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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Epistemology, theory of knowledge
This book examines the U.S economy from 1967 to 2011 and utilizes a
new method to predict the future of the economy as far ahead as
2030. This new method uses population subgroup data. Variables used
in the cross-sectional matrix include ethnicity, sex, age, and
average personal income of those having personal income. The
mathematical basis, the data used, and the results are all
presented in graphic form. The estimates are compared to National
Bureau of Economic Research Dating Committee data. Projections
using estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Census are used to further
project personal income, personal income annual change, and
disposable personal income to 2030. The book concludes that the New
Energy Movement and their development of non-polluting energy and
electricity production methods that do not consume uranium,
radioactive material, or fossil fuels. Therefore, large amounts of
money should be invested in these devices, their development, and
implementation.
Self-knowledge is commonly thought to have become a topic of
serious philosophical inquiry during the early modern period.
Already in the thirteenth century, however, the medieval thinker
Thomas Aquinas developed a sophisticated theory of self-knowledge,
which Therese Scarpelli Cory presents as a project of reconciling
the conflicting phenomena of self-opacity and privileged
self-access. Situating Aquinas's theory within the
mid-thirteenth-century debate and his own maturing thought on human
nature, Cory investigates the kinds of self-knowledge that Aquinas
describes and the questions they raise. She shows that to a degree
remarkable in a medieval thinker, self-knowledge turns out to be
central to Aquinas's account of cognition and personhood, and that
his theory provides tools for considering intentionality,
reflexivity and selfhood. Her engaging account of this neglected
aspect of medieval philosophy will interest readers studying
Aquinas and the history of medieval philosophy more generally.
The nature of matter and the idea of indivisible parts has
fascinated philosophers, historians, scientists and physicists from
antiquity to the present day. This collection covers the richness
of its history, starting with how the Ancient Greeks came to assume
the existence of atoms and concluding with contemporary
metaphysical debates about structure, time and reality. Focusing on
important moments in the history of human thought when the debate
about atomism was particularly flourishing and transformative for
the scientific and philosophical spirit of the time, this
collection covers: - The discovery of atomism in ancient philosophy
- Ancient non-Western, Arabic and late Medieval thought - The
Renaissance, when along with the re-discovery of ancient thought,
atomism became once again an important doctrine to be fully debated
- Logical atomism in early analytic philosophy, with Russell and
Wittgenstein - Atomism in Liberalism and Marxism - Atomism and the
philosophy of time - Atomism in contemporary metaphysics - Atomism
and the sciences Featuring 28 chapters by leading and younger
scholars, this valuable collection reveals the development of one
of philosophy's central doctrines across 2,500 years and within a
broad range of philosophical traditions.
The story of Sosipatra of Pergamum (4th century C.E.) as told by
her biographer, Eunapius of Sardis in his Lives of the Philosophers
and Sophists, is a remarkable tale. It is the story of an elite
young girl from the area of Ephesus, who was educated by traveling
oracles (daemons), and who grew up to lead her own philosophy
school on the west coast of Asia Minor. She was also a prophet of
sorts, channeling divine messages to her students, family, and
friends, and foretelling the future. Sosipatra of Pergamum is the
first sustained, book length attempt to tell the story of this
mysterious woman. It presents a rich contextualization of the brief
and highly fictionalized portrait provided by Eunapius. In doing
so, the book explores the cultural and political landscape of late
ancient Asia Minor, especially the areas around Ephesus, Pergamum,
Sardis, and Smyrna. It also discusses moments in Sosipatra's life
for what they reveal more generally about women's lives in Late
Antiquity in the areas of childhood, education, family, household,
motherhood, widowhood, and professional life. Her career sheds
light on late Roman Platonism, its engagement with religion,
ritual, and "magic," and the role of women in this movement. By
thoroughly examining the ancient evidence, Heidi Marx recovers a
hidden yet important figure from the rich intellectual traditions
of the Roman Near East.
