Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge Books

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Book SynopsisThis Element will provide an essential tracing of selected Greek views of the afterlife which engage in dynamic tension with the Christian understanding of Paradise as fulfilled in the Resurrected state. The main three sections in this Element are Ideas of the Afterlife in the Greek Tragedians; Plato: The Difficulty of Paradise; and Holiness and Violence: A Christian View of the Resurrected State. The imposition of justice and the expiation of guilt through suffering are necessary prerequisites to our approach to the relationship between Monotheism and Paradise. Additional discussions will focus on weak theology and of a God not transcendent enough to ensure the desire for Heaven. As such, the sections are organized to isolate and trace this thread.

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Book SynopsisThis Element shows the Stoics' wider theoretical commitments in ethics, epistemology, aesthetics, and psychology. It concludes with an assessment of how the Stoic erotic ideal fares in relation to our intuitions about the non-egoistic and particularized nature of love.Table of Contents1. Introduction; 2. The two basic forms of erôs; 3. The perception of beauty; 4. Socratic antecedents for the stoic theory of erôs; 5. Conclusion; References.

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Book SynopsisSpinoza's Ethics is one of the most historically and philosophically significant texts of the early modern period. This new translation is based on a new critical edition, and the volume also offers an introduction, chronology and glossary to make this notoriously difficult text accessible to students.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Chronology; Further reading; Note on the text and translation; First part; Second part; Third part; Fourth part; Fifth part.

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Book SynopsisWhen it first appeared in 1933, Experience and its Modes was not considered a classic. But as philosophical fashion moved away from the analytic philosophy of the 1930s, this work began to seem ahead of its time. Arguing that experience is ''modal'', in the sense that we always have a theoretical or practical perspective on the world, Michael Oakeshott explores the nature of philosophical experience and its relationship to three of the most important ''modes'' of non-philosophical experience - science, history and practice - seeking to establish the autonomy and superiority of philosophy. In recognition of its enduring importance, this book is presented in a fresh series livery for a new generation of readers, featuring a specially commissioned preface written by Paul Franco.Trade Review'Mr Oakeshott's thesis … is so original, so important and so profound that criticism must be silent until his meaning has been long pondered … the chapter on history is the most penetrating analysis of historical thought that has ever been written … the whole book shows Mr Oakeshott to possess philosophical gifts of a very high order, coupled with an admirable command of language; his writing is as clear as his thought is profound, and all students of philosophy should be grateful to him for his brilliant contribution to philosophical literature.' R. G. Collingwood, The Cambridge ReviewTable of ContentsPreface to this edition Paul Franco; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Experience and its modes; 3. Historical experience; 4. Scientific experience; 5. Practical experience; 6. Conclusion; Index.

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Book SynopsisWhen The Concept of Nature by Alfred North Whitehead was first published in 1920 it was declared to be one of the most important works on the relation between philosophy and science for many years, and several generations later it continues to deserve careful attention. Whitehead explores the fundamental problems of substance, space and time, and offers a criticism of Einstein's method of interpreting results while developing his own well-known theory of the four-dimensional 'space-time manifold'. With a specially commissioned new preface written by Michael Hampe, this book is presented in a fresh series livery for the twenty-first century for a new generation of readers.Table of ContentsPreface to this edition Michael Hampe; Preface; 1. Nature and thought; 2. Theories of the bifurcation of nature; 3. Time; 4. The method of extensive abstraction; 5. Space and motion; 6. Congruence; 7. Objects; 8. Summary; 9. The ultimate physical concepts; Notes; Index.

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Book SynopsisBlake E. Hestir's examination of passages from Plato's Cratylus, Parmenides, Theaetetus and Sophist sheds new light on Plato's conception of meaning and truth, bringing it into dialogue with contemporary truth theory, metaphysics, and semantics, as well as highlighting new and striking parallels between Plato and Aristotle.Trade Review'The study is rich in detailed analyses of arguments but never loses sight of the main point: an account of Plato's restricted ontology as the foundation for his thoughts about meaning and truth. To this end, the author introduces a grounding argument, articulated most explicitly at Parmenides 135b–c.' Jakob Leth Fink, Journal of the History of Philosophy'Blake E. Hestir's scholarship has consistently encouraged readers of Plato and Aristotle to pay closer attention to the rich, sometimes unexpected details of their conceptions of truth and falsity. This book is an accomplished, welcome extension of Hestir's efforts to date. I especially appreciated the impressive engagement with the Sophist's metaphysics and the patient accounting of Plato's conception of truth. For students of Plato's semantics and metaphysics more generally, Hestir's book offers lots of food for thought. I highly recommend it.' Christine J. Thomas, Notre Dame Philosophical ReviewsTable of Contents1. Introduction; Part I. Stability: 2. Strong Platonism, restricted Platonism, and stability; 3. Concerns about stability in the Cratylus; 4. Flux and language in the Theaetetus; 5. The foundation exposed: Parmenides 135bc; Part II. Combination: 6. Being as capacity and combination: a challenge for the friends of the forms; 7. The problem of predication: the challenge of the late-learners; Part III. Truth: 8. Predication, meaning, and truth in the Sophist; 9. Plato's conception of truth; 10. Truth as being and a substantive property.

