Philosophy: metaphysics and ontology Books

Book SynopsisAdvancing the Enlightenment draws upon John Rawls, Gilles Deleuze, and Tariq Ramadan to present a vision for progressive politics. Rather than defend Kant’s ideas, heirs of the Enlightenment should create concepts such as overlapping consensus, rhizome, and space of testimony to facilitate alliances across religious and philosophical differences.Trade Review"Nicholas Tampio's Kantian Courage is a stellar example of what is best in the field of contemporary political theory. In this effort to balance the new against the old, Tampio's work displays an exemplary degree of openmindedness, intellectual honesty, scholarly care, and attentiveness to the complex difficulties that we as political thinkers of the twenty-first century find ourselves in." -The Review of Politics "Nicholas Tampio's Kantian Courage is a breath of fresh air in a field too often marked by pious exegeses of the canonical Enlightenment thinkers or bitter rejections of our Enlightenment heritage. One of the great virtues of Tampio's book is its ambitious attempt to make the Enlightenment relevant for modern times, to have it speak to contemporary crises and policy dilemmas." -Perspectives on Politics "A bold and exciting book, born out of the conviction that we need a new Enlightenment for the twenty-first century." -- -Paul Patton University of New South Wales "A wonderfully clear, appropriately comprehensive, and original work of scholarship. Kantian Courage labors to discover in Kant's thought intellectual resources for reconstituting an Enlightenment ethos in contemporary political theory and, presumably, in the late modern cultural landscape to the extent that political theory today could exercise such an influence." -- -Morton Schoolman University of Albany, SUNY

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Book SynopsisTransplanting the Metaphysical Organ reconstructs Romantic Organology, a discourse that German Romantics developed by combining scientific and philosophical discourses about biological function and speculative thought. Organology attempted to think a politically and scientifically destabilized world, and offered a metaphysics meant to alter the structure of that world.Trade Review"This is an ambitious, disciplined study that reveals new aspects of Romanticism: it is an invaluable reference for anyone interested in German Romanticism." -- John D. Caputo -Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews "In Transplanting the Metaphysical Organ, Leif Weatherby gives us a fundamentally new view on Romanticism and its contribution to German Idealism. In Holderlin, Schelling, and Novalis, Weatherby unearths a surprisingly coherent discussion of the 'organ.' We see the Romantic philosophers and poets intervene in the age old Western debate on techne, physis and metaphysics, with the emphasis, however, on techne's interventions in it. A discourse emerges which neither subordinates techne to nature in the Aristotelian tradition nor hypostatizes technology in a Heideggerian reversal of the order of things. Rather, Romantic 'organology' is shown to introduce historicity and contingency into the heart of metaphysics. This is a discovery in the history of ideas, and it opens new ways of thinking technology today." -- -Rudiger Campe Yale University "Transplanting the Metaphysical Organ is a truly impressive work of scholarship. The author has a breathtaking command of the German philosophical tradition, including major figures, such as Kant, Fichte, Hegel, and Schelling, as well as those who are less well-known outside the field of German studies. He has taken a single, somewhat innocuous concept-the 'organ'-and revealed it to be at the crux of a rapidly changing philosophical landscape whose terrain encompasses metaphysics, subject philosophy, the history of science, literature, and aesthetics. Accordingly, it should be of interest to anyone working in these fields." -- -Jocelyn Holland University of California, Santa BarbaraTable of Contents1. Introduction: Romantic Organology: Terminology and Metaphysics Part I: Towards Organology 2. Metaphysical Organs and the Emergence of Life: From Leibniz to Blumenbach 3. The Epigenesis of Reason: Force and Organ in Kant and Herder 4. The Organ of the Soul: Vitalist Metaphysics and the Literalization of the Organ Part II: Romantic Organology Romantic Organology: Towards a Technological Metaphysics of Judgment 5. The Tragic Task: Dialectical Organs and the Metaphysics of Judgment (Holderlin) 6. Electric and Ideal Organs: Schelling and the Program of Organology 7. Universal Organs: Novalis's Romantic Organology 8. Between Myth and Science: Naturphilosophie and the Ends of Organology Part III: After Organology 9. Technologies of Nature: Goethe's Hegelian Transformations 10. Instead of an Epilogue: Communist Organs, or Technology and Organology Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisDiano’s Form and Event has long been known in Europe as a major work not only for classical studies but even more for contemporary philosophy, anticipating the work of Deleuze, Badiou, Esposito, and Agamben. It now appears in English for the first time, with a substantial Introduction that situates the book in the genealogy of modern political philosophy.Table of ContentsIntroduction by Jacques Lezra | 1 Form and Event | 27 Illustrations | 105 Notes | 115

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Book SynopsisAn interdisciplinary collaboration that explores what it means to live with concepts, rather than think of them as mere tools for analysis.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Life with Concepts Andrew Brandel and Marco Motta | 1 1 Concepts of the Ordinary Sandra Laugier | 29 2 How Life Makes a Conversation of Us: Ontology, Ethics, and Responsive Anthropology Rasmus Dyring and Thomas Schwarz Wentzer | 50 3 Crisscrossing Concepts: Anthropology and Knowledge-Making Veena Das | 73 4 The Potencie of Text: Shifting Concepts of Myth and Literature Andrew Brandel | 110 5 How Social Are Our Concepts? Jocelyn Benoist | 140 6 Living with Zombies: Forms of Death at the Core of the Ordinary Marco Motta | 155 7 Creating Worlds: Imagination, Interpretation, and the Subjunctive Michael J. Puett | 181 8 The Life Course of Concepts Michael D. Jackson | 197 9 On Sorcery: Life with the Concept Michael Lambek | 215 10 How Ethical Is Our Life with Concepts? Reflections on Shared Medical Decision Making Michael Cordey | 243 11 In the Know: The Pain of the Other in Torture Rehabilitation Lotte Buch Segal | 271 Acknowledgments | 291 References | 293 List of Contributors | 323 Name Index | 325 Subject Index | 329

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Book SynopsisAn interdisciplinary collaboration that explores what it means to live with concepts, rather than think of them as mere tools for analysis.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Life with Concepts Andrew Brandel and Marco Motta | 1 1 Concepts of the Ordinary Sandra Laugier | 29 2 How Life Makes a Conversation of Us: Ontology, Ethics, and Responsive Anthropology Rasmus Dyring and Thomas Schwarz Wentzer | 50 3 Crisscrossing Concepts: Anthropology and Knowledge-Making Veena Das | 73 4 The Potencie of Text: Shifting Concepts of Myth and Literature Andrew Brandel | 110 5 How Social Are Our Concepts? Jocelyn Benoist | 140 6 Living with Zombies: Forms of Death at the Core of the Ordinary Marco Motta | 155 7 Creating Worlds: Imagination, Interpretation, and the Subjunctive Michael J. Puett | 181 8 The Life Course of Concepts Michael D. Jackson | 197 9 On Sorcery: Life with the Concept Michael Lambek | 215 10 How Ethical Is Our Life with Concepts? Reflections on Shared Medical Decision Making Michael Cordey | 243 11 In the Know: The Pain of the Other in Torture Rehabilitation Lotte Buch Segal | 271 Acknowledgments | 291 References | 293 List of Contributors | 323 Name Index | 325 Subject Index | 329

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Book SynopsisProvides an analysis of what philosopher Eric Voegelin described as ‘the decisive problem of philosophy’: the dilemma of the discovery of transcendent meaning and the impact of this discovery on human self-understanding.

