Paradoxes are more than just intellectual puzzles - they raise substantive philosophical issues and offer the promise of increased philosophical knowledge. In this introduction to paradox and paradoxes, Doris Olin shows how seductive paradoxes can be, why they confuse and confound, and why they continue to fascinate. Olin examines the nature of paradox, outlining a rigorous definition and providing a clear and incisive statement of what does and does not count as a resolution of a paradox. The view that a statement can be both true and false, that contradictions can be true, is seen to provide a challenge to the account of paradox resolution, and is explored. With this framework in place, the book then turns to an in-depth treatment of the Prediction Paradox, versions of the Preface/Fallibility Paradox, the Lottery Paradox, Newcomb's Problem, the Prisoner's Dilemma and the Sorites Paradox. Each of these paradoxes is shown to have considerable philosophical punch. Olin unpacks the central arguments in a clear and systematic fashion, offers original analyses and solutions, and exposes further unsettling implications for some of our most deep-seated principles and convictions.

Paradoxes are more than just intellectual puzzles - they raise substantive philosophical issues and offer the promise of increased philosophical knowledge. In this introduction to paradox and paradoxes, Doris Olin shows how seductive paradoxes can be, why they confuse and confound, and why they continue to fascinate. Olin examines the nature of paradox, outlining a rigorous definition and providing a clear and incisive statement of what does and does not count as a resolution of a paradox. The view that a statement can be both true and false, that contradictions can be true, is seen to provide a challenge to the account of paradox resolution, and is explored. With this framework in place, the book then turns to an in-depth treatment of the Prediction Paradox, versions of the Preface/Fallibility Paradox, the Lottery Paradox, Newcomb's Problem, the Prisoner's Dilemma and the Sorites Paradox. Each of these paradoxes is shown to have considerable philosophical punch. Olin unpacks the central arguments in a clear and systematic fashion, offers original analyses and solutions, and exposes further unsettling implications for some of our most deep-seated principles and convictions.

This book presents William James's Pragmatism together with critical commentary and focuses on the theories of meaning and truth central to Pragmatism. It includes several articles three of which were roughly contemporaneous with the publication of Pragmatism.

William James was the central figure of the "historical" period of American philosophy - and Pragmatism was the most influential philosophical movement of the day. This volume brings together the original 1907 text of James' "Pragmatism", in which James applies the theories of meaning and truth central to Pragmatism to metaphysics and religion, with a series of critical essays by prominent scholars, including G.E. Moore, Bertrand Russell and D.C. Phillips. Professor Olin's introduction reviews the articles reprinted, discusses James' response to the Russell and Pratt articles and evaluates the strength of the objections that have been advanced against James. The introduction also distinguishes between Pragmatism as a method for clarifying ideas, as a theory of truth, and as an epistemological theory. This edition of James' forceful, vigorous and humorous work will provide a useful introduction to James and to a major school of American philosophy. This book should be of interest to students and lecturers of philosophy.