Wondering about the Impossible: On the Semantics of Counterpossibles

Wondering about the Impossible: On the Semantics of Counterpossibles PDF Author: Maciej Sendłak
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031653610
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Wondering about the Impossible: On the Semantics of Counterpossibles

Wondering about the Impossible: On the Semantics of Counterpossibles PDF Author: Maciej Sendłak
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031653610
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description


God and Necessity

God and Necessity PDF Author: Brian Leftow
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199263353
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 588

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Book Description
Brian Leftow offers a theist theory of necessity and possibility, and a new sort of argument for God's existence. He argues that necessities of logic and mathematics are determined by God's nature, but that it is events in God's mind - His imagination and choice - that account for necessary truths about concrete creatures.

Impossible Worlds

Impossible Worlds PDF Author: Francesco Berto
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198812795
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
The latter half of the 20 ...

Constructing Practical Reasons

Constructing Practical Reasons PDF Author: Andreas Müller
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191070963
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
Some things are reasons for us to perform certain actions. That it will spare you great pain in the future, for example, is a reason for you to go to the dentist now, and that you are already late for work is a reason for you not to read the next article in the morning paper. Why are such considerations reasons for or against certain actions? Constructivism offers an intriguing answer to this question. Its basic idea is often encapsulated in the slogan that reasons are not discovered but made by us. Andreas Müller elaborates this idea into a fully-fledged account of practical reasons, makes its theoretical commitments explicit, and defends it against some well-known objections. Constructing Practical Reasons begins with an examination of the distinctive role that reason judgements play in the process of practical reasoning. This provides the resources for an anti-representationalist conception of the nature of those judgements, according to which they are true, if they are true, not because they accurately represent certain normative facts, but because of their role in sound reasoning. On the resulting view, a consideration owes its status as a reason to the truth of the corresponding reason judgement and thus, ultimately, to the soundness of a certain episode of reasoning. Consequently, our practical reasons exhibit a kind of mind-dependence, but this does not force us to deny their objectivity.

Overfitting and Heuristics in Philosophy

Overfitting and Heuristics in Philosophy PDF Author: Timothy Williamson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197779212
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Noted philosopher Timothy Williamson uses ideas from contemporary psychology and data-driven science to identify defects in how many philosophers arrive at their theories, because they rely on common sense ways of thinking that are correct most but not all the time. When those ways of thinking are pushed too far, what Williamson refers to as overfitting can result in philosophical paradoxes. He shows how philosophers have over-complicated their theories in futile attempts to accommodate erroneous 'data' and he documents these problems in detail through case studies of contemporary philosophy. He also discusses what philosophers can do to avoid these problems. Williamson's important diagnosis and prescription will be of interest to a wide range of philosophers.

Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion: On evil's vague necessity

Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion: On evil's vague necessity PDF Author: Jonathan L. Kvanvig
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
'Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion' is an annual volume offering a regular snapshot of state-of-the-art work in this longstanding area of philosophy that has seen an explosive growth of interest over the past half century.

Applications of Formal Philosophy

Applications of Formal Philosophy PDF Author: Rafał Urbaniak
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 331958507X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
This book features mathematical and formal philosophers’ efforts to understand philosophical questions using mathematical techniques. It offers a collection of works from leading researchers in the area, who discuss some of the most fascinating ways formal methods are now being applied. It covers topics such as: the uses of probable and statistical reasoning, rational choice theory, reasoning in the environmental sciences, reasoning about laws and changes of rules, and reasoning about collective decision procedures as well as about action. Utilizing mathematical techniques has been very fruitful in the traditional domains of formal philosophy – logic, philosophy of mathematics and metaphysics – while formal philosophy is simultaneously branching out into other areas in philosophy and the social sciences. These areas particularly include ethics, political science, and the methodology of the natural and social sciences. Reasoning about legal rules, collective decision-making procedures, and rational choices are of interest to all those engaged in legal theory, political science and economics. Statistical reasoning is also of interest to political scientists and economists.

The Axiological Status of Theism and Other Worldviews

The Axiological Status of Theism and Other Worldviews PDF Author: Kirk Lougheed
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030548201
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
This book explores the value impact that theist and other worldviews have on our world and its inhabitants. Providing an extended defense of anti-theism - the view that God’s existence would (or does) actually make the world worse in certain respects - Lougheed explores God’s impact on a broad range of concepts including privacy, understanding, dignity, and sacrifice. The second half of the book is dedicated to the expansion of the current debate beyond monotheism and naturalism, providing an analysis of the axiological status of other worldviews such as pantheism, ultimism, and Buddhism. A lucid exploration of contemporary and relevant questions about the value impact of God’s existence, this book is an invaluable resource for scholars interested in axiological questions in the philosophy of religion.

Modality and Explanatory Reasoning

Modality and Explanatory Reasoning PDF Author: Boris Kment
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191668990
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
Since the ground-breaking work of Saul Kripke, David Lewis, and others in the 1960s and 70s, one dominant interest of analytic philosophers has been in modal truths, which concerns the questions of what is possible and what is necessary. However, there is considerable controversy over the source and nature of necessity. In Modality and Explanatory Reasoning, Boris Kment takes a novel approach to the study of modality that places special emphasis on understanding the origin of modal notions in everyday thought. Kment argues that the concepts of necessity and possibility originate in a common type of thought experiment—counterfactual reasoning—that allows us to investigate explanatory connections. This procedure is closely related to the controlled experiments of empirical science. Necessity is defined in terms of causation and other forms of explanation such as grounding, the relation that connects metaphysically fundamental facts to non-fundamental ones. Therefore, contrary to a widespread view, explanation is more fundamental than modality. The study of modal facts is important for philosophy, not because these facts are of much metaphysical interest in their own right, but because they provide evidence about explanatory relationships. In the course of developing this position, the book offers new accounts of possible worlds, counterfactual conditionals, essential truths and their role in grounding, and a novel theory of how counterfactuals relate to causation and explanation.

Does God Matter?

Does God Matter? PDF Author: Klaas Kraay
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351811347
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
Does God Matter? features eleven original essays written by prominent philosophers of religion that address this very important, yet surprisingly neglected, question. One natural way to approach this question is to seek to understand what difference God’s existence would—or does—make to the value of the world and the well-being of its inhabitants. The first essay sets the stage for the discussion of this topic. The three essays in Section I defend versions of pro-theism: the view that God’s existence would -- or does -- make things better than they would otherwise be. The four essays in Section II defend anti-theism: the view that God’s existence would, or does, make things worse than they would otherwise be. The three essays in Section III consider the interplay between the existential and axiological debates concerning the existence of God. This book presents important research on a growing topic in philosophy of religion that will also be of keen interest to scholars working in other areas of philosophy (such as metaphysics, epistemology, and value theory), and in other disciplines (such as religious studies and analytic theology).