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39Minds, Ideas and Objects: Essays on the Theory of Representation in Modern PhilosophyPhilosophical Review 106 (2): 288. 1997.Minds, Ideas and Objects is a collection of conference papers on the topic of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century theories of ideas or “sensory experience, thought, knowledge and their objects.” At least half the twenty-three papers are by well-known historians of philosophy who seldom disappoint, and there is some equally thought-provoking work among the rest. Some papers say little that is surprising, and some, including good ones, fail to convince, but few are weak. It is perhaps to be expect…Read more
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33Perception and ActionRoyal Institute of Philosophy Lectures 3 91-106. 1969.There is an ancient and ambiguous philosophical doctrine that perception is passive. This can mean that the mind contributes nothing to the content of our sensory experience: its power of perception is a mere receptivity. In this sense the principle has often been questioned, and is indeed doubtful on empirical grounds, given one reasonable interpretation of what it would be for the mind to make such a contribution.
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32The Empiricists: Critical Essays on Locke, Berkeley, and HumeRowman & Littlefield Publishers. 1998.This collection of essays on themes in the work of John Locke , George Berkeley , and David Hume , provides a deepened understanding of major issues raised in the Empiricist tradition. In exploring their shared belief in the experiential nature of mental constructs, The Empiricists illuminates the different methodologies of these great Enlightenment philosophers and introduces students to important metaphysical and epistemological issues including the theory of ideas, personal identity, and skep…Read more
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27Response to Comments and CriticismsGrazer Philosophische Studien 98 (4): 600-627. 2021.These responses are replies to the contributions to a book symposium devoted to my book Knowing and Seeing. Groundwork for a New Empiricism (2019), held at the University of Vienna in February 2020.
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26Some ThoughtsProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 73. 1973.M. R. Ayers; V*—Some Thoughts, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 73, Issue 1, 1 June 1973, Pages 69–86, https://doi.org/10.1093/aristotelian/73.1.
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25The Nature of ThingsPhilosophy 49 (190): 401-413. 1974.Anthony Quinton's The Nature of Things covers competently a good deal of philosophical ground in hopeful pursuit of a coherent ontology de-scribable as ‘a version of materialism’. He seems to discern two major difficulties for the enterprise: first, that of giving an acceptable account of ontology, and, secondly, that of reconciling his naturalism with his empiricist principles. ‘Naturalism’ is the view that man and his doings constitute a part of nature on the same ontological level as other na…Read more
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20"The End of Metaphysics" and the Historiography of PhilosophyIn A. J. Holland (ed.), Philosophy, Its History and Historiography, Reidel. pp. 27-40. 1985.No doubt most philosophers who spend time on the history of philosophy are familiar with that question asked to embarrass (and liable to be asked by scientists in particular) why the history of the subject should be thought a significant part of the subject itself. Either there is progress in philosophy, it is said, or there is not. If there is progress, why the laborious backward glances? How can the past be so important? Why aren’t philosophers like psychologists, given perhaps a short histori…Read more
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19Locke's Philosophy of Science and Knowledge. By R. S. Woolhouse (Oxford, Blackwell, 1971. Pp. 204 £2.75)Philosophy 47 (181): 276-. 1972.
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19The Refutation of Determinism: An Essay in Philosophical LogicPhilosophical Review 80 (1): 106. 1971.
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16V*—Some ThoughtsProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 73 (1): 69-86. 1973.M. R. Ayers; V*—Some Thoughts, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 73, Issue 1, 1 June 1973, Pages 69–86, https://doi.org/10.1093/aristotelian/73.1.
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16Locke's Doctrine of Abstraction: Some Aspect of its Historical and Philosophical SignificanceIn Reinhard Brandt (ed.), John Locke: symposium, Wolfenbüttel, 1979, Walter De Gruyter. pp. 5-24. 1980.
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15Rationalism, Platonism and God: A Symposium on Early Modern Philosophy (edited book)Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press. 2007.Rationalism, Platonism and God comprises three main papers on Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz, with extensive responses. It provides a significant contribution to the exploration of the common ground of the great early-modern Rationalist theories, and an examination of the ways in which the mainstream Platonic tradition permeates these theories. John Cottingham identifies characteristically Platonic themes in Descartes's cosmology and metaphysics, finding them associated with two distinct, even…Read more
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9Locke's Philosophy of Science and Knowledge. By R. S. Woolhouse (Oxford, Blackwell, 1971. Pp. 204 £2.75) (review)Philosophy 47 (181): 276-278. 1972.
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9BENAYOUN Jean-Michel, Michel Prum and Patrick Tort (trans.): ŒuvresBritish Journal for the History of Philosophy 16 (2): 455-459. 2008.
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4Ideas and objective beingIn Daniel Garber & Michael Ayers (eds.), The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy, Cambridge University Press. pp. 2--1063. 1998.
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4The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy 2 Volume Paperback Set (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 1998.The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy offers a uniquely comprehensive and authoritative overview of early-modern philosophy written by an international team of specialists. As with previous Cambridge histories of philosophy the subject is treated by topic and theme, and since history does not come packaged in neat bundles, the subject is also treated with great temporal flexibility, incorporating frequent reference to medieval and Renaissance ideas. The basic structure of the v…Read more
Areas of Interest
1 more
Epistemology |
Metaphilosophy |
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Language |
Philosophy of Mind |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |