(1 other version)Pollock on Practical Reasoning.DavidHitchcock -2002 -Informal Logic 22 (3).detailsThe epistemologist John Pollock has implemented computationally an architecture for a rational agent which he calls OSCAR. OSCAR models both practical and theoretical (or epistemic) reasoning. I argue that Pollock's model of practical reasoning, which has seven components, is superior not only to the two-component belief-desire model stemming from Aristotle, but also to the three-component belief-desire-intention model developed especially byMichael Bratman. Despite its advantages, Pollock's model of practical reasoning is incomplete in at least three respects: it is solipsistic, (...) it is egoistic and it is unsocial. (shrink)
Causality Reunified.Michael Strevens -2013 -Erkenntnis 78 (2):299-320.detailsHall has recently argued that there are two concepts of causality, picking out two different kinds of causal relation. McGrath, andHitchcock and Knobe, have recently argued that the facts about causality depend on what counts as a “default” or “normal” state, or even on the moral facts. In the light of these claims you might be tempted to agree with Skyrms that causal relations constitute, metaphysically speaking, an “amiable jumble”, or with Cartwright that ‘causation’, though a single word, (...) encompasses many different kinds of things. This paper argues, drawing on the author’s recent work on explanation, that the evidence adduced in support of causal pluralism can be accommodated easily by a unified theory of causality—a theory according to which all singular causal claims concern the same fundamental causal network. (shrink)
An interventionist approach to psychological explanation.Michael Rescorla -2018 -Synthese 195 (5):1909-1940.detailsInterventionism is a theory of causal explanation developed by Woodward andHitchcock. I defend an interventionist perspective on the causal explanations offered within scientific psychology. The basic idea is that psychology causally explains mental and behavioral outcomes by specifying how those outcomes would have been different had an intervention altered various factors, including relevant psychological states. I elaborate this viewpoint with examples drawn from cognitive science practice, especially Bayesian perceptual psychology. I favorably compare my interventionist approach with well-known nomological (...) and mechanistic theories of psychological explanation. (shrink)
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A Regularity Theoretic Approach to Actual Causation.Michael Baumgartner -2013 -Erkenntnis 78 (1):85-109.detailsThe majority of the currently flourishing theories of actual causation are located in a broadly counterfactual framework that draws on structural equations. In order to account for cases of symmetric overdeterminiation and preemption, these theories resort to rather intricate analytical tools, most of all, to whatHitchcock has labeled explicitly nonforetracking counterfactuals. This paper introduces a regularity theoretic approach to actual causation that only employs material conditionals, standard Boolean minimization procedures, and a stability condition that regulates the behavior of (...) causal models under model expansions. Notwithstanding its lightweight analytical toolbox, this regularity theory performs at least as well as the structural equations accounts with their heavy appliances. (shrink)
Hitchcock and Hume Revisited: Fear, Confusion and Stage Fright.John Orr -2007 -Film-Philosophy 11 (1):49-60.detailsThis essay is a return to the scene of a crime. In my recent book onHitchcock I made an outrageously general argument for the affinity between Hitch’s narrativesand David Hume’s reasoning about human nature. For something so speculative, youexpect cracks to appear pretty soon. But my impulse since the book’s appearance has notbeen to feel I exaggerated – which I’m sure I did – but to sense that I did not go far enough.There was more to be said (...) about this oblique, long distance liaison down the centuries andI now feel it best said through a film which I had not discussed at all, partly because I sharedthe general feeling that this was not one of Hitch’s most auspicious films. The acting wasuneven, the tone whimsical, the plot often cluttered and it suffered, or so I thought, fromthat general uncertainty of touch that sometimes characterisedHitchcock’s return toEngland. But then again his short wartime film Bon Voyage has beenunderestimated, as were in different ways Under Capricorn , the remade The ManWho Knew Too Much and later Frenzy . AsMichael Walker has pointed out, Stage Fright has a structural complexity, a narrative coherence anda textual density missing from his 1930s films like Young And Innocent . In otherwords, it brings back to London in 1950 the innovating aspects ofHitchcock’s Hollywoodaesthetic of the 1940s. (shrink)
