A Philosophy of the Possible

A Philosophy of the Possible
Author :
Publisher : BRILL
Total Pages : 379
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9789004398344
ISBN-13 : 9004398341
Rating : 4/5 (44 Downloads)

Synopsis A Philosophy of the Possible by : Mikhail Epstein

In this book, Mikhail Epstein offers a systematic theory of modalities (the actual, possible, and necessary), as applied to the discourse of philosophy in its post-Kantian and especially post-Derridean perspectives. He relies on his own experience of living in the USSR and the US, dominated respectively by imperative and possibilist modalities. Possibilism assumes that a thing or event acquires meaning only in the context of its multiple possibilities, inviting counterfactual and conditional modes of description. The author focuses on the creative potentials of possibilistic thinking and its heuristic value. The book demonstrates the range of modal approaches to society, culture, ethics, and language, and outlines potentiology as a new philosophical discipline interacting with ontology and epistemology.

Possible Worlds

Possible Worlds
Author :
Publisher : Routledge
Total Pages : 408
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781134731602
ISBN-13 : 1134731604
Rating : 4/5 (02 Downloads)

Synopsis Possible Worlds by : John Divers

Possible Worlds presents the first up-to-date and comprehensive examination of one of the most important topics in metaphysics. John Divers considers the prevalent philosophical positions, including realism, antirealism and the work of important writers on possible worlds such as David Lewis, evaluating them in detail.

Possible Worlds

Possible Worlds
Author :
Publisher : Indianapolis : Hackett Publishing Company
Total Pages : 391
Release :
ISBN-10 : 091514459X
ISBN-13 : 9780915144594
Rating : 4/5 (9X Downloads)

Synopsis Possible Worlds by : Raymond Bradley

Sermons by a noted German theologian discuss what the Bible says about freedom, political power, fear, unity, and human rights

A Passion for the Possible

A Passion for the Possible
Author :
Publisher : Fordham Univ Press
Total Pages : 248
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780823232925
ISBN-13 : 0823232921
Rating : 4/5 (25 Downloads)

Synopsis A Passion for the Possible by : Brian Treanor

Paul Ricoeur's entire philosophical project narrates a "passion for the possible" expressed in the hope that in spite of death, closure, and sedimentation, life is opened by superabundance, by how the world gives us much more than is possible. Ricoeur's philosophical anthropology is a phenomenology of human capacity, which gives onto the groundless ground of human being, namely, God. Thus the story of the capable man, beginning with original goodness held captive by a servile will and ending with the possibility of liberation and regeneration of the heart, underpins his passion for the more than possible. The essays in this volume trace the fluid movement between phenomenological and religious descriptions of the capable self that emerges across Ricoeur's oeuvre and establish points of connection for future developments that might draw inspiration from this body of thought.

The Actual and the Possible

The Actual and the Possible
Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Total Pages : 250
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780198786436
ISBN-13 : 0198786433
Rating : 4/5 (36 Downloads)

Synopsis The Actual and the Possible by : Mark Sinclair

The Actual and the Possible presents new essays by leading specialists on modality and the metaphysics of modality in the history of modern philosophy from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. It revisits key moments in the history of modern modal doctrines, and illuminates lesser-known moments of that history. The ultimate purpose of this historical approach is to contextualise and even to offer some alternatives to dominant positions within the contemporary philosophy of modality. Hence the volume contains not only new scholarship on the early-modern doctrines of Baruch Spinoza, G. W. F. Leibniz, Christian Wolff and Immanuel Kant, but also work relating to less familiar nineteenth-century thinkers such as Alexius Meinong and Jan Lukasiewicz, together with essays on celebrated nineteenth- and twentieth-century thinkers such as G. W. F. Hegel, Martin Heidegger and Bertrand Russell, whose modal doctrines have not previously garnered the attention they deserve. The volume thus covers a variety of traditions, and its historical range extends to the end of the twentieth century, addressing the legacy of W. V. Quine's critique of modality within recent analytic philosophy.

