A Critical Introduction to Properties

A Critical Introduction to Properties
Author: Sophie Allen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2016-02-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 147257558X

What do blue things have in common? Or electrons? Or planets? Distinct things appear to share properties; but what are properties and what is the best philosophical account of them? A Critical Introduction to Properties introduces different ontological accounts of properties, exploring how their formulation is shaped by the explanatory demands placed upon them. This accessible introduction begins with a discussion of universals, tropes, sets and resemblance classes, the major objections to them and their responses, providing readers with a firm grasp on the competing ontological accounts of what (if anything) grounds similarity and difference. It then explores issues concerning the formulation and justification of property theories such as: how many properties are there? Should we accept a sparse ontology of properties, or an abundant one? Can we make a distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic properties? Do properties have their causal roles necessarily? What is the relationship between properties and other metaphysical phenomena such as causality, laws and modality? These questions get to the heart of why a coherent theory of properties is so important to metaphysics, and to philosophy more generally. By concluding with the question of the ontological status of properties, the reader is introduced to some Carnapian and contemporary themes about the content and methodology of metaphysics. For students looking for an accessible resource and a more comprehensive understanding of contemporary metaphysics, A Critical Introduction to Properties is a valuable starting point.

A Critical Introduction to Skepticism

A Critical Introduction to Skepticism
Author: Allan Hazlett
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2014-03-13
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1441154892

Skepticism remains a central and defining issue in epistemology, and in the wider tradition of Western philosophy. To better understand the contemporary position of this important philosophical subject, Allan Hazlett introduces a range of topics, including: • Ancient skepticism • skeptical arguments in the work of Hume and Descartes • Cartesian skepticism in contemporary epistemology • anti-skeptical strategies, including Mooreanism, nonclosure, and contextualism • additional varieties of skepticism • the practical consequences of Cartesian skepticism Presenting a comprehensive survey of the key problems, arguments, and theories, together with additional readings, A Critical Introduction to Skepticism is an ideal guide for students and scholars looking to understand how skepticism is shaping epistemology today.

A Critical Introduction to the Metaphysics of Time

A Critical Introduction to the Metaphysics of Time
Author: Benjamin Curtis
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2016-02-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1472566882

What is the nature of time? Does it flow? Do the past and future exist? Drawing connections between historical and present-day questions, A Critical Introduction to the Metaphysics of Time provides an up-to-date guide to one of the most central and debated topics in contemporary metaphysics. Introducing the views and arguments of Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Newton and Leibniz, this accessible introduction covers the history of the philosophy of time from the Pre-Socratics to the beginning of the 20th Century. The historical survey presents the necessary background to understanding more recent developments, including McTaggart's 1908 argument for the unreality of time, the open future, the perdurance/endurance debate, the possibility of time travel, and the relevance of current physics to the philosophy of time. Informed by cutting-edge philosophical research, A Critical Introduction to the Metaphysics of Time evaluates influential historical arguments in the context of contemporary developments. For students looking to gain insights into how ideas within the philosophy of time have developed and better understand recent arguments, this is the ideal starting point.

A Critical Introduction to Phonology

A Critical Introduction to Phonology
Author: Daniel Silverman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2017-09-21
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1474238904

Taking an interdisciplinary approach to phonological theory and analysis, A Critical Introduction to Phonology introduces the key aspects of the discipline. Departing from the mainstream tradition, Daniel Silverman argues that the nature of linguistic sound systems can only be understood in the context of how they are used by speakers and listeners. By proposing that linguistic sound systems are the product of an interaction among sound (acoustics), mind (cognition), and body (physiology), Silverman focuses on the functional consequences of their interaction. Now with each chapter supplemented by a section on “Doing Phonology”, together with phonological examples from a large corpus of data, this expanded second edition offers a provocative introduction to phonological theory. This book is essential reading for all students and researchers of phonology who are already familiar with the standard approaches and provides both a new theoretical background and the mechanical tools for truly successful phonological analyses.

Set Theory and Its Philosophy

Set Theory and Its Philosophy
Author: Michael D. Potter
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2004
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9780199269730

A wonderful new book ... Potter has written the best philosophical introduction to set theory on the market - Timothy Bays, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.

