Epistemology of Modality and Philosophical Methodology
Epistemology of Modality and Philosophical Methodology

Author: Anand Jayprakash Vaidya

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-03-21

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 1000840433

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This book collects original essays on the epistemology of modality and related issues in modal metaphysics and philosophical methodology. The contributors utilize both the newer "metaphysics-first" and the more traditional "epistemology-first" approaches to these issues. The chapters on modal epistemology mostly focus on the problem of how we can gain knowledge of possibilities, which have never been actualized, or necessities which are not provable either by logico-mathematical reasoning or by linguistic competence alone. These issues are closely related to some of the central issues in philosophical methodology, notably: to what extent is the armchair methodology of philosophy a reliable guide for the formation of beliefs about what is possible and necessary. This question also relates to the nature of thought experiments that are extensively used in science and philosophy. Epistemology of Modality and Philosophical Methodology will be of interest to researchers and advanced students working on the epistemology and metaphysics of modality, as well as those whose work is concerned with philosophical methodology more generally.

Writing the Book of the World
Writing the Book of the World

Author: Theodore Sider

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2011-11-24

Total Pages: 541

ISBN-13: 019105741X

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In order to perfectly describe the world, it is not enough to speak truly. In this ambitious and ground-breaking book, Theodore Sider argues that for a representation to be fully successful, truth is not enough; the representation must also use the right concepts--concepts that 'carve at the joints'--so that its conceptual structure matches reality's structure. There is an objectively correct way to 'write the book of the world'. According to Sider, metaphysics is primarily about fundamentality rather than necessity, conceptual analysis, or ontology. Fundamentality is understood in terms of structure: the fundamental truths are those truths that involve structural (joint-carving) concepts. Sider argues that part of the theory of structure is an account of how structure connects to other concepts. For example, structure can be used to illuminate laws of nature, explanation, reference, induction, physical geometry, substantivity, conventionality, objectivity, and metametaphysics. Another part is an account of how structure behaves. Since structure is a way of thinking about fundamentality, Sider's account implies distinctive answers to questions about the nature of fundamentality. These answers distinguish his theory of structure from other recent theories of fundamentality, including Kit Fine's theory of ground and reality, the theory of truthmaking, and Jonathan Schaffer's theory of ontological dependence.

The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Psychology
The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Psychology

Author: Sarah Robins

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-09-11

Total Pages: 701

ISBN-13: 1134155794

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The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Psychology is an invaluable guide and major reference source to the major topics, problems, concepts and debates in philosophy of psychology and is the first companion of its kind. A team of renowned international contributors provide forty-two chapters organised into six clear parts: I. Historical background to the philosophy of psychology II. Psychological explanation III. Cognition and representation IV. The biological basis of psychology V. Perceptual experience VI. Personhood The Companion covers key topics such as the origins of experimental psychology; folk psychology; behaviorism and functionalism; philosophy, psychology and neuroscience; the language of thought, modularity, nativism and representational theories of mind; consciousness and the senses; personal identity; the philosophy of psychopathology and dreams, emotion and temporality. Essential reading for all students of philosophy of mind, science and psychology, The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Psychology will also be of interest to anyone studying psychology and its related disciplines.

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Agency
The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Agency

Author: Luca Ferrero

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-01-26

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13: 0429510764

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One of the most basic and important distinctions we draw is between those entities with the capacity of agency and those without. As humans we enjoy agency in its full-blooded form and therefore a proper understanding of the nature of agency is of great importance to appreciate who we are and what we should expect and demand of our existence. The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Agency is an outstanding reference source to the key issues, problems, and debates in this exciting subject and is the first collection of its kind. Comprising 42 chapters by an international team of contributors, the Handbook is divided into eight clear parts: The Metaphysics of Agency Kinds of Agency Agency and Ability Agency: Mind, Body, and World Agency and Knowledge Agency and Moral Psychology Agency and Time Agency, Reasoning, and Normativity. A broad range of topics are covered, including the relation of agency to causation, teleology, animal agency, intentionality, planning, skills, disability, practical knowledge, self-knowledge, the will, responsibility, autonomy, identification, emotions, personal identity, reasons, morality, the law, aesthetics, and games. The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Agency is essential reading for students and researchers within philosophy of action, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, philosophy of psychology, and ethics.