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Book SynopsisJames Madison wrote, 'Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob'. The contributors to this volume discuss and for the most part challenge this claim by asking whether many minds can be wiser than one.Trade Review“In bringing together essays by students of politics, economics, philosophy, history, and cognitive science – disciplines that have much to say to each other but engage in joint conversation too rarely – Landemore and Elster make a significant contribution. Many of the individual articles are by scholars working at the frontiers of their respective fields. No work on collective intelligence has covered the subject with such breadth, scope, or wisdom.” – Robert Laubacher, Center for Collective Intelligence, MIT Sloan School of Management“This cutting-edge collection shows that in the last decade human beings have attained a genuinely new understanding of how and why collective wisdom can surpass that of any individual. Each essay adds subtlety, theoretical insight, or a telling example. Together they build to a compelling conclusion: societies succeed when they organize themselves to think better collectively. They can do this consciously through institutions whose principles and mechanisms are laid out in this book.” – Jane Mansbridge, Adams Professor, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University“For more than two decades, the ideas of participatory democracy and later on of deliberative democracy have stimulated the debate on the various forms of democratic development. Collective Wisdom opens a new cycle with the notion of epistemic democracy, renewing the very meaning of universal suffrage. This pathbreaking book brings together a series of contributions that define a promising field of research.” – Pierre Rosanvallon, Chair in Modern and Contemporary History of Politics, Collège de France“Can crowds be anything but unwise? Is there any reason to suppose that collective judgments could be accurate? The papers gathered in this volume suggest some stimulating ways to claim that those questions could be answered affirmatively and that the so called ‘mob’ might sometimes be less foolish and less unreliable than it has commonly been taken to be. Very rewarding in times when democracy is so frequently deemed unable to cope with complex questions.” – Jean-Fabien Spitz, Professor of Political Philosophy, University of Paris I Panthéon SorbonneTable of Contents1. Collective wisdom: old and new Hélène Landemore; 2. Prediction markets: trading uncertainty for collective wisdom Emile Servan-Schreiber; 3. Designing wisdom through the web: the passion of ranking Gloria Origgi; 4. Some microfoundations of collective wisdom Scott Page and Lu Hong; 5. What has collective wisdom to do with wisdom? Daniel Andler; 6. Legislation, planning, and deliberation John Ferejohn; 7. Epistemic democracy in classical Athens: sophistication, diversity, and innovation Josiah Ober; 8. The optimal design of a constituent assembly Jon Elster; 9. Sanior pars and major pars in the contemporary aeropagus: medicine evaluation committees in France and the United States Philippe Urfalino; 10. Collective wisdom: lessons from the theory of judgment aggregation Christian List; 11. Democracy counts: should rulers be numerous? David Estlund; 12. Democratic reason: the mechanisms of collective intelligence in politics Hélène Landemore; 13. Rational ignorance and beyond Gerry Mackie; 14. The myth of the rational voter and political theory Bryan Caplan; 15. Collective wisdom and institutional design Adrian Vermeule; 16. Reasoning as a social competence Dan Sperber and Hugo Mercier; 17. Conclusion Jon Elster.

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Book SynopsisProvides a defence of Kuhn's theory of scientific knowledge, arguing that it is an evolutionary social epistemology; revisits concepts from The Structure of Scientific Revolutions and examines new directions in Kuhn's view, including his emphasis on specialization. Wray also examines Kuhn's view of social constructionism and the sociology of science.Trade Review'K. Brad Wray admirably succeeds in explaining in a coherent way Thomas Kuhn's view of scientific development. He shows us how a sympathetic dispute with the sociology of science paves the way for a social epistemology that deserves its name. He also shows us clearly how a theory of scientific development that features revolutions is nevertheless evolutionary. A splendid book!' Professor Dr Paul Hoyningen-Huene, Leibniz Universität Hannover'Wray's monograph fills an important gap in the literature on Kuhn by clarifying and defending Kuhn's epistemology of science as it was developed in his later work, and by showing how it relates to recent work in sociology of science and science studies. Wray offers many important insights drawn from his re-examination of Kuhn's social epistemology while at the same time pointing to new areas of research that philosophers need to pursue.' Hanne Andersen, Aarhus University, Denmark'Excellent book … a rich and stimulating guide, one that caused me to rethink my own take on Kuhn and the issues that his work has raised for us. Both science studies professionals and more general readers will find much of value here.' Metascience'… a constructive and insightful framework for developing an epistemology of science … Well written, clear, and carefully argued, Kuhn's Evolutionary Social Epistemology will be most useful and insightful …' Stefano Gattei, Isis'… of interest to philosophers, sociologists, scientists, historians of science, and scholars working in science studies … Wray has the ability to write in a clear and accessible way … could be used as a textbook on Kuhn's epistemology of science … a splendid book … I am convinced it will inspire many scholars and students in years to come.' Barbara G. Benzi, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science'… highly recommended … The book provides concrete points of cooperative and collaborative studies of the science of sociological and philosophical perspective …' Markus Seidel, Rezensionen: Zeitschrift für Theoretische SoziologieTable of ContentsList of figures and table; Acknowledgements; Introduction: Kuhn's insight; Part I. Revolutions, Paradigms, and Incommensurability: 1. Scientific revolutions as lexical changes; 2. The Copernican revolution revisited; 3. Kuhn and the discovery of paradigms; 4. The epistemic significance of incommensurability; Part II. Kuhn's Evolutionary Epistemology: 5. Kuhn's historical perspective; 6. Truth and the end of scientific inquiry; 7. Scientific specialization; 8. Taking stock of the evolutionary dimensions of Kuhn's epistemology; Part III. Kuhn's Social Epistemology: 9. Kuhn's constructionism; 10. What makes Kuhn's epistemology a social epistemology?; 11. How does a new theory come to be accepted?; 12. Where the road has taken us: a synthesis; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisSpinoza's Ethics is one of the most historically and philosophically significant texts of the early modern period. This new translation is based on a new critical edition, and the volume also offers an introduction, chronology and glossary to make this notoriously difficult text accessible to students.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Chronology; Further reading; Note on the text and translation; First part; Second part; Third part; Fourth part; Fifth part.

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Book SynopsisWilliam James (18421910), the pioneering American philosopher and psychologist, was invited to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh University in 19012. In this resulting collection of his lectures, published in 1902 and reprinted many times, James explores the theme of personal religious experience.Table of ContentsPreface; 1. Religion and neurology; 2. Circumscription of the topic; 3. The reality of the unseen; 4. and 5. The religion of healthy-mindedness; 6. and 7. The sick soul; 8. The divided self, and the process of its unification; 9. Conversion; 10. Conversion, concluded; 11., 12., and 13. Saintliness; 14. and 15. The value of saintliness; 16. and 17. Mysticism; 18. Philosophy; 19. Other characteristics; 20. Conclusions; Postscript; Index.