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Book SynopsisAddresses many issues including the nature of mind, matter, ideas, and substance; the debate between those who believe human beings have free will and those who subscribe to determinism; fatalism, realism, and personal identity; and arguments for and against belief in the existence of God.Trade Review"This is a work of the highest quality It is lucid, spells out each position with readily comprehensible arguments, and manages in the process to effortlessly integrate the most current views with classical, historical material... It is without doubt the best general introduction to current treatments of metaphysics I have seen. A first-rate book." --Gerald Vision, Temple UniversityTable of ContentsPreface 1. Metaphysics; 2. Idealism; 3. Material Minds; 4. Substance; 5. Parts and Wholes; 6. Change; 7. Personal Identity; 8. Responsibility; 9. Causal Determinism; 10. Fate; 11. God; 12. Being Realistic Suggestions for Further Reading

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Book SynopsisSolidly grounded in Chinese primary sources, Neo Confucianism: Metaphysics, Mind, and Morality engages the latest global scholarship to provide an innovative, rigorous, and clear articulation of neo-Confucianism and its application to Western philosophy.Table of ContentsPreface ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Part I Neo-Confucian Metaphysics: From Cosmology to Ontology 29 1 From Nothingness to Infinity: The Origin of Zhou Dunyi’s Cosmology 31 2 The Basic Constituent of Things: Zhang Zai’s Monist Theory of Qi 61 3 Cheng–Zhu School’s Normative Realism: The Principle of the Universe 85 4 Wang Fuzhi’s Theory of Principle Inherent in Qi 103 Part II Human Nature, Human Mind, and the Foundation of Human Morality 123 5 Zhu Xi’s Internal Moral Realism: Human Nature Is Principle 125 6 Lu Xiangshan and Wang Yangming’s Doctrine of Mind Is Principle 139 7 Wang Fuzhi’s Theory of Daily Renewal of Human Nature and His Moral Psychology 157 Part III The Cultivation of Virtue, Moral Personality, and the Construction of a Moral World 181 8 Zhang Zai on Cultivating Moral Personality 183 9 The Cheng Brothers’ Globaist Virtue Ethics and Virtue Epistemology 205 10 Zhu Xi’s Methodology for Cultivating Sagehood: Moral Cognitivism and Ethical Rationalism 227 11 Wang Yangming’s Intuitionist Model of Innate Moral Sense and Moral Reflexivism 245 12 Constructing a Moral World: Wang Fuzhi’s Social Sentimentalism 265 References 285 Index 301

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Book SynopsisThe Possibility of Culture: Pleasure and Moral Development in Kant's Aesthetics presents an in-depth exploration and deconstruction of Kant's depiction of the ways in which aesthetic pursuits can promote personal moral development. Presents an in-depth exploration of the connection between Kant's aesthetics and his views on moral development Reveals the links between Kant's aesthetics and his anthropology and moral psychology Explores Kant's notion of genius and his views on the connections between the social aspects of taste and moral development Addresses aspects of Kant's ethical theory that will interest scholars working in ethics and moral psychology Table of ContentsAcknowledgements viii Note on Citations ix Introduction 1 1 Aesthetics and Culture in Context 13 2 Beauty and Love 31 3 Beauty and Disinterestedness 46 4 Art, Genius, and Abstraction 66 5 Sublimity and Esteem 84 6 Choosing Culture Over Happiness 105 7 Conclusion 122 Bibliography 138 Index 143

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Book SynopsisTaking into account significant developments in the metaphysical thinking of E. J. Lowe over the past 20 years, More Kinds of Being: A Further Study of Individuation, Identity, and the Logic of Sortal Terms presents a thorough reworking and expansion of the 1989 edition of Kinds of Being. Brings many of the original ideas and arguments put forth in Kinds of Being thoroughly up to date in light of new developments Features a thorough reworking and expansion of the earlier work, rather than just a new edition Reflects the author''s conversion to what he calls ''the four-category ontology,'' a metaphysical system that takes its inspiration from Aristotle Provides a unified discussion of individuation and identity that should prove to be essential reading for philosophers working in metaphysics. Trade Review"The two issues I have raised only serve to highlight the originality of Lowe's work. More Kinds of Beingis a remarkable book. It sets the stage for numerous debates in metaphysics, philosophical logic, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind that are sure to continue much longer than another two decades." (Mind, 1 January 2013) "Throughout, one finds the usual clarity, thoroughness, and systematic thinking that are a mark of all of Lowe's ever expanding and remarkable corpus. This book should be in every college and university library." (CHOICE, July 2010) "More Kinds of Being is densely and masterfully argued, written with great clarity, and makes a number of important original contributions to the field. It is certainly essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary analytical metaphysics. This is a metaphysical study of lasting value and significance." (Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, August 12, 2010)Table of ContentsPreface* vii Acknowledgements xi 1 Introduction 1 The Varieties of 'Is' 3 Individuals, Kinds, and Realism 4 Semantics, Metaphysics, and Necessity 6 New Developments* 8 2 Sortal Terms and Criteria of Identity 12 3 Individuals, Sorts, and Instantiation 29 4 Number, Unity, and Individuality* 42 5 The Absoluteness of Identity: A Defence 57 Appendix: Some Formal Principles and Arguments 72 6 Identity and Constitution 77 7 Parts and Wholes 92 8 Persons and Their Bodies 104 Matter and Organisms 104 Organisms and Persons 113 Is There a Criterion of Personal Identity? 125 9 Sortal Terms and Natural Laws 141 10 Plural Quantification and Sortal Reference* 164 11 Laws, Dispositions, and Sortal Logic 179 Appendix: An Axiomatic System of Sortal Logic 194 12 What Sorts of Things Are There?* 198 The Syntax and Semantics of Complex Sortal Terms 198 On the Identity of Sorts 212 Bibliography* 217 Index 223

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Book SynopsisA Companion to Relativism presents original contributions from leading scholars that address the latest thinking on the role of relativism in the philosophy of language, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of science, logic, and metaphysics. Features original contributions from many of the leading figures working on various aspects of relativismPresents a substantial, broad range of current thinking about relativismAddresses relativism from many of the major subfields of philosophy, including philosophy of language, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of science, logic, and metaphysicsTable of ContentsNotes on Contributors viii Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Part I Characterizing Relativism 9 1 Global Relativism and Self-Refutation 11Max Kölbel 2 Relativism Requires Alternatives, Not Disagreement or Relative Truth 31Carol Rovane 3 Three Kinds of Relativism 53Paul Boghossian 4 Varieties of Relativism and the Reach of Reasons 70Michael Krausz Part II Truth and Language 85 5 Truth Relativism and Truth Pluralism 87Michael P. Lynch 6 The Many Relativisms: Index, Context, and Beyond 102Dan López de Sa 7 Variation in Intuitions about Reference and Ontological Disagreements 118Edouard Machery 8 Centered Worlds and the Content of Perception 137Berit Brogaard 9 Conceptual Relativism 159Kenneth A. Taylor 10 The Limits of Relativism in the Late Wittgenstein 179Patricia Hanna and Bernard Harrison Part III Epistemic Relativism 199 11 Epistemological Relativism: Arguments Pro and Con 201Harvey Siegel 12 Relativism About Epistemic Modals 219Andy Egan 13 Relativism and Confi rmation Theory 242Igor Douven 14 Epistemic Relativism, Epistemic Incommensurability, and Wittgensteinian Epistemology 266Duncan Pritchard 15 Relativism and Contextualism 286Patrick Rysiew Part IV Moral Relativism 307 16 Relativism in Contemporary Liberal Political Philosophy 309Graham M. Long 17 Secularism, Liberalism, and Relativism 326Akeel Bilgrami 18 Moral Relativism and Moral Psychology 346Christian B. Miller 19 Bare Bones Moral Realism and the Objections from Relativism 368Mark Balaguer 20 Virtue Ethics and Moral Relativism 391Christopher W. Gowans 21 Relativist Explanations of Interpersonal and Group Disagreement 411David B. Wong Part V Relativism in the Philosophy of Science 431 22 Relativism and the Sociology of Scientifi c Knowledge 433David Bloor 23 Incommensurability and Theory Change 456Howard Sankey 24 Thomas Kuhn’s Relativistic Legacy 475Alexander Bird 25 Anti-Realism and Relativism 489Christopher Norris Part VI Logical, Mathematical, and Ontological Relativism 509 26 Horror Contradictionis 511Johan Van Benthem 27 Varieties of Pluralism and Relativism for Logic 526Stewart Shapiro 28 Relativism in Set Theory and Mathematics 553Otávio Bueno 29 Putnam’s Model-Theoretic Argument 569Maximilian de Gaynesford 30 Quine’s Ontological Relativity 588Gary L. Hardcastle 31 Carving Up a Reality in Which There are no Joints 604Crawford L. Elder Index 621

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Book SynopsisIntroducing a new and ambitious position in the field, Kit Fine's Semantic Relationism is a major contribution to the philosophy of language.Trade Review"Combines careful, detailed argumentation with inspiration and synoptic vision for the bigger picture. ... One can reasonably expect Fine's book to be a spur for thinking about these issues for many years to come." (Mind, October 2009)Table of ContentsPreface. Introduction. 1. Coordination among Variables. A. The Desiderata. B. The Problem. C. The Contextualist Response. D. The Dismissive Response. E. The Instantial Approach. F. The Algebraic Approach. G. Relational Semantics for First-order Logic. 2. Coordination within Language. A. Frege’s Puzzle. B. Rejecting Compositionality. C. Semantic Fact. D. Closure. E. Referentialism Reconsidered. F. A Relational Semantics for Names. G. Transparency. 3. Coordination within Thought. A. Intentional Coordination. B. Strict Co-representation. C. The Content of Thought. D. The Cognitive Puzzle. 4. Coordination between Speakers. A. Kripke’s Puzzle. B. Some Related Puzzles. C. A Response. D. A Solution. E. A Deeper Puzzle. F. A Deeper Solution. G. The Role of Variables in Belief Reports. H. Some Semantical Morals. Postscript: Further Work. Index