Why care about intellectual humility? What is an intellectual
virtue? How do we know who is intellectually humble? The nature of
intellectual virtues is a topic of ancient interest. But
contemporary philosophy has experienced unparalleled energy and
concern for one particular virtue over the past 30 years:
intellectual humility. Intellectual Humility: An Introduction to
the Philosophy and Science draws on leading research to provide an
engaging and up-to-date guide to understanding what it is and why
it's important. By using ten big questions to introduce the
concept, this introduction presents a vibrant account of the ideas
behind intellectual humility. Covering themes from philosophy,
psychology, education, social science, and divinity, it addresses
issues such as: What human cognition tells us about intellectual
virtues The extent to which traits and dispositions are stable from
birth or learned habits How emotions affect our ability to be
intellectually humble The best way to handle disagreement The
impact intellectual humility has on religion or theological
commitments Written for students taking the University of
Edinburgh's online course, this textbook is for anyone interested
in finding out more about intellectual humility, how it can be
developed and where it can be applied.
As political discourse had been saturated with the ideas of
"post-truth", "fake news", "epistemic bubbles", and "truth decay",
it was no surprise that in 2017 The New Scientist declared:
"Philosophers of knowledge, your time has come." Political
epistemology has old roots, but is now one of the most rapidly
growing and important areas of philosophy. The Routledge Handbook
of Political Epistemology is an outstanding reference source to
this exciting field, and the first collection of its kind.
Comprising 41 chapters by an international team of contributors, it
is divided into seven parts: Politics and truth: historical and
contemporary perspectives Political disagreement and polarization
Fake news, propaganda, and misinformation Ignorance and
irrationality in politics Epistemic virtues and vices in politics
Democracy and epistemology Trust, expertise, and doubt. Within
these sections crucial issues and debates are examined, including:
post-truth, disagreement and relativism, epistemic networks, fake
news, echo chambers, propaganda, ignorance, irrationality,
political polarization, virtues and vices in public debate,
epistocracy, expertise, misinformation, trust, and digital
democracy, as well as the views of Plato, Aristotle, Mozi, medieval
Islamic philosophers, Mill, Arendt, and Rawls on truth and
politics. The Routledge Handbook of Political Epistemology is
essential reading for those studying political philosophy, applied
and social epistemology, and politics. It is also a valuable
resource for those in related disciplines such as international
relations, law, political psychology, political science,
communication studies, and journalism.
It is widely believed in philosophy of science that nobody can
claim that any verdict of science is forced upon us by the effects
of a physical world upon our sense organs and instruments. The
Quine-Duhem problem supposedly allows us to resist any conclusion.
Views on language aside, Quine is supposed to have shown this
decisively. But it is just false. In many scientific examples,
there is simply no room to doubt that a particular hypothesis is
responsible for a refutation or established by the observations.
Fault Tracing shows how to play independently established
hypotheses against each other to determine whether an arbitrary
hypothesis needs to be altered in the light of (apparently)
refuting evidence. It analyses real examples from natural science,
as well as simpler cases. It argues that, when scientific theories
have a structure that prevents them from using this method, the
theory looks wrong, and is subject to serious criticism. This is a
new, and potentially far-reaching, theory of empirical
justification.
Free Will and Continental Philosophy explores the concepts of
free-will and self-determination in the Continental philosophical
tradition. David Rose examines the ways in which Continental
philosophy offers a viable alternative to the hegemonic scientistic
approach taken by analytic philosophy. Rose claims that the problem
of free-will is only a problem if one makes an unnecessary
assumption consistent with scientific rationalism. In the sphere of
human action we assume that, since action is a physical event, it
must be reducible to the laws and concepts of science. Hence, the
problematic nature of free will raises its head, since the concept
of free will is intrinsically contradictory to such a reductionist
outlook. This book suggests that the Continental thinkers offer a
compelling alternative by concentrating on the phenomena of human
action and self-determination in order to offer the truth of
freedom in different terms. Thus Rose offers a revealing
investigation into the appropriate concepts and categories of human
freedom and action.>
This book offers a philosophically-based, yet clinically-oriented
perspective on current medical reasoning aiming at 1) identifying
important forms of uncertainty permeating current clinical
reasoning and practice 2) promoting the application of an abductive
methodology in the health context in order to deal with those
clinical uncertainties 3) bridging the gap between biomedical
knowledge, clinical practice, and research and values in both
clinical and philosophical literature. With a clear philosophical
emphasis, the book investigates themes lying at the border between
several disciplines, such as medicine, nursing, logic,
epistemology, and philosophy of science; but also ethics,
epidemiology, and statistics. At the same time, it critically
discusses and compares several professional approaches to clinical
practice such as the one of medical doctors, nurses and other
clinical practitioners, showing the need for developing a unified
framework of reasoning, which merges methods and resources from
many different clinical but also non-clinical disciplines. In
particular, this book shows how to leverage nursing knowledge and
practice, which has been considerably neglected so far, to further
shape the interdisciplinary nature of clinical reasoning.
