Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge Books

Book SynopsisDiscusses questions such as, what is knowledge, what qualifies as knowledge, and what does not; what does it mean to say, "I know, I understand," what is truth, and what is certainty? When can we affirm and be certain that -- I know this or that, this or that is a universal truth I can rely upon, and I know that it so because I have a method and at least one criterion to determine that this or that is indeed a universal truth. Furthermore, how do knowledge and understanding compare with belief: Are there evidences so compelling that, in certain cases, propositions of the form ''I know that X'' are indeed expressions of knowledge, and in other cases merely expressions of opinions and/or beliefs? Can the words ''belief'', ''understanding'', and ''knowledge'' be used interchangeably? And by the way, what role does reason play in our endeavours to seek knowledge? And what role does human nature play in that endeavour?

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Book SynopsisPhilosophy begins in the middle of ordinary experience. Consider these four aspects of daily life: we have conversations which require us to strive to make ourselves understood and to understand others; we easily pick out nameable items in the world and also sense how the things around us hang together; we count things and do simple arithmetic, and are sure we know what were doing; we give reasons for knowing the things we claim to know. Philosophy gets off the ground when we ask how it is possible that we are already doing these things. Wakefulness and World takes up this question by reading works by Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel. The invitation is two-fold: to accompany the author in reading some philosophical texts and to think together about the manifest and puzzling intelligibility of the world.

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Book SynopsisThe work of three present-day Sankritist-philosophers, God and the World's Arrangement allows readers to engage directly with writings of the classical Indian philosophers Śaṅkara and Vācaspati, as well as some of their most acute critics, on the question of whether the existence of a creator God can be known by reason alone. Carefully selected and annotated with the needs of students foremost in mind, these new translations will be of interest to anyone wishing to see up close a newly set gem of our philosophical inheritance from global antiquity.Trade Review"Students and scholars should welcome this outstanding translation and commentary. Offering core passages of Nyāya and Vedānta in accessible English will expand the horizon of contemporary philosophy of religion and make more evident the often-overlooked elements of natural theology in non-Western philosophy." —Charles Taliaferro, Overby Distinguished Chair, St. Olaf College"Philosophers are waking up to the fact that the philosophy of religion includes more than Christian theology. Guha, Dasti, and Phillips have given us an invaluable resource for globalizing our teaching of the philosophy of religion, and for teaching Indian philosophy. But they have done more than that. This beautiful volume provides a model for the translation of Indian philosophical texts, and for presenting them to a Western audience. Sūtras and commentaries are translated into clear, accessible contemporary philosophical English with no clutter, and without any sacrifice of philological precision. The essays that contextualize the texts are both learned and readable, and substantially enhance the texts themselves, whether the reader is a professional philosopher or a student." —Jay L. Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy, Logic and Buddhist Studies, Smith College"Building on a long tradition of textual study, an increasing number of universities today demonstrate interest in Asian perspectives on philosophy, religion, theology, politics, and other disciplines—even for general education. This book offers a welcome and a needed addition to teachers and students that want to learn about Asia through a careful reading of primary source material. It covers some broad topics recognizable in the philosophy of religion, and it gives precision through the presentation of specific texts from the Indian tradition. This book offers a clear picture into the scholastic and commentarial writing from two monuments in the Indian tradition, Shakara and Vacaspati. The discussion around the primary source material offers helpful contextualization, and the primary readings introduce students to a complex and a detailed world of philosophy, theology, and the unique modes of commentarial writing in Shankara, Vacaspati, and related theologians, philosophers, and root texts of their time." —Jonathan Edelmann, Department of Religion, University of Florida "The scarcity of accessible English translations of Sanskrit texts that retain the philosophical rigor of the original has been a great challenge in Indian philosophy. . . . This book sets an example of how traditional Indian ways of establishing one’s argument through exegesis could be explained in simple language. A valuable read to students of Indian philosophy."—Swami Narasimhananda, Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, in Philosophy East and West

