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Donald Davidson’s Triangulation Argument
According to many commentators, Davidson’s earlier work on philosophy of action and truth-theoretic semantics is the basis for his reputation, and his later forays into broader metaphysical and epistemological issues, and eventually into what became known as the triangulation argument, are much less successful. This book by two of his former students aims to change that perception. In Part One, Verheggen begins by providing an explanation and defense of the triangulation argument, then explores its implications for questions concerning semantic normativity and reductionism, the social character of language and thought, and skepticism about the external world. In Part Two, Myers considers what the argument can tell us about reasons for action, and whether it can overcome skeptical worries based on claims about the nature of motivation, the sources of normativity and the demands of morality. The book reveals Davidson’s later writings to be full of innovative and important ideas that deserve much more attention than they are currently receiving.
Objectivity and the Parochial
Thought, to be thought at all, must be about a world independent of us. But thinking takes capacities for thought, which inevitably shape thought's objects. What would count as something being green is, somehow, fixed by what we, who have being green in mind, are prepared to recognize. So it can seem that what is true, and what is not, is not independent of us. So our thought cannot really be about an independent world. We are confronted with an apparent paradox. Much philosophy, from Locke to Kant to Frege to Wittgenstein, to Hilary Putnam and John McDowell today, is a reaction to this paradox. Charles Travis presents a set of eleven essays, each working in its own way towards dissolving this air of paradox. The key to his account of thought and world is the idea of the parochial: features of our thought which need not belong to all thought.
The Cooperative Neuron
"A new era is dawning in the sciences of mind and brain. This book provides an overview of a conceptual revolution that is occurring in our understanding of the cellular foundations of mental life and its disorders. It relates conscious perception, thought, and action to recently discovered capabilities of a special class of neocortical neuron that has long been known to be widely distributed through the cerebral neocortex. These neurons are called pyramidal cells because their cell bodies have an approximately pyramidal shape. Many, though not all, of those cells are sensitive to context - as this book describes in detail. Though this cellular context-sensitivity involves complex events tha...
Life as an Experiment
We cannot live a full life unless we know who we are, unless we know the essence of our being. The sciences, which have been immensely helpful in the way in which we live our lives, have been helpless when it comes to telling us how our life should be lived and what its meaning is. Accepting any philosophical or religious belief, on the other hand, limits our freedom to learn directly from personal knowledge of reality, as any preconceived ideas do not only alter its perception, but limit the spectrum of possibilities to which our reason can be applied. To those who do not surrender their right to decide for themselves what reality is, life offers a unique opportunity to apply their insights both in the worlds within and without and either validates or disproves their findings. If they are true to themselves, the continuous feeedback life offers will reveal to them unique characterics of our mind, which are otherwise limited by its own beliefs.
Meaning and Structure
1 Introduction p. 1 1.1 Structuralism and Analytic Philosophy p. 1 1.2 Why not the French Structuralism? p. 2 1.3 Contemporary (Post) Analytic Philosophy and Structuralism p. 6 1.4 Plan of the Book p. 8 1.5 Acknowledgements p. 10 Part I The Whys and Hows of Structuralism 2 What is Meaning? p. 15 2.1 Words and 'Mental Representations' p. 15 2.2 Is Meaning Within the Mind? p. 18 2.3 Is Language a Tool of Conveying Thoughts? p. 22 2.4 Meanings as Abstract Objects p. 26 2.5 Semantics and Semiotics p. 28 2.6 The Case of Augustinus p. 31 2.7 Language as a Toolbox p. 34 3 What is Structuralism? p. 37 3.1 Horizontal and Vertical Relations of Language p. 37 3.2 Structuralism: Mere Slogan, or a Real C...
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The Philosopher's Index
Vols. for 1969- include a section of abstracts.
