Fundamental Things
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| Author | : Louis deRosset |
| Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
| Total Pages | : 367 |
| Release | : 2023-04 |
| Genre | : Philosophy |
| ISBN | : 0198812892 |
The scientific successes of the last 400 years strongly suggest a view in which things are organized into layers, with phenomena in higher layers dependent on and determined by what occurs below. Philosophers have recently explored the idea that we can make sense of this through a relation called grounding. This book develops the rudiments of a theory of grounding and applies that theory to various questions on the nature of facts and truth. The initial theorizing examines in detail what grounding is and how it relates to relevant forms of explanation; it addresses arguments against the notion of grounding and draws points of contrast between a grounding-centered approach to relative fundamentality and other approaches in philosophy. deRosset then turns to a demonstration of how this theorizing bears fruit in investigating questions concerning (1) how to distinguish between truths that say how objective reality is in itself, quite independently of us, and truths that do not; (2) the nature of truth; and (3) the relation between fundamental physical facts and the rich panoply of other facts that depend on and are determined by them, including facts concerning our own doings. The aim is to advance our understanding of one of the deepest and thorniest questions which the stunning scientific achievements of the last 400 years pose: how higher-level phenomena, including ourselves, fit into an ultimately physical world.
| Author | : Phillip Dibble |
| Publisher | : AuthorHouse |
| Total Pages | : 227 |
| Release | : 2011-08-01 |
| Genre | : Fiction |
| ISBN | : 146341563X |
1930S America was in the depths of the great worldwide depression. A rich young man, educated in the radical mix of the University of Chicago, joins with a group of young communists who want to abet the struggle for union rights in the emerging labor union movement. They are in the thick of the physcial and economic struggle when Rick shoots several strikebreakers who are beating some unarmed strikers. His group aids him in his escape to South America and then to Berlin. There he becomes involved in the political intrigues that led to World War II. He accompanies a strange little man to Zurich where he meets "The Fat Man" a worldly wise amoral adventurer who has developed a scheme for running guns for Emperor Haile Selaisse of Ethiopia in his struggle againts Mussolini's fascist dreams of a new Rome. On arrival Rick sees quickly the futility of the scheme which rapidly unravels. The group escape from Ethiopia, scatters, and he goes to Spain. There he joins the International Brigades who are fighting General Franco's fascists. Soviet intrigues, espionage, and betrayals cause him to flee to Paris. There he meets a mysterious young woman and falls in love. His happiness is interrupted by the approaching Nazi Wehrmacht.
| Author | : Roy MacLaren |
| Publisher | : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP |
| Total Pages | : 295 |
| Release | : 2011 |
| Genre | : Biography & Autobiography |
| ISBN | : 0773538437 |
"Compromise has remained a good thing in the mosaic called Canada, contributing indirectly and in its own mysterious way to whatever good humour, proportion, tolerance, judgment, and civility we have achieved. When such fundamental things apply, we can learn more about how best to live together, develop public policy, and cherish the natural environment of which we are the stewards." Roy MacLaren - student of literature and history, sailor, diplomat, businessman, writer, politician, and cabinet minister - has led a good life, and an interesting one, sometimes as a witness, often as an actor. In The Fundamental Things Apply, MacLaren recounts the details of his varied life and career with wit and with charm.
| Author | : Robert C. Koons |
| Publisher | : John Wiley & Sons |
| Total Pages | : 725 |
| Release | : 2017-04-17 |
| Genre | : Philosophy |
| ISBN | : 1119116120 |
The Atlas of Reality: A Comprehensive Guide to Metaphysics presents an extensive examination of the key topics, concepts, and guiding principles of metaphysics. Represents the most comprehensive guide to metaphysics available today Offers authoritative coverage of the full range of topics that comprise the field of metaphysics in an accessible manner while considering competing views Explores key concepts such as space, time, powers, universals, and composition with clarity and depth Articulates coherent packages of metaphysical theses that include neo-Aristotelian, Quinean, Armstrongian, and neo-Humean Carefully tracks the use of common assumptions and methodological principles in metaphysics
| Author | : Michael C. Rea |
| Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
| Total Pages | : 272 |
| Release | : 2020-12-10 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 0192636642 |
This book is the first of two volumes collecting together Michael C. Rea's most substantial work in analytic theology. This volume considers the nature of God and our ability to talk and discover truths about God, whereas the companion volume focuses on theological questions about humanity and the human condition. The chapters in the first part of Volume I explore issues pertaining to discourse about God and the authority of scripture. Part two focuses on divine attributes, while part three discusses doctrine of the trinity and related issues.
| Author | : James Warren |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 241 |
| Release | : 2014-12-05 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 1317493370 |
The earliest phase of philosophy in Europe saw the beginnings of cosmology and rational theology, metaphysics, epistemology, and ethical and political theory. It saw the development of a wide range of radical and challenging ideas: from Thales' claim that magnets have souls and Parmenides' account that there is only one unchanging existent to the development of an atomist theory of the physical world. This general account of the Presocratics introduces the major Greek philosophical thinkers from the sixth to the middle of the fifth century BC. It explores how we might go about reconstructing their views and understanding the motivation and context for their work as well as highlighting the ongoing philosophical interest of their often surprising claims. Separate chapters are devoted to each of the major Presocratic thinkers, including Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Leucippus and Democritus, and an introductory chapter sets the scene by describing their intellectual world and the tradition through which their philosophy has been transmitted and interpreted. With a useful chronology and guide to further reading, the book is an ideal introduction for the student and general reader.