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Book SynopsisThe work of three present-day Sankritist-philosophers, God and the World's Arrangement allows readers to engage directly with writings of the classical Indian philosophers Śaṅkara and Vācaspati, as well as some of their most acute critics, on the question of whether the existence of a creator God can be known by reason alone. Carefully selected and annotated with the needs of students foremost in mind, these new translations will be of interest to anyone wishing to see up close a newly set gem of our philosophical inheritance from global antiquity.Trade Review"Students and scholars should welcome this outstanding translation and commentary. Offering core passages of Nyāya and Vedānta in accessible English will expand the horizon of contemporary philosophy of religion and make more evident the often-overlooked elements of natural theology in non-Western philosophy." —Charles Taliaferro, Overby Distinguished Chair, St. Olaf College"Philosophers are waking up to the fact that the philosophy of religion includes more than Christian theology. Guha, Dasti, and Phillips have given us an invaluable resource for globalizing our teaching of the philosophy of religion, and for teaching Indian philosophy. But they have done more than that. This beautiful volume provides a model for the translation of Indian philosophical texts, and for presenting them to a Western audience. Sūtras and commentaries are translated into clear, accessible contemporary philosophical English with no clutter, and without any sacrifice of philological precision. The essays that contextualize the texts are both learned and readable, and substantially enhance the texts themselves, whether the reader is a professional philosopher or a student." —Jay L. Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy, Logic and Buddhist Studies, Smith College"Building on a long tradition of textual study, an increasing number of universities today demonstrate interest in Asian perspectives on philosophy, religion, theology, politics, and other disciplines—even for general education. This book offers a welcome and a needed addition to teachers and students that want to learn about Asia through a careful reading of primary source material. It covers some broad topics recognizable in the philosophy of religion, and it gives precision through the presentation of specific texts from the Indian tradition. This book offers a clear picture into the scholastic and commentarial writing from two monuments in the Indian tradition, Shakara and Vacaspati. The discussion around the primary source material offers helpful contextualization, and the primary readings introduce students to a complex and a detailed world of philosophy, theology, and the unique modes of commentarial writing in Shankara, Vacaspati, and related theologians, philosophers, and root texts of their time." —Jonathan Edelmann, Department of Religion, University of Florida