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Book SynopsisIn this crisply written book, Hanno Sauer offers the first book-length treatment of debunking arguments in ethics, developing an empirically informed and philosophically sophisticated account of genealogical arguments and their significance for the reliability of moral cognition. He breaks new ground by introducing a series of novel distinctions into the current debate, which allows him to develop a framework for assessing the prospects of debunking or vindicating our moral intuitions. He also challenges the justification of some of our moral judgments by showing that they are based on epistemically defective processes. His book is an original, cutting-edge contribution to the burgeoning field of empirically informed metaethics, and will interest philosophers, psychologists, and anyone interested in how - and whether - moral judgment works.Table of ContentsIntroduction: debunking arguments and the gap; Part I. Debunking: 1. Debunking explained: structure and typology; 2. Debunking defused: the metaethical turn; 3. Debunking contained: selective and global scope; Part II. Disagreement: 4. Debunking realism: moral disagreement; 5. Debunking conservatism: political disagreement; Part III. Deontology: 6. Debunking details: the perils of trolleyology; 7. Debunking doctrines: double or knobe effect?; Part IV. Conclusion: 8. Vindicating arguments.

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Book SynopsisThis is a review of the psychological literature on wisdom by leading experts in the field. It covers the philosophical and sociocultural foundations of wisdom, and showcases the measurement and teaching of wisdom. The connection of wisdom to intelligence and personality is explained alongside its relationship with morality and ethics.Trade Review''What is wisdom?' sounds like one of those impossible questions, but think again! This rich collection reveals synergies across multiple perspectives towards a vision of wisdom today's world very much needs.' David Perkins, Harvard University, MassachusettsTable of ContentsPart I. Foundations of Wisdom: 1. Race to Samarra: the critical importance of wisdom in the world today Robert J. Sternberg; 2. Philosophical foundations of wisdom Jason Swartwood and Valerie Tiberius; 3. Socio-cultural foundations of wisdom Ricca Edmondson and Markus Woerner; 4. Neurobiology of wisdom Ellen Lee and Dilip V. Jeste; Part II. Conceptions of Wisdom: 5. Wisdom of the crowd: exploring people's conceptions of wisdom Nic M. Weststrate, Susan Bluck and Judith Glück; 6. Wisdom as self-transcendence Carolyn M. Aldwin, Heidi Igarashi and Michael R. Levenson; 7. Wisdom as a personality type Monika Ardelt, Stephen Pridgen and Kathryn L. Nutter-Pridgen; 8. Why people often prefer wise guys to guys who are wise: an augmented balance theory of the production and reception of wisdom Robert J. Sternberg; 9. General and personal wisdom Ursula Staudinger; 10. Wise reasoning: converging evidence for the psychology of sound judgment Harrison Oakes, Justin P. Brienza, Abdo Elnakouri and Igor Grossmann; 11. Practical wisdom: what Aristotle might add to psychology Barry Schwartz and Kenneth A. Sharpe; 12. Wisdom as state vs trait Igor Grossmann, Franki Y. H. Kung and Henri C. Santos; Part III. Measures of Wisdom: 13. Performance-based measures of wisdom: state of the art and future directions Ute Kunzmann; 14. Self-report wisdom measures: strengths, limitations, and future directions Jeffrey Webster; Part IV. The Development of Wisdom: 15. The development of wisdom during adulthood Judith Glück; 16. Developing and teaching for wisdom Michel Ferrari and Juensung Kim; 17. Teaching for wisdom Robert J. Sternberg and Emily S. Hagen; Part V. Cultural Perspectives on Wisdom: 18. Cultural differences in wisdom and conceptions of wisdom Michel Ferrari and Fatemeh Alhosseini; 19. Non-Western lay conceptions of wisdom Shih-ying Yang and Ali Intezari; Part VI. Wisdom and Other Psychological Constructs: 20. Creativity, intelligence, and wisdom: could vs should Sarah F. Lynch and James C. Kaufman; 21. Giftedness and wisdom Don Ambrose; 22. Low levels of wisdom—foolishness Balazs Aczel; 23. Wisdom and reflection Nic M. Weststrate; 24. Identity and purpose in life as building blocks for wisdom Kaylin Ratner and Anthony L. Burrow; 25. Wisdom, morality, and ethics Robert J. Sternberg and Judith Glück; 26. Wisdom and emotions Ute Kunzmann and Judith Glück; 27. Wisdom and well-being Monika Ardelt; 28. Relationship between wisdom and spirituality: an expanded theoretical model with mysticism and gerotranscendence Masami Takahashi; Part VII. Wisdom in Action: 29. Wise leadership Bernard McKenna and David Rooney; 30. Professional wisdom: functions and processes of psychotherapeutic and judicial wisdom Heidi M. Levitt and Lauren M. Grabowski; 31. Wisdom in medical decision making Lauris C. Kaldjian; 32. Wisdom in history and politics Lloyd Etheredge; 33. The urgent need for social wisdom Nicholas Maxwell; Part VIII. Conclusions: 34. Why is wisdom such an obscure field of inquiry and what can and should be done about it? Robert J. Sternberg and Judith Glück.