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Book SynopsisIn a series of thought-provoking and original essays, eighteen leading philosophers engage in head-to-head debates of nine of the most cutting edge topics in contemporary metaphysics.Trade Review“Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics is a terrific book — 18 essays by some of the most distinguished voices in contemporary philosophy which collectively represent and define the state of the art in this ancient discipline. The writing is fresh and clear throughout, accessible to beginners but rigorous enough to satisfy the most exacting specialists. This is no bland survey of the subject: the book is structured as a series of debates, with partisans of opposed positions clashing directly on the page. For those who want to see how contemporary metaphysics is done, there is no better introduction to the subject.” — Gideon A. Rosen, Princeton University “This is an incredibly good collection of original papers about the central problems of metaphysics. I will certainly use the book as a text in my yearly introductory graduate seminar on metaphysics." — Peter Van Inwagen, University of Notre Dame “Until now we've had to choose between traditional texts, where the author pretends to be arguing with him/herself, and anthologies, where the reader pretends the authors are arguing with each other. This book has genuine focussed exchange between some of the best metaphysicians around. The introduction by Sider is a gem. What a great way to learn metaphysics.” — Prof. Stephen Yablo, MIT “What might one want in a contemporary metaphysics reader? There are plenty of volumes that reprint the 20th century precursors to current debates; no need for another one of those. What would be great is a collection of first-rate essays by leading philosophers which effectively engage the most important issues in the field and give attention not only to the substantive debates but the meta-philosophical questions such as: what is metaphysics and how is it possible? And now we have it: Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics does it all.” —Sally Haslanger, MIT “I'd see this book as most useful in an upper-level survey of metaphysics, or for philosophers who are not themselves metaphysicians, but want to acquaint themselves with these issues (or indeed, even for metaphysicians, but who focus on just a subset of these areas, wanting to get into other realms). For such purposes, this is a nice volume indeed. … Let me conclude, then, by reiterating the quality of the papers produced for this volume, and saying again that it would make a fine textbook, and a useful resource for the professional philosopher.” — Alan Sidelle, Notre Dame Philosophical ReviewsTable of ContentsNotes on contributors. Introduction. I. Abstract entities. 1.1 Abstract entities: Chris Swoyer (University of Oklahoma). 1.2 There are no abstract objects: Cian Dorr (University of Pittsburgh). II. Causation and laws of nature. 2.1 Nailed to Hume’s cross?: John W. Carroll (North Carolina State University). 2.2 Causation and laws of nature: Reductionism: Jonathan Schaffer (University of Massachusetts-Amherst). III. Modality and possible worlds. 3.1 Concrete possible worlds: Phillip Bricker(University of Massachusetts- Amherst). 3.2 Ersatz possible worlds: Joseph Melia (University of Leeds). IV. Personal identity. 4.1 People and their bodies: Judith Jarvis Thomson (MIT). 4.2 Persons, bodies, and human beings: Derek Parfit (All Souls College, Oxford). V. Time. 5.1 The privileged present: defending an “A-theory” of time: Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers University). 5.2 The tenseless theory of time: J. J. C. Smart (Australian National University). VI. Persistence. 6.1 Temporal parts: Theodore Sider (Rutgers University). 6.2 Three-dimensionalism vs. four-dimensionalism: John Hawthorne (Rutgers University). VII. Free will. 7.1 Incompatibilism: Robert Kane (University of Texas at Austin). 7.2 Compatibilism, incompatibilism, and impossibilism: Kadri Vihvelin (University of Southern California). VIII. Mereology. 8.1 The moon and sixpence: a defense of mereological universalism: James van Cleve (University of Southern California). 8.2 Restricted composition: Ned Markosian (Western Washington University). IX. Meteontology. 9.1 Ontological arguments: interpretive charity and quantifier variance: Eli Hirsch (Brandeis University). 9.2 The picture of reality as an amorphous lump: Matti Eklund (Cornell University). Index

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Book SynopsisIn a series of thought-provoking and original essays, eighteen leading philosophers engage in head-to-head debates of nine of the most cutting edge topics in contemporary metaphysics.Trade Review“Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics is a terrific book — 18 essays by some of the most distinguished voices in contemporary philosophy which collectively represent and define the state of the art in this ancient discipline. The writing is fresh and clear throughout, accessible to beginners but rigorous enough to satisfy the most exacting specialists. This is no bland survey of the subject: the book is structured as a series of debates, with partisans of opposed positions clashing directly on the page. For those who want to see how contemporary metaphysics is done, there is no better introduction to the subject.” Gideon A. Rosen, Princeton University “This is an incredibly good collection of original papers about the central problems of metaphysics. I will certainly use the book as a text in my yearly introductory graduate seminar on metaphysics." Peter Van Inwagen, University of Notre Dame “Until now we've had to choose between traditional texts, where the author pretends to be arguing with him/herself, and anthologies, where the reader pretends the authors are arguing with each other. This book has genuine focussed exchange between some of the best metaphysicians around. The introduction by Sider is a gem. What a great way to learn metaphysics.” Prof. Stephen Yablo, MIT “What might one want in a contemporary metaphysics reader? There are plenty of volumes that reprint the 20th century precursors to current debates; no need for another one of those. What would be great is a collection of first-rate essays by leading philosophers which effectively engage the most important issues in the field and give attention not only to the substantive debates but the meta-philosophical questions such as: what is metaphysics and how is it possible? And now we have it: Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics does it all.” Sally Haslanger, MIT “Written with philosophical sophistication … .Rewarding and valuable … .Teaching papers … .It would make a fine … and useful resource for the professional philosopher.” Notre Dame Philosophical ReviewsTable of ContentsNotes on Contributors vii Introduction Theodore Sider 1 Abstract Entities 9 1.1 Abstract Entities Chris Swoyer 11 1.2 There Are No Abstract Objects Cian Dorr 32 Causation and Laws of Nature 65 2.1 Nailed to Hume’s Cross? John W. Carroll 67 2.2 Causation and Laws of Nature: Reductionism Jonathan Schaffer 82 Modality and Possible Worlds 109 3.1 Concrete Possible Worlds Phillip Bricker 111 3.2 Ersatz Possible Worlds Joseph Melia 135 Personal Identity 153 4.1 People and Their Bodies Judith Jarvis Thomson 155 4.2 Persons, Bodies, and Human Beings Derek Parfit 177 Time 209 5.1 The Privileged Present: Defending an “A-Theory” of Time Dean Zimmerman 211 5.2 The Tenseless Theory of Time J. J. C. Smart 226 Persistence 239 6.1 Temporal Parts Theodore Sider 241 6.2 Three-Dimensionalism vs. Four-Dimensionalism John Hawthorne 263 Free Will 283 7.1 Incompatibilism Robert Kane 285 7.2 Compatibilism, Incompatibilism, and Impossibilism Kadri Vihvelin 303 Mereology 319 8.1 The Moon and Sixpence: A Defense of Mereological Universalism James Van Cleve 321 8.2 Restricted Composition Ned Markosian 341 Metaontology 365 9.1 Ontological Arguments: Interpretive Charity and Quantifier Variance Eli Hirsch 367 9.2 The Picture of Reality as an Amorphous Lump Matti Eklund 382 Index 397

