Foucault

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Ernest Sosa

In this book, Ernest Sosa explains the nature of knowledge through an approach first originated by him, known as virtue epistemology. Here he provides the first comprehensive account of his views on epistemic-normativity as a form of performance normativity on two levels. On a first level is found the normativity of the apt performance, whose success manifests the performer's competence. On a higher level is found the normativity of the meta-apt performance, -which manifests not necessarily first-order skill or competence but rather the reflective good judgment required for proper risk assessment. Sosa develops this bi-level account in multiple ways, by applying it to issues much disputed in recent epistemology: epistemic agency, how knowledge is normatively related to action, the knowledge norm of assertion, and the Meno problem as to how knowledge exceeds merely true belief. A full chapter is devoted to how experience should be understood if it is to figure in the epistemic competence that must be manifest in the truth of any belief apt enough to constitute knowledge. Another takes up the epistemology of testimony from the performance-theoretic perspective. Two other chapters are dedicated to comparisons with ostensibly rival views, such as classical internalist foundational-ism, a knowledge-first view, and attributor contextualism. The book concludes with a defense of the epistemic circularity inherent in meta-aptness and thereby in the full aptness of knowing full well. --Book Jacket.

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Bruce Aune

Contemporary philosophy is marked by a setting aside or dissolution of the traditional problems of modern philosophy. Thus the problem of our knowledge of the external world is widely believed to have been disposed of or dissolved by Wittgenstein and others. In this book, Bruce Aune challenges this assumption. In the first half of Knowledge of the External World, Aune considers the history of the problem in the work of the great modern philosophers, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Kant, and Mill. Then turning to current debates, he argues that the problem has re-emerged and that an entirely new approach is needed. By examining the attempted dissolutions, Aune shows that the fundamental problem remains as a serious intellectual issue: one concerning the nature of permissible experimental or `inductive' inference. To resolve this issue, he undertakes a revision of empiricist epistemology and the development of the required theory of inference. Knowledge of the External World is an excellent historical systematic analysis of a central problem of philosophy and a fine introduction to the theory of knowledge. It will be essential reading for students of epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy -- Publisher's description.

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Robert Nozick

In this highly original work, Robert Nozick develops new views on philosophy's central topics and weaves them into a unified philosophical perspective. It is many years since a major work in English has ranged so widely over philosophy's fundamental concerns: the identity of the self, knowledge and skepticism, free will, the question of why there is something rather than nothing, the foundations of ethics, the meaning of life. Writing in a distinctive and personal philosophical voice, Mr. Nozick presents a new mode of philosophizing. In place of the usual semi-coercive philosophical goals of proof, of forcing people to accept conclusions, this book seeks philosophical explanations and understanding, and thereby stays truer to the original motivations for being interested in philosophy. -- Description from (April 11, 2012).

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Eric Orlin

""In this timely and important book, Orlin explores a central conundrum in republican history through the lens of religion, namely how the Romans managed to construct a distinctive ethnic identity for themselves while incorporating masses of non-Romans into the citizen-body. He shows how decisions about which foreign gods to admit into the Republic's cult and on what terms erected clear yet permeable boundaries that defined Romanness and at the same time helped to extend Rome's sway over Italy. This work is a must read for anyone interested in Roman ethnogenesis and the foundations of the Republic's imperium."--Nathan Rosenstein, The Ohio State University" ""This is a well-researched and well-written book on a very important topic. Orlin argues that while the boundaries of R̀omanness' in religion (and, one can assume, much else) consistently expanded during the Republic, the Roman elite simultaneously took great care that the expanded boundaries were firm and clear. In terms of foreign cults introduced at Rome, Orlin convincingly proves his case."--Arthur Eckstein, University of Maryland, College Park." "Religion is a Particularly Rich Field Within Which to Study Roman Self-Definition, for the Romans considered themselves to be the most religious of all peoples and ascribed their imperial success to their religiosity. Building on the observation that the Romans were remarkably open to outside influences, Foreign Cults in Rome explores how the Romans installed foreign religious elements as part of their own religious system and how that affected their notions of what it meant to be Roman. The inclusion of so many foreign elements posed difficulties for defining a sense of Romanness at the very moment when a territorial definition was becoming obsolete. Using models drawn from anthropology, this book demonstrates that Roman religious activity beginning in the middle Republic (early third century B.C.E.) contributed to redrawing the boundaries of Romanness. The methods by which the Romans absorbed cults and priests and their development of practices in regard to expiations and the celebration of ludi allowed them to recreate a clear sense of identity, one that could include the peoples they had conquered. While this identity faced further challenges during the civil wars of the Late Republic, the book suggests that Roman openness remained a vital part of their religious behavior during this time. The volume concludes with a brief look at the reforms of the first emperor Augustus, whose activity can be understood in light of Republican activity, and whose actions laid the foundation for further adaptation under the Empire."--Jacket.