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Book SynopsisThis volume, the final in Tim Lilburn’s decades-long meditation on philosophy and environmental consequences, traces a relationship between mystic traditions and the political world. Struck by the realization that he did not know how to be where he found himself, Lilburn embarked on a personal attempt at decolonization, seeking to uncover what is wrong within Canadian culture and to locate a possible path to recovery. He proposes a new epistemology leading to an ecologically responsible and spiritually acute relationship between settler Canadians, Indigenous peoples, and the land we inhabit. The Larger Conversation is a bold statement: a vital text for readers of environmental philosophy and for anyone interested in building toward conversation between Indigenous peoples and settlers.Trade Review"It takes a poet to see the extraordinary in the mundane.... This is reading for the joy of it." [Full review at https://www.blacklocks.ca/book-review-going-home] -- Holly Doan * Blacklock's Reporter *"In a series of essays, lectures, confessions, and interviews, all based on years of reading and research, Lilburn shares not new but old, reclaimed ways of thinking—long-ignored riches from the Christian, Judaic and Islamic contemplative wisdom traditions.... In order to undo the Western extractive, colonial approach to land—one that uses, warehouses, and dominates—we have to return to our former strengths, what Lilburn calls 'cognitive rebar.' What justice asks of us is that we do the work to prepare for conversation." [Full article at http://www.focusonvictoria.ca/novdec2017/the-larger-conversation-contemplation-and-place-r5/] -- Amy Reiswig * Focus Magazine *"This book is exactly what I think is required in the emerging scholarly and literary work on decolonization in Canada. This isn't a dry and heavy academic text marking up conceptual territory: territorializing knowledge with confusing title and jargon... This book is much more in the traditions of mystical contemplative philosophy." -- Cary Campbell * SubTerrain *"This collection of essays is the third in a series of books in which Lilburn reflects on his own sense of rootlessness, often as a cultural phenomenon. The current book's emphasis on the colonial condition is new...[The] construal at the heart of the book is individual and specific: North Americans of European descent suffer from a colonial malaise consisting significantly of a malformed relation to place." -- Carolyn Richardson * The Fiddlehead *"[Lilburn] feels that beneath 'the smoothness, the relative fine running of late capitalism,' there’s a disturbing hunger... And why? Because, argues Lilburn, through chapters on philosophical inquiry, spiritual struggle, deep ecological concern, and unsparing self-confession, we have not truly learned how to live on this land so relatively new to us, a land acquired in many ways through violence and dishonesty... What Lilburn attempts in this larger conversation is to find a way back, through earnest inquiry with philosophers, mystics, poets, and saints stretching back thousands of years, to the 'essence of nature'..." [Full review at https://thestarphoenix.com/entertainment/books/book-reviews-lilburn-searches-for-meaning-peeteetuce-creates-scathing-depiction-of-phoniness] -- Bill Robertson * Saskatoon StarPhoenix *"In 1999, writer and poet Tim Lilburn published the non-fiction work Living in the World as if It Were Home, a meditation on humanity's relationship with the natural environment that has become a classic and was the first book in a loose trilogy examining the connections between politics, environmentalism, philosophy, and modernity. Eighteen years later, the final part of the trilogy, a volume of contemplative essays, is available from UAP." * Quill & Quire *"The Larger Conversation is a beautiful, patient, and persistent philosophical work.... Lilburn suggests that in entering a relationship with place, with any specific place that we care about, we can be seen by place and thus be given our identity—indeed our Being—through a kind of grace. I love this argument and line of thought for its beauty and practicality. It offers a true way to move forward from the colonial past by first making changes to how we perceive reality—a reality that we constantly misunderstand—about how and why and who we are in place." [Full review at http://canlit.ca/article/being-seen-by-place/] -- Susie DeCoste * Canadian Literature 236 *"One of Lilburn’s primary interests has always been the relationship – the dialogue – between poetry and philosophy, including their common roots and common objectives.... At the same time, some of this writing is deeply personal, even confessional; here, the writer is more candid than usual about his own life, including childhood memories, illness and aging, faith and doubt." Kelly Shepherd, UTP Quarterly 2017 [Full review at DOI 10.3138/utq.88.3.hr79]Table of ContentsIntroduction I 1 The Ethical Significance of the Human Relationship to Place 2 The Start of Real Thinking 3 On Scholem, Ruusbroec and Exegesis 4 Imagination, Psychagogy and Ontology 5 Mostly on Prayer 6 Seeing into Things: Suhrawardi and Mandelstam II 7 A Mandelstamian Generation in China 8 Poetry as Pneumatic Force 9 Fresh Coherence 10 Turning the Soul Around: The Ascetical Practice of Philosophy in the Republic 11 Negative Theological Meditations: Apophasis and Its Politics 12 Thinking the Rule of Benedict within Modernity 13 Thomas Merton’s Novitiate Talks on Cistercian Usages and Richard Kearney’s Theandrism III 14 A Poetics of Decolonization 15 Contemplative Experience; Autochthonous Practice 16 Faith and Land 17 Nothingness Epilogue: At the Foot of WMIEŦEN Dramatis Personae Glossary Acknowledgements Reading Permissions Index

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Book SynopsisWird die Verbindung von Materie und Form, Begrifflichkeit und Sinnlichkeit, von Sinnlichem und Unsinnlichem zum Problem, so geistert in der Geschichte der Philosophie seit der Antike der Begriff des Schemas herum und ist auch heutzutage etwa in Theorien der Verkörperung zentral. Während Kant das Schema als Bedingung der Bedeutungsentstehung versteht und in kritischer Absicht von Bildern, Zeichen und Symbolen abgrenzt, ordnen Maimon, Hamann, Herder, Hegel und später Plessner dem Schematismus sinnliche und sprachliche Prozesse einer Morphogenese zu. Diese Revisionen geben Anlass zu einer neuen Theorie des Schematismus, in welcher der Versinnlichung der Status einer transzendentalen Bedingung der Verkörperung zukommt. So verstanden hat Versinnlichung als systematischer Kern der aktuellen Sprach- und Erkenntnistheorie zu gelten.

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Book SynopsisWhen the German chemist Emil Fischer presented his lock-and-key hypothesis in 1899, his analogy to describe the molecular relationship between enzymes and substrates quickly gained vast influence and provided future generations of scientists with a tool to investigate the relation between chemical structure and biological specificity. Rebecca Mertens explains the appeal of the lock-and-key analogy by its role in model building and in the construction of long-term, cross-generational research programs. She argues that a crucial feature of these research programs, namely ascertaining the continuity of core ideas and concepts, is provided by a certain way of analogy-based modelling.