Cause and Chance: Causation in an Indeterministic World.Phil Dowe &Paul Noordhof (eds.) -2003 - New York: Routledge.detailsPhilosophers have long been fascinated by the connection between cause and effect: are 'causes' things we can experience, or are they concepts provided by our minds? The study of causation goes back to Aristotle, but resurged with David Hume and Immanuel Kant, and is now one of the most important topics in metaphysics. Most of the recent work done in this area has attempted to place causation in a deterministic, scientific, worldview. But what about the unpredictable and chancey world we (...) actually live in: can one theory of causation cover all instances of cause and effect? _Cause and Chance: Causation in an Indeterministic World _is a collection of specially written papers by world-class metaphysicians. Its focus is the problem facing the 'reductionist' approach to causation: the attempt to cover all types of causation, deterministic and indeterministic, with one basic theory. Contributors: Stephen Barker, Helen Beebee, Phil Dowe, Dorothy Edgington, Doug Ehring, ChrisHitchcock, Igal Kwart, Paul Noordhof, Murali Ramachandran andMichael Tooley. (shrink)
Tychomancy: Inferring Probability from Causal Structure.Michael Strevens -2013 - Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.detailsMaxwell's deduction of the probability distribution over the velocity of gas molecules—one of the most important passages in physics (Truesdell)—presents a riddle: a physical discovery of the first importance was made in a single inferential leap without any apparent recourse to empirical evidence. -/- Tychomancy proposes that Maxwell's derivation was not made a priori; rather, he inferred his distribution from non-probabilistic facts about the dynamics of intermolecular collisions. Further, the inference is of the same sort as everyday reasoning about the (...) physical probabilities attached to such canonical chance setups as tossed coins or rolled dice. The structure of this reasoning is investigated and some simple rules for inferring physical probabilities from symmetries and other causally relevant properties of physical systems are proposed. -/- Not only physics but evolutionary biology and population ecology, the science of measurement error, and climate modeling have benefited enormously from the same kind of reasoning, the book goes on to argue. Inferences from dynamics to probability are so obvious to us, however, that their methodological importance has been largely overlooked. (shrink)
Phenomenalism: A Metaphysics of Chance and Experience.Michael Pelczar -2022 - Oxford: Oxford University Press, Oxford.detailsJ.S. Mill famously equated physical things with "permanent possibilities of sensation." This view, known as phenomenalism, holds that a rock is a tendency for experiences to occur as they do when people perceive a rock, and similarly for all other physical things. In _Phenomenalism_,Michael Pelczar develops Mill's theory in detail, defends it against the objections responsible for its current unpopularity, and uses it to shed light on important questions in metaphysics, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of (...) mind. Identifying physical things with possibilities of sensation establishes a transparent connection between the world of physics and the world of sense, provides an attractive alternative to currently fashionable structuralist and panpsychist metaphysics, offers a fresh perspective on the problem of consciousness, and yields a satisfying theory of perception, all by taking two things notoriously resistant to reduction, chance and experience, and constructing everything else out of them. (shrink)
