Description
Book SynopsisThis, the 21st volume in the Library of Living Philosophers, is more than Sir Alfred Ayer''s final word on the philosophical issues that preoccupied him for more than sixty years; the list of contributors is a roll-call of some of the greatest living figures in philosophy, each expertly addressing a key problem arising in Ayer''s work. Most of the critical papers are answered directly and in detail by Sir Alfred-he completed his replies to 21 of the 24 papers before his death.
Contributors include: A. J. Ayer, Evandro Agazzi, James Campbell, David S. Clarke, Michael Dummett, Elizabeth Eames, John Foster, Dimitri Ginev, Paul Gochet, Martin Hollis, Ted Honderich, Tscha Hung, Peter Kivy, Arne Naess, D. J. O''Connor, Desiree Park, David Pears, Azarya Polikarov, Hilary Putnam, Francisco Miró, Quesada C., A. Anthony Quinton, Emanuele Riverso, Ernest Sosa, T. L. S. Sprigge, Barry Stroud, and David Wiggins.
Table of ContentsMy mental development, A.J. Ayer; varieties of meaning and truth, Evandro Agazzi; Ayer and pragmatism, James Campbell; on judging sufficiency of evidence, David S. Clarke; the metaphysics of verificationism, Michael Dummett; A.J. Ayer's philosophical method, Beth Eames; the construction of the physical world, John Foster; on Sir Alfred Ayer's theory of truth, Paul Gochet; man as a subject for social science, Martin Hollis; causation - one thing just happens after another, Ted Honderich; Ayer and the Vienna circle, Tscha Hung; "Oh Boy! You Too!" - aesthetic emotivism re-examined, Peter Kivy; Ayer on metaphysics - a critical commentary by a kind of metaphysician, Arne Naess; Ayer on free will and determinism, D.J. O'Connor; Ayerian "qualia" and the empiricist heritage, Desiree Park; Ayer's view on meaning-rules, David Pears; remarks on logical empiricism and some of Ayer's achievements - some fifty years later, A. Polikarov and D. Ginev; is it necessary that water is h2o?, Hilary Putnam; Ayer's philosophy of logic and mathematics, Francisco Miro Quesada C.; Ayer and ontology, Anthony Quinton; Ayer's treatment of Russell, Emanuelle Riverso; Ayer on perception and reality, Ernest Sosa; Ayer on other minds, T.L.S. Sprigge; Ayer's Hume, Barry Stroud; Ayer on morality and feeling - from subjectivism to emotivism and back?, David Wiggins.