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Book SynopsisThis extensively revised and expanded edition of van Inwagen and Zimmerman's popular collection of readings in metaphysics now features twenty-two additional selections, new sections on existence and reality, and an updated editorial commentary.Trade Review"An outstanding and outstandingly complete set of papers in metaphysics, selected by two of the foremost metaphysicians." Alvin Plantinga, University of Notre DameTable of ContentsPreface to 2nd Edition. Sources. Introduction: What is metaphysics?. Part I: What Are the Most General Features of the World?:. A. What is existence?. 1. Holes:David Lewis and Stephanie Lewis. 2. On What There Is:W. V. O. Quine. 3. Beyond Being and Nonbeing:Roderick M. Chisholm. B. What is the relationship between an individual and its characteristics?. 4. Universals: an Excerpt from The Problems of Philosophy:Bertrand Russell. 5. Universals as Attributes:. An Excerpt from Universals: an Opinionated Introduction,David M. Armstrong. 6. Universals and Resemblances: Chapter 1 of Thinking and Experience H. H. Price. 7. The Elements of Being:D.C. Williams. 8. The Identity of Indiscernibles:Max Black. 9. Distinct Indiscernibles and the Bundle Theory:Dean W. Zimmerman. C. What is time? What is space?. 10. Time: an Excerpt from The Nature of Existence:J. McT. E. McTaggart. 11. McTaggart’s Arguments against the Reality of Time: an Excerpt from Examination of McTaggart’s Philosophy. C. D. Broad. 12. The Notion of the Present:A. N. Prior. 13. Changes in Events and Changes in Things:A. N. Prior. 14. The General Problem of Time and Change: an Excerpt from Scientific Thought:C. D. Broad. 15. The Myth of Passage:D. C. Williams. 16. Some Free Thinking about Time:A. N. Prior. 17. The Fourth Dimension: an Excerpt from The Ambidextrous Universe:Martin Gardner. 18. Incongruent Counterparts and Higher Dimensions:James Van Cleve. 19. The Traditional Conception of Space, and the Principle of Extensive Abstraction:. An Excerpt from Scientific Thought:C. D. Broad. 20. Achilles and the Tortoise: Max Black. 21. A Contemporary Look at Zeno’s Paradoxes: an Excerpt from Space, Time, and Motion. Wesley C. Salmon. 22. Grasping the Infinite: José A. Benardete. 23. The Paradoxes of Time Travel: David Lewis. D. How do Things Persist through Changes of Parts and Properties?. 24. Of Confused Subjects Which Are Equivalent to Two Subjects:. An Excerpt from The Port-Royal Logic:Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole. 25. The Paradox of Increase:Eric T. Olson. 26. Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis:W. V. O. Quine. 27. In Defense of Stages: Postscript B to “Survival and Identity”. David Lewis. 28. The Problem of Temporary Intrinsics: an Excerpt from On the Plurality of Worlds. David Lewis. 29. Temporary Intrinsics and Presentism:Dean W. Zimmerman. E. How do Causes Bring about their Effects?. 30. Constant Conjunction: an Excerpt from A Treatise of Human Nature. David Hume. 31. Efficient Cause and Active Power: an Excerpt from Essays on the Active Powers of the Human Mind. Thomas Reid. 32. Psychological and Physical Causal Laws: an Excerpt from The Analysis of Mind. Bertrand Russell. 33. Causality: an Excerpt from A Modern Introduction to Logic: L. Susan Stebbing. 34. Causality and Determination: G. E. M. Anscombe. Part II: What Is Our Place in the World?:. A. How Are Mind and Body Related?. 35. Which Physical Thing Am I?: an Excerpt from “Is There a Mind–Body Problem?”. Roderick M. Chisholm. 36. Personal Identity: a Materialist Account: Sydney Shoemaker. 37. An Argument for Animalism: Eric T. Olson. 38. Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons: Derek Parfit. 39. Personal Identity: the Dualist Theory: Richard Swinburne. 40. The Causal Theory of the Mind: David M. Armstrong. 41. The Puzzle of Conscious Experience: David J. Chalmers. 42. Neutral Monism: an Excerpt from Philosophy: Bertrand Russell. B. Is it Possible for Us to Act Freely?. 43. We Are Never Free: an Excerpt from The System of Nature. Paul-Henri Dietrich, Baron d’Holbach. 44. Free Will as Involving Determination and Inconceivable without It. R. E. Hobart. 45. Freedom, Causation, and Preexistence: an Excerpt from Problems of Mind and Matter. John Wisdom. 46. Human Freedom and the Self: Roderick M. Chisholm. 47. The Consequence Argument: Peter van Inwagen. 48. The Mystery of Metaphysical Freedom: Peter van Inwagen. 49. The Agent as Cause: Timothy O’Connor. 50. Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility: Harry G. Frankfurt. 51. Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person: Harry G. Frankfurt. Part III: Are There Many Worlds?:. A. Are There Worlds Other than the Actual World?. 52. Modal Realism at Work: an Excerpt from On the Plurality of Worlds. David Lewis. 53. Counterparts of Persons and Their Bodies: David Lewis. 54. Identity and Necessity: Saul Kripke. B. Is There More than One Actual World?. 55. After Metaphysics, What?: Hilary Putnam. 56. Truth and Convention: Hilary Putnam. 57. Nonabsolute Existence and Conceptual Relativity: an Excerpt from “Putnam’s Pragmatic Realism”. Ernest Sosa. 58. Addendum to “Nonabsolute Existence and Conceptual Relativity”: Objections and Replies. Ernest Sosa. Part IV: Why Is There a World?:. 59. The Problem of Being: Chapter 3 of Some Problems of Philosophy: William James. 60. Why Anything? Why This?: Derek Parfit. 61. Response to Derek Parfit: Richard Swinburne. 62. The Cosmological Argument: an Excerpt from A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God. Samuel Clarke. 63. The Cosmological Argument and the Principle of Sufficient Reason: William L. Rowe. 64. The Ontological Argument: Chapters II–IV of the Proslogion: St Anselm. 65. Anselm’s Ontological Arguments: Norman Malcolm. Index

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Book Synopsis* A collection of original papers by philosophers whose work is at the forefront of debate about the relevance of substantial metaphysical theories to science. * Responds in particular to recent publications by Brian Ellis on scientific essentialism, especially on the topics of laws, natural kinds and realism.Table of Contents1. Physical Realism: Brian Ellis. 2. Scientific Realism and Metaphysics: Stathis Psillos. 3. Kinds and Essences: John Heil. 4. Kinds, Essences and Powers: Stephen Mumford. 5. Laws and Essences: Alexander Bird. 6. Universals, the Essential Problem and Categorical Properties: Brian Ellis

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Book SynopsisFully extended and revised, A Companion to Metaphysics 2nd Edition includes a section of detailed review essays from renowned metaphysicians, and the addition of more than 30 new encyclopedic entries, taking the number of entries to over 300. Includes revisions to existing encyclopedic entries Features more than 30 all-new A to Z entries Offers a section of in-depth, essays from renowned metaphysicians Provides the most complete and up-to-date reference guide for students and professionals alike Trade Review?This is a resource no metaphysician in the Anglo-American tradition will want to do without. Summing Up: Essential.? (CHOICE, October 2009)Table of ContentsList of Contributors vii Introduction xiii Part I Extended Essays 1 Part II Metaphysics From A to Z 95 Index 637

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Book SynopsisMight we be parts of a divine mind? Could anything like an afterlife make sense? Starting with a Platonic answer to why the world exists, Immortality Defended suggests we could well be immortal in all of three separate ways.Trade Review"John Leslie addresses issues of belief in immortality and the creative role of value in a characteristically lively style, in the course of deploying a variety of arguments. He is always stimulating, even when one disagrees with him." Revd Dr John Polkinghorne, KBE, FRS "I believe Leslie will be remembered one hundred or two hundred years from now as one of the most unique, philosophically fundamental, and interesting thinkers of our time." Quentin Smith, Western Michigan University "This is an admirable piece of philosophical speculation, in the grand manner of great philosophers in the past, but informed by modern cosmology." J J C Smart, Monash University “Thought-provoking … useful to both the professional philosopher and to one just starting … .Touches on a variety of topics … and is exceptionally clear.” Religious Studies Review “Leslie has articulated and defended … the great subjects in the history of philosophy: God, the self, the nature and origin of the cosmos, value, and immortality.” Notre Dame Philosophical ReviewsTable of ContentsPreface. Acknowledgments. 1. Pantheism: A Rapid Introduction. 2. Platonic Creation. 3. Divine and Human Minds. 4. Immortality. 5. Existence, Causation, and Life. Appendix: Brief Summary of the Book. Bibliography. Index of Names. Index of Subjects

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Book SynopsisMight we be parts of a divine mind? Could anything like an afterlife make sense? Starting with a Platonic answer to why the world exists, Immortality Defended suggests we could well be immortal in all of three separate ways.Trade Review"John Leslie addresses issues of belief in immortality and the creative role of value in a characteristically lively style, in the course of deploying a variety of arguments. He is always stimulating, even when one disagrees with him." Revd Dr John Polkinghorne, KBE, FRS "I believe Leslie will be remembered one hundred or two hundred years from now as one of the most unique, philosophically fundamental, and interesting thinkers of our time." Quentin Smith, Western Michigan University "This is an admirable piece of philosophical speculation, in the grand manner of great philosophers in the past, but informed by modern cosmology." J J C Smart, Monash University “Thought-provoking … useful to both the professional philosopher and to one just starting … .Touches on a variety of topics … and is exceptionally clear.” Religious Studies Review “Leslie has articulated and defended … the great subjects in the history of philosophy: God, the self, the nature and origin of the cosmos, value, and immortality.” Notre Dame Philosophical ReviewsTable of ContentsPreface. Acknowledgments. 1. Pantheism: A Rapid Introduction. 2. Platonic Creation. 3. Divine and Human Minds. 4. Immortality. 5. Existence, Causation, and Life. Appendix: Brief Summary of the Book. Bibliography. Index of Names. Index of Subjects

