Author: Donald J. Herzog
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501723014
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 269
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Book Description
Can political theorists justify their ideas? Do sound political theories need foundations? What constitutes a well-justified argument in political discourse? Don Herzog attempts to answer these questions by investigating the ways in which major theorists in the Anglo-American political tradition have justified their views. Making use of a wide range of primary texts, Herzog examines the work of such important theorists as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, the utilitarians (Jeremy Bentham, J. S. Mill. Henry Sidgwick, J. C. Harsanyi, R. M. Hare, and R. B. Brandt), David Hume, and Adam Smith. Herzog argues that Hobbes, Locke, and the utilitarians fail to justify their theories because they try to ground the volatile world of politics in immutable aspects of human nature, language, theology, or rationality. Herzog concludes that the works of Adam Smith and David Hume offer illuminating examples of successful justifications. Basing their political conclusions on social contexts, not on abstract principles, Hume and Smith develop creative solutions to given problems.
Author: Don Herzog
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501723006
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 259
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Book Description
No detailed description available for "Without Foundations".
Author: William Maker
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791420997
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 318
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Book Description
Maker (philosophy, Clemson U.) contends that Hegel's philosophy is not consummately foundational and absolutist, but rather a nonfoundational philosophy which incorporates some contemporary criticisms of foundationalism without abandoning philosophy's traditional goal of offering demonstrable, objective truth. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Annota
Author: Mark Timmons
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195176545
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 280
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Book Description
Timmons defends an original metaethical view that exploits certain contextualist themes in philosophy of language and epistemology. He advances a view that employs semantic contextualism when engaging in moral discourse.
Author: Joseph Margolis
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441167285
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 305
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Book Description
In this remarkable book, Joseph Margolis, one of America's leading and most celebrated philosophers, examines the relationship between two apparently contradictory philosophical tendencies - realism and relativism. In order to examine the relationship between the two, Margolis establishes a taxomony of different kinds of realism and different kinds of relativism. Drawing on both the analytic and Continental traditions, he examines (from a pragmatic point of view) the various relationships between these two tendencies in the light of two major developments in modern philosophy - the concern for praxis and the concern for historicity. Twenty years after it was first published to great acclaim, Margolis has updated Pragmatism Without Foundations in the light of his most recent work and the development of pragmatism in the intellectual world. This second edition includes an updated preface and a brand new epilogue addressing these developments and their implications for his earlier work.
Author: Stewart Shapiro
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191524018
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 302
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Book Description
The central contention of this book is that second-order logic has a central role to play in laying the foundations of mathematics. In order to develop the argument fully, the author presents a detailed development of higher-order logic, including a comprehensive discussion of its semantics. Professor Shapiro demonstrates the prevalence of second-order notions in mathematics is practised, and also the extent to which mathematical concepts can be formulated in second-order languages . He shows how first-order languages are insufficient to codify many concepts in contemporary mathematics, and thus that higher-order logic is needed to fully reflect current mathematics. Throughout, the emphasis is on discussing the philosophical and historical issues associated with this subject, and the implications that they have for foundational studies. For the most part, the author assumes little more than a familiarity with logic as might be gained from a beginning graduate course which includes the incompleteness of arithmetic and the Lowenheim-Skolem theorems. All those concerned with the foundations of mathematics will find this a thought-provoking discussion of some of the central issues in this subject.
Author: William Maker
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438411758
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 316
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Book Description
Author: Mark Timmons
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019511731X
Category : Ethics
Languages : en
Pages : 282
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Book Description
Morality Without Foundations investigates fundamental metaethical questions about the meaning, truth, and justification of moral thought and discourse. Mark Timmons maintains that all versions of descriptivism in ethics, particularly certain accounts of moral realism, fail. He argues instead that a correct metaethical theory should embrace some version of non-descriptivism. Timmons defends what he calls "assertoric non-descriptivism" which, unlike traditional non-descriptivist views, holds that moral sentences are typically used to make genuine assertions. In defending this view, he exploits contextual semantics, providing him with the semantic flexibility to develop an irrealist account of moral discourse. Timmons goes on to support a contextualist moral epistemology, completing his overall version of contextualism in ethics. Like his foundationalist rivals, Timmons recognizes that there are moral beliefs that are epistemically basic in providing a basis for the justification of non-basic moral beliefs. Yet, he agrees with the coherentist in maintaining that there are no intrinsically justified beliefs that can serve as a single foundation for a system of moral knowledge. Timmons ultimately finds that regresses of justification of moral belief end with contextually basic beliefs--moral beliefs which, in the relevant context, are responsibly held, but in other contexts might not be suitable as regress stoppers. Timmons' novel defense of morality without foundations offers provocative reading for philosophers working in the areas of ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics. Yet, written with the student in mind, his lucid presentation of difficult ideas makes this book accessible to students and newcomers to the field of metaethics.
Author: Tamara Caraus
Publisher: Zeta Books
ISBN: 6068266788
Category : Cosmopolitanism
Languages : en
Pages : 282
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Book Description
Nu s-au introdus date
Author: Prince Saprai
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191084581
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 257
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Book Description
This book advances a theoretical account of contract law, grounded in value pluralism. Arguing against attempts to delineate branches of legal doctrine by reference to single unifying values, the book suggests that a field such as contract law can only be explained and justified by the interaction of a multiplicity of moral values. In recent times, the philosophy of contract law has been dominated by the 'promise theory', according to which the morality of promise provides a 'blueprint' for the structure, shape, and content that contract law rules and doctrines should take. The promise theory is an example of what this book calls a 'foundationalist' theory, whereby areas of law reflect or are underlain by particular moral principles or sets of such principles. By considering contract law from the point of view of its theory, rules and doctrines, and broader political context, the book argues that the promise theory can only ever offer part of the picture. The book claims that 'top-down' theories of contract law such as the promise theory and its bitter rival the economic analysis of law seriously mishandle legal doctrine by ignoring or underplaying the irreducible plurality of values that shape contract law. The book defends the role of this multiplicity of values in forging contract doctrine by developing from the 'ground-up' a radical and distinctly republican reinterpretation of the field. The book encourages readers to move away from a 'top-down' theory of contract law such as the promise theory and instead embrace a distinctly republican approach to contract law that would justify the legal rules and doctrines we find in particular jurisdictions at particular times.
