All of us ponder the big and enduring human questions-Who am I? Am I free? What should I do? What is good? Is there justice? Is life meaningful?-but this kind of philosophical interrogation is rarely carefully explored or even taken seriously in most primary and secondary school settings. However, introducing philosophy to young people well before they get to college can help to develop and deepen critical and creative thinking, foster social and behavioral skills, and increase philosophical awareness.

Philosophy in Schools: An Introduction Philosophers and...

The nature of propositions and the cognitive value of names have been the focal point of philosophy of language for the last few decades. The advocates of the causal reference theory have favored the view that the semantic contents of proper names　are their referents. However, Frege's puzzle about the different cognitive value of coreferential names has made this identification seem impossible. Geirsson provides a detailed overview of the debate to date, and then develops a novel account that explains our reluctance, even when we know about the relevant identity, to substitute...

What makes individual freedom valuable? People have always believed in freedom, have sought it, and have sometimes fought and died for it. The belief that it is something to be valued is widespread. But does this belief have a rational foundation?

This book examines answers to these questions that are based on the welfare of the person whose freedom is at stake. There are various conceptions of a worthwhile life, a life that is valuable for the person whose life it is. These conceptions will be examined to see whether they are plausible and what their connection, if any, is to...

Preston argues that material culture essentially involves activities of production and use; she therefore adopts an action-theoretic foundation for a philosophy of material culture. Part 1 illustrates this foundation through a...

The thirteen essays in this volume explore for the first time the possible skeptical implications of disagreement in different areas and from different perspectives, with an emphasis in the current debate about the epistemic significance of disagreement. They represent a new contribution to the study of the connection between disagreement and skepticism in epistemology, metaethics, ancient philosophy, and metaphilosophy.

Recently, scholars in a variety of disciplines-including philosophy, film and media studies, and literary studies-have become interested in the aesthetics, definition, and ontology of the screenplay. To this end, this volume addresses the fundamental philosophical questions about the nature of the screenplay: What is a screenplay? Is the screenplay art-more specifically, literature? What kind of a thing is a screenplay? Nannicelli argues that the screenplay is a kind of artefact; as such, its boundaries are determined collectively by screenwriters, and its ontological nature is determined...

In this volume, Zangwill develops a view of the nature of music and our experience of music that foregrounds the aesthetic properties of music. He focuses on metaphysical issues about aesthetic properties of music, psychological issues about the nature of musical experience, and philosophy of language issues about the metaphorical nature of aesthetic descriptions of music.

Among the innovations of this book, Zangwill addresses the limits of literal description, generally, and in the aesthetic case. He also explores the social and political issues about musical listening, which tend...

This collection explores the possibilities for novel approaches to the study of metaphysics, epistemology, rationality, and ethics in light of a post-Darwinian intellectual landscape, contributing to the literature on the philosophical implications of contemporary scientific naturalism.