Furthermore, a thorough philosophical investigation on the values
involved in health care is provided, based on both the clinical and
philosophical literature. The book concludes by proposing an
integrative approach to health and disease going beyond the
so-called "classical biomedical model of care".
Bernard Lonergan (1904-84) is acknowledged as one of the most
significant philosopher-theologians of the 20th century. Lonergan,
Meaning and Method in many ways complements Andrew Beards' previous
book on Lonergan, Insight and Analysis (Bloomsbury, 2010). Andrew
Beards applies Lonergan's thought and brings it into critical
dialogue and discussion with other contemporary philosophical
interlocutors, principally from the analytical tradition. He also
introduces themes and arguments from the continental tradition, as
well as offering interpretative analysis of some central notions in
Lonergan's thought that are of interest to all who wish to
understand the importance of Lonergan's work for philosophy and
Christian theology. Three of the chapters focus upon areas of
fruitful exchange and debate between Lonergan's thought and the
work of three major figures in current analytical philosophy: Nancy
Cartwright, Timothy Williamson and Scott Soames. The discussion
also ranges across such topics as meaning theory, metaphilosophy,
epistemology, philosophy of science and aesthetics.
This book offers insights relevant to modern history and
epistemology of physics, mathematics and, indeed, to all the
sciences and engineering disciplines emerging of 19th century. This
research volume is the first of a set of three Springer books on
Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot's (1753-1823) remarkable work:
Essay on Machines in General (Essai sur les machines en general
[1783] 1786). The other two forthcoming volumes are: Principes
fondamentaux de l'equilibre et du mouvement (1803) and Geometrie de
position (1803). Lazare Carnot - l'organisateur de la victoire - in
Essai sur le machine en general (1786) assumed that the
generalization of machines was a necessity for society and its
economic development. Subsequently, his new coming science applied
to machines attracted considerable interest for technician, as
well, already in the 1780's. With no lack in rigour, Carnot used
geometric and trigonometric rather than algebraic arguments, and
usually went on to explain in words what the formulae contained.
His main physical- mathematical concepts were the Geometric motion
and Moment of activity-concept of Work . In particular, he found
the invariants of the transmission of motion (by stating the
principle of the moment of the quantity of motion) and theorized
the condition of the maximum efficiency of mechanical machines
(i.e., principle of continuity in the transmission of power). While
the core theme remains the theories and historical studies of the
text, the book contains an extensive Introduction and an accurate
critical English Translation - including the parallel text edition
and substantive critical/explicative notes - of Essai sur les
machines en general (1786). The authors offer much-needed insight
into the relation between mechanics, mathematics and engineering
from a conceptual, empirical and methodological, and universalis
point of view. As a cutting-edge writing by leading authorities on
the history of physics and mathematics, and epistemological
aspects, it appeals to historians, epistemologist-philosophers and
scientists (physicists, mathematicians and applied sciences and
technology).
Whatever societies accept as 'knowledge' is embedded in
epistemological, institutional, political, and economic power
relations. How is knowledge produced under such circumstances? What
is the difference between general knowledge and the sciences? Can
there be science without universal truth claims? Questions like
these are discussed in eleven essays from the perspective of
Sociology, Law, Cultural Studies, and the Humanities.