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Book SynopsisThe notion of "the problematic" has changed its meaning within the history of power and knowledge since the early 20th century, leading up to today's performative, neocybernetic fascination with generalized management ideas and technocratic models of science. This book explores central scenes, conceptual elaborations, and practical affiliations of what historically has been called "the problem" or "the problematic". By way of considering modes of problematization as modes of inhabitation, intervention, and transformation the contributions map its current conceptual-political uses as well as onto-epistemological challenges. Thus, "problematization" is positioned as a critical concept that links, often in intricate ways, several currents from speculative philosophy to the formation of interdisciplinary fields. The "problematic", as it turns out, has been the source of change in philosophy and the sciences all along.

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Book SynopsisAs a powerful tool in the production of knowledge, comparing plays a crucial part in the sciences and the humanities. This volume explores the relationship between comparing and narrating in epistemic practices and clarifies the ways in which narratives enable or impede practices of comparing. It takes into account related activities, such as measuring and classifying, modeling, establishing norms and categories, as well as organizing and popularizing knowledge, to analyze the ambivalent relationship between narratives, scientific explanation, and understanding. The contributions bring out the epistemic role of narratives, and elucidate how narratives are connected to comparisons and scientific explanations.

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Book SynopsisGlobal, local, glocal reflecting on the area of world social science seems to be above all a matter of space. In these spatial dichotomies the global has no location and locations seem beyond this world. Discourses about world social science thought not only distinguish social thought along spaces where they are created. Space has become an attribute of thinking when social scientists reflect on the world of social thought: Southern, Western and Northern knowledge, the location in which thoughts are created, is not only a hint about the address of a thinker, but about the theoretical perspective through which social science thinkers look at social reality. Social thoughts are imagined as imprisoned in the spatial context in which they are created, and social science thinkers are imagined as representatives of spaces, whether these are defined politically, culturally, or in any other context in which their thoughts must be rooted as if the product of human minds was nothing but a voicing of the nature of spaces. And should we imagine the world social science arena, the encounter of all these spatially bound thoughts, as the encounter of many parochial knowledges that never manage to arrive at shared thoughts unless they already share the same spatial context? Why should we then at all meet each other? This book discusses examples of spatially constructed knowledges and the struggles these knowledges encounter as they seek to meet one another and escape from the mind prison of their spatial contexts. Or does the world social science arena after all only prove that the 'Western' dogma of contextualising social thought is a dead end road for social thought -- everywhere?Table of ContentsForeword Section I: Global Social Thought 1. Concepts that Hinder the Progress of Sociological Research: Identity as an Epistemological Obstacle, by Youssef Salameh 2. Isn't Anthropology Already a Multiversalist Discipline? Assessing the Status of Anthropology in Asia, by Nestor Castro 3. Indigenised while Internationalised? Tensions and Dilemmas in China's Modern Transformation of Social Sciences in an Age of Globalisation, by Rui Yang 4. 'Academic Dependence': The World Social Science Arena-a Battlefield among Parochial Thought?, by Michael Kuhn Section II: Spatialized Thought and Local Knowledge Production 5. Michel Foucault and the Postcolonial African Theory: A Critical Essay, by Leon-Marie Nkolo Ndjodo 6. Knowledge Production: A Perspective from the Periphery, by Carmen Bueno 7. Civilizational Encounter, Cultural Translation, and Social Reflexivity: A Note on the History of Sociology in Japan, by Shujiro Yazawa 8. The community of sociologists in Morocco facing the internationalization of knowledge, by Kamal Mellakh 9. Internationalization of Research in Lebanon: The case of the American University of Beirut, by Sari Hanafi, Rigas Avanitis, Justine Baer Section III: Culture in Global Knowledge Encounters 10. Culture as a Dimension in International Social Science Encounters, by Doris Weidemann 11. The Manifestation of Scientific Cultures: A Sociophilosophical Study of Islamic Scientific Tradition, by Alparslan Acikgenc 12. The Study of Culture within Alternative Vision, by Mahmoud Dhaouadi Section IV: Globalizing Local Social Thought 13. The Transformation Processes in Global Social Knowledge, by Hebe Vessuri 14. Can Peripheries Talk Back? Alternative Intellectual Trends in Tamil Nadu and their Possible Lessons for Knowledge-Making Practices outside Intellectual Power Centers, by Kumaran Rajagopal 15. How to Overcome "Oriental" Sociology?, by Ebrahim Towfigh, Shirin Ahmadnia Authors