Searle’s Philosophy and Chinese Philosophy
Searle’s Philosophy and Chinese Philosophy

Author: Bo Mou

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2008-06-30

Total Pages: 462

ISBN-13: 9047433696

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This volume investigates how, through critical engagement, the philosophy of John Searle in the Western analytic tradition and some thoughts and strands in Chinese philosophy can jointly contribute to the common philosophical enterprise and shows how such comparative methodology of constructive engagement is important or even indispensable in philosophical inquiry. The anthology includes Searle's keynote essay and 15 engaging pairs of essay-reply dialogues, each of which consists of one previously unpublished essay by some expert(s) and Searle's engaging reply, and which are organized into four subjects respectively on mind, language, morality, and meta-philosophical & methodological issues. The anthology also includes the volume editor’s theme introduction on the constructive-engagement movement in view of Searle’s philosophy and Chinese philosophy. Contributors include: Robert E. Allinson, Chung-ying Cheng, Kim-chong Chong, Chris Fraser, Yiu-ming Fung, Soraj Hongladarom, Joel W. Krueger, B. Jeannie Lum, Aloysius P. Martinich, Bo Mou, Anh Tuan Nuyen, John R. Searle, Avrum Stroll, Marshall D. Willman, Kai-yee Wong, and Yujian Zheng.

Philosophy, Computing and Information Science
Philosophy, Computing and Information Science

Author: Ruth Hagengruber

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-10-06

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 1317317556

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Over the last four decades computers and the internet have become an intrinsic part of all our lives, but this speed of development has left related philosophical enquiry behind. Featuring the work of computer scientists and philosophers, these essays provide an overview of an exciting new area of philosophy that is still taking shape.

Experimental Philosophy of Language: Perspectives, Methods, and Prospects
Experimental Philosophy of Language: Perspectives, Methods, and Prospects

Author: David Bordonaba-Plou

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-06-16

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 3031289080

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This book presents the current state of experimental philosophy of language, drawing attention to corpus methods. The volume highlights new trends in experimental philosophy of language, thus exploring the future’s discipline. It includes cross-linguistics studies that reveal the differences and similarities in how speakers of different languages use specific terms, and scrutinizes methodological advances used in experimental philosophy of language. The book also includes politically engaged experimental philosophy of language studies focusing on slurs, pejoratives, and hate speech. The topic’s interdisciplinary nature makes the volume of interest to a broad range of scholars across disciplines including philosophy, linguistics, philology, psychology, and computational linguistics.

Susan Haack: Reintegrating Philosophy
Susan Haack: Reintegrating Philosophy

Author: Julia F. Göhner

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-02-26

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 331924969X

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This volume documents the 17th Münster Lectures in Philosophy with Susan Haack, the prominent contemporary philosopher. It contains an original, programmatic article by Haack on her overall philosophical approach, entitled ‘The Fragmentation of Philosophy, the Road to Reintegration’. In addition, the volume includes seven papers on various aspects of Haack’s philosophical work as well as her replies to the papers. Susan Haack has deeply influenced many of the debates in contemporary philosophy. In her vivid and accessible way, she has made ground-breaking contributions covering a wide range of topics, from logic, metaphysics and epistemology, to pragmatism and the philosophy of science and law. In her work, Haack has always been very sensitive in detecting subtle differences. The distinctions she has introduced reveal what lies at the core of philosophical controversies, and show the problems that exist with established views. In order to resolve these problems, Haack has developed some ‘middle-course approaches’. One example of this is her famous ‘Foundherentism’, a theory of justification that includes elements from both the rival theories of Foundationalism and Coherentism. Haack herself has offered the best description of her work calling herself a ‘passionate moderate’.