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Book SynopsisKit Fine argues for a fundamentally new approach to the study of representation in language and thought. His key idea is that there may be representational relationships between expressions or elements of thought that are not grounded in the intrinsic representational features of the expressions or elements themselves.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Coordination among Variables A. The Desiderata B. The Problem C. The Contextualist Response D. The Dismissive Response E. The Instantial Approach F. The Algebraic Approach G. Relational Semantics for First-order Logic 2. Coordination within Language A. Frege’s Puzzle B. Rejecting Compositionality C. Semantic Fact D. Closure E. Referentialism Reconsidered F. A Relational Semantics for Names G. Transparency 3. Coordination within Thought A. Intentional Coordination B. Strict Co-representation C. The Content of Thought D. The Cognitive Puzzle 4. Coordination between Speakers A. Kripke’s Puzzle B. Some Related Puzzles C. A Response D. A Solution E. A Deeper Puzzle F. A Deeper Solution G. The Role of Variables in Belief Reports H. Some Semantical Morals Postscript: Further Work Index

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Book SynopsisThoroughly updated, the second edition of this highly successful textbook continues to represent the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of canonical readings in metaphysics. In addition to updated material from the first edition, it presents entirely new sections on ontology and the metaphysics of material objects. One of the most comprehensive and authoritative metaphysics anthologies available now updated and expanded Offers the most important contemporary works on the central issues of metaphysics Includes new sections on ontology and the metaphysics of material objects, as well as readings on the topics of fictionalism, fundamentality, tropes, vague identity, temporary intrinsics, stage theory, and composition Surpasses other anthologies in its combination of contributions from leading metaphysicians and a younger generation of rising-stars Table of ContentsPreface (Jaegwon Kim, Ernest Sosa, Daniel Z. Korman). Part I: Ontology. 1. "On What There Is" (W. V. Quine). 2. "Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology" (Rudolf Carnap). 3. "Holes" (David and Stephanie Lewis). 4. "Beyond Being and Nonbeing" (Roderick M. Chisholm). 5. "Does Ontology Rest on a Mistake?" (Stephen Yablo). 6. "Fictional Objects" (Amie L. Thomasson). 7. "On What Grounds What" (Jonathan Schaffer). Part II: Identity. 8. "The Identity of Indiscernibles" (Max Black). 9. "Primitive Thisness and Primitive Identity" (Robert M. Adams). 10. "Identity and Necessity" (Saul Kripke). 11. "Contingent Identity" (Allan Gibbard). 12. "Can There Be Vague Objects?" (Gareth Evans). 13. "Vague Identity" (Robert C. Stalnaker). Part III: Modality. 14. "Modalities: Basic Concepts and Distinctions" (Alvin Plantinga). 15. "Actualism and Thisness" (Robert M. Adams). 16. "A Philosopher's Paradise: The Plurality of Worlds" (David Lewis). 17. "Possible Worlds" (Robert C. Stalnaker). 18. "Modal Fictionalism" (Gideon Rosen). 19. "Essence and Modality" (Kit Fine). Part IV: Properties. 20. "Natural Kinds" (W. V. Quine). 21. "Causality and Properties" (Sydney Shoemaker). 22. "The Metaphysic of Abstract Particulars" (Keith Campbell). 23. "New Work for a Theory of Universals" (David Lewis). 24. "Universals as Attributes" (D. M. Armstrong). Part V: Causation. 25. "On the Notion of Cause" (Bertrand Russell). 26. "Causes and Conditions" (J.L. Mackie). 27. "Causal Relations" (Donald Davidson). 28. "Causality and Determination" (G.E.M. Anscombe). 29. "Causation" (David Lewis). 30. "Causal Connections" (Wesley C. Salmon). 31. "Causation: Reductionism Versus Realism" (Michael Tooley). 32. "Two Concepts of Causation" (Ned Hall). Part VI: Persistence. 33. "Identity Through Time" (Roderick M. Chisholm). 34. "Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis" (W. V. Quine). 35. "Parthood and Identity Across Time" (Judith Jarvis Thomson). 36. "Temporal Parts of Four-Dimensional Objects" (Mark Heller). 37. "The Problem of Temporary Intrinsics" (David Lewis). 38. "Endurance and Temporary Intrinsics" (Sally Haslanger). 39. "All the World's a Stage" (Theodore Sider). Part VII: Persons. 40. "Persons and Their Pasts" (Sydney Shoemaker). 41. "The Self and the Future" (Bernard Williams). 42. "Personal Identity" (Derek Parfit). 43. "Survival and Identity" (David Lewis). 44. "Lonely Souls: Causality and Substance Dualism" (Jaegwon Kim). 45. "The Ontological Status of Persons" (Lynne Rudder Baker). 46. "An Argument for Animalism" (Eric T. Olson). Part VIII: Objects. 47. "When are Objects Parts?" (Peter van Inwagen). 48. "Many But Almost One" (David Lewis). 49. "Existential Relativity" (Ernest Sosa). 50. "The Argument from Vagueness" (Theodore Sider). 51. "Epiphenomenalism and Eliminativism" (Trenton Merricks). 52. "Against Revisionary Ontology" (Eli Hirsch). 53. "Strange Kinds, Familiar Kinds, and the Charge of Arbitrariness" (Daniel Z. Korman).

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Book SynopsisDualism, unlike monism, is a system that allows for dynamic and dramatic possibilities. Just as it can explain change and imperfection in the natural world, as the two distance elements of matter and spirit or matter and form strive to accommodate themselves to one another, so in the little world of the human the two elements of body and soul generate conflict as well. Essential to one another and yet incompatible, they provide both an explanation of and a metaphor for the internal, psychological struggle that the individual feels going on within. The body and soul dialogues portray this tradition of conflict in its most fundamental form. They bring together psychological concerns about the nature of humanity and theological concerns about the responsibility for sin. They provide the conceptual centre from which the multiple metaphors and analogies in the rest of the literature radiate.Rosalie Osmond examines both literal and metaphorical aspects of the relationship between bod

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Book SynopsisUntil the nineteenth century it was common to assume that philosophers said more or less the same things throughout their lives. Such an attitude led their successors to turn their thoughts into harmonious systems which, though often of great philosophical interest, failed to reflect the detailed richness of a philosopher’s thought at any specific period in his life. In more recent times the study of a philosopher’s growth has often provided a greater understanding of what puzzled him, what problems he was trying to solve, and why he attempted to solve them the way he did.For Aristotle such an approach has led to many advances in our knowledge, but conflicting ‘readings’ have led to confusion and a tendency to revert to more systematic treatments. In an effort to confront this situation John Rist attempts to chart Aristotle’s philosophical progress, using the techniques of both philology and philosophical analysis. His aim is to see where Ar

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Book SynopsisFor nineteenth-century thinkers, the central problem of religious consciousness in the modern West was the tension between prevailing concepts of individual autonomy and the traditional Judaeo-Christian claim for divine revelation. The God Within brings together ten of Professor Emil Fackenheim's essays on the German Idealists who struggled to resolve this tension. This philosophic preoccupation found its most searching and comprehensive expression, when the traditional notion of 'God as Transcendent' was reconceptualized as 'the God within.' The internalization of God's `otherness' reached its climax with Hegel, the subject of Fackenheim's earlier work, The Religious Dimension in Hegel's Thought. This long-awaited companion to that volume examines the earlier stages of the process, beginning with its initiator, Kant, then considering Schelling in both his earlier and later phases, and finally, looking once more at Hegel. The investigation of this movement, together with the

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Book SynopsisWhat objects exist in the social world and how should we understand them? Is a specific Pizza Hut restaurant as real as the employees, tables, napkins and pizzas of which it is composed, and as real as the Pizza Hut corporation with its headquarters in Wichita, the United States, the planet Earth and the social and economic impact of the restaurant on the lives of its employees and customers? In this book the founder of object-oriented philosophy develops his approach in order to shed light on the nature and status of objects in social life. While it is often assumed that an interest in objects amounts to a form of materialism, Harman rejects this view and develops instead an “immaterialist” method. By examining the work of leading contemporary thinkers such as Bruno Latour and Levi Bryant, he develops a forceful critique of ‘actor-network theory’. In an extended discussion of Leibniz’s famous example of the Dutch East India Company, Harman argues that this company qualifies for objecthood neither through ‘what it is’ or ‘what it does’, but through its irreducibility to either of these forms. The phases of its life, argues Harman, are not demarcated primarily by dramatic incidents but by moments of symbiosis, a term he draws from the biologist Lynn Margulis. This book provides a key counterpoint to the now ubiquitous social theories of constant change, holistic networks, performative identities, and the construction of things by human practice. It will appeal to anyone interested in cutting-edge debates in philosophy and social and cultural theory.Trade Review"It is rare to find academic and philosophical writing that is this clear. Harman’s explanations of not just his own position but also the other views to which he responds are thorough, concise and in a style and vocabulary that are accessible to non-experts."The British Society for Literature and ScienceTable of ContentsPart One: Immaterialism 1. Objects and Actors 2. The Dangers of Duomining 3. Materialism and Immaterialism 4. Attempts to Evolve ANT 5. The Thing-in-Itself Part Two: The Dutch East India Company 6. Introducing the VOC 7. On Symbiosis 8. Governor-General Coen 9. Batavia, the Spice Islands, and Malacca 10. The Intra-Asian VOC 11. Touching Base Again with ANT 12. Birth, Ripeness, Decadence, and Death 13. Fifteen Provisional Rules of OOO Method References

