Realism Regained


Book Description

In this wide-ranging philosophical work, Koons takes on two powerful dogmas--anti-realism and materialism. In doing so, Koons develops an elegant metaphysical system that accounts for such phenomena as information, mental representation, our knowledge of logic, mathematics and science, the structure of spacetime, the identity of physical objects, and the objectivity of values and moral norms.




Realism Regained


Book Description

In this wide-ranging philosophical work, Koons takes on two powerful dogmas--anti-realism and materialism. In doing so, Koons develops an elegant metaphysical system that accounts for such phenomena as information, mental representation, our knowledge of logic, mathematics and science, the structure of spacetime, the identity of physical objects, and the objectivity of values and moral norms.




Realism and Quantum Physics


Book Description




A Book about Books


Book Description

A Book about Books discusses what nonfiction books and subjects the author believes are important to know about. This book is volume I of III. Only the first volume is available at this time. The second volume is forthcoming and will be available in 2020. E.H. Bernstein is a former librarian turned author. The subtitle of the book describes the author’s objective: “A handbook in 3 parts to a choice of essential books, writers and subjects in order to understand the world we live in, about ‘big questions’ and possible answers, about books and writers that may improve people’s lives, about neglected writers, and other books and subjects.” A Book about Books attempts to share what the author has learned from nearly 50 years of nonfiction reading and to provide the reader with samples of the most important authors and subjects from that reading. While the book is based on research, it is intended to be a handbook or guide by trying to make that research understandable to the general reader and to students, and for teachers--by pointing to what the author believes is missing from today’s education. Note about how the volumes are related: each chapter is on a separate subject. So the chapters can be read individually, but the full message requires reading all the volumes. Volume I is important, but preliminary to the more important Volumes II and III. A future website, bookaboutbooks.com. is planned for later in 2019 and will include additional material not in the books. Note also that the book is not just about books, since other sources are also mentioned. This book tries to point to problems in how we live and to see if books have any answers. A contemporary writer once said that one of the purposes of writing is that books should be useful. I hope that my book will be of use.




World Without Design


Book Description

Philosophical naturalism, according to which philosophy is continuous with the natural sciences, has dominated the Western academy for well over a century; but Michael Rea claims that it is without rational foundation, and that the costs of embracing it are surprisingly high. The first part of World Without Design aims to provide a fair and historically informed characterization of naturalism. Rea then argues compellingly to the surprising conclusion that naturalists are committed to rejecting realism about material objects, materialism, and perhaps realism about other minds. This conclusion is striking, largely because naturalism is often simply identified with materialism, and the remaining two theses are ones that naturalists very typically want to endorse. Rea goes on to examine two alternative research programs: intuitionism and supernaturalism, and argues for the conclusion that intuitionism, under certain circumstances, is self-defeating. World Without Design offers a provocative challenge to philosophical orthodoxy. It will make uncomfortable reading for many philosophers.




Two Dozen (or so) Arguments for God


Book Description

Thirty years ago, Alvin Plantinga gave a lecture called "Two Dozen (or so) Theistic Arguments," which served as an underground inspiration for two generations of scholars and students. In it, he proposed a number of novel and creative arguments for the existence of God which have yet to receive the attention they deserve. In Two Dozen (or so) Arguments for God, each of Plantinga's original suggestions, many of which he only briefly sketched, is developed in detail by a wide variety of accomplished scholars. The authors look to metaphysics, epistemology, semantics, ethics, aesthetics, and beyond, finding evidence for God in almost every dimension of reality. Those arguments new to natural theology are more fully developed, and well-known arguments are given new life. Not only does this collection present ground-breaking research, but it lays the foundations for research projects for years to come.




Fundamental Causation


Book Description

Fundamental Causation addresses issues in the metaphysics of deterministic singular causation, the metaphysics of events, property instances, facts, preventions, and omissions, as well as the debate between causal reductionists and causal anti-reductionists. The book also pays special attention to causation and causal structure in physics. Weaver argues that causation is a multigrade obtaining relation that is transitive, irreflexive, and asymmetric. When causation is singular, deterministic and such that it relates purely contingent events, the relation is also universal, intrinsic, and well-founded. He shows that proper causal relata are events understood as states of substances at ontological indices. He then proves that causation cannot be reduced to some non-causal base, and that the best account of that relation should be unashamedly primitivist about the dependence relation that underwrites its very nature. The book demonstrates a distinctive realist and anti-reductionist account of causation by detailing precisely how the account outperforms reductionist and competing anti-reductionist accounts in that it handles all of the difficult cases while overcoming all of the general objections to anti-reductionism upon which other anti-reductionist accounts falter. This book offers an original and interesting view of causation and will appeal to scholars and advanced students in the areas of metaphysics, philosophy of science, and philosophy of physics.




An Investigation of the Causal Inference between Epidemiology and Jurisprudence


Book Description

This book examines how legal causation inference and epidemiological causal inference can be harmonized within the realm of jurisprudence, exploring why legal causation and epidemiological causation differ from each other and defining related problems. The book also discusses how legal justice can be realized and how victims’ rights can be protected. It looks at epidemiological evidence pertaining to causal relationships in cases such as smoking and the development of lung cancer, and enables readers to correctly interpret and rationally use the results of epidemiological studies in lawsuits. The book argues that in today’s risk society, it is no longer possible to thwart the competence of evidence using epidemiological research results. In particular, it points out that the number of cases that struggle to prove a causal relationship excluding those using epidemiological data will lead to an increase in the number of lawsuits for damages that arise as a result of harmful materials that affect our health. The book argues that the responsibility to compensate for damages that have actually occurred must be imputed to a particular party and that this can be achieved by understanding causal inferences between jurisprudence and epidemiology. This book serves as a foundation for students, academics and researchers who have an interest in epidemiology and the law, and those who are keen to discover how jurisprudence can bring these two areas together.




The Rationality of Theism


Book Description

The Rationality of Theism is a controversial collection of brand new papers by thirteen outstanding philosophers and scholars. Its aim is to offer comprehensive theistic replies to the traditional arguments against the existence of God, offering a positive case for theism as well as rebuttals of recent influential criticisms of theism.




Conceptions of Truth


Book Description

Truth is one of the most debated topics in philosophy; Wolfgang Künne presents a comprehensive critical examination of all major theories. Conceptions of Truth is organized around a flow-chart comprising sixteen key questions, ranging from Is truth a property? to Is truth epistemically constrained? Künne expounds and engages with the ideas of many thinkers, from Aristotle and the Stoics, to Continental analytic philosophers like Bolzano, Brentano, and Kotarbinski, to such leading figures in current debates as Dummett, Putnam, Wright, and Horwich. He explains many important distinctions (between varieties of correspondence, for example, between different conceptions of making true, between various kinds of eternalism and temporalism) which have so far been neglected in the literature. Künne argues that it is possible to give a satisfactory 'modest' account of truth without invoking problematic notions like correspondence, fact, or meaning. And he offers a novel argument to support the realist claim that truth outruns justifiability. The clarity of exposition and the wealth of examples will make Conceptions of Truth an invaluable and stimulating guide for advanced students and scholars in metaphysics, epistemology and the philosophy of language.