You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Metaphysics: An Introduction, Second Edition combines comprehensive coverage of the core elements of metaphysics with contemporary and lively debates within the subject. It provides a rigorous and yet accessible overview of a rich array of topics, connecting the abstract nature of metaphysics with the real world. Topics covered include: basic logic for metaphysics an introduction to ontology abstract objects material objects critiques of metaphysics natural and social kinds the metaphysics of race and gender grounding and fundamentality free will time modality persistence causation. This outstanding book not only equips the reader with a thorough knowledge of the fundamentals of metaphysics,...
Principles and Persons contains twenty-one new essays addressed to themes drawn from the work of the late Derek Parfit. Topics include the nature of reasons and duties, the rationality of our attitudes to time, and the question of personal identity.
Oxford Studies in Metaphysics is the forum for the best new work in this flourishing field. Much of the most interesting work in philosophy today is metaphysical in character: this series is a much-needed focus for it.
It is with great pleasure that we are presenting to the community the second edition of this extraordinary handbook. It has been over 15 years since the publication of the first edition and there have been great changes in the landscape of philosophical logic since then. The first edition has proved invaluable to generations of students and researchers in formal philosophy and language, as well as to consumers of logic in many applied areas. The main logic article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica 1999 has described the first edition as 'the best starting point for exploring any of the topics in logic'. We are confident that the second edition will prove to be just as good! The first edition w...
Perhaps the most fundamental question of epistemology asks on what grounds our knowledge of the world ultimately rests. The traditional Cartesian answer is that it rests on indubitable facts arrived at through rational insight or introspection. Coherentists reject this answer, claiming instead that knowledge arises from relations of coherence or mutual support: if our beliefs cohere, we can be sure that they are mostly true. The first part of this Element introduces the reader to the main ideas and problems of coherentism. The next part describes the 'probabilistic turn', leading up to recent demonstrations that coherence fails to be conducive to truth. The final part reassesses the current debate about the proper definition of coherence from the standpoint of Rudolf Carnap's methodology of explication. The upshot is a tentative and qualified defence of one of the early coherence measures.
Many philosophy majors are shocked by the gap between the relative ease of lower-level philosophy courses and the difficulty of upper-division courses. This book serves as a necessary bridge to upper-level study in philosophy by offering rigorous but concise and accessible accounts of basic concepts and distinctions that are used throughout the discipline. It serves as a valuable advanced introduction to any undergraduate who is moving into upper-level courses in philosophy. While lower-level introductions to philosophy usually deal with popular topics accessible to the general student (such as contemporary moral issues, free will, and personal identity) in a piecemeal fashion, The Philosoph...
This book presents an account of normative practical reasons and the way in which they contribute to the rationality of action. Rather than simply 'counting in favour of' actions, normative reasons play two logically distinct roles: requiring action and justifying action. The distinction between these two roles explains why some reasons do not seem relevant to the rational status of an action unless the agent cares about them, while other reasons retain all their force regardless of the agent's attitude. It also explains why the class of rationally permissible action is wide enough to contain not only all morally required action, but also much selfish and immoral action. The book will appeal to a range of readers interested in practical reason in particular, and moral theory more generally.
Explores the role language plays in the relationship between reality and utterance.
Provides readers with the foundations of fuzzy mathematics as well as more advanced topics A Modern Introduction to Fuzzy Mathematics provides a concise presentation of fuzzy mathematics., moving from proofs of important results to more advanced topics, like fuzzy algebras, fuzzy graph theory, and fuzzy topologies. The authors take the reader through the development of the field of fuzzy mathematics, starting with the publication in 1965 of Lotfi Asker Zadeh's seminal paper, Fuzzy Sets. The book begins with the basics of fuzzy mathematics before moving on to more complex topics, including: Fuzzy sets Fuzzy numbers Fuzzy relations Possibility theory Fuzzy abstract algebra And more Perfect for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers with an interest in the field of fuzzy mathematics, A Modern Introduction to Fuzzy Mathematics walks through both foundational concepts and cutting-edge, new mathematics in the field.
This book provides a comprehensive understanding of coherence, the controversy surrounding it, and its implications across the discipline of philosophy. Coverage first takes up the challenging and controversial task of measuring the coherence of an information set and then criticizes this endeavor. The book also relates this foundational research to a wide array of epistemological and metaphysical challenges.