Philosophy within its proper bounds / Edouard Machery.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Machery, Edouard, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Skepticism.

Physical Description:

xii, 272 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2017.

Summary:

In Philosophy Within Its Proper Bounds, Edouard Machery argues that resolving many traditional and contemporary philosophical issues is beyond out epistemic reach and that philosophy should reorient itself toward more humble, but ultimately more important intellectual endeavors. Any resolution to many of these contemporary issues would require an epistemic access to metaphysical possibilities and necessities, which, Machery argues, we do not have. In effect, then, Philosophy Within Its Proper Bounds defends a form of modal skepticism. The book assesses the main philosophical method for acquiring the modal knowledge that the resolution of modally immodest philosophical situations (which cases or thought experiments describe) in order to determine what facts hold in these situations. Canvassing the extensive work done by experimental philosophers over the last fifteen years, Edouard Machery shows that the method of cases is unreliable and should be rejected. Importantly, the dismissal of modally immodest philosophical issues is no cause for despair: many important philosophical issues remain within our epistemic reach. In particular, reorienting the course of philosophy would free time and resources for bringing back to prominence a once-central intellectual endeavour conceptual analysis. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction 1

1 The Method of Cases 11

2 The Empirical Findings 45

3 Fooled by Cognitive Artifacts 90

4 Enshrining Our Prejudices 126

5 Eight Defenses of the Method of Cases: Amateur Psychology, Reflection, Expertise, Limited Influence, Fallibility, Reform, Mischaracterization, and Overgeneralization 149

6 Modal Ignorance and the Limits of Philosophy 185

7 Conceptual Analysis Rebooted 208

Postscript 245.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-267) and index.

ISBN:

9780198807520

019880752X

OCLC:

986237006