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Book SynopsisThe world of experience, the Phenomenals, consists of elementless relations that defy definitions. Our phenomenal picture of the world thus emerges as a complex of 'relations as such'. In criticising the logicians' naive hope of building a purely logical representation of the world, Josephine Pasternak proposes a categorical approach to cognition that avoids the pitfalls of classical and modern logic. Like her brother Boris Pasternak, Josephine Pasternak draws up a philosophical and poetic vision of the world. "It is a real philosophical thought" Dame Iris Murdoch writes in her preface, and continues "deep and stirring, and presented with authority and elegance. I am so glad that it will be published."

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

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Book SynopsisThe social practice of forming, shaping, expressing, contesting, and maintaining personal identities makes human interaction, and therefore society, possible. Our identities give us our sense of how we are supposed to act and how we may or must treat others, so how we hold each other in our identities is of crucial moral importance. To hold someone in her identity is to treat her according to the stories one uses to make sense of who she is. Done well, holding allows individuals to flourish personally and in their interactions with others; done poorly, it diminishes their self-respect and restricts their participation in social life. If the identity is to represent accurately the person who bears it, the tissue of stories that constitute it must continue to change as the person grows and changes. Here, good holding is a matter of retaining the stories that still depict the person but letting go of the ones that no longer do. The book begins with a puzzling instance of personhood, whereTrade ReviewA valuable addition to the literature on personhood and identity. Like most such texts, it recognizes the ambiguity of the concepts. However, while other texts then try to clarify and fix the ambiguity, Lindemann goes in another direction. She embraces it by presenting and examining the many ways in which practices of social connection, interaction, and disconnection shape, preserve, and even damage an individual's personal and social identity...In an age where the daily news contains stories of murder, rape, and persecution of humans by humans for reasons related to an inability or unwillingness to tolerate others for who they are, Lindemann provides no platitudes. Rather, she calls attention to the real, rollup-your-sleeves phroenetic work of personhood that can only be approached in steps and measured by effort. Her book resonates long after the last page is turned. * Constance K. Perry, International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics *Holding and Letting Go is deceptively easy to read. The prose is so delightful and the observations so incisive that it is difficult to put it down. But a great deal of hard philosophical work is being done in these pages, and there is intricate engagement with a wide range of important contemporary positions. What emerges is a rich, new structure for thinking about the nature of identity and its relation to the kinds of ethical dilemmas and difficulties we face every day. We are shown not just a compelling and thought-provoking set of views about these issues, but a new way of thinking about them, one that promises to shed some light where things have been notoriously opaque... Holding and Letting Go is a sophisticated, tender-hearted, and clear-eyed view of persons that provides original and compelling insights into what we are and why it matters. We will be engaging with it for a long time to come. * Hypatia *In this book Hilde Lindemann shows us that good philosophy needs good writing, but also that good writing can contribute to good philosophy... it is how moral philosophy should be done. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *In this wonderfully wise book Hilde Lindemann weaves stories into theory to help us see how we weave stories into lives, and how through these stories we hold each other in personhood-for good and for ill. Her stories put flesh on the dry bones of much-discussed, overly-abstracted philosophical problems; and in so doing she makes a case for philosophical theorizing as an embodied, engaged, emotionally and socially responsive practice. * Naomi Scheman, University of Minnesota *With her characteristic lucid and engaging prose, Hilde Lindemann combines philosophical depth with richness of concrete detail in her new book * a book that significantly extends and deepens the narrative approach to bioethics that she founded in her Damaged Identities; Narrative Repair. In Holding and Letting Go, she compellingly demonstrates how identity and personhood are substantial achievements that often depend upon the help and participation of others. This important book shows the complexity of issues concerning personal identity, intimacy, and embodiment, and their centrality to key debates in the ethics of health care throughout the life cycle.Rebecca Kukla, Georgetown University *Lindemann writes with great sensitivity to the complexities of everyday identity work, and, one suspects, with no more and no less precision than the practice of personhood allows." * The Philosophers' Magazine *Lindemann manages to pull off that rarest of rare feats in academic philosophical writing: to say something that is at the same time philosophically insightful and universally relevant for beings like ourselves... * Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal *Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments 1. What Child Is This? The Practice of Personhood 2. The Architect and The Bee: Calling the Fetus into Personhood 3. Second Persons: The Work of Identity Formation 4. Ordinary Identity-Work: How We Usually Go On 5. Struggling to Catch Up: Challenges to Identity-Work 6. What and When to Let Go: Identities at the End of Life 7. What Does It All Mean? References Index