Wisdom and Philosophy: Contemporary and Comparative Approaches
questions the nature of the relationship between wisdom and
philosophy from an intercultural perspective. Bringing together an
international mix of respected philosophers, this volume discusses
similarities and differences of Western and Asian pursuits of
wisdom and reflects on attempts to combine them. Contributors cover
topics such as Confucian ethics, the acquisition of wisdom in
pre-Qin literature and anecdotes of stupidity in the classical
Chinese tradition, while also addressing contemporary topics such
as global Buddhism and analytic metaphysics. Providing original
examples of comparative philosophy, contributors look at ideas and
arguments of thinkers such as Confucius, Zhuangzi and Zhu Xi
alongside the work of Aristotle, Plato and Heidegger. Presenting
Asian perspectives on philosophy as practical wisdom, Wisdom and
Philosophy is a rare intercultural inquiry into the relation
between wisdom and philosophy. It provides new ways of
understanding how wisdom connects to philosophy and underlines the
need to reintroduce it into philosophy today.
Charles E. Snyder considers the New Academy's attacks on Stoic
epistemology through a critical re-assessment of the 3rd century
philosopher, Arcesilaus of Pitane. Arguing that the standard
epistemological framework used to study the ancient Academy ignores
the metaphysical dimensions at stake in Arcesilaus's critique,
Snyder explores new territory for the historiography of
Stoic-Academic debates in the early Hellenistic period. Focusing on
the dispute between the Old and New Academy, Snyder reveals the
metaphysical dimensions of Arcesilaus' arguments as essential to
grasping what is innovative about the so-called New Academy.
Resisting the partiality for epistemology in the historical
reconstructions of ancient philosophy, this book defends a new
philosophical framework that re-positions Arcesilaus' attack on the
early Stoa as key to his deviation from the metaphysical
foundations of both Stoic and Academic virtue ethics. Drawing on a
wide range of scholarship on Hellenistic philosophy in French,
Italian, and German, Beyond Hellenistic Epistemology builds bridges
between analytical and continental approaches to the historiography
of ancient philosophy, and makes an important and disruptive
contribution to the literature.
This book focuses on the ancient Near East, early imperial China,
South-East Asia, and medieval Europe, shedding light on
mathematical knowledge and practices documented by sources relating
to the administrative and economic activities of officials,
merchants and other actors. It compares these to mathematical texts
produced in related school contexts or reflecting the pursuit of
mathematics for its own sake to reveal the diversity of
mathematical practices in each of these geographical areas of the
ancient world. Based on case studies from various periods and
political, economic and social contexts, it explores how, in each
part of the world discussed, it is possible to identify and
describe the different cultures of quantification and computation
as well as their points of contact. The thirteen chapters draw on a
wide variety of texts from ancient Near East, China, South-East
Asia and medieval Europe, which are analyzed by researchers from
various fields, including mathematics, history, philology,
archaeology and economics. The book will appeal to historians of
science, economists and institutional historians of the ancient and
medieval world, and also to Assyriologists, Indologists,
Sinologists and experts on medieval Europe.
Selections from Science and Sanity represents Alfred Korzybski's
authorized abridgement of his magnum opus, Science and Sanity: An
Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics.
This second edition, published in response to the recent Korzybski
revival, adds new introductory material and a revised index,
providing an accessible introduction to Korzybski's arguments
concerning the need for a non-Aristotelian approach to knowledge,
thought, perception, and language, to coincide with our
non-Newtonian physics and non-Euclidean geometries, to Korzybski's
practical philosophy, applied psychology, pragmatics of human
communication, and educational program. Selections from Science and
Sanity serves as an excellent introduction to general semantics as
a system intended to aid the individual's adjustment to reality,
enhance intellectual and creative activities, and alleviate the
many social ills that have plagued humanity throughout our history.
The transcendental turn of Husserl's phenomenology has challenged
philosophers and scholars from the beginning. This volume inquires
into the profound meaning of this turn by contrasting its Kantian
and its phenomenological versions. Examining controversies
surrounding subjectivity, idealism, aesthetics, logic, the
foundation of sciences, and practical philosophy, the chapters
provide a helpful guide for facing current debates.
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