A Critical Introduction to the Metaphysics of Modality

A Critical Introduction to the Metaphysics of Modality
Author: Andrea Borghini
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2016-02-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1472521943

A Critical Introduction to the Metaphysics of Modality examines the eight main contemporary theories of possibility behind a central metaphysical topic. Covering modal skepticism, modal expressivism, modalism, modal realism, ersatzism, modal fictionalism, modal agnosticism, and the new modal actualism, this comprehensive introduction to modality places contemporary debates in an historical context. Beginning with a historical overview, Andrea Borghini discusses Parmenides and Zeno; looks at how central Medieval authors such as Aquinas, and Buridan prepared the ground for the Early Modern radical views of Leibniz, Spinoza, and Hume and discusses advancements in semantics in the later-half of the twentieth century a resulted in the rise of modal metaphysics, the branch characterizing the past few decades of philosophical reflection. Framing the debate according to three main perspectives - logical, epistemic, metaphysical- Borghini provides the basic concepts and terms required to discuss modality. With suggestions of further reading and end-of-chapter study questions, A Critical Introduction to the Metaphysics of Modality is an up-to-date resource for students working in contemporary metaphysics seeking a better understanding of this crucial topic.

Historical Film

Historical Film
Author: Jonathan Stubbs
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2013-03-28
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1472520025

Although precise definitions have not been agreed on, historical cinema tends to cut across existing genre categories and establishes an intimidatingly large group of films. In recent years, a lively body of work has developed around historical cinema, much of it proposing valuable new ways to consider the relationship between cinematic and historical representation. However, only a small proportion of this writing has paid attention to the issue of genre. In order to counter this omission, this book combines a critical analysis of the Hollywood historical film with an examination of its generic dimensions and a history of its development since the silent period. Historical Film: A Critical Introduction is concerned not simply with the formal properties of the films at hand, but also the ways in which they have been promoted, interpreted and discussed in relation to their engagement with the past.

Critical Properties Of Phi4- Theories

Critical Properties Of Phi4- Theories
Author: Hagen Kleinert
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 513
Release: 2001-07-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9814490792

This book explains in detail how to perform perturbation expansions in quantum field theory to high orders, and how to extract the critical properties of the theory from the resulting divergent power series. These properties are calculated for various second-order phase transitions of three-dimensional systems with high accuracy, in particular the critical exponents observable in experiments close to the phase transition.Beginning with an introduction to critical phenomena, this book develops the functional-integral description of quantum field theories, their perturbation expansions, and a method for finding recursively all Feynman diagrams to any order in the coupling strength. Algebraic computer programs are supplied on accompanying World Wide Web pages. The diagrams correspond to integrals in momentum space. They are evaluated in 4-ε dimensions, where they possess pole terms in 1/ε. The pole terms are collected into renormalization constants.The theory of the renormalization group is used to find the critical scaling laws. They contain critical exponents which are obtained from the renormalization constants in the form of power series. These are divergent, due to factorially growing expansion coefficients. The evaluation requires resummation procedures, which are performed in two ways: (1) using traditional methods based on Padé and Borel transformations, combined with analytic mappings; (2) using modern variational perturbation theory, where the results follow from a simple strong-coupling formula. As a crucial test of the accuracy of the methods, the critical exponent α governing the divergence of the specific heat of superfluid helium is shown to agree very well with the extremely precise experimental number found in the space shuttle orbiting the earth (whose data are displayed on the cover of the book).The phi4-theories investigated in this book contain any number N of fields in an O(N)-symmetric interaction, or in an interaction in which O(N)-symmetry is broken by a term of a cubic symmetry. The crossover behavior between the different symmetries is investigated. In addition, alternative ways of obtaining critical exponents of phi4-theories are sketched, such as variational perturbation expansions in three rather than 4-ε dimensions, and improved ratio tests in high-temperature expansions of lattice models.

Gilles Deleuze's Logic of Sense

Gilles Deleuze's Logic of Sense
Author: James Williams
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2008-05-20
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0748631380

This is the first critical study of The Logic of Sense, Gilles Deleuze's most important work on language and ethics, as well as the main source of his vital philosophy of the event.James Williams explains the originality of Deleuze's work with careful definitions of all his innovative terms and a detailed description of the complex structure he constructs. This reading makes connections to his ground-breaking work on literature, to his critical but also progressive relation to the sciences, and to his controversial denial of the priority of standard logics, human values and 'meaning' in thinking.This book will open new debates and develop current ones around Deleuze's work in philosophy, politics, literature, linguistics, cultural studies and sociology.