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Book SynopsisTeleology is the belief that some things happen, or exist for the sake of other things. It is the belief that, for example, salmon swim upstream in order to spawn, and that bears have claws for the sake of catching fish. This volume takes up the intuitive yet puzzling concept of teleology as it has been treated by philosophers from ancient times to the present day. It includes nine main chapters centered on the treatment of teleology in Plato, Aristotle, the Islamic medieval tradition, the Jewish medieval tradition, the Latin medieval tradition, the early modern era, Kant, Hegel, and contemporary philosophy. Each chapter probes central questions such as: is teleology inherent in its subjects or is it imposed on them from the outside? Does teleology necessarily involve intentionality, that is, a subject''s cognizing some end, goal, or purpose? What is the scope of teleology? Is it, for example, applicable to elements and animals, or only to rational beings? Finally, is teleology explanaTable of ContentsIntroduction - Jeffrey K. McDonough 1. Plato's Teleology - Thomas Kjeller Johansen 2. Teleology in Aristotle - Mariska Leunissen Reflection I: Teleology and Function in Galenic Anatomy - Patricia Marechal 3. Avicenna on Teleology: Final Causation and Goodness - Kara Richardson 4. Teleology in the Later Middle Ages - Robert Pasnau Reflection II: Teleology in Cimabue's Apocalypse Murals at Assisi - Holly Flora 5. Teleology in Jewish Philosophy: Early Talmudists to Spinoza - Yitzhak Melamed 6. Not Dead Yet: Teleology and the Scientific Revolution - Jeffrey McDonough Reflection III: The End of Poetry: Teleology in Philip Sidney's Sonnets - Kathryn Murphy 7. The Revised Method of Physico-Theology: Kant's Reformed Teleology - Paul Guyer 8. Hegel: The Reality and Priority of Immanent Teleology - James Kreines Reflection IV: Decoding the Teleology of Jazz - Anna Harwell Celenza 9. Contemporary Teleology - Patrick Forber

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

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

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Book SynopsisRecently, new life has been breathed into the ancient philosophical topic of scepticism. It has been the subject of some of the best and most provocative work in contemporary philosophy by both today''s top epistemologists and also by the world''s leading philosophers working in other areas of the discipline. This book collects the most important contributions to each of the major approaches to scepticism that have dominated the recent discussion. It features essays by Anthony Brueckner, Keith DeRose, Fred Dretske, Graeme Forbes, Christopher Hill, David Lewis, Thomas Nagel, Robert Nozick, Hilary Putnam, Ernest Sosa, Gail Stine, Barry Stroud, Peter Unger, and Ted Warfield,Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION: RESPONDING TO SKEPTICISM; PART ONE: THE RESPONSE FROM SEMANTIC EXTERNALISM; PART TWO: RESPONSES FROM EPISTEMIC EXTERNALISM; PART THREE: RELEVANT ALTERNATIVES AND DENYING CLOSURE; PART FOUR: CONTEXTUALIST RESPONSES; PART FIVE: CONCESSIVE RESPONSES