Proof: Its Nature and Significance.Michael Detlefsen -2008 - In Bonnie Gold & Roger A. Simons,Proof and Other Dilemmas: Mathematics and Philosophy. Mathematical Association of America. pp. 3-32.detailsI focus on three preoccupations of recent writings on proof. -/- I. The role and possible effects of empirical reasoning in mathematics. Do recent developments (specifically, the computer-assisted proof of the 4CT) point to something essentially new as regards the need for and/or effects of using broadly empirical and inductive reasoning in mathematics? In particular, should we see such things as the computer-assisted proof of the 4CT as pointing to the existence of mathematical truths of which we cannot have a (...) priori knowledge? -/- 2. The role of formalization in proof. What are the patterns ofinference according to which mathematical reasoning naturally proceeds? Are they of 'local' character (i.e. sensitive to the subject-matter of the reasoning concerned) or 'global' character (i.e. invariant across all subject-matters)? Finally, what if any relationship is there (a) between the patterns of inference manifest in a proof and its explanatory capacity and (b) between explanatory capacity and rigor? -/- 3. Diagrams and their role in mathematical reasoning. What essentially is diagrammatic reasoning, and what is the nature and basis of its usefulness? Can it play a justificative role in the development of mathematical knowledge and, more particularly, in genuine proof? Finally, does the use of diagrammatic reasoning force an adjustment either in our conception of rigor or in our view of its importance? (shrink)
Dylan at 80.C. Sandis &G. Browning (eds.) -forthcoming - Imprint Academic.details2021 marks Dylan's 80th birthday and his 60th year in the music world. It invites us to look back on his career and the multitudes that it contains. Is he a song and dance man? A political hero? A protest singer? A self-portrait artist who has yet to paint his masterpiece? Is he Shakespeare in the alley? The greatest living exponent of American music? An ironsmith? Internet radio DJ? Poet (who knows it)? Is he a spiritual and religious parking meter? (...) Judas? The voice of a generation or a false prophet, jokerman, and thief? Dylan is all these and none. The essays in this book explore the Nobel laureate’s masks, collectively reflecting upon their meaning through time, change, movement, and age. They are written by wonderful and diverse set of contributors, all here for his 80th birthday bash: celebrated Dylanologists likeMichael Gray and Laura Tenschert; recording artists such as RobynHitchcock, Barb Jungr, Amy Rigby, and Emma Swift; and 'the professors’ who all like his looks: David Boucher, Anne Margaret Daniel, Ray Monk, Galen Strawson, and more. Read it on your toaster! (shrink)
Fusion, Comparative, "Constructive Engagement Comparative," Or What? Third Thoughts on Levine's Critique of Siderits.Michael Nylan &Martin Verhoeven -2016 -Journal of World Philosophies 1 (1):119-127.detailsWe have been invited to contribute a short assessment of Levine's response to Siderits’ position in the emerging debate between "fusion philosophy" and "comparative philosophy." Perhaps a brief word is in order regarding our backgrounds:Michael Nylan is a student of early China, with strong inter-disciplinary training and interests, who has attempted work in both philosophy and translation. Martin Verhoeven is a historian by training, a translator by avocation, and a Buddhist practitioner. Both of us have committed ourselves for (...) decades to past traditions that can only be accessed through classical Chinese language, and that surely colors our views. At the same time, those views are not identical, but stereophonic. (shrink)
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On Right in Wrong.Michael Picard -forthcoming - Lanham, MD: Lexington.detailsThis isMichael Picard's translation of Gerd Achenbach’s Vom Richtigen im Falsche. This book by the pioneer of Philosophical Praxis deals with themes from the philosophy of life, such as impermanence, the contradictions in life, trust, happiness, solace and old age. It represents a profound engagement with today but no less with the long tradition of Western philosophy and culture, and offers livable insights in a rare style. The over-arching question is how a philosophically-inspired artisanal approach to life can (...) prove itself equal to life. The book presents a cheerful wisdom that does not blink at reality, but cleaves to right in a wrong world. (shrink)
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Introduction to the Fluent Calculus.Michael Thielscher -unknowndetailsThe present introduction to the Fluent Calculus is intended as an ETAI reference article. It summarizes basic definitions and concepts in the Fluent Calculus, and is intended as a reference for future articles where the calculus is used.
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Contemporary Issues in Paediatric Ethics.Michael M. Burgess &Brian E. Woodrow -1991 - Lewiston, N.Y. ; Queenston, Ont. : E. Mellen Press.detailsThis collection of essays by a group of international scholars focuses on specific issues in bioethics and paediatrics. It reflects interdisciplinary approaches to practical problems at the level of policy and practice.
