Search results for "tag:"Author Christopher Hitchcock""

Book SynopsisAn accessible grammar reference guide for learners of Levantine Arabic at all levelsA Learner's Grammar of Levantine Arabic is a comprehensive guide to the grammatical structures and rules of the Arabic varieties spoken in the Levant region, such as Palestinian, Syrian, Jordanian, and Lebanese. This book is suitable for beginners through more advanced levels, and it is the first to present North and South Levantine varieties side by side, allowing learners and linguists to compare them with each other and with other varieties of spoken Arabic. Hitchcock groups major grammatical concepts together, making it easy to find information quickly, and he provides easy-to-understand explanations. The book includes extensive appendixes, with verb charts, prepositions, and conjunctions. Copious examples of native speaker usageculled from newspapers, television programs, and moreare provided for each concept, helping learners understand how to apply the concepts to their own communications outside the classroom.

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Book SynopsisCausation is a central topic in many areas of philosophy. In metaphysics, philosophers want to know what causation is, and how it is related to laws of nature, probability, action, and freedom of the will. In epistemology, philosophers investigate how causal claims can be inferred from statistical data, and how causation is related to perception, knowledge and explanation. In the philosophy of mind, philosophers want to know whether and how the mind can be said to have causal efficacy, and in ethics, whether there is a moral distinction between acts and omissions and whether the moral value of an act can be judged according to its consequences. And causation is a contested concept in other fields of enquiry, such as biology, physics, and the law. This book provides an in-depth and comprehensive overview of these and other topics, as well as the history of the causation debate from the ancient Greeks to the logical empiricists. The chapters provide surveys of contemporary debates, while often also advancing novel and controversial claims; and each includes a comprehensive bibliography and suggestions for further reading. The book is thus the most comprehensive source of information about causation currently available, and will be invaluable for upper-level undergraduates through to professional philosophers.Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Ancient Greeks ; 2. The Medievals ; 3. The Early Moderns ; 4. Hume ; 5. Kant ; 6. The Logical Empiricists ; 7. Regularity Theories ; 8. Counterfactual Theories ; 9. Probabilistic Theories ; 10. Causal Process Theories ; 11. Agency and Interventionist Theories ; 12. Causal Powers and Capacities ; 13. Anti-Reductionism ; 14. Causal Modelling ; 15. Mechanisms ; 16. Causal Pluralism ; 17. Platitudes and Counterexamples ; 18. Causes, Laws and Ontology ; 19. Causal Relata ; 20. The Time-Asymmetry of Causation ; 21. The Psychology of Causal Perception and Reasoning ; 22. Causation and Observation ; 23. Causation and Statistical Inference ; 24. Mental Causation ; 25. Causation, Action, and Free Will ; 26. Causation and Ethics ; 27. Causal Theories of Knowledge and Perception ; 28. Causation and Semantic Content ; 29. Causation and Explanation ; 30. Causation and Reduction ; 31. Causation in Classical Mechanics ; 32. Causation in Statistical Mechanics ; 33. Causation in Quantum Mechanics ; 34. Causation in Spacetime Theories ; 35. Causation in Biology ; 36. Causation in the Social Sciences ; 37. Causation in the Law

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Book Synopsis* Brings together fresh debates on eight of the most controversial issues in the philosophy of science.Trade Review"This book offers an excellent way into both general philosophy of science and the important foundational issues that are generated by particular special sciences. The contributions are of the highest quality, and range from the epistemology of thought-experiments to the relationship between genes and whole organisms. The pairing of essays defending opposing points of view shows readers that philosophy of science is full of live issues that demand scientifically well-informed and philosophically sophisticated debate." James Ladyman, University of Bristol "The essays in this invaluable collection are splendid and spirited, and they manage to encompass a broad range of the most exciting debates in philosophy of science today. By juxtaposing rival viewpoints on the same questions, this collection is sure to provoke vigorous responses from students and their teachers alike." Marc Lange, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill "The volume gives a real taste of current philosophical debate. The debated issues are real and well-defined, and not obscure conflicts of various -isms whose philosophical relevance is only understood by the participants." Petri Ylikoski, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced StudiesTable of ContentsNotes on Contributors Preface Introduction: What is the Philosophy of Science? Part I: Do Thought Experiments Transcend Empiricism? 1. Why Thought Experiments Transcend EmpiricismJames Robert Brown, University of Toronto 2. Why Thought Experiments do not Transcend EmpiricismJohn Norton, University of Pittsburgh Part II: Does Probability Capture the Logic of Scientific Confirmation or Justification? 3. Probability Captures the Logic of Scientific ConfirmationPatrick Maher, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 4. Why Probability Does not Capture the Logic of Scientific JustificationKevin Kelly, Carnegie Mellon University and Clark Glymour, Carnegie Mellon University Part III: Can a Theory's Predictive Success Warrant Belief in the Unobservable Entities it Postulates? 5. A Theory's Predictive Success Can Warrant Belief in the Unobservable Entities it PostulatesJarrett Leplin, University of North Carolina, Greensboro 6. A Theory's Predictive Success Does not Warrant Belief in the Unobservable Entities it PostulatesAndré Kukla, University of Toronto and Joel Walmsley, University of Toronto Part IV: Are There Laws in the Social Sciences? 7. There are no Laws in the Social SciencesJohn Roberts, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 8. There are Laws in the Social SciencesHarold Kincaid, University of Alabama at Birmingham Part V: Are Causes Physically Connected to their Effects? 9. Causes are Physically Connected to Their Effects: Why Preventers and Omissions are not CausesPhil Dowe, University of Queensland, Australia 10. Causes Need Not be Physically Connected to their Effects: The Case for Negative CausationJonathan Schaffer, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Part VI: Is There a Puzzle about the Low Entropy Past? 11. On the Origins of the Arrow of Time: Why There is Still a Puzzle About the Low Entropy PastHuw Price, University of Edinburgh 12. There is No Puzzle About the Low Entropy PastCraig Callender Part VII: Do Genes Encode Information About Phenotypic Traits 13. Genes Encode Information for Phenotypic TraitsSahotra Sarkar, University of Texas at Austin 14. Genes Do not Encode Information for Phenotypic TraitsPeter Godfrey-Smith, Stanford University Part VIII: Is the Mind a System of Modules Shaped by Natural Selection? 15. The Mind is a System of Modules Shaped by Natural SelectionPeter Carruthers, University of Maryland 16. The Mind is Not (Just) a System of Modules Shaped (Just) by Natural SelectionFiona Cowie, California Institute of Technology and James Woodward, California Institute of Technology Index