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Book SynopsisIn this book, Scott Soames illuminates the notion of truth and the role it plays in our ordinary thought, as well as in our logical, philosophical, and scientific theories. The main questions investigated include Why do we need a truth predicate at all?, What theoretical tasks does it allow us to accomplish?, and How must we understand the content of any predicate capable of accomplishing these tasks?. The main aim of the book is to integrate and extend the most important insight on truth from a variety of sources.Trade ReviewSoames's introduction to partially defined predicates is exemplary, one that presupposes virtually no background in logic or maths. ... Soames's interpretation of Kripke's 'truth value gaps' in terms of partially defined predicates ... is arguably the best available interpretation on the market; and Soames's discussion of this interpretation, like his other discussions, is a paradigm of clarity. For these reasons alone the book is well worth reading. * Australasian Journal of Philosophy, vol.79, no.2 *While there are many introductions to Kripke's theory of truth there are none that rival Soames's presentation ... Soames's presentation of the theory is not only clear, careful, and rigorous, but is likewise, and atypically user-friendly. * Australasian Journal of Philosophy, vol.79, no.2 *One ... feature is the sheer clarity of the writing and the care with which arguments are given and discussed. In this way the book serves as an example of how to write philosophy; and this is no snall accomplishment, especially in the face of its frequent absence in contemporary philosophical books. * Australasian Journal of Philosophy, vol.79, no.2 *

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Book SynopsisWhile the early Platonic dialogues have often been explored and appreciated for their ethical content, the characteristc features of these dialogues are decidedly epistemological - Socrates'' method of questions and answers, known as elenchos, Socrates'' fascination with definition, Socrates'' profession of ignorance, and Socrates'' thesis that virtue is knowledge. Benson here attempts to uncover the epistemological view that underlies these previously neglected features of Socratic thought.Trade ReviewScholars will welcome this book ... this is a thorough and important account of some central problems in Socratic thought. It is lucidly written, well argued and, precisely because of its lucidity, is likely to prove controversial, in the sense that it will give scholars plenty of meat to get their teeth into. * The Heythrop Journal *Socratic Wisdom has a clear and articulate structure ... is serious and successful ... careful and systematic ... a work to be taken seriously by everyone concerned with Plato. * Mind *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1:: Socrates, The Epistemologist Part I: The Socratic Elenchos Chapter 2:: The Aims of the Elenchos Chapter 3:: The Problem of Elenchos Chapter 4:: The Dissolution of the Problem of the Elenchos Part II: Socratic Definition Chapter 5:: The "What is F-ness?" Question and Socratic Definition Chapter 6:: The Priority of Definitional Knowledge Chapter 7:: The Sufficiency of Definitional Knowledge Part III: Socratic Knowledge Chapter 8:: Socratic Ignorance Chapter 9:: A Socratic Theory of Knowledge Chapter 10:: Knowledge, Virtue, and Other Problems Chapter 11:: Meno, the Slave-Boy, and Plato Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn The Last Word, Thomas Nagel, a leading philosopher and Professor of Law, presents a sustained defense of reason against the attacks of subjectivism, delivering systematic rebuttals against its many relativistic claims in the fields of language, logic, ethics, and science. He proposes that reason reflects objective principles whose validity is independent of different points of view, and continues to argue that reason is universal because its only prerequisite is the ability to think systematically and with intelligence. Dismissing relativism as theoretical chic and inconsequential intellectual flourish, he predicts its ultimate stultifying effect on public discourse. The Last Word is a vigorous defense of reason and its universal narratives. Resisting what he describes as the eventual demise of intellectual discourse, Nagel''s work sets a new standard in the debate: this book presents the clarity and simplicity of objective reason.Nagel''s construction of a coherent framework beyondTrade ReviewReview from previous edition "Nagel's book is a ringing defense of the rationalist conception of reason, and an uncompromising attack on the subjectivist conception...The case that Nagel presents in these chapters should disturb all those who have been lulled, or bludgeoned, into the flabby relativism that is so rampant in contemporary intellectual culture..Nagel's argument is not only correct, it is also urgent...The Last Word is a book that should be read and pondered in this golden age of relativism." * Colin McGinn, The New Republic *"Thomas Nagel stands out among today's best philosophers in retaining closer links with big puzzles and mysteries that first attract most people to philosophy. He has a livelier sense of their depth and power than is conspicuous elsewhere in the academic study of philosophy, and admirably resists the widespread tendency to dent a thing's existence because it is difficult or perhaps impossible to understand." * The Times Literary Supplement *"...(Nagel's) book, which is concise, spare, and well-argued, will prolong discussion by setting it on a new path...what he has to say is challenging, impressive, and thought-provoking." * International Philosophical Quarterly *"...now comes Professor Nagel's fascinating, even brilliant, book..." * Commonweal *

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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

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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

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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 *

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 *

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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 *

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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 *

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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 *

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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

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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

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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]

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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

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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

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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

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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

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