With All Your Mind: A Christian Philosophy of Education.Michael L. Peterson -2001 - Notre Dame University Press.detailsWith All Your Mind makes a compelling case for the value of thinking deeply about education in America from a historically orthodox and broadly ecumenical Christian point of view. Few people dispute that education in America is in a state of crisis. But not many have posed workable solutions to this serious problem.Michael Peterson contends that thinking philosophically about education is our only hope for meaningful progress. In this refreshing book, he invites all who are concerned about education (...) in America to "participate" in his study, which analyzes representative theories and practical strategies that reveal the power of Christian ideas in this vital area. Peterson addresses the most fundamental questions facing educators, and society in general, such as: What is the purpose of education? What goals do new techniques and methods serve? What kind of person is our educational system supposed to produce? He also explores questions of unique importance to Christians, such as: What is the relation between Christianity and the pursuit of intellectual excellence? How can Christians bring their faith to bear on all areas of knowledge? Can educated Christians significantly influence culture? With All Your Mind examines the key assumptions and implications of influential classical and contemporary philosophies with respect to education, including idealism, naturalism, Thomism, experimentalism, existentialism, linguistic analysis, and postmodernism. Based on this analysis, Peterson develops an unapologetically Christian philosophy of education in regard to curriculum design, instilling ethics and values, and the nature of teaching and learning. Peterson further advances the merits of an ecumenical Christian philosophy of education by showing how it can be used to analyze key issues in educational theory, such as the relation of general education to liberal learning, the integration of faith and learning, and the demand for professional and technical training. From a practical standpoint, Peterson's approach brings balance and common sense to issues such as the clash between public and private education, the rise of multiculturalism, the changing demographic and psychological profile of America's youth, and the impact of computer and Internet technology. With All Your Mind concludes with a stirring vision for education that is embedded in an all-encompassing Christian view of life. Using clear, jargon-free language, Peterson teaches a good deal of basic philosophy while developing a powerful argument for the value of liberal arts education iinteracting with Christian faith at all levels of schooling. (shrink)
Theory Now.Michael Hardt &Grant Farred -2011 - Duke University Press.detailsThis special issue of the _South Atlantic Quarterly_ focuses on theory’s role in contemporary politics, reading, and critiques of literature. Although there will always be questions raised about what theory is, what it can do, and its overall efficacy, “Theory Now” argues that those questions obscure the fact that theory is, and always has been, the precondition for thought. This issue demonstrates what it means to engage with theory in this particular historical moment. One contributor takes a critical look at (...) Michel Foucault’s final lectures, which have only recently been published in French, and evaluates their potential to instruct contemporary theory and politics. Another contributor contemplates Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s legacy and insists that the only way to read her work is to anticipate the effects it may have in the future rather than assume that interpretations of her scholarship are now settled. With this issue, recently appointed editorMichael Hardt inaugurates “Against the Day,” a new section composed of short essays that focus on a topic of contemporary political importance. (shrink)
Embodied Cognition: The teenage years. A review of Gallagher, S. (2005). How.Michael L. Anderson -unknowndetailsEmbodied Cognition is growing up, and How the Body Shapes the Mind is both a sign of, and substantive contributor to this ongoing development. Born in or about 1991, EC is only now emerging from a tumultuous but exciting childhood marked in particular by the size and breadth of the extended family hoping to have some impact on its early education and upbringing. As family members include computer science, phenomenology, developmental and cognitive psychology, analytic philosophy of mind, linguistics, neuroscience, and (...) eastern mysticism, just to name a few, EC has both benefited and suffered from a wealth of different and often incompatible ideas about who and what it is, what it should do with its life, even what language it should speak. Gallagher brings some cohesion and consistency to this situation, not by surveying and synthesizing these competing approaches, but by focusing on some fundamental issues, and carefully marshalling the evidence and developing the vocabulary to thoroughly consider them. (shrink)
Avatar, the Last Airbender.Michael Dante DiMartino,Bryan Konietzko,Elizabeth Welch Ehasz,Tim Hedrick,John O'Bryan,Zach Tyler Eisen,Mae Whitman,Jack Desena,Jessie Flower &Dante Basco (eds.) -2007 - Paramount Home Entertainment.detailsThe blind bandit -- Zuko alone -- The chase -- Bitter work -- The library.