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Book SynopsisThe triumph of technological rationality and of the sciences as a whole has by no means provided answers to humanity’s great questions. Instead, it has raised new and old questions and problems. To orient ourselves in the twenty-first century, we must take a new look at the central categories of philosophy that, often unbeknownst to us, continue to shape our everyday thinking. Future Metaphysics is an attempt at restating the importance of the great metaphysical categories for the present: how our contemporary predicament forces us both to reclaim them and to give them a radically new twist. Armen Avanessian re-examines and displaces categories like substance and accident, form and matter, life and death, giving them an unexpected twist. What if the idea of accident, for instance, had to take into account the many new kinds of glitches, crashes and crises – from finance to ecology, from technological catastrophes to social collapses – that permeate our culture and make everyday news? Can we keep on using this concept as it was traditionally meant to be used when risk and chance have become part of the very substance of our world, so rendering the distinction between substance and accident meaningless? The other concepts and distinctions require a similar interrogation, giving birth to a new metaphysical landscape, where the most urgent realities of the twenty-first century impinge on the most fundamental categories of thought.

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Book SynopsisA powerful case for why anthropology should study outsiders of thought and their speculative ideas What sort of thinking is needed to study anomalies in thought? In this trenchantly argued and beautifully written book, anthropologist Peter Skafish explores this provocative question by examining the writings of the medium and “rough metaphysician” Jane Roberts (1929–1984). Through a close interpretation of her own published texts as well as those she understood herself to have dictated for her cohort of channeled personalities—including one, named “Seth,” who would inspire the New Age movement—Skafish shows her intuitive and dreamlike work to be a source of rigorously inventive ideas about science, ontology, translation, and pluralism. Arguing that Roberts’s writings contain philosophies ahead of their time, he also asks: How might our understanding of speculative thinking change if we consider the way untrained writers, occult visionaries, and their counterparts in other cultural traditions undertake it? What can outsider thinkers teach us about the limitations of even our most critical intellectual habits?Rough Metaphysics is at once an ethnography of the books of a strange and yet remarkable writer, a commentary on the unlikely philosophy contained in them, and a call for a new way of doing (and undoing) philosophy through anthropology, and vice versa. In guiding the reader through Roberts’s often hallucinatory “world of concepts,” Skafish also develops a series of original interpretations of thinkers—from William James to Claude Lévi-Strauss to Paul Feyerabend—who have been vital to anthropologists and their fellow travelers.Seductively written and surprising in its turns of thought, Rough Metaphysics is a feast for anyone who wants to learn how to think something new, especially about thought.Trade Review "Lucid, insightful, and absolutely original, Rough Metaphysics vastly expands the scope and possibility of the anthropological discipline. Peter Skafish demonstrates how, despite our academic prejudices to stabilize knowledge in a contextually bounded self, we must learn new modes of thought that enable us to listen to what someone like Jane Roberts can reveal about our own multiplicity and the possibilities that this recognition might entail."—Eduardo Kohn, author of How Forests Think: Toward an Anthropology Beyond the Human "Highly original, beautifully written, and thoughtfully structured, Rough Metaphysics escapes the recursive loops by which socio-cultural anthropology often proceeds, allowing Peter Skafish to probe more deeply than almost anyone else into the implications of ‘taking seriously’ the ontological framework of an anthropologist’s interlocutor. In doing so, he offers a sharp criticism of anthropology’s persistent concern with categories of analysis that obviate such attention."—Marilyn Strathern, author of Relations: An Anthropological Account

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Book SynopsisA powerful case for why anthropology should study outsiders of thought and their speculative ideas What sort of thinking is needed to study anomalies in thought? In this trenchantly argued and beautifully written book, anthropologist Peter Skafish explores this provocative question by examining the writings of the medium and “rough metaphysician” Jane Roberts (1929–1984). Through a close interpretation of her own published texts as well as those she understood herself to have dictated for her cohort of channeled personalities—including one, named “Seth,” who would inspire the New Age movement—Skafish shows her intuitive and dreamlike work to be a source of rigorously inventive ideas about science, ontology, translation, and pluralism. Arguing that Roberts’s writings contain philosophies ahead of their time, he also asks: How might our understanding of speculative thinking change if we consider the way untrained writers, occult visionaries, and their counterparts in other cultural traditions undertake it? What can outsider thinkers teach us about the limitations of even our most critical intellectual habits?Rough Metaphysics is at once an ethnography of the books of a strange and yet remarkable writer, a commentary on the unlikely philosophy contained in them, and a call for a new way of doing (and undoing) philosophy through anthropology, and vice versa. In guiding the reader through Roberts’s often hallucinatory “world of concepts,” Skafish also develops a series of original interpretations of thinkers—from William James to Claude Lévi-Strauss to Paul Feyerabend—who have been vital to anthropologists and their fellow travelers.Seductively written and surprising in its turns of thought, Rough Metaphysics is a feast for anyone who wants to learn how to think something new, especially about thought.Trade Review "Lucid, insightful, and absolutely original, Rough Metaphysics vastly expands the scope and possibility of the anthropological discipline. Peter Skafish demonstrates how, despite our academic prejudices to stabilize knowledge in a contextually bounded self, we must learn new modes of thought that enable us to listen to what someone like Jane Roberts can reveal about our own multiplicity and the possibilities that this recognition might entail."—Eduardo Kohn, author of How Forests Think: Toward an Anthropology Beyond the Human "Highly original, beautifully written, and thoughtfully structured, Rough Metaphysics escapes the recursive loops by which socio-cultural anthropology often proceeds, allowing Peter Skafish to probe more deeply than almost anyone else into the implications of ‘taking seriously’ the ontological framework of an anthropologist’s interlocutor. In doing so, he offers a sharp criticism of anthropology’s persistent concern with categories of analysis that obviate such attention."—Marilyn Strathern, author of Relations: An Anthropological Account

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Book SynopsisDRETSKE AND HIS CRITICS Dretske and his Critics Frederick Dretske’s views on the nature of seeing, the possibility of knowledge, the nature of content or non-natural meaning, the nature of behavior, and the role of content in the causal explanation of behavior have been profoundly important. Dretske and his Critics contains original discussions of these issues by John Heil, Stuart Cohen, David H. Sanford, Jaegwon Kim, Fred Adams, Daniel Dennett, Robert Cummins, Terence Horgan and Brian McLaughlin. Each chapter is responded to by Dretske himself. In Seeing and Knowing (1968), Dretske argued that there is a relational sense of seeing according to which, if one sees X, then X exists (or occurs); and if one sees X, and X = Y, then one sees Y. He carefully contrasted seeing in this relational sense with seeing that something is the case. In his contribution to this volume, Heil examines Dretske’s notion of non-epistemic seeing. Dretske is largely responsible for the relevant alternatives response to skepticism about knowledge. In arguing that we cannot know the sorts of things we ordinarily claim to know, the skeptic appeals to irrelevant alternatives that the purported knower cannot eliminate. In their contributions to this volume, Cohen and Sanford examine Dretske’s relevant alternatives response to skepticism about knowledge. In Explaining Behavior: Reasons in a World of Causes (1988), Dretske defended a component account of behavior, and offered original, naturalized accounts of the nature of content and of the role of content in the causal explanation of behavior. In their contributions, Kim, Adams, Dennett, Cummins, and Horgan examine Dretske’s account of behavior and his naturalized account of the role of content in the causal explanation of behavior. McLaughlin focuses on Dretske’s naturalized account of content.Table of ContentsPerceptual experience, John Heil; scepticism, relevance, and relativity, Stewart Cohen; proper knowledge, David H.Sanford; Dretske on how reasons explain behaviour, Jaegwon Kim; actions, reasons, and the explanatory role of content, Terence Horgan; the role of mental meaning in psychological explanation, Robert Cummins; ways of establishing harmony, Daniel C.Dennett; causal contents, Frederick Adams; belief individuation and Dretske on naturalizing content, Brian P.McLaughlin; Dretske's replies.

