Contemporary philosophy : philosophy in English since 1945 / Thomas Baldwin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baldwin, Thomas, 1947-

Series:

History of Western philosophy ; 8.

A history of Western philosophy ; 8

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy, Modern--20th century.

Philosophy, Modern.

Physical Description:

x, 294 pages ; 20 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2001.

Summary:

Engaging, accessible, and up-to-date, this work introduces the central debates of English language philosophy since 1945. It begins with a brief description of philosophical debate during the first half of the twentieth century, offering fascinating discussions of writings by Wittgenstein, Ryle, Austin, Quine, and Sellars. It then describes several ensuing philosophical debates that have shaped philosophical discussions since the 1960s, addressing the Davidson/Dummett debate on language; the Kripke/Lewis debate on possible worlds; the Popper/Kuhn debate on the justification in epistemology; the debates on materialism, functionalism, and dual-aspect theories of mind; and recent work in moral psychology, metaethics, and normative ethics. It also includes a critical discussion of Rorty's metaphilosophical skepticism and pays extensive attention to writings of Strawson, Putnam, Evans, McDowell, Williams, Nagel, and many other contemporary philosophers.

Contents:

1 Setting the Scene: 1945 1

The Analytical Project 2

Common Sense, Naturalism, and Pragmatism 7

The Turn from Language and the Possibility of Philosophy 10

2 Investigating Wittgenstein 14

Philosophical Investigations 15

Language-games 17

Rule-following 20

The Private Language Argument 25

The Grammar of Mind 27

First-Person/Third-Person Asymmetries 31

On Certainty 34

Wittgenstein's Naturalism 37

3 The Oxford Movement 39

Ordinary Language Philosophy 40

Gilbert Ryle 42

The Concept of Mind 43

The Ghost in the Machine 45

Abilities and Dispositions 47

J. L. Austin 52

Sense and Sensibilia 53

Doing Things with Words 57

Sir Peter Strawson 59

Conversational Implicature 62

4 The American Point of View 64

The Analytic/Synthetic Distinction 65

Quine's Criticisms of Analyticity 69

Empiricism Naturalized 76

The Indeterminacy of Translation 78

Indeterminacy Reinterpreted and Naturalism Revised 85

Analyticity Reconsidered 87

Wilfred Sellars 90

5 Understanding Language 95

Davidson and Truth-conditions 95

Radical Interpretation 98

Thought and Language 102

Against Scepticism and Relativism 103

Semantic Analysis 106

Dummett and Understanding 107

Manifesting Understanding 110

Anti-realism 111

Meaning, Evidence, and Knowledge 114

Meaning and Convention 117

6 Exploring the Possibilities 121

Quine's Essential Doubts 121

Possible Worlds 123

Rigid Designators 125

Essentialism 130

'Water = H[subscript 2]O' 133

Modal Realism 136

Modal Fictions 140

7 The Scientific Paradigm 144

The Three-sided Debate 144

Popper and Logical Empiricism 148

The Kuhnian Revolution 151

Incommensurability and Procedural Rationality 153

Scientific Realism and the Pessimistic Meta-induction 159

8 Natural Doubts 165

The Brain-in-a-vat 165

Hume's Riddle and Goodman's Paradox 166

Responding to Sceptical Arguments 169

Transcendental Arguments 172

Putnam's Brain 176

Reliable Belief 178

Externalism and Internalism in Epistemology 180

Knowledge 182

The Absolute Conception 187

9 Aspects of Mind 192

Intention and Action 193

Reasons and Causes 196

Anomalous Monism 199

The Mind/Body Identity Theory 201

Functionalism 203

Dual Aspect Theory 207

Supervenience 209

Free Will 211

Knowledge of Self and Others 214

Intentionality 215

Brutes 219

Externalism 220

Consciousness 226

10 Questions of Value 231

Hare and the Language of Morals 233

Hare's Critics 235

Moral Psychology and the Internalism Debates 239

Moral Realism 244

Expressivism 249

Objectivity 252

Virtues, Duties, and Consequences 256

The Dimensions of Morality 260

11 The End of Philosophy? 267

The Renewal of Philosophy 267

Rorty the Sceptic 269

Philosophy and Method 274.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0192892584

OCLC:

46693223