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Book SynopsisMaimonides' magnum opus, the Guide of the Perplexed, is the most influential text in the history of Jewish philosophy. Controversial in its day, it continues to generate interest and scholarly debate. This Critical Guide will be of interest to philosophers, Judaists, theologians, and medievalists.Table of ContentsIntroduction Daniel Frank and Aaron Segal; Part I. Form: 1. The structure and purpose of the guide Daniel Frank; 2. The guide as biblical commentary Igor de Souza; Part II. Human beginnings: 3. Paradise and the fall Shira Weiss; 4. Maimonides on the nature of good and evil Daniel Rynhold; Part III. The creator: 5. The scope of metaphysics Daniel Davies and Charles H. Manekin; 6. His existence is essentiality: maimonides as metaphysician Aaron Segal; 7. 'Whereof one cannot speak' Silvia Jonas; Part IV. The created: 8. Creation and miracles in the guide T. M. Rudavsky; 9. The prophetic method Dani Rabinowitz; 10. Maimonides' modalities Josef Stern; Part V. Human finitude: 11. Maimonides' critique of anthropocentrism and teleology Warren Zev Harvey; 12. Maimonides and the problem(s) of evil David Shatz; Part VI. Human ends: 13. The nature and purpose of divine law Moshe Halbertal; 14. Maimonides on human perfection and the love of god Steven Nadler; Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisThe essays in this volume explore the distinctive features of the Prolegomena, including Kant's discussion of philosophical methodology, his critical idealism, the nature of experience, his engagement with Hume, the nature of the self, the relation between geometry and physics, and what we can cognize about God.Table of ContentsIntroduction Peter Thielke; 1. Humor, Common Sense and the Future of Metaphysics in the Prolegomena Melissa Merritt; 2. Is metaphysics possible? The argumentative structure of the Prolegomena Eric Watkins; 3. From 'Facts' of Rational Cognition to Their Condition: Metaphysics and the Analytic Method Clinton Tolley; 4. Transcendental idealism in the Prolegomena Lucy Allais; 5. Judgments of Experience and the Grammar of Thought Peter Thielke; 6. The Beach of Skepticism: Kant and Hume on the Practice of Philosophy and the Proper Bounds of Skepticism Karl Schafer; 7. The Boundary of Pure Reason John Callanan; 8. Kant's Argument Against Psychological Materialism in the Prolegomena Katharina Kraus; 9. The Marriage of Metaphysics and Geometry in Kant's Prolegomena James Messina; 10. Kant's 'as if' and Hume's 'remote analogy': deism and theism in Prolegomena §§57 and 58 Tim Jankowiak; 11. Cognition by Analogy and the Possibility of Metaphysics Samantha Matherne.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first comprehensive volume in English on Cassirer's philosophy for over seventy years. Containing eleven essays by leading Cassirer scholars, it addresses all the key aspects of Cassirer's multi-faceted thought and situates them in the wider context of his philosophy of culture.Table of ContentsIntroduction; I. Cassirer's Philosophy of Culture: The Interaction between Language and the other Symbolic Forms Robert Leib; 2. The Status of Art in Cassirer's System of Culture Samantha Matherne; 3. Being in Time: History as an Expression and Interpretation of Human Culture Anne Pollok; 4. Science as a Symbolic Form: Ernst Cassirer's Culture of Reason Massimo Ferrari; 5. Quantum Mechanics as the Ultimate Mode of Symbol Formation: The Final Stage of Cassirer's Philosophy of Physical Science Thomas Ryckman; 6. Spirit in the Age of Technical Production Nicolas de Warren; 7. Political Myth and the Problem of Orientation: Reading Cassirer in Times of Cultural Crisis Simon Truwant; II. Cassirer's Philosophy of Consciousness: 8. Rethinking Representation: Cassirer's Philosophy of Human Perceiving, Thinking, and Understanding Martina Plümacher; 9. Cassirer's Philosophy of Mind: From Consciousness to 'Objective Spirit' Guido Kreis; III: Cassirer's Philosophical Method: 10. Cassirer's Phenomenological Affinities Daniel D. Dahlstrom; 11.Cassirer's Place in Today's Philosophical Landscape: 'Synthetic Philosophy', Transcendental Idealism, Cultural Pluralism Sebastian Luft.

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Book SynopsisThis engaging treatment of Aquinas's theory of self-knowledge provides a comprehensive look at a neglected aspect of medieval philosophy, from both a historical and a philosophical perspective. It will be valuable to specialists and advanced students in medieval philosophy, the philosophy of mind and the history of ideas.Trade Review"… indispensable to any future study of self-knowledge in Aquinas. Its virtues include an exhaustive review of the scholarly literature on self-knowledge, a detailed analysis of each component of Aquinas’s theory, and proposed resolutions to each interpretive problem. [This book] will spark a new debate over the centrality of self-knowledge in Aquinas’s thought." Carl N. Still, Journal of the History of PhilosophyTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. Historical and Textual Origins: 1. The development of a medieval debate; 2. The trajectory of Aquinas's theory of self-knowledge, 1252–72; Part II. Phenomena and Problems: 3. Perceiving myself: the content of actual self-awareness; 4. Perceiving myself: is self-awareness an intuitive act?; 5. The significance of self-presence: habitual self-awareness; 6. Implicit vs explicit self-awareness and the duality of conscious thought; 7. Discovering the soul's nature: quidditative self-knowledge; 8. Self-knowledge and psychological personhood; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA welcome addition to Maddy's project of articulating Second Philosophy. The breadth and depth of her investigations, including forays into the history and philosophy of early modern science and philosophy, questions about the proper direction and methods of philosophy of science, the relation between ordinary language philosophy and the sciences, and extensive interpretation and analysis of questions in philosophy of logic and philosophy of mathematics, inspire awe. Maddy has the curiosity and philosophical acumen that are so fully on display in the Second Philosopher. She embodies an integrated history and philosophy of science that is informed by actual science and extracts its philosophical frameworks from the investigation of real cases. I commend the volume to a broad audience, whose members find themselves curious about the various topics as described. * Gary Hatfield, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Maddy's second-philosophical essays over new insight into long-standing questions in the philosophy of science, epistemology, the philosophies of language, logic, mathematics-all with an eye to the methodological themes that connect them. * Mathematical Reviews Clippings *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Method 1. A plea for natural philosophy 2. On the question of realism Skepticism 3. Hume and Reid 4. Moore's hands 5. Wittgenstein on hinges Logic and language 6. A note on of truth and reference 7. The philosophy of logic 8. A second philosophy of logic Mathematics 9. Psychology and the a priori 10. Do numbers exist? 11. Enhanced if-thenism References

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Book SynopsisA profound and radical manifesto calling for a transformation in the way we think about democracy, equality, and ourselves.Freedom has long been a foundational concept at the heart of our civilization. Free markets, free media, free speech--even in these politically divided times, freedom is one thing we can all agree on. But we also live in a time of unprecedented economic inequality, eroding democracy, and a broken criminal justice system. How can we value freedom and simultaneously inhibit it?In Creating Freedom, Raoul Martinez argues that the more we understand the limits on our freedom, the better we will be at resisting them. Drawing on neuroscience, criminology, psychology, politics, climate science, economics, and philosophy, Creating Freedom lays a blueprint for us to make sense of our fractured world--and illuminates the path toward a better future.

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Book SynopsisMetaphysics and Epistemology: A Guided Anthology presents a comprehensive introductory overview of key themes, thinkers, and texts in metaphysics and epistemology. Presents a wide-ranging collection of carefully excerpted readings on metaphysics and epistemology Blends classic and contemporary works to reveal the historical development and present directions in the fields of metaphysics and epistemology Provides succinct, insightful commentaryto introduce the essence of eachselection at the beginning of chapters which also serve to inter-link the selected writings Table of ContentsSource Acknowledgments x Preface and Acknowledgments xv Introduction xvii Part I The Philosophical Image 1 1 Life and the Search for Philosophical Knowledge 3 Plato, Republic 2 Philosophical Questioning 14 Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy 3 Philosophy and Fundamental Images 20 Wilfrid Sellars, “Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man” 4 Philosophy as the Analyzing of Key Concepts 27 P.F. Strawson, Analysis and Metaphysics 5 Philosophy as Explaining Underlying Possibilities 33 Robert Nozick, Philosophical Explanations Part II Metaphysics: Philosophical Images of Being 41 How Is the World at all Physical? 43 6 How Real Are Physical Objects? 43 Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy 7 Are Physical Objects Never Quite as They Appear To Be? 48 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 8 Are Physical Objects Really Only Objects of Thought? 54 George Berkeley, The Principles of Human Knowledge 9 Is Even the Mind Physical? 60 D.M. Armstrong, “The Causal Theory of the Mind” 10 Is the Physical World All There Is? 66 Frank Jackson, “Epiphenomenal Qualia” How Does the World Function? 74 11 Is Causation Only a Kind of Regularity? 74 David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding 12 Is Causation Something Singular and Unanalyzable? 81 G.E.M. Anscombe, “Causation and Determination” How Do Things Ever Have Qualities? 88 13 How Can Individual Things Have Repeatable Qualities? 88 Plato, Parmenides 14 How Can Individual Things Not Have Repeatable Qualities? 95 D.M. Armstrong, Nominalism and Realism How Are There Any Truths? 102 15 Do Facts Make True Whatever Is True? 102 Bertrand Russell, “The Philosophy of Logical Atomism” 16 Are There Social Facts? 107 John Searle, Mind, Language and Society 17 Is There Only Personally Decided Truth? 114 Plato, Theaetetus How Is There a World At All? 120 18 Has the World Been Designed by God? 120 David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion 19 Is God’s Existence Knowable Purely Conceptually? 131 St. Anselm, Proslogion 20 Has This World Been Actualized by God from Among All Possible Worlds? 145 G.W. Leibniz, Monadology 21 Does This World Exist Because It Has Value Independently of God? 149 Nicholas Rescher, Nature and Understanding 22 Can Something Have Value in Itself? 158 Plato, Euthyphro How Are Persons Persons? 161 23 Is Each Person a Union of Mind and Body? 161 René Descartes, “Meditation VI” 24 Is Self-Consciousness what Constitutes a Person? 164 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 25 How Strictly Does Self-Consciousness Constitute a Person? 170 Roderick M. Chisholm, “Identity through Time” 26 Are Persons Constituted with Strict Identity At All? 177 Derek Parfit, Reasons and Persons 27 Are We Animals? 187 Eric T. Olson, “An Argument for Animalism” How Do People Ever Have Free Will and Moral Responsibility? 196 28 Is There No Possibility of Acting Differently To How One Will in Fact Act? 196 Aristotle, De Interpretatione 29 Could Our Being Entirely Caused Coexist with Our Acting Freely? 200 David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding 30 Would Being Entirely Caused Undermine Our Personally Constitutive Emotions? 206 P.F. Strawson, “Freedom and Resentment” 31 Is a Person Morally Responsible Only for Actions Performed Freely? 213 Harry G. Frankfurt, “Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility” 32 Is Moral Responsibility for a Good Action Different to Moral Responsibility for a Bad Action? 218 Susan Wolf, “Asymmetrical Freedom” How Could a Person Be Harmed by Being Dead? 224 33 Is It Impossible To Be Harmed by Being Dead? 224 Epicurus, “Letter to Menoeceus” 34 Is It Impossible To Be Harmed by Being Dead at a Particular Time? 226 Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 35 Would Immortality Be Humanly Possible and Desirable? 229 Bernard Williams, “The Makropulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality” 36 Can a Person be Deprived of Benefits by Being Dead? 236 Fred Feldman, Confrontations with the Reaper Further Readings for Part II 240 Part III Epistemology: Philosophical Images of Knowing 245 Can We Understand What It Is to Know? 247 37 Is Knowledge a Supported True Belief? 247 Plato, Meno 38 When Should a Belief be Supported by Evidence? 251 W.K. Clifford, “The Ethics of Belief ” 39 Is Knowledge a Kind of Objective Certainty? 256 A.J. Ayer, The Problem of Knowledge 40 Are All Fallibly Supported True Beliefs Instances of Knowledge? 260 Edmund L. Gettier, “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?” 41 Must a True Belief Arise Aptly, if it is to be Knowledge? 264 Alvin I. Goldman, “A Causal Theory of Knowing” 42 Must a True Belief Arise Reliably, if it is to be Knowledge? 268 Alvin I. Goldman, “Discrimination and Perceptual Knowledge” 43 Where is the Value in Knowing? 273 Catherine Z. Elgin, “The Epistemic Efficacy of Stupidity” 44 Is Knowledge Always a Virtuously Derived True Belief? 279 Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski, Virtues of the Mind Can We Ever Know Just through Observation? 287 45 Is All Knowledge Ultimately Observational? 287 David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding 46 Is There a Problem of Not Knowing that One Is Not Dreaming? 292 René Descartes, “Meditation I” 47 What Is It Really to be Seeing Something? 295 David Lewis, “Veridical Hallucination and Prosthetic Vision” 48 Is There a Possibility of Being a Mere and Unknowing Brain in a Vat? 302 Hilary Putnam, Reason, Truth and History 49 Is It Possible to Observe Directly the Objective World? 311 John McDowell, “The Disjunctive Conception of Experience as Material for a Transcendental Argument” Can We Ever Know Innately? 317 50 Is It Possible to Know Innately Some Geometrical or Mathematical Truths? 317 Plato, Meno 51 Is There No Innate Knowledge At All? 325 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Can We Ever Know Just through Reflection? 335 52 Is All Knowledge Ultimately Reflective? 335 René Descartes, Discourse on Method 53 Can Reflective Knowledge Be Substantive and Informative? 340 Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason 54 Is All Apparently Reflective Knowledge Ultimately Observational? 349 John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic 55 Is Scientific Reflection Our Best Model for Understanding Reflection? 355 C.S. Peirce, “Some Consequences of Four Incapacities” and “How To Make Our Ideas Clear” 56 Are Some Necessities Known through Observation, Not Reflection? 363 Saul A. Kripke, Naming and Necessity Can We Know in Other Fundamental Ways? 369 57 Is Knowing-How a Distinct Way of Knowing? 369 Gilbert Ryle, “Knowing How and Knowing That” 58 Is Knowing One’s Intention-in-Action a Distinct Way of Knowing? 376 G.E.M. Anscombe, Intention 59 Is Knowing via What Others Say or Write a Distinct Way of Knowing? 383 Jennifer Lackey, “Knowing from Testimony” 60 Is Knowing through Memory a Distinct Way of Knowing? 391 Bertrand Russell, The Analysis of Mind Can We Fundamentally Fail Ever To Know? 399 61 Are None of our Beliefs More Justifiable than Others? 399 Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism 62 Are None of Our Beliefs Immune from Doubt? 407 René Descartes, “Meditation I” 63 Are We Unable Ever To Extrapolate Justifiedly Beyond Our Observations? 410 David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding Can Skeptical Arguments Be Escaped? 417 64 Can We Know at Least Our Conscious Mental Lives? 417 René Descartes, “Meditation II” 65 Can We Know Some Fundamental Principles by Common Sense? 422 Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man 66 Do We Know a Lot, but Always Fallibly? 434 Karl R. Popper, “On the Sources of Knowledge and of Ignorance” 67 Is It Possible to have Knowledge even when Not Knowing that One Is Not a Brain in a Vat? 444 Robert Nozick, Philosophical Explanations Further Readings for Part III 452

