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4Review of Alan Garfinkel: Forms of Explanation: Rethinking the Questions in Social Theory (review)British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 33 (4): 438-441. 1982.
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52Issues in Marxist Philosophy. Vol. I. Dialectics and Method. Vol. 2. Materialism. Vol. 3. Epistemology, Science, Ideology (review)Philosophical Review 91 (4): 632-637. 1982.
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18Marxism and the Jewish questionIn Martin Eve & David Musson (eds.), The Socialist Register, Merlin Press. pp. 19--19. 1982.A number of interrelated questions about Jewry, collectively referred to as 'the Jewish question', have been discussed by many Marxists, beginning with Marx himself in his essay, 'On the Jewish Question'. Perhaps the phrase has been forever discredited by those who not long ago offered the world its final solution. Names aside, the substantive issues are still of great importance for historical materialism. For example, we still have no plausible comprehensive account of the causes of anti-Semit…Read more
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55ACHINSTEIN, PETER [1983]: The Nature of Explanation. Oxford University Press. ix+385 pp. (ISBN 0-19-503215-2) (review)British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 37 (3): 377-384. 1986.
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36Singular explanation and the social sciencesMidwest Studies in Philosophy 15 (1): 130-149. 1990.
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12ExplanationIn Edward Craig (ed.), The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge. 1998.Book synopsis: The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy is the most ambitious international philosophy project in many years. Edited by Edward Craig and assisted by thirty specialist subject editors, the REP consists of ten volumes of the world's most eminent philosophers writing for the needs of students and teachers of philosophy internationally. The REP is a project on an unparalleled scale.
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116The active and the passive: David -Hillel RubenAristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 71 (1): 229-246. 1997.How to draw the distinction between activity and passivity? Whatever that might be, the causal theory of action cannot give the right answer, as it offers an essentially passive account of human action.
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1759The metaphysics of the social worldRoutledge & Kegan Paul. 1985.A careful elaboration and defence of holism in the philosophy of the social sciences, with regard both to particulars and properties. The last chapter addresses the issue of the irreducibility of holistic explanation in the social sciences.
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5A Reply to Professor Haji on Posthumous PredicationGrazer Philosophische Studien 38 (1): 195-199. 1990.
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5Review of Homa Katouzian: Ideology and Method in Economics_; David Papineau: _For Science in the Social Sciences_; David Thomas: _Naturalism and social science: a post-empiricist philosophy of social science (review)British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 32 (2): 210-217. 1981.
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6Agency, Causation and FreedomIn E. Barker (ed.), LSE On Freedom, Lse Books. pp. 16. 1995.Book synopsis: The London School of Economics and Political Science has embraced the full range of the social sciences and its related disciplines. Contributors to this book were invited to write on the subject of freedom. The volume is an exemplary reflection of the variety, the individuality, the different interests, and the range of assumptions found in the scholars of the LSE. The authors come from varied backgrounds - linguistics, mathematics, computer science, sociology, geography, economi…Read more
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28Explanation in the Social Sciences: Singular Explanation and the Social SciencesRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 27 95-117. 1990.Are explanations in the social sciences fundamentally different from explanations in the natural sciences? Many philosophers think that they are, and I call such philosophers ‘difference theorists’. Many difference theorists locate that difference in the alleged fact that only in the natural sciences does explanation essentially include laws.
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1094The Physical Action Theory of TryingMethode 4 (6). 2015.Metaphysically speaking, just what is trying? There appear to be two options: to place it on the side of the mind or on the side of the world. Volitionists, who think that to try is to engage in a mental act, perhaps identical to willing and perhaps not, take the mind-side option. The second, or world-side option identifies trying to do something with one of the more basic actions by which one tries to do that thing. The trying is then said to be identical with the physical action. -/- After car…Read more
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40Philosophy of the Social Sciences: Five QuestionsIn D. Rios & C. Schmidt-Petri (eds.), Philosophy of the Social Sciences: Five Questions, Automatic Press. 2008.Book synopsis: Philosophy of the Social Sciences: 5 Questions is a collection of original contributions from a distinguished score of the world’s most prominent and influential scholars in the field. They deal with questions such as what drew them towards the area; how they view their own contribution, and what the future of the social sciences looks like
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16Cambridge ActionsIn Tim O'Connor & Constantine Sandis (eds.), Companion to the Philosophy of Action, Blackwell-wiley. 2010.Book synopsis: A Companion to the Philosophy of Action offers a comprehensive overview of the issues and problems central to the philosophy of action. The first volume to survey the entire field of philosophy of action (the central issues and processes relating to human actions) Brings together specially commissioned chapters from international experts Discusses a range of ideas and doctrines, including rationality, free will and determinism, virtuous action, criminal responsibility, Attribution…Read more
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24Marx, Necessity and ScienceRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 14 39-56. 1982.Among the very many questions we might wish to ask of any particular science, two of them concern the nature of the objects of the science and the character of the laws which describe the behaviour of those objects. What I wish to do is to raise those two questions about historical materialism. That is, I want to ask what it is that one studies in Capital for example, and in what ways of behaving does the nomic or lawlike behaviour of those objects consist. Both are ontological questions of a so…Read more
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7Three Theories of ActionIn J. Hintikka & R. Tuomela (eds.), Contemporary Action Theory, Kluwer Academic Publishers. 1997.Book synopsis: Contemporary Action Theory, Volume I is concerned with topics in philosophical action theory such as reasons and causes of action, intentions, freedom of will and of action, omissions and norms in legal and ethical contexts, as well as activity, passivity and competence from medical points of view. Cognitive trying, freedom of the will and agent causation are challenges in the discussion on computers in action. The Volume consists of contributions by leading experts in the field w…Read more
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Birkbeck, University of LondonDepartment of PhilosophyEmeritus Professor, Honorary Research Fellow
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Action |
Philosophy of Social Science |
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Action |
Philosophy of Social Science |