A Combinatorial Theory of Possibility

A Combinatorial Theory of Possibility
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 174
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0521377803
ISBN-13 : 9780521377805
Rating : 4/5 (03 Downloads)

Synopsis A Combinatorial Theory of Possibility by : D. M. Armstrong

Preface Part I. Non-Naturalist Theories of Possibility: 1. Causal argument 2. Non-Naturalist theories of possibility Part II. A Combinatorial and Naturalist Account of Possibility: 3. Possibility in a simple world 4. Expanding and contracting the world 5. Relative atoms 6. Are there de re incompatibilities and necessities? 7. Higher-order entities, negation and causation 8. Supervenience 9. Mathematics 10. Final questions: logic Works cited Appendix: Tractarian Nominalism Brian Skyrms Index.

Topics in the Philosophy of Possible Worlds

Topics in the Philosophy of Possible Worlds
Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Total Pages : 228
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0815340516
ISBN-13 : 9780815340515
Rating : 4/5 (16 Downloads)

Synopsis Topics in the Philosophy of Possible Worlds by : Daniel Patrick Nolan

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Actuality, Possibility, and Worlds

Actuality, Possibility, and Worlds
Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages : 321
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781441145161
ISBN-13 : 1441145168
Rating : 4/5 (61 Downloads)

Synopsis Actuality, Possibility, and Worlds by : Alexander R. Pruss

Actuality, Possibility and Worlds is an exploration of the Aristotelian account that sees possibilities as grounded in causal powers. On his way to that account, Pruss surveys a number of historical approaches and argues that logicist approaches to possibility are implausible. The notion of possible worlds appears to be useful for many purposes, such as the analysis of counterfactuals or elucidating the nature of propositions and properties. This usefulness of possible worlds makes for a second general question: Are there any possible worlds and, if so, what are they? Are they concrete universes as David Lewis thinks, Platonic abstracta as per Robert M. Adams and Alvin Plantinga, or maybe linguistic or mathematical constructs such as Heller thinks? Or is perhaps Leibniz right in thinking that possibilia are not on par with actualities and that abstracta can only exist in a mind, so that possible worlds are ideas in the mind of God?

The Elusiveness of the Ordinary

The Elusiveness of the Ordinary
Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
Total Pages : 336
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780300129526
ISBN-13 : 0300129521
Rating : 4/5 (26 Downloads)

Synopsis The Elusiveness of the Ordinary by : Stanley Rosen

The concept of the ordinary, along with such cognates as everyday life, ordinary language, and ordinary experience, has come into special prominence in late modern philosophy. Thinkers have employed two opposing yet related responses to the notion of the ordinary: scientific and phenomenological approaches on the one hand, and on the other, more informal or even anti-scientific procedures. Eminent philosopher Stanley Rosen here presents the first comprehensive study of the main approaches to theoretical mastery of ordinary experience. He evaluates the responses of a wide range of modern and contemporary thinkers and grapples with the peculiar problem of the ordinary—how to define it in its own terms without transforming it into a technical (and so, extraordinary) artifact. Rosen’s approach is both historical and philosophical. He offers Montesquieu and Husserl as examples of the scientific approach to ordinary experience; contrasts Kant and Heidegger with Aristotle to illustrate the transcendental approach and its main alternatives; discusses attempts by Wittgenstein and Strauss to return to the pre-theoretical domain; and analyzes the differences among such thinkers as Moore, Austin, Grice, and Russell with respect to the analytical response to ordinary language. Rosen concludes with a theoretical exploration of the central problem of how to capture the elusive ordinary intact.

Philosophy through Science Fiction Stories

Philosophy through Science Fiction Stories
Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages : 264
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781350081239
ISBN-13 : 135008123X
Rating : 4/5 (39 Downloads)

Synopsis Philosophy through Science Fiction Stories by : Helen De Cruz

Bringing together short stories by award-winning contemporary science fiction authors and philosophers, this book covers a wide range of philosophical ideas from ethics, philosophy of religion, political philosophy, and metaphysics. Alongside the introductory pieces by the editors that help readers to understand how philosophy can be done through science fiction, you will find end-of-story notes written by the authors that contextualize their stories within broader philosophical themes. Organised thematically, these stories address fundamental philosophical questions such as: *What does it mean to be human? *Is neural enhancement a good thing? *What makes a life worthwhile? *What political systems are best? By making complex ideas easily accessible, this unique book allows you to engage with philosophical ideas in entertaining new ways, and is an ideal entry point for anyone interested in using fiction to better understand philosophy.