| Author | : Steven B. Cowan |
| Publisher | : Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Total Pages | : 411 |
| Release | : 2020-02-06 |
| Genre | : Philosophy |
| ISBN | : 1350016071 |
Problems in Epistemology and Metaphysics takes a pro and con approach to two central philosophical topics. Each chapter begins with a question: Can We Have Knowledge? How are Beliefs Justified? What is the mind? Contemporary philosophers with opposing viewpoints are then paired together to argue their position and raise problems with conflicting standpoints. Alongside an up-to-date introduction to a core philosophical stance, each contributor provides a critical response to their opponent and clear explanation of their view. Discussion questions are included at the end of each chapter to guide further discussion. With chapters covering core questions surrounding religious beliefs, scientific knowledge, truth, being and reality, this is a comprehensive introduction to debates lying at the heart of what we know, how we know it and the nature of the world we live in.
| Author | : Paul Noordhof |
| Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
| Total Pages | : 576 |
| Release | : 2020-09-03 |
| Genre | : Philosophy |
| ISBN | : 0192602853 |
This is the first book length defence of a counterfactual theory of causation. The analysis defended is new. It expresses the idea that, independent of its competitors, a cause raises the chance of an effect over its mean background chance by a complete causal chain. The analysis depends upon a novel development of David Lewis's Theory of Counterfactuals. One consequence of the analysis is that causation is not transitive. Causation is also nonsymmetric. The counterfactual basis of causal nonsymmetry is the result of a number of different, and sometimes interacting, nonsymmetries. The analysis allows for the development of a novel theory of events whose nature is independent of their role in causation and the identification of one other important causal relationship: property causation. Although compatible with Hume's denial of necessary connections between distinct existences, a key feature of the theory is that it benefits from being independent of the Humean framework. There are two ways in which something may be metaphysically fundamental: vertically and horizontally. Many metaphysicians emphasise vertical fundamentality and focus on truth making. The book rejects this emphasis and the truth making approach in particular. Horizontally fundamental metaphysical entities are those that are necessary components in different possible universes. Causation has a claim to be horizontally fundamental: the cement of any universe. Laws are patterns of causation realised in different metaphysical frameworks such as those articulated by Lewis, Armstrong and the powers ontologists. The book recognises varieties of causation both in, for example, counting cases of double prevention and causation by genuine processes as types of causation, and allowing that the analysis identifies causes across these different metaphysical frameworks.
| Author | : Kris McDaniel |
| Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
| Total Pages | : 333 |
| Release | : 2017-07-28 |
| Genre | : Philosophy |
| ISBN | : 0191030376 |
The Fragmentation of Being offers answers to some of the most fundamental questions in ontology. There are many kinds of beings but are there also many kinds of being? The world contains a variety of objects, each of which, let us provisionally assume, exists, but do some objects exist in different ways? Do some objects enjoy more being or existence than other objects? Are there different ways in which one object might enjoy more being than another? Most contemporary metaphysicians would answer "no" to each of these questions. So widespread is this consensus that the questions this book addressed are rarely even raised let alone explicitly answered. But Kris McDaniel carefully examines a wide range of reasons for answering each of these questions with a "yes". In doing so, he connects these questions with many important metaphysical topics, including substance and accident, time and persistence, the nature of ontological categories, possibility and necessity, presence and absence, persons and value, ground and consequence, and essence and accident. In addition to discussing contemporary problems and theories, McDaniel also discusses the ontological views of many important figures in the history of philosophy, including Aquinas, Aristotle, Descartes, Heidegger, Husserl, Kant, Leibniz, Meinong, and many more.
| Author | : Michael Della Rocca |
| Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
| Total Pages | : 347 |
| Release | : 2020-06-19 |
| Genre | : Philosophy |
| ISBN | : 0197510965 |
For the Parmenidean monist, there are no distinctions whatsoever-indeed, distinctions are unintelligible. In The Parmenidean Ascent, Michael Della Rocca aims to revive this controversial approach on rationalist grounds. He not only defends the attribution of such an extreme monism to the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides, but also embraces this extreme monism in its own right and expands these monistic results to many of the most crucial areas of philosophy, including being, action, knowledge, meaning, truth, and metaphysical explanation. On Della Rocca's account, there is no differentiated being, no differentiated action, knowledge, or meaning; rather all is being, just as all is action, all is knowledge, all is meaning. Motivating this argument is a detailed survey of the failure of leading positions (both historical and contemporary) to meet a demand for the explanation of a given phenomenon, together with a powerful, original version of a Bradleyan argument against the reality of relations. The result is a rationalist rejection of all distinctions and a skeptical denial of the intelligibility of ordinary, relational notions of being, action, knowledge, and meaning. Della Rocca then turns this analysis on the practice of philosophy itself. Followed to its conclusion, Parmenidean monism rejects any distinction between philosophy and the study of its history. Such a conclusion challenges methods popular in the practice of philosophy today, including especially the method of relying on intuitions and common sense as the basis of philosophical inquiry. The historically-minded and rationalist approach used throughout the book aims to demonstrate the ultimate bankruptcy of the prevailing methodology. It promises-on rationalist grounds-to inspire much soul-searching on the part of philosophers and to challenge the content and the methods of so much philosophy both now and in the past.
