(1) Beliefs are involuntary, and not nonnally subject to direct voluntary control. For instance I cannot believe at will that my trousers are on fire, or that the Dalai Lama is a living God, even if you pay me a large amount of money for believing such things. (2) Beliefs are nonnally shaped by evidence for what is believed, unless they are, in some sense, irrational. In general a belief is rational if it is proportioned to the degree of evidence that one has for its truth. In this sense, one often says that "beliefs aim at truth" . This is why it is, on the face of it, irrational to believe...
(1) Beliefs are involuntary, and not nonnally subject to direct voluntary control. For instance I cannot believe at will that my trousers are on fire,...
In Rediscovering Colors: A Study in Pollyanna Realism, Michael Watkins endorses the Moorean view that colors are simple, non-reducible, properties of objects. Consequently, Watkins breaks from what has become the received view that either colors are reducible to certain properties of interest to science, or else nothing is really colored. What is novel about the work is that Watkins, unlike other Mooreans, takes seriously the metaphysics of colors. Consequently, Watkins provides an account of what colors are, how they are related to the physical properties on which they supervene,...
In Rediscovering Colors: A Study in Pollyanna Realism, Michael Watkins endorses the Moorean view that colors are simple, non-reducible, prope...
During the last two decades, applied ethics has not only developed into one of the most important philosophical disciplines but has also differentiated into so many subdisciplines that it is becoming increasingly difficult to survey it. A much-needed overview is provided by the eighteen contributions to this volume, in which internationally renowned experts deal with central questions of environmental ethics, bioethics and medical ethics, professional and business ethics, social, political, and legal ethics as well as with the aims and foundations of applied ethics in general. Thanks...
During the last two decades, applied ethics has not only developed into one of the most important philosophical disciplines but has also differentia...
This volume addresses the complex interplay between the conditions of an agent's personal autonomy and the constitution of her self in light of two influential background assumptions: a libertarian thesis according to which it is essential for personal autonomy to be able to choose freely how one's self is shaped, on the one hand, and a line of thought following especially the seminal work of Harry Frankfurt according to which personal autonomy necessarily rests on an already sufficiently shaped self, on the other hand. Given this conceptual framework, a number of influential aspects within...
This volume addresses the complex interplay between the conditions of an agent's personal autonomy and the constitution of her self in light of two in...
Every two years since 1989, an international colloquium on cognitive science is held in Donostia - San Sebastian, attracting the most important researchers in that field. This volume is a collection of the invited papers to the Sixth International Colloquium on Cognitive Science (ICCS-99), written from a multidisciplinary, cognitive perspective, and addressing various essential topics such as self-knowledge, intention, consciousness, language use, learning and discourse. This collection reflects not only the various interdisciplinary origins and standpoints of the participating researchers,...
Every two years since 1989, an international colloquium on cognitive science is held in Donostia - San Sebastian, attracting the most important resear...
This book celebrates the many important contributions to philosophy by one of the leading philosophers in the analytic field, Michael Devitt.
It collects seventeen original essays by renowned philosophers from all over the world. They all develop themes from Devitt’s work, thus discussing many fundamental issues in philosophy of linguistics, theory of reference, theory of meaning, methodology, and metaphysics.
In a long final chapter, Devitt himself replies to the contributors. In so doing, he further elaborates his views on various of these issues, for example defending his...
This book celebrates the many important contributions to philosophy by one of the leading philosophers in the analytic field, Michael Devitt.
This book addresses controversies concerning the epistemological foundations of data science: Is it a genuine science? Or is data science merely some inferior practice that can at best contribute to the scientific enterprise, but cannot stand on its own? The author proposes a coherent conceptual framework with which these questions can be rigorously addressed.
Readers will discover a defense of inductivism and consideration of the arguments against it: an epistemology of data science more or less by definition has to be inductivist, given that data science starts with the...
This book addresses controversies concerning the epistemological foundations of data science: Is it a genuine science? Or is data science merely so...
This book examines the relationship between freedom and true knowledge, which is a central part of the hotly debated issue of human freedom.
Is truth necessary for the attainment of freedom? Does a free life require a clear understanding of reality? And if so, to what extent? These questions lead back to a classical philosophical debate, of which the first major chapter was written by Plato. In the dialogues, he describes human life as a peculiar form of imprisonment and calls for a global liberation of human cognition. This work analyses this ambitious project and its unique...
This book examines the relationship between freedom and true knowledge, which is a central part of the hotly debated issue of human freedom.
This book provides a detailed and comprehensive account of the problem of a priori knowledge from a historical as well as a systematic perspective. The author explores Kant’s views in connection with the possibility of revision, something hardly, if at all, done in philosophical literature. Furthermore, the views of well-renowned philosophers such as Quine, Putnam, Kitcher, and Hale are discussed in detail and are put into a historical and systematic perspective. Finally, this book contains a glossary of important notions offering illuminating accounts of a priori knowledge and related...
This book provides a detailed and comprehensive account of the problem of a priori knowledge from a historical as well as a systematic perspective. Th...
This book offers a solution to the ancient philosophical problem regarding the nature and the justification of morality. The importance of this subject matter is obvious, not merely as an abstract philosophical problem, but perhaps even more as a practical challenge, regarding the way we ought to live our lives: the values that ought to direct us, and the ends that we ought to pursue.
In the course of this inquiry, a wide array of philosophical topics is explored: the nature of intentional action, and the role played by reason and desires in agency; the question of the final end...
This book offers a solution to the ancient philosophical problem regarding the nature and the justification of morality. The importance of thi...
