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Author: John L. Bowman
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595225489
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 176
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Book Description
Selected Topics in Philosophy is an eclectic mix of various topics in philosophy including the nature of language, epistemology, ethics, the nature of religion and literature, metaphysics, existentialism and transcendentalism. Some particularly interesting issues discussed in the book include George Berkeley and John Locke's theories on the difference between language and reality (most confusion and much conflict in the world seems to be because we use words for things that do not exist) Immanuel Kant's transcendental idealism and in particular his discussion of antinomies (we are not passive tabula rasas on which the external world writes but rather active minds organizing and making sense of a random and incomprehensible world) Jean Paul Sartre's existential admonition that we must accept the world with no telos (which naturally leads us to the truism that if we wish life to have meaning we must look to ourselves to create it) the question of whether there are certain timeless, objective standards by which we can judge human actions (if we cannot, and ethics is subjective, how do we distinguish between good and evil?) what are the limits to our knowledge (are there certain immutable truths which we can discover which are built like a pyramid with a broad foundation and each layer resting on the one below, or is all knowledge simply how well things cohere like a raft on the open sea floating around with no permanent tether)
Author: John L. Bowman
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595225489
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 176
Get Book Here
Book Description
Selected Topics in Philosophy is an eclectic mix of various topics in philosophy including the nature of language, epistemology, ethics, the nature of religion and literature, metaphysics, existentialism and transcendentalism. Some particularly interesting issues discussed in the book include George Berkeley and John Locke's theories on the difference between language and reality (most confusion and much conflict in the world seems to be because we use words for things that do not exist) Immanuel Kant's transcendental idealism and in particular his discussion of antinomies (we are not passive tabula rasas on which the external world writes but rather active minds organizing and making sense of a random and incomprehensible world) Jean Paul Sartre's existential admonition that we must accept the world with no telos (which naturally leads us to the truism that if we wish life to have meaning we must look to ourselves to create it) the question of whether there are certain timeless, objective standards by which we can judge human actions (if we cannot, and ethics is subjective, how do we distinguish between good and evil?) what are the limits to our knowledge (are there certain immutable truths which we can discover which are built like a pyramid with a broad foundation and each layer resting on the one below, or is all knowledge simply how well things cohere like a raft on the open sea floating around with no permanent tether)
Author: Matthew Chrisman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315449757
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 187
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Book Description
Philosophy for Everyone begins by explaining what philosophy is before exploring the questions and issues at the foundation of this important subject. Key topics in this new edition and their areas of focus include: Moral philosophy – the nature of our moral judgments and reactions, whether they aim at some objective moral truth, or are mere personal or cultural preferences; and the possibility of moral responsibility given the sorts of things that cause behavior; Political philosophy – fundamental questions about the nature of states and their relationship to the citizens within those states Epistemology – what our knowledge of the world and ourselves consists in, and how we come to have it; and whether we should form beliefs by trusting what other people tell us; Philosophy of mind – what it means for something to have a mind, and how minds should be understood and explained; Philosophy of science – foundational conceptual issues in scientific research and practice, such as whether scientific theories are true; and Metaphysics - fundamental questions about the nature of reality, such as whether we have free will, or whether time travel is possible. This book is designed to be used in conjunction with the free ‘Introduction to Philosophy’ MOOC (massive open online course) created by the University of Edinburgh’s Eidyn research centre, and hosted by the Coursera platform (www.coursera.org/course/introphil).This book is also highly recommended for anyone looking for a short overview of this fascinating discipline.
Author:
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080930840
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 823
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Book Description
Information is a recognized fundamental notion across the sciences and humanities, which is crucial to understanding physical computation, communication, and human cognition. The Philosophy of Information brings together the most important perspectives on information. It includes major technical approaches, while also setting out the historical backgrounds of information as well as its contemporary role in many academic fields. Also, special unifying topics are high-lighted that play across many fields, while we also aim at identifying relevant themes for philosophical reflection. There is no established area yet of Philosophy of Information, and this Handbook can help shape one, making sure it is well grounded in scientific expertise. As a side benefit, a book like this can facilitate contacts and collaboration among diverse academic milieus sharing a common interest in information.• First overview of the formal and technical issues involved in the philosophy of information• Integrated presentation of major mathematical approaches to information, form computer science, information theory, and logic• Interdisciplinary themes across the traditional boundaries of natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.
Author: Ian Hacking
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110726815X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description
This 1983 book is a lively and clearly written introduction to the philosophy of natural science, organized around the central theme of scientific realism. It has two parts. 'Representing' deals with the different philosophical accounts of scientific objectivity and the reality of scientific entities. The views of Kuhn, Feyerabend, Lakatos, Putnam, van Fraassen, and others, are all considered. 'Intervening' presents the first sustained treatment of experimental science for many years and uses it to give a new direction to debates about realism. Hacking illustrates how experimentation often has a life independent of theory. He argues that although the philosophical problems of scientific realism can not be resolved when put in terms of theory alone, a sound philosophy of experiment provides compelling grounds for a realistic attitude. A great many scientific examples are described in both parts of the book, which also includes lucid expositions of recent high energy physics and a remarkable chapter on the microscope in cell biology.
