Representation III: The Metaphysics of Conscious Subjects IV: The First Person Concept and Its Nonconceptual Parent V: Explaining First Person Phenomena VI: Descartes Defended VII: Paralogisms and First Person Illusions VIII: Perspectival Self-Consciousness IX: Reflective Self-Consciousness X: Interpersonal Self-Consciousness XI: Open Conclusion: The Place of Metaphysics References Index
£32.99