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Book SynopsisContains sixteen essays each one defending the affirmative or negative answer to one of eight specific questions, including: Are there laws of social science? Are causes physically connected to their effects? And, is the mind a system of modules shaped by natural selection?Trade Review"This book offers an excellent way into both general philosophy of science and the important foundational issues that are generated by particular special sciences. The contributions are of the highest quality, and range from the epistemology of thought-experiments to the relationship between genes and whole organisms. The pairing of essays defending opposing points of view shows readers that philosophy of science is full of live issues that demand scientifically well-informed and philosophically sophisticated debate." James Ladyman, University of Bristol "The essays in this invaluable collection are splendid and spirited, and they manage to encompass a broad range of the most exciting debates in philosophy of science today. By juxtaposing rival viewpoints on the same questions, this collection is sure to provoke vigorous responses from students and their teachers alike." Marc Lange, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill "The volume gives a real taste of current philosophical debate. The debated issues are real and well-defined, and not obscure conflicts of various -isms whose philosophical relevance is only understood by the participants." Petri Ylikoski, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced StudiesTable of ContentsNotes on Contributors Preface Introduction: What is the Philosophy of Science? Part I: Do Thought Experiments Transcend Empiricism? 1. Why Thought Experiments Transcend EmpiricismJames Robert Brown, University of Toronto 2. Why Thought Experiments do not Transcend EmpiricismJohn Norton, University of Pittsburgh Part II: Does Probability Capture the Logic of Scientific Confirmation or Justification? 3. Probability Captures the Logic of Scientific ConfirmationPatrick Maher, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 4. Why Probability Does not Capture the Logic of Scientific JustificationKevin Kelly, Carnegie Mellon University and Clark Glymour, Carnegie Mellon University Part III: Can a Theory's Predictive Success Warrant Belief in the Unobservable Entities it Postulates? 5. A Theory's Predictive Success Can Warrant Belief in the Unobservable Entities it PostulatesJarrett Leplin, University of North Carolina, Greensboro 6. A Theory's Predictive Success Does not Warrant Belief in the Unobservable Entities it PostulatesAndré Kukla, University of Toronto and Joel Walmsley, University of Toronto Part IV: Are There Laws in the Social Sciences? 7. There are no Laws in the Social SciencesJohn Roberts, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 8. There are Laws in the Social SciencesHarold Kincaid, University of Alabama at Birmingham Part V: Are Causes Physically Connected to their Effects? 9. Causes are Physically Connected to Their Effects: Why Preventers and Omissions are not CausesPhil Dowe, University of Queensland, Australia 10. Causes Need Not be Physically Connected to their Effects: The Case for Negative CausationJonathan Schaffer, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Part VI: Is There a Puzzle about the Low Entropy Past? 11. On the Origins of the Arrow of Time: Why There is Still a Puzzle About the Low Entropy PastHuw Price, University of Edinburgh 12. There is No Puzzle About the Low Entropy PastCraig Callender Part VII: Do Genes Encode Information About Phenotypic Traits 13. Genes Encode Information for Phenotypic TraitsSahotra Sarkar, University of Texas at Austin 14. Genes Do not Encode Information for Phenotypic TraitsPeter Godfrey-Smith, Stanford University Part VIII: Is the Mind a System of Modules Shaped by Natural Selection? 15. The Mind is a System of Modules Shaped by Natural SelectionPeter Carruthers, University of Maryland 16. The Mind is Not (Just) a System of Modules Shaped (Just) by Natural SelectionFiona Cowie, California Institute of Technology and James Woodward, California Institute of Technology Index

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