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Book SynopsisThe Bed of Procrustes is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don’t understand. The other books in the series are Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, Antifragile, and Skin in the Game.By the author of the modern classic The Black Swan, this collection of aphorisms and meditations expresses his major ideas in ways you least expect.The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from Greek mythology: the story of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. It represents Taleb’s view of modern civilization’s hubristic side effects—modifying humans to satisfy technology, blaming reality for not fitting economic models, inventing diseases to sell drugs, defining intelligence as what can be tested in a classroom, and convincing people that employment is not slavery. Playful and irreverent, these aphorisms will surprise you by exposing self-delusions you have been living with but never recognized.With a rare combination of pointed wit and potent wisdom, Taleb plows through human illusions, contrasting the classical values of courage, elegance, and erudition against the modern diseases of nerdiness, philistinism, and phoniness.“Taleb’s crystalline nuggets of thought stand alone like esoteric poems.”—Financial Times

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Book SynopsisSetting the stage with a selection of readings from important 19th century philosophers, this title on truth puts in conversation some of the main philosophical figures from the 20th century in pragmatist traditions. It focuses on the value or normativity of truth through exposing the dialogues between different schools of thought.Trade Review“There are no longer two dialogues – analytic and continental. It is all one now, and more complicated than ever. This collection is an indispensable point of entry to the new conversations.” Barry Allen, McMaster University “It is virtually impossible to imagine a more useful collection of texts on this thorny philosophical topic. There is no pretense that herein lies the truth about truth, but there is the realization of a set of complex issues illuminated from radically diverse, yet often surprisingly overlapping, perspectives.” Vincent Colapietro, Pennsylvania State UniversityTable of ContentsPreface. Acknowledgments. General Introduction. Part I. The Value of Truth: “Revaluing our highest values”. Introduction. 1. Friedrich Nietzsche On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense. 2. William James Pragmatism’s Conception of Truth. Suggested Reading. Part II. Representation, Subjectivity, and Intersubjectivity. Introduction. 3. Soren Kierkegaard Truth, Subjectivity and Communication. 4. Ludwig Wittgenstein Remarks on Truth. 5. Donald Davidson Truth and Meaning. 6. Hilary Putnam The Face of Cognition. Suggested Reading. Part III. Truth, Consensus, and Transcendence. Introduction. 7. Richard Rorty Representation, Social Practice, and Truth. 8. Jurgen Habermas Richard Rorty’s Pragmatic Turn. 9. John McDowell Towards Rehabilitating Objectivity. 10. Paul Feyerabend Notes on Relativism. Suggested Reading. Part IV. Non-Propositional Truth: Language, Art and World. Introduction. 11. Gianni Vattimo The Truth of Hermeneutics (with additional remarks). 12. Joseph Margolis Relativism and Cultural Relativity. 13. Maurice Merleau-Ponty Perception and Truth (with additional remarks). 14. Jacques Derrida The End of the Book and the Beginning of Writing. Suggested Reading. Part V. Disclosure and Testimony. Introduction. 15. Edmund Husserl Self-Evidence and Truth (with additional remarks). 16. Martin Heidegger On the Essence of Truth (with additional remarks). 17. Emmanuel Levinas Truth of Disclosure and Truth of Testimony. 18. Catherine Z. Elgin Word Giving, Word Taking. Suggested Reading. Part VI. Truth and Power. Introduction. 19. Hannah Arendt Truth in Politics. 20. Michel Foucault The Discourse on Language (with additional remarks). 21. Linda Alcoff Reclaiming Truth. Suggested Reading. Part VII. A Supplement: Radicalizations of Truth. 22. An essay perforated with short excerpts from Žižek, Butler, Irigaray, Baudrillard and Deleuze. Suggested Reading. Primary Sources. Index

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Book SynopsisEPISTEMOLOGY This is a superb companion to Epistemology: An Anthology. It consists of sixty commentaries, one for each of the sixty entries in that anthology. Turri is an extremely lucid writer, with a wonderful knack for finding and laying out argumentative structure, and for explaining crucial concepts. His commentary will greatly aid student comprehension and enhance class discussion. Ernest Sosa, Rutgers University Turri's discussions are engaging and lucid. They are written for beginning students and will serve that purpose beautifully, but they are so well done that even veteran epistemologists will find them helpful. John Greco, Saint Louis University Epistemology: A Guide is a straightforward and accessible introduction to contemporary epistemology for those studying the topic for the first time. It introduces and explains the main arguments of the most influential publications in the field from the last 50 years. BalancingTrade Review“The author fosters an excellent bridge to the primary sources and presents the material in a way that scarcely could be made more palatable. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.” (Choice, 1 December 2014) Table of ContentsPreface xi Acknowledgments xiii 1 The best case for skepticism about the external world? (Stroud, “The Problem of the External World”) 1 2 Proving the external world exists (Or: Let’s all give Moore a hand!) (Moore, “Proof of an External World”) 6 3 Some ways of resisting skepticism (Moore, “Four Forms of Scepticism”) 10 4 Plausibility and possibilities (Moore, “Certainty”) 15 5 Skeptic on skeptic (Klein, “How a Pyrrhonian Skeptic Might Respond to Academic Skepticism”) 19 6 Realism in epistemology (Williams, “Epistemological Realism”) 24 7 Socratic questions and the foundation of empirical knowledge (Chisholm, “The Myth of the Given”) 31 8–9 The foundation of empirical knowledge? (Sellars, “Does Empirical Knowledge Have a Foundation?” and “Epistemic Principles”) 36 10 It’s not a given that empirical knowledge has a foundation (BonJour, “Can Empirical Knowledge Have a Foundation?”) 44 11 Interpretation, meaning and skepticism (Davidson, “A Coherence Theory of Truth and Knowledge”) 49 12 Blending foundationalism and coherentism (Haack, “A Foundherentist Theory of Epistemic Justification”) 54 13 Foundationalism, coherentism and supervenience (Sosa, “The Raft and the Pyramid”) 60 14 Infinitism (Klein, “Human Knowledge and the Infinite Regress of Reasons”) 67 15 The Gettier problem (Gettier, “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?”) 73 16 Some principles concerning knowledge and inference (Harman, Thought, Selections) 77 17 The essence of the Gettier problem (Zagzebski, “The Inescapability of Gettier Problems”) 83 18 Knowledge is an unanalyzable mental state (Williamson, “A State of Mind”) 85 19 Closure, contrast and semi-skepticism (Dretske, “Epistemic Operators”) 92 20 Closure, contrast and anti-skepticism (Stine, “Skepticism, Relevant Alternatives, and Deductive Closure”) 99 21 Keeping close track of knowledge (Nozick, “Knowledge and Skepticism”) 103 22 Moore wins (Sosa, “How to Defeat Opposition to Moore”) 111 23 The closure principle: dangers and defense (Vogel, “Are There Counter examples to the Closure Principle?”) 116 24 Evidentialist epistemology (Feldman and Conee, “Evidentialism”) 123 25 Non-defensive epistemology (Foley, “Skepticism and Rationality”) 129 26 Reliabilism about justification (Goldman, “What Is Justified Belief?”) 135 27 Reliabilism: a level assessment (Vogel, “Reliabilism Leveled”) 141 28 Against externalism (BonJour, “Externalist Theories of Empirical Knowledge”) 146 29 Against internalism (Goldman, “Internalism Exposed”) 151 30 A skeptical take on externalism (Fumerton, “Externalism and Skepticism”) 156 31 A friendly take on internalism (Feldman and Conee, “Internalism Defended”) 159 32 Warrant (Plantinga, “Warrant: A First Approximation”) 164 33 Intellectual virtues (Zagzebski, Virtues of the Mind) 169 34 Virtue epistemology (Greco, “Virtues and Vices of Virtue Epistemology”) 172 35 Knowledge, luck and virtue (Pritchard, “Cognitive Responsibility and the Epistemic Virtues”) 176 36 Epistemic value and cognitive achievement (Sosa, “The Place of Truth in Epistemology”) 181 37 Giving up on knowledge (Kvanvig, “Why Should Inquiring Minds Want to Know?”) 187 38 Giving up on (exact) truth (Elgin, “True Enough”) 192 39 Naturalized epistemology advertised (Quine, “Epistemology Naturalized”) 196 40 Naturalized epistemology criticized (Kim, “What is ‘Naturalized Epistemology’?”) 203 41 Naturalized epistemology radicalized (Antony, “Quine as Feminist”) 207 42 A apriori justification and unrevisability (Putnam, “There is at Least One A Priori Truth”) 211 43 A priori justification and revisability (Casullo, “Revisability, Reliabilism, and A Priori Knowledge”) 215 44 Philosophical method and empirical science (Bealer, “A Priori Knowledge and the Scope of Philosophy”) 219 45 Experimental epistemology (Weinberg, Nichols and Stich, “Normativity and Epistemic Intuitions”) 226 46 Natural kinds, intuitions and method in epistemology (Kornblith, “Investigating Knowledge Itself”) 230 47 Contextualism and skeptical puzzles (DeRose, “Solving the Skeptical Problem”) 235 48 Contextualism and infallibilist intuitions (Lewis, “Elusive Knowledge”) 240 49 Contextualism and intuitional instability (Cohen, “Contextualist Solutions to Epistemological Problems”) 244 50 Knowledge and action (Stanley, “Knowledge and Practical Interests, Selections”) 247 51 Rationality and action (Fantl and McGrath, “Evidence, Pragmatics, and Justification”) 252 52 One invariantist’s scorecard (Hawthorne, “Sensitive Moderate Invariantism”) 258 53 A relativist theory of knowledge attributions (MacFarlane, “The Assessment Sensitivity of Knowledge Attributions”) 264 54 Rationality and trust (Baker, “Trust and Rationality”) 270 55 Testimony and gullibility (Fricker, “Against Gullibility”) 273 56 Some reflections on how epistemic sources work (Burge, “Content Preservation”) 277 57 Testimony and knowledge (Lackey, “Testimonial Knowledge and Transmission”) 282 58 Memory and knowledge (Huemer, “The Problem of Memory Knowledge”) 286 59 Perception and knowledge (McDowell, “Criteria, Defeasibility, and Knowledge”) 291 60 Skills and knowledge (Reynolds, “Knowing How to Believe with Justification”) 295 Index 299