Author:
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080548547
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 713
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Book Description
Scientists use concepts and principles that are partly specific for their subject matter, but they also share part of them with colleagues working in different fields. Compare the biological notion of a 'natural kind' with the general notion of 'confirmation' of a hypothesis by certain evidence. Or compare the physical principle of the 'conservation of energy' and the general principle of 'the unity of science'. Scientists agree that all such notions and principles aren't as crystal clear as one might wish. An important task of the philosophy of the special sciences, such as philosophy of physics, of biology and of economics, to mention only a few of the many flourishing examples, is the clarification of such subject specific concepts and principles. Similarly, an important task of 'general' philosophy of science is the clarification of concepts like 'confirmation' and principles like 'the unity of science'. It is evident that clarfication of concepts and principles only makes sense if one tries to do justice, as much as possible, to the actual use of these notions by scientists, without however following this use slavishly. That is, occasionally a philosopher may have good reasons for suggesting to scientists that they should deviate from a standard use. Frequently, this amounts to a plea for differentiation in order to stop debates at cross-purposes due to the conflation of different meanings. While the special volumes of the series of Handbooks of the Philosophy of Science address topics relative to a specific discipline, this general volume deals with focal issues of a general nature. After an editorial introduction about the dominant method of clarifying concepts and principles in philosophy of science, called explication, the first five chapters deal with the following subjects. Laws, theories, and research programs as units of empirical knowledge (Theo Kuipers), various past and contemporary perspectives on explanation (Stathis Psillos), the evaluation of theories in terms of their virtues (Ilkka Niiniluto), and the role of experiments in the natural sciences, notably physics and biology (Allan Franklin), and their role in the social sciences, notably economics (Wenceslao Gonzalez). In the subsequent three chapters there is even more attention to various positions and methods that philosophers of science and scientists may favor: ontological, epistemological, and methodological positions (James Ladyman), reduction, integration, and the unity of science as aims in the sciences and the humanities (William Bechtel and Andrew Hamilton), and logical, historical and computational approaches to the philosophy of science (Atocha Aliseda and Donald Gillies).The volume concludes with the much debated question of demarcating science from nonscience (Martin Mahner) and the rich European-American history of the philosophy of science in the 20th century (Friedrich Stadler). - Comprehensive coverage of the philosophy of science written by leading philosophers in this field - Clear style of writing for an interdisciplinary audience - No specific pre-knowledge required
Author: Alfred C Ewing
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136208720
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 264
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Book Description
First Published in 1951, this outline work on the theory of knowledge and metaphysics is intended both for university students who have recently started on the subject and for any who, without having the advantage of studying it at university, wish by private reading to acquire a general idea of its nature. The book deals with all the main questions arising within the field in so far as they can be stated and discussed profitably and simply. The topics discussed include the place of reason in knowledge and life, the possibility of knowledge beyond sense-experience, the theory of perception, the relation of body and mind, alleged philosophical implications of recent scientific doctrines, the problem of evil and the existence of God.
Author: Tommy Lee Lott
Publisher: Pearson
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 536
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Book Description
This anthology brings together a selection of historical and contemporary writings on topics in African-American Philosophy. Questions regarding a wide range of issues--including slavery and freedom, social progress, self-respect, alienation, sexuality, cultural identity, nationalism, feminism, Marxism and violence--are critically examined from different perspectives by well-known philosophers and by non-philosophers from many disciplines. It emphasizes the historical significance of the philosophical arguments within very specific social and political contexts. Features substantial extracts, and in some cases complete works by important 19th- and 20th-century social and political thinkers--organized under sections on Antebellem Critical Thought, Emigrationist and Diaspora Thought, Assimilation and Social Uplift, Contemporary Black Feminist Thought, Civil Rights and Civil Disobedience, Marxism and Social Progress, Rebellion and Radical Thought, Social Activism Reconsidered, Black Women Writers on Rape, and Alienation and Self-Respect. For anyone interested in the African-American experience and American history.
Author: Henri Atlan
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 082323181X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 481
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Book Description
During the last thirty years, biophysicist and philosopher Henri Atlan has been a major voice in contemporary European philosophical and bio-ethical debates. In a massive oeuvre that ranges from biology and neural network theory to Spinoza's thought and the history of philosophy, and from artificial intelligence and information theory to Jewish mysticism and to contemporary medical ethics, Atlan has come to offer an exceptionally powerful philosophical argumentation that is as hostile to scientism as it is attentive to biology's conceptual and experimental rigor, as careful with concepts of rationality as it is committed to rethinking the human place in a radically determined yet forever changing world. --Book Jacket.
Author: David A. White
Publisher: PRUFROCK PRESS INC.
ISBN: 1593630085
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 188
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Book Description
In this book, the follow-up to the best-selling Philosophy for Kids, Dr. David White delves deeper into the philosophical questions kids (and adults) care about deeply. Through vibrant discussions and debate, your students will grapple with age-old questions about a variety of worthwhile topics.
Author: Samuel Guttenplan
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing
ISBN: 9780631234388
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 300
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Book Description
This flexible introductory textbook explores several key themes in philosophy, and helps the reader learn to engage with the key arguments by introducing and analysing a selection of classic readings. Fully integrated introductory text with readings for beginning students of philosophy. Each chapter focusses on a core philosophical topic, and contains an introduction to the topic, 2 classic readings and interactive commentaries on the readings. An introductory book which doesn't merely tell the reader about the subject, but requires them to engage philosophically with the text. A pedagogical resource developed in the classroom by the authors at the University of London.
