An Essay on Philosophical Method (Key Texts)

Sample

Richard Double

Why is debate over the free will problem so intractable? This question forms the starting point for Richard Double's ground-breaking account of the way metaphilosophical views - our differing conceptions of the philosophical enterprise - condition competing theories of free will. Double holds that any argument for or against a specific free will position - such as compatibilism, incompatibilism, or the author's own subjectivism - will be persuasive only if one adopts supporting meta-level views of what philosophy is. He argues further that since metaphilosophical considerations are not provable (and are not even true or false, if subjectivism is true), there can be no hope of showing one free will theory to be more reasonable than the rest. Rather, the most philosophers can do is make a desire-based case for preferring their package of metaphilosophy and substantive free will theories. These means that argument in the free will problem must be radically reinterpreted. Double begins by elaborating the connection between metaphilosophy and free will. He identifies four distinct meta-level viewpoints that drive different answers to the free will problem: Philosophy as Conversation; Philosophy as Praxis; Philosophy as Underpinnings; and Philosophy as World View Construction. From there, he discusses intermediate-level principles that work in combination with the meta-philosophies, then provides ten applications from recent free will debates that demonstrate how differences in meta-philosophy make the free will problem unsolvable. In the second half of the book Double makes the strongest case he can - consistent with his own metaphilosophical view - for accepting free will subjectivism.

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Peter Lipton

"How do we go about weighing evidence, testing hypotheses and making inferences? According to the model of 'inference to the Best explanation', we work out what to infer from the evidence by thinking about what would actually explain that evidence, and we take the ability of a hypothesis to explain the evidence as a sign that the hypothesis is correct. In inference to the Best Explanation, Peter Lipton gives this important and influential idea the development and assessment it deserves." "The second edition has been substantially enlarged and reworked, with a new chapter on the relationship between explanation and Bayesianism, and an extension and defence of the account of contractive explanation. It also includes an expanded defence of the claims that our inferences really are guided by diverse explanatory considerations, and that this pattern of inference can take us towards the truth. This edition of Inference to the Best Explanation has also been updated throughout and incudes a new bibliography."--BOOK JACKET.

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Thomas Nagel

Most people think about philosophical problems without realizing it. Introducing the uninitiated to the world of philosophical inquiry, this book examines nine philosophical problems fundamental to everyday living. It contains short introduction to the methods of philosophy for those with a taste for abstract ideas and theoretical arguments.

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John Cottingham

Introductory philosophy courses often present a dilemma for instructors: does one select a number of 'classic' texts, and treat them in detail, or does one use a survey of such texts and attempt to touch briefly upon a variety of subject areas? Both methods have their deficiencies and advantages, but the present text should serve as an excellent choice for those electing to take the survey approach. Cottingham (philosophy, Univ. of Reading) has divided philosophical enquiry into ten broad categories and within each category chosen ten excerpts from major writers to illustrate the range of thinking within each category. This is far more than a 'Greatest Hits of Philosophy,' however. The selections have been carefully chosen from a broad range of writers that includes Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Mill, Nietzsche, Strawson, Popper, Rawls, and Tolstoy. The texts have been updated where the editor felt the language to be archaic or unclear, and the selections appropriately illustrate the breadth and depth of each category of philosophical activity. At the end of the book are brief biographies of each philosopher excerpted. Together with a good survey history of philosophy such as The Oxford History of Western Philosophy (LJ 9/1/94), this text would be ideal for an introductory course or program. The one caveat is the price of the hardcover edition; libraries may opt for it, but students would be better off with the paperback.