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Book SynopsisIn July 2014 the Belgian newspaper Le Soir claimed that France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland and the United States may lose between 43 and 50 per cent of their jobs within ten to fifteen years. Across the world, integrated automation, one key result of the so-called ‘data economy’, is leading to a drastic reduction in employment in all areas - from the legal profession to truck driving, from medicine to stevedoring. In this first volume of a new series, the leading cultural theorist Bernard Stiegler advocates a radical solution to the crisis posed by automation and consumer capitalism more generally. He calls for a decoupling of the concept of ‘labour’ (meaningful, intellectual participation) from ‘employment’ (dehumanizing, banal work), with the ultimate aim of eradicating ‘employment’ altogether. By doing so, new and alternative economic models will arise, where individuals are no longer simply mined for labour, but also actively produce what they consume. Building substantially on his existing theories and engaging with a wide range of figures - from Deleuze and Foucault to Bill Gates and Alan Greenspan - Automatic Society will appeal to students and scholars across the social sciences and humanities, as well as anyone concerned with the central question of the future of work.Trade Review"As Stiegler shows in this important work, there is a glaring and dangerous absence of critical thinking about automation and its effects on political and economic life. His argument is profoundly important: we must interrogate the production and maintenance of automatisms in contemporary life in order to prepare the way for what he calls a dis-automatization of society. Stiegler’s vision for the future calls for the foundation of a new human order in the midst of the Anthropocene, against the entropic violence of capitalism in its current algorithmic guise." - David Bates, UC Berkeley "At once a bracing critique of algorithmic governmentality, with its accompanying specter of mass unemployment as automated labor displaces humans, and a hopeful call for reversing the ecological devastation of the Anthropocene, Stiegler lays out a blueprint for catalyzing our entry into what he calls the Neganthropocene, an era where knowledge trumps information and human well-being comes before capitalist profits. This provocative book will be of interest to anyone worried about where we are headed and eager to embrace a more positive future." - N. Katherine Hayles, Duke UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction: Functional Stupidity, Entropy and Negentropy in the Anthropocene1 The Industry of Traces and Automatized Artificial Crowds2 States of Shock, States of Fact, States of Law3 The Destruction of the Faculty of Dreaming4 Outpaced by the Automatic Generation of Protentions5 Within the Electronic Leviathan in Fact and in Law6 On Available Time for the Coming Generation7 Energies and Potentials in the Twenty-First Century8 Over and Above the MarketConclusion: Noetic Pollination and the NeganthropoceneNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisIn On Doubt, Vilém Flusser refines Martin Heidegger’s famous declaration that “language is the dwelling of Being.” For Flusser, “the word is the dwelling of being,” because in fact, in the beginning, there was the word. On Doubt is a treatise on the human intellect, its relation to language, and the reality-forming discourses that subsequently emerge. For Flusser, the faith that the modern age places in Cartesian doubt plays a role similar to the one that faith in God played in previous eras—a faith that needs to be challenged. Descartes doubts the world through his proposition cogito ergo sum, but leaves doubt itself untouched as indubitable and imperious. His cogito ergo sum may have proved to the Western intellect that thoughts exist, but it did not prove the existence of that which thinks: one can eliminate thinking and yet continue being. Therefore, should we not doubt doubt itself? Should we not try to go beyond this last step of Cartesian doubt and look for a new faith? The twentieth century has seen many attempts to defeat Cartesian doubt, however, this doubt of doubt has instead generated a complete loss of faith, which the West experiences as existential nihilism. Hence, the emergent emptying of values that results from such extreme doubt. Everything loses its meaning. Can this climate be overcome? Will the West survive the modern age?

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