Welcome to our book review site go-pdf.online!
You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Metaphysics and Scientific Realism
David Malet Armstrong (8 July 1926–13 May 2014) has been one of the most influential contemporary metaphysicians working in the analytic tradition and surely the greatest 20th century Australian philosopher. His main merit is to have reestablished metaphysics as a respectable branch of philosophy placing it at the centre of the philosophical debate, and giving it the status of an authoritative and competent interlocutor of both rational and empirical sciences. By means of a rigorously argumentative approach and a sharp prose, Armstrong has built a whole metaphysical system, that is, a comprehensive and unified picture of the fundamental structure of the world. The various chapters of the book address the key issues concerning Armstrong' view about the problem of universals, the nature of states of affairs, the ontological ground of possibility, nomic necessity, and dispositions, the truthmaker theory, and the theory of mind. This volume aims to celebrate Armstrong’s memory bringing new understanding, and hopefully stimulating more work, on his philosophy, with the conviction that it constitutes an invaluable heritage for contemporary research in metaphysics.
Reviving Intellectual Intuition in Metaphysics
Calling for a revival of intellectual intuition in metaphysics long after its banning by Kant, Kenneth Rose overcomes the forgetfulness of being through contemplative ontology. Rose argues for the reinstatement of intellectual intuition in metaphysics long after its banning by Kant. His claim is not merely the conclusion of a thought-experiment or of an exercise in conceptual analysis. It is the result of the contemplative recognition of being with a meditatively concentrated intellect: nous in Greek and buddhi in Sanskrit. Recognizing intellectual intuition as a long-neglected faculty of philosophical insight, Rose shows how it can result in an immediate, intuitive discerning of being. He discusses how being parcels itself out into the intellectual forms providing the underlying nonphysical arrangement of the physical and mental worlds. By reviving the use of intellectual intuition in metaphysics, Rose draws upon historical sources across multiple Asian and Anglo-European philosophical schools. This is a work of contemplative constructive philosophy that breaks down divisions between science, philosophy, and religion and between diverse cultures and divergent worldviews.
Putting Metaphysics First
Michael Devitt presents a series of essays with four recurring themes: (i) a sharp distinction between metaphysical issues and semantic ones; (ii) the priority of metaphysical issues over epistemological and semantic issues; (iii) a naturalistic opposition to the a priori taken largely from Quine; (iv) an uncompromising 'realism about the external world'. Topics include Plato's 'one over many' problem; nonfactualism; truth; moral realism; biological realism; biological essentialism; intuitions and their proper role.
If Tropes
In the book If Tropes, the author attempts to approach and then deal with some of the most basic problems for a theory of tropes. The investigation proceeds from three basic assumptions: (i) tropes (i.e. particular properties) exist, (ii) only tropes exist (that is, tropes are the only basic or fundamental kind of entities), and (iii) the main-function for tropes is to serve as truth-makers for atomic propositions. Provided that one accepts these assumptions the author finds that the trope-theorist will have to deal with two important matters. Some atomic propositions seem to require universal truth-makers and others seem to require concrete truth-makers. This means that universals and concrete particulars will need to be constructed from the material of tropes. Such constructions are attempted and it is argued that it is possible to deal at least with these basic issues while staying squarely within the boundaries of a purely trope-theoretical framework. The book is written in an untechnical language but requires some prior understanding of basic metaphysics.
Being Qua Being
Are there nonexistent things? What is the nature of informative identity statements? Are the notions of essential property and of essence intelligible, and, if so, how are they to be understood? Are individual things material substances or clusters of qualities? Can the account of the unity of a complex entity avoid vicious infinite regresses? These questions have attracted widespread attention among philosophers recently, as evidenced by a proliferation of articles in the leading philosophical journals. In Being Qua Being they receive systematic, unified treatment, grounded in an account of the nature of the application to the world of our conceptual apparatus. A central thesis of the book is that the topic of identity is primary, and that existence and predication, both essential and accidental, are to be understood in terms of identity.
Ethics of Information and Communication Technologies
This book discusses key ethical and deontological problems concerning the use of the most common information and communication devices. It focuses on the challenges of the new environments we now find ourselves in thanks to these technologies, and the issues arising from the newly established relationship between the virtual sphere and the real world. Each aspect is analysed by starting from a very specific example or a case study presenting a dilemma that can only be resolved by making a reasoned ethical choice. Rather than thematically addressing only one of the many aspects mentioned above (for example, computer ethics or social network ethics), the book presents a comprehensive introduction to, and a co-ordinated overview of, the various deontological and ethical issues regarding the spread of the most common information and communication technologies.
A Combinatorial Theory of Possibility
Preface Part I. Non-Naturalist Theories of Possibility: 1. Causal argument 2. Non-Naturalist theories of possibility Part II. A Combinatorial and Naturalist Account of Possibility: 3. Possibility in a simple world 4. Expanding and contracting the world 5. Relative atoms 6. Are there de re incompatibilities and necessities? 7. Higher-order entities, negation and causation 8. Supervenience 9. Mathematics 10. Final questions: logic Works cited Appendix: Tractarian Nominalism Brian Skyrms Index.