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Book SynopsisThis flexible textbook is both an introduction and a reader in metaphysics combining original discussion with selections from primary sources.Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables vii Acknowledgments viii 1 What is Metaphysics? 1 2 Metaphysics and Political Philosophy 11 3 Values and Reality 82 4 God and Evil 183 5 Causation and Responsibility 237 6 Mind and Morality 283 7 Freedom and Responsibility 358 8 Against Metaphysics 435 Glossary 485 Index 490

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Book SynopsisEach volume in this series provides a clear, comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the main philosophical topics of contemporary debate.Trade Review"The text includes short exercises printed in bold every few pages. These are excellent devices for testing a student's grasp of the material, and for sparking fresh thoughts about it." Chris Daly, MindTable of ContentsPreface. 1. Metaphysics. 2. Numbers. 3. Platonism. 4. Identity. 5. Is Truth Relative?. 6. Colour. 7. Modality. 8. Things and Their Parts. 9. Determinism, Freedom and Fatalism. 10. Is There Truth in Fiction?. 11. Cosmology. References. Index.

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Book SynopsisEach volume in this series provides a clear, comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the main philosophical topics of contemporary debate.Trade Review"The text includes short exercises printed in bold every few pages. These are excellent devices for testing a student's grasp of the material, and for sparking fresh thoughts about it." Chris Daly, MindTable of ContentsPreface. 1. Metaphysics. 2. Numbers. 3. Platonism. 4. Identity. 5. Is Truth Relative?. 6. Colour. 7. Modality. 8. Things and Their Parts. 9. Determinism, Freedom and Fatalism. 10. Is There Truth in Fiction?. 11. Cosmology. References. Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book is an account of Aristotle’s Metaphysics. The work is considered as a whole and each of its parts or books is taken up in the order that it has in the traditional text. The book is based on an examination of all of the manuscript readings reported in the three most recent editions of the work (those of Christ, Ross, and Jaeger), and it attempts in this way and others to come as close as possible to what would have been the original text. The Metaphysics is of course a much-studied work. What distinguishes this new effort to understand it is the working assumption that Aristotle presents in it his most comprehensive reflection on science: its character and aims, its foundations or presuppositions, and the obstacles or objections that constitute a challenge to its possibility. The book is thus intended to be of interest and use to at least two classes of readers: to those who have already reflected themselves on the nature of science and who have perhaps become dissatisfied with more recent attempts to establish it on a firm basis or to explain the basis on which it rests; and to beginning students who are willing to undertake a difficult task and who can be brought to see that science and philosophy were originally equivalent terms and that the effort to distinguish or separate them may have been deeply misguided. In other words, the book is meant to afford a glimpse into what philosophy originally meant.

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Book SynopsisAlexandre Kojève (1902–1968) is most widely known in America for his provocative assertion that history is at its end, that is, its completion. In the “practical” sense, this means that the process of historical development can at last be seen (if from a distance) as the realization of the Marxist “universal and homogeneous state.” However, Kojève claimed as well that the history of philosophical thinking had also reached its goal in the transformation of philosophy, as the “love of wisdom” (or the unsatisfied quest for comprehensive knowledge), into that very Wisdom itself and had done so in the most essential respects in the philosophy of Hegel.The Concept, Time, and Discourse is the first volume of Kojève’s magnum opus, which was to have given an exposition of the (Hegelian) System of Knowledge and of which five volumes were written before his death. It contains, along with a preliminary discussion of the need for an updating of the Hegelian system, the first two of three introductions to the exposition of that system: a First Introduction of the Concept (the integrated totality of what is comprehensible, which is the final object of philosophic inquiry) and a Second Introduction concerning Time, both introductions leading to the (Hegelian) identification of the Concept with Time, an identification which alone takes adequate account of the fact that Philosophy is necessarily discursive (that it must actualize the requirements and essential structure of Discourse).The present volume offers Kojève’s fullest statement of his Ontology. It includes a critical discussion of the traditional oppositions of the “general” to the “particular” and of the “abstract” to the “concrete” and an analysis of the act of “generalizing abstraction,” which detaches Essence from the Existence of Things. Kojève then discusses the three great figures in the three-stage development of philosophy into wisdom: Parmenides, Plato, and Hegel. Parmenides’ monadic account of Being (= Eternity) rendered it ineffable, thereby reducing philosophy to (non-philosophic) silence; Plato’s dyadic account of Being (as eternal) was intended to make Being a possible subject of discourse but failed to reflect adequately the triadic (and temporally developing) structure which Plato himself discerned in Discourse. Finally, Hegel’s triadic account of Being as itself “dialectical” achieved the final identification of the Concept with Time.This is a first-time, meticulous translation of Kojève’s late, unfinished magnum opus, the “updating” of the Hegelian System of Knowledge, meaning its modification so as to make it comprehensible to the author himself and to his contemporaries. It is, however, much more than an exposition of its central terms, The Concept and Time and their identity. It is an acute, original review of the major themes of the West’s philosophical tradition; it is, in fact, a philosophical education in itself. Robert Williamson has done this tradition a great service by making Kojève’s work accessible to Americans. – Eva Brann, Dean Emerita and Senior Faculty, St. John’s College, Annapolis, MarylandWe now recognize Alexandre Kojève as one of the central figures of 20th century European philosophy. A translation of his The Concept, Time, and Discourse will enable English speaking readers to have a fuller understanding of his remarkably ambitious intellectual project. – Michael S. Roth, President, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut.Robert B. Williamson is Tutor Emeritus at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, where he continues to teach. He is co-author, with Alfred Mollin, of An Introduction to Ancient Greek (University Press of America) and the author of articles on Plato’s philosophy and Einstein’s early work on relativity theory.James H. Nichols, Jr. is Professor of Government and Dr. Jules L. Whitehill Professor of Humanism and Ethics at Claremont McKenna College, where he teaches political philosophy. Among his publications are Epicurean Political Philosophy: The De rerum natura of Lucretius, translations with interpretations of Plato’s Gorgias and Phaedrus, and most recently Alexandre Kojève: Wisdom at the End of History.Table of ContentsPreface Attempt at an Updating of the Hegelian System of Knowledge INTRODUCTION TO THE SYSTEM OF KNOWLEDGE: THE CONCEPT AND TIME FIRST INTRODUCTION TO THE SYSTEM OF KNOWLEDGE: PSYCHOLOGICAL INTRODUCTION OF THE CONCEPT (after Aristotle) 1. The Concept and Notions2. Notions and Things in the Extended-duration of Empirical-Existence a. The General and the Particular a. The Particularity of Notions b. The Generality of Things g. The Perception of the Particular and the General d. Generality and Particularity of Notions and Things b. The Abstract and the Concrete a. The Concrete Character of Notions b. The Abstract Character of Things g. The Perception of the Concrete and the Abstract d. The Abstract and Concrete Character of Notions and Things c. Generalizing Abstraction and the Detachment of the hic et nunc a. The Difference of Notions and Things b. The Detachment from the hic et nunc g. Generalizing Abstraction 3. Notions, the Concept, and Time a. Notions and the Concept b. The Concept and Time SECOND INTRODUCTION TO THE SYSTEM OF KNOWLEDGE: LOGICAL INTRODUCTION OF TIME (after Plato) 1. Being as Such and the Being-of-which-one-speaks (Given-Being)2. Given-Being and Time a. Being-One and Eternity (after Parmenides) b. Being-Two and the Eternal (after Plato) c. Being-Three (the Tri-nity) and Spatio-temporality (after Hegel) 3. Time and the Concept Index

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Book Synopsis“The Analytic Thomist,” Rob Koons, delivered the 2021 Aquinas Lecture at the University of Dallas. Here he engages the possibility of a bridge between philosophy and metaphysics proper. Koons boldly lays out his position: without Aristotelian metaphysics, there is no Aristotelian philosophy of nature, and there is no philosophy of nature in Aristotle without acknowledging his natural science. His lecture thus challenges Thomists and their respective approaches to hylomorphism and their all too frequent quickness to discard it. (Koons lays down the gauntlet. if one denies hylomorphism there can be no transubstantiation!) A bonus addition to this volume in the Dallas lecture series is Koon's “Aristotle, god and the Quantum.”

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Book SynopsisPoint of Departure offers a practical metacognitive and transformational learning strategy for human surviving and thriving. Using five foundational and interactive Indigenous worldview beliefs that contrast sharply with our dominant worldview ones, everyone can reclaim the original instructions for living on Earth. Without the resulting change in consciousness that can emerge from this learning approach, no modern technologies can save us. The five foundational Indigenous precepts relate to a radically different understanding about: (1) Trance?based learning (2) Courage and Fearlessness (3) Community Oriented Self?Authorship (4) Sacred Communications (5) Nature as Ultimate Teacher.Trade ReviewFour Arrows provides a quintessential critique of how the collective human departure of modern society from “Indigenous Consciousness” has led to the current wholesale exploitation and destruction of “Indigenous Nature” . . . while providing the impetus for the urgency of a return to the “Indigenous Mind” as one of the true pathways for our future survival - Greg Cajete, Director of Native American Studies, University of New Mexico, Author of Native Science and Look to the Mountain.

