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38Frictionless philosophy: Paul Feyerabend and relativismHistory of European Ideas 20 (4-6): 963-968. 1995.The version of moral relativism that Paul Feyerabend discusses in his 1991 book "Three Dialogues on Knowledge" is evaluated. It is shown to be in conflict with an essential feature of appraisal vocabulary known as supervenience. This is enough to render this version of relativism untenable. But the way in which Feyerabend defends his relativist principle against the Platonic objection that relativist is self-refuting also involves that might be called semantic nihilism', the idea that nothing ca…Read more
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38Phenomenalism, or neutral monism, in Mach’s analysis of sensations?In J. Preston (ed.), Interpreting Ernst Mach: Critical Essays. 2020.I set out the factors which tempt people into reading Ernst Mach's book The Analysis of Sensations as putting forward either a version of phenomenalism or a version of neutral monism, and then assess the strengths and weaknesses of these two readings. I present an ‘internal’ view of that text, showing that it by no means mandates the phenomenalist reading, and that a case for something more like the neutral monist reading can be made from within that book, indeed largely from within its famous f…Read more
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34The literature on Heinrich Hertz’s influence on Wittgenstein goes back some way. Not all the main commentators discuss or even notice that influence, although it has been particularly emphasised by James Griffin, by Allan Janik and Stephen Toulmin, and by Leonard Goddard and Brenda Judge
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32Elucidating the tractatus: Wittgenstein's early philosophy of logic and language – by Marie McGinnPhilosophical Investigations 31 (3). 2008.No Abstract
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28Wittgenstein and Reason (edited book)Wiley-Blackwell. 2008.This volume discusses Wittgenstein’s work, as well as his oeuvre in general, and its implications for the nature of reason. Investigates the nature of reason which has always been a topic at the very heart of Western philosophy Analyses how Wittgenstein raised crucial questions about the subject - most notably in his critique of Frazer’s _Golden Bough_, his discussions of various philosophical aspects of religion, and the famous ‘rule-following considerations’ from his _Philosophical Investigati…Read more
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26David J. Stump, Conceptual Change and the Philosophy of Science: Alternative Interpretations of the A Priori , xviii + 176 pp., £85 (review)Ratio 30 (1): 100-106. 2016.
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25Thomas Kuhn's Revolution: An Historical Philosophy of Science – By James A. Marcum (review)Ratio 20 (3): 352-354. 2007.
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23Introduction: a new Mach for a new millenniumIn J. Preston (ed.), Interpreting Ernst Mach: Critical Essays. 2020.
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22The Instrument of Science: Scientific Anti-realism Revitalised, by Darrell P. RowbottomMind 130 (519): 1028-1032. 2021.The Instrument of Science: Scientific Anti-realism Revitalised, by RowbottomDarrell P.. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019. Pp. 216.
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22The Fate of Wonder: Wittgenstein’s Critique of Metaphysics and Modernity (review)The European Legacy 19 (6): 807-809. 2014.
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19Feyerabend: philosophy, science, and societyPolity Press. 1997.This book is the first comprehensive critical study of the work of Paul Feyerabend, one of the foremost twentieth-century philosophers of science. The book traces the evolution of Feyerabend's thought, beginning with his early attempt to graft insights from Wittgenstein's conception of meaning onto Popper's falsificationist philosophy. The key elements of Feyerabend's model of the acquisition of knowledge are identified and critically evaluated. Feyerabend's early work emerges as a continuation …Read more
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17Interpreting Mach: Critical Essays (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2021.This volume presents new essays on the work and thought of physicist, psychologist, and philosopher Ernst Mach. Moving away from previous estimations of Mach as a pre-logical positivist, the essays reflect his rehabilitation as a thinker of direct relevance to debates in the contemporary philosophies of natural science, psychology, metaphysics, and mind. Topics covered include Mach's work on acoustical psychophysics and physics; his ideas on analogy and the principle of conservation of energy; t…Read more
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17Cheryl Misak, Cambridge Pragmatism: From Peirce and James to Ramsey and Wittgenstein . xviii + 321, price £30.00 hb (review)Philosophical Investigations 40 (4): 443-448. 2017.
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17Externalism and First-Person AuthorityThe Monist 78 (4): 515-533. 1995.If God had looked into our minds he would not have been able to see there whom we were speaking of.
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15Introduction: Thought as LanguageRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 42 1-. 1997.Western philosophy has a long-standing interest in the relationship between thought and language. This is not least because language use and our mental capacities are so central to our human self-conception, as well as to the ways in which we have tried to think about other beings. Retrospectively, it is possible to identify certain broad traditions in the philosophical study of thought and language, traditions which also have their representatives in psychology and linguistics. In this introduc…Read more
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15Mach, Wittgenstein, Science and LogicIn Friedrich Stadler (ed.), Ernst Mach – Life, Work, Influence, Springer Verlag. 2019.The received view is that Ernst Mach should not be counted as among the important influences on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophical thought. Recently, though, some affinities between their works have been brought to light, and two scholars, Henk Visser and Jaakko Hintikka, have gone beyond this to claim that Wittgenstein took specific and important philosophical ideas about science and logic from Mach. These claims have not been addressed by Wittgenstein scholars, but they do deserve attention. …Read more
Areas of Interest
Epistemology |
Metaphilosophy |
Philosophy of Social Science |
Philosophy of Physical Science |