Philosophical Arguments

Philosophical Arguments
Author: Charles Taylor
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 344
Release: 1995-02-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780674664760

Charles Taylor is one of the most important English-language philosophers at work today; he is also unique in the philosophical community in applying his ideas on language and epistemology to social theory and political problems. In this book Taylor brings together some of his best essays, including "Overcoming Epistemology," "The Validity of Transcendental Argument," "Irreducibly Social Goods," and "The Politics of Recognition." As usual, his arguments are trenchant, straddling the length and breadth of contemporary philosophy and public discourse. The strongest theme running through the book is Taylor's critique of disengagement, instrumental reason, and atomism: that individual instances of knowledge, judgment, discourse, or action cannot be intelligible in abstraction from the outside world. By developing his arguments about the importance of "engaged agency," Taylor simultaneously addresses themes in philosophical debate and in a broader discourse of political theory and cultural studies. The thirteen essays in this collection reflect most of the concerns with which he has been involved throughout his career--language, ideas of the self, political participation, the nature of modernity. His intellectual range is extraordinary, as is his ability to clarify what is at stake in difficult philosophical disputes. Taylor's analyses of liberal democracy, welfare economics, and multiculturalism have real political significance, and his voice is distinctive and wise.

A Philosophical Theory of Citizenship

A Philosophical Theory of Citizenship
Author: Steven J. Wulf
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2008
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780739120408

A Philosophical Theory of Citizenship answers seminal questions about legal obligation, government authority, and political community. It employs an "idiomatic" theory of reality, ethical conduct, and the self to justify patriotic duty, classical liberty, and national sovereignty.

The Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Author: Donald M. Borchert
Publisher: Macmillan Reference USA
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1996
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780028646510

The first English-language reference of its kind, The Encyclopedia of Philosophy was hailed as 'a remarkable and unique work' (Saturday Review) that contained 'the international who's who of philosophy and cultural history' (Library Journal).

The Philosophy of Argument and Audience Reception

The Philosophy of Argument and Audience Reception
Author: Christopher W. Tindale
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2015-04-30
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1107101115

This book approaches the topic of argumentation from the perspective of audiences, rather than the perspective of arguers or arguments.

Just the Arguments

Just the Arguments
Author: Michael Bruce
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 435
Release: 2011-08-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1444344412

Does the existence of evil call into doubt the existence of God? Show me the argument. Philosophy starts with questions, but attempts at answers are just as important, and these answers require reasoned argument. Cutting through dense philosophical prose, 100 famous and influential arguments are presented in their essence, with premises, conclusions and logical form plainly identified. Key quotations provide a sense of style and approach. Just the Arguments is an invaluable one-stop argument shop. A concise, formally structured summation of 100 of the most important arguments in Western philosophy The first book of its kind to present the most important and influential philosophical arguments in a clear premise/conclusion format, the language that philosophers use and students are expected to know Offers succinct expositions of key philosophical arguments without bogging them down in commentary Translates difficult texts to core arguments Designed to provides a quick and compact reference to everything from Aquinas’ “Five Ways” to prove the existence of God, to the metaphysical possibilities of a zombie world

The Second-Person Standpoint

The Second-Person Standpoint
Author: Stephen Darwall
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 363
Release: 2009-09-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0674034627

Why should we avoid doing moral wrong? The inability of philosophy to answer this question in a compelling manner—along with the moral skepticism and ethical confusion that ensue—result, Stephen Darwall argues, from our failure to appreciate the essentially interpersonal character of moral obligation. After showing how attempts to vindicate morality have tended to change the subject—falling back on non-moral values or practical, first-person considerations—Darwall elaborates the interpersonal nature of moral obligations: their inherent link to our responsibilities to one another as members of the moral community. As Darwall defines it, the concept of moral obligation has an irreducibly second-person aspect; it presupposes our authority to make claims and demands on one another. And so too do many other central notions, including those of rights, the dignity of and respect for persons, and the very concept of person itself. The result is nothing less than a fundamental reorientation of moral theory that enables it at last to account for morality’s supreme authority—an account that Darwall carries from the realm of theory to the practical world of second-person attitudes, emotions, and actions.

Empty Ideas

Empty Ideas
Author: Peter Unger
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2017
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 019069601X

During the middle of the twentieth century, philosophers generally agreed that, by contrast with science, philosophy should offer no substantial thoughts about the general nature of concrete reality. Instead, philosophers offered conceptual truths. It is widely assumed that, since 1970, things have changed greatly. This book argues that's an illusion that prevails because of the failure to differentiate between "concretely substantial" and "concretely empty" ideas.

What Is the Argument?

What Is the Argument?
Author: Maralee Harrell
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 479
Release: 2016-10-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0262529270

Exploring philosophy through detailed argument analyses of texts by philosophers from Plato to Strawson using a novel and transparent method of analysis. The best way to introduce students to philosophy and philosophical discourse is to have them read and wrestle with original sources. This textbook explores philosophy through detailed argument analyses of texts by philosophers from Plato to Strawson. It presents a novel and transparent method of analysis that will teach students not only how to understand and evaluate philosophers' arguments but also how to construct such arguments themselves. Students will learn to read a text and discover what the philosopher thinks, why the philosopher thinks it, and whether the supporting argument is good. Students learn argument analysis through argument diagrams, with color-coding of the argument's various elements—conclusion, claims, and “indicator phrases.” (An online “mini-course” in argument diagramming and argument diagramming software are both freely available online.) Each chapter ends with exercises and reading questions. After a general introduction to philosophy and logic and an explanation of argument analysis, the book presents selections from primary sources, arranged by topics that correspond to contemporary debates, with detailed analysis and evaluation. These topics include philosophy of religion, epistemology, theory of mind, free will and determinism, and ethics; authors include Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Ryle, Fodor, Dennett, Searle, and others. What Is the Argument? not only introduces students to great philosophical thinkers, it also teaches them the essential skill of critical thinking.

Great Philosophical Arguments

Great Philosophical Arguments
Author: Lewis Vaughn
Publisher: OUP USA
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-11-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780195342604

The purpose of this text is to introduce students to great philosophy and great philosophers through an intense focus on argument. Like other topically organized introductory philosophy readers, this book is organized around the existence of God, knowledge and skepticism, mind and body, free will and determinism, ethics, and contemporary ethical debates, including abortion, euthanasia, and global hunger and poverty. 78 selections are grouped into six topical chapters-and the selections within those chapters are organized by argument. Vaughn's approach focuses students' attention on argumentation, where much of the philosophical work gets done.