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Book SynopsisPoint of Departure offers a practical metacognitive and transformational learning strategy for human surviving and thriving. Using five foundational and interactive Indigenous worldview beliefs that contrast sharply with our dominant worldview ones, everyone can reclaim the original instructions for living on Earth. Without the resulting change in consciousness that can emerge from this learning approach, no modern technologies can save us. The five foundational Indigenous precepts relate to a radically different understanding about: (1) Trance?based learning (2) Courage and Fearlessness (3) Community Oriented Self?Authorship (4) Sacred Communications (5) Nature as Ultimate Teacher.

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Book SynopsisThe Reason for all Existence endeavours to explain why there is existence, rather than nothingness, by dissecting the fundamental principles/concepts of all existence, such as infinity, absolute zero and the ideas of good and evil. Familiar, earthly examples of these concepts are used along with their basic descriptions, so that the reader can better see how these concepts work and relate to the entirety of existence. The Reason for all Existence should give individuals a clear idea of the reason why they exist at all, while aiding them to direct their life in a positive way.

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Book SynopsisAn ontological and epistemological framework and foundation for the psychological symptom 'neurosis'.

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Book SynopsisThe Algorithm of Creation is the last of Nicholas Hagger’s quartet on the unity of the universe and humankind, and follows The Universe and the Light (1993), The One and the Many (1999) and The New Philosophy of Universalism (2009). It offers an algebraic formula written out for him by Junzaburo Nishiwaki, Japan’s T.S. Eliot, in Tokyo in October 1965, that sums up the wisdom of the East: “+A + –A = 0.” Based on ancient Chinese thinking, yin (dark) + yang (light) = the Tao, it shows all opposites reconciled in the underlying unity of the One Void whose emptiness is also a fullness. During a dinner at a conference of leading scientists at Jesus College, Cambridge in September 1992, watched by Nobel physics prizewinner Roger Penrose, Hagger reversed the formula to 0 = +A + –A when he wrote down the maths for his view of the origin and creation of the universe and showed the first two particles emerging from the Void’s singularity, influenced by the 1992 discovery of ripples in the cosmic microwave background radiation and the Presocratic Anaximander of Miletus. In this work Hagger shows how this algebraic formula has worked as a universal algorithm, 0 = +A + –A = 0. Its many variations have acted as rules that have controlled the creation and development of the expanding universe, its evolution and the rise of human history, religion and science, and its ultimate fate. The formula is behind many of Hagger’s works, and his application of this algorithm to all human knowledge of the universe and all disciplines takes him to a first-ever Theory of Everything, which is set out at the end: the algorithm of Creation containing 100 mathematical symbols (reflecting all the variations) that can be summed up in the above algorithm. This startling achievement has been made possible by his Universalist cross-disciplinary approach which focuses on the fundamental oneness of the universe and humankind, and the unitive vision.

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Book SynopsisTime seems to flash by when we are enjoying ourselves, and slows to a crawl when we are bored. Why? Does time exist, or is it an illusion? Does it flow? Is it linear? How real are our memories? When is now? These are just some of the questions that Time To Tell asks in its foray into what time is for us, what it does to us and for us, and how we live and react to it in our daily lives. Digging down to the roots of our lived experience in the world, Time To Tell takes us through a journey replete with twists and turns and "aha!" moments. Challenging the obvious, the book asks us to look anew at our perspective of what we naturally take for granted. Rattling the comfort of instant satisfaction, of reality shows, celebrity worship and the self-glorification of the I-generation, Ronald Green, with panache and authority, takes us on a journey that allows us a new way of looking at ourselves in the world, and to act upon what we discover.

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Book SynopsisCreator and Creators starts from the point of Nothing/Everything and the cosmic Rhythm, and gradually includes and explains the esoteric and exoteric mechanisms that lead to manifestation of life as we know it. Through an analysis of personal experience and the synthesis of spiritual philosophy and modern discoveries in cosmology, quantum physics, and the holographic mechanisms of genetics and neurophysiology Creator and Creators develops a new definition of Matter and new explanations of the nature of Time, Gravitational Waves, and Dark Energy. The book also solves the argument between the creationists and evolutionists by providing a cyclic theory of Creation and Evolution.

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Book SynopsisThe human world is in a mess. The human mind is in a mess. And now the human species is threatening its own survival by its own inventions and by war. For thousands of years, human beings conducted a great debate about the human condition and human possibilities, about philosophy and society and law. In 1516, Thomas More, in his book Utopia, contributed to the ancient debate, at another time of profound transformation in the human world. In our own time, we have witnessed a collapse in intellectual life, and a collapse in the theory and practice of education. The old debate is, for all practical purposes, dead.In 2016, Philip Allott's Eutopia resumes the debate about the role of philosophy and society and law in making a better human future, responding to a human world that More could not have imagined. And he lets us hear the voices of some of those who contributed to the great debate in the past, voices that still resonate today.Trade Review'Allott's Eutopia is audaciously ambitious and unconventional in style and content. It seeks no less than to do for the 21st century what Thomas More's Utopia and Francis Bacon's Great Instauration did in the English Renaissance: To help bring about a transformation of human self-understanding, overcome fatalism and inertia ultimately grounded in mistaken ideas of the the human condition and the limits of human power, and become aware of the permanent possibility of making the human world into a ''place of happiness''.' --Mattias Kumm, New York University, School of Law'No international thinker today offers more profound insights, or offers more challenging questions, on the possibilities for law and philosophy to touch our lives and our world than does Philip Allott. A quarter of a century after publishing Eunomia, Allott unleashes an entirely original, magnificent, challenging and overwhelming book, one that asks us to confront fatalism and to imagine the possibility that thought and ideas have the power to enhance the future of the human.' --Philippe Sands QC, Professor of Laws, University College London, UK'What would happen if you decided to rethink the human condition from the ground up? If you spent a lifetime at it, taking along the works of the greatest minds who tried this before? You might conclude, with Philip Allott, that ''the human species will need a revolution -- a revolution in the mind -- to become what it could be.'' And that ''we have the power to transform the human world.'' Eutopia is the work of a singular mind, a heroically independent thinker who brings the full power of his synthetic intelligence and style to bear in this philosophical tour de force. Allott will entertain you, challenge you, educate you -- and you may end up changing the world!' --David Kennedy, Manley O. Hudson Professor of Law, Harvard Law SchoolTable of ContentsContents: Part I THE HUMAN CONDITION 1. Changing Reality by Changing Ideas. 2. The Human Condition Now. 3. Paradoxes of Being Human I 4. Paradoxes of Being Human II PART II HUMAN POWER 5. The Power of Memory 6. The Power of Imagination 7. The Power of Knowledge 8. The Power of Emotion PART III HUMAN WILL 9. New Philosophy: Human Flourishing through Self-understanding 10. New Law: Human Flourishing Through Self-ordering 11. New Society: Living the Good Life Together 12. From Istopia to Eutopia Index

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Book SynopsisThe Subject itself is the Subject of the Machine. What does it mean to be human? We live in a technological age, where rapid advances in personal tech and the science of Artificial Intelligence are challenging us in ways never before imagined. A book in two parts, The Universal Subject of Our Time begins with an exploration of 20th Century post-modernism's undermining of subjectivity with thinkers such as Foucault, Derrida, Baudrillard and Althusser and continues with a description of the science wars, where physical realists challenged the post-modernists up to the 1990s when the intellectual conflict resulted in an uncompromising stand-off after the Sokal Hoax. In Part II the subject is resurrected by taking a look at arguments for machine intelligence and AI and also, from the perspective of physics, examines what subjectivity means, particularly in relation to black holes or black stars, and look to what lies ahead in the future, in terms of space exploration, Martian habitats and even the possibility of first contact with extra-terrestrials.

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Book SynopsisIf Levinas and Negarestani raised a child enchanted by the dark, then this is his debut. In this book, Rosen argues that current archaeological theoretic approaches are not up to the task of adequately theorizing exhumation in our present age of extinctions. Speculative Annihilationism attempts to “think thought’s extinction,” suggesting a new ontological ground for archaeology. Combining contemporary work in speculative philosophy, saprophytic dialectics, and Levinasian ethics, Rosen’s “putrefied-thought” explores themes of the unthought and unthinkable, anonymity, otherness, and meaninglessness so that archaeology can be granted a new basis, a new avenue of inquiry at its intersection with extinction.

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