Philosophical Reasoning

Philosophical Reasoning
Author: Nicholas Rescher
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2001-10-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780631230182

This book is a study in the methodology of philosophical inquiry. It expounds and defends the thesis that systematization is the proper instrument of philosophical inquiry and that the effective pursuit of philosophy's mission calls for constructing a doctrinal system that answers our questions in a coherent and comprehensive manner.

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.

Reasoning

Reasoning
Author: Anthony Simon Laden
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2012-05-31
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199606196

Anthony Simon Laden explores the kind of reasoning we engage in when we live together: when we are responsive to others and neither commanding nor deferring to them. He argues for a new, social picture of the activity of reasoning, in which reasoning is a species of conversation—social, ongoing, and governed by a set of characteristic norms.

Practical Shape

Practical Shape
Author: Jonathan Dancy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2018-06-27
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0192528025

Everyone allows that we can reason to a new belief from beliefs that we already have. Aristotle thought that we could also reason from beliefs to action. Practical Shape: A Theory of Practical Reasoning establishes this possibility of reasoning to action, in a way that allows also for reasoning to intention, hope, fear, and doubt. While many philosophers have found little sense in Aristotle's claim, Dancy offers a general theory of reasoning that is sensitive to current debates but still Aristotelian in spirit. The text clearly sets out the similarities between reasoning to action and reasoning to belief, which are far more striking than any dissimilarities. Its detailed account of practical reasoning, a topic inadequately covered in current literature, is presented in such a way as to be intelligible to a variety of readers, making it an ideal resource for students of philosophy but also of interest to academics in related disciplines.

Reason in Philosophy

Reason in Philosophy
Author: Robert Brandom
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2009
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780674034495

An emphasis on our capacity to reason, rather than merely to represent, has been growing in philosophy over the years. This book gives an overview of the author's understanding of the role of reason as the structure at once of our minds and our meanings - what constitutes us as free, responsible agents.

Critical Reasoning and Philosophy

Critical Reasoning and Philosophy
Author: M. Andrew Holowchak
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2011-09-16
Genre: Study Aids
ISBN: 1442205237

Critical Reasoning & Philosophy has been praised as an innovative and clearly written handbook that teaches new philosophy students how to read, evaluate, and write in a critical manner. Concise, accessible language and ample use of examples and study modules help students gain the basic knowledge necessary to succeed in undergraduate philosophy courses, and to apply that knowledge to achieve success in other disciplines as well. With a reorganized presentation, fresh modules, new examples and illustrations, the second edition is even more clear and accessible to students.

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.

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.