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Aristotle’s Direct Realism In De Anima.Michael Esfeld -2000 -Review of Metaphysics 54 (2):321 - 336.detailsARISTOTLE’S THEORY OF PERCEPTION AND THOUGHT in books 2 and 3 of de Anima is usually interpreted in terms of representationalism: in perception and thought, we receive sensible or intelligible forms. These forms are representations of qualities, things, or events in the world. We gain epistemic access to the world by means of these representations. In this paper I argue that contrary to received opinion, Aristotle’s text can also be read in terms of direct realism: we have epistemic access to (...) the world in perception and thought without representations intervening as epistemic intermediaries. (shrink)
(2 other versions)Evolution and Consciousness: From a Barren Rocky Earth to Artists, Philosophers, Meditators and Psychotherapists.Michael Michelo DelMonte &Maeve Halpin -2019 - Boston: Brill | Rodopi. Edited by Maeve Halpin.detailsThis volume provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the emerging concept of the evolution of consciousness. It presents an overarching model that moves us to a new level of meaning and understanding of our place in the world.
(1 other version)Discovery, Invention and Realism: Gödel and others on the Reality of Concepts.Michael Detlefsen -2011 - In John Polkinghorne,Meaning in mathematics. New York: Oxford University Press.detailsThe general question considered is whether and to what extent there are features of our mathematical knowledge that support a realist attitude towards mathematics. I consider, in particular, reasoning from claims such as that mathematicians believe their reasoning to be part of a process of discovery (and not of mere invention), to the view that mathematical entities exist in some mind-independent way although our minds have epistemic access to them.
Thebaid Ix.Michael Dewar (ed.) -1991 - Oxford University Press UK.detailsBLWith Latin text and English translation The epic poem the Thebaid was composed by Statius about AD 80 to 92 in twelve books. The subject is the expedition of the Seven against Thebes in support of the attempt by Oedipus' son Polyneices to recover the throne from his brother Eteocles. Book IX is set in the midst of the fighting before the eventual death of the two brothers. In this new edition of Book IX Dr Dewar accompanies the Latin text (...) with apparatus criticus, a translation, and an extensive introduction and commentary. The introduction contains sections on Statius' life and works, a summary of the epic, its themes and characters, and poetry, the textual tradition, and Statius' influence on later European literature. The commentary, the first on the ninth book to be published in Britain this century, is written in the light of recent scholarship. It examines in close detail Statius' style and language, use of models, and literary intentions. It is Dr Dewar's hope that this edition will help to explain the poem's great popularity in the Middle Ages, and even restore something of its lost prestige. (shrink)
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The unchanging God of love: a study of the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas on divine immutability in view of certain contemporary criticism of this doctrine.Michael J. Dodds -1986 - Fribourg, Suisse: Éditions universitaires.detailsThe Church's traditional teaching on divine immutability is frequently criticized today by theologians belonging to a wide variety of nationalities and confessions. Such theologians are frequently united in singling out St. Thomas Aquinas as the best representative of the tradition that they are criticizing. Unfortunately, however, their criticism often involves a misrepresentation of St. Thomas' actual teaching on divine immutability. This book provides a clear, accurate, and detailed account of St. Thomas' teaching, presented in a way that allows St. Thomas (...) to speak to the problems and issues that are raised in contemporary theology regarding divine immutability. (shrink)