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109Supervenient causation and programme explanationGrazer Philosophische Studien 64 (1): 83-93. 2002.Frank Jackson, Philip Pettit, and Jaegwon Kim put forward two models of higher-level causal explanation. Advocates of both versions are inclined to draw the conclusion that the models don't differ substantially. I argue, on the contrary, that there are relevant metaphysical differences between Jackson and Pettit's notion of programme explanation on the one hand, and Kim's idea of supervenient causation on the other. These can be traced back to underlying differences between the contents of their…Read more
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101Hume's Experimental MethodBritish Journal for the History of Philosophy 20 (3): 577-599. 2012.In this article I attempt to reconstruct David Hume's use of the label ?experimental? to characterise his method in the Treatise. Although its meaning may strike the present-day reader as unusual, such a reconstruction is possible from the background of eighteenth-century practices and concepts of natural inquiry. As I argue, Hume's inquiries into human nature are experimental not primarily because of the way the empirical data he uses are produced, but because of the way those data are theoreti…Read more
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David Bloor: Wittgenstein, Rules and Institutions (review)Philosophischer Literaturanzeiger 52 (3). 1999.
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31The sociological tradition of Hungarian philosophyStudies in East European Thought 60 (1): 1-16. 2008.In this introductory paper I sketch the tradition, several early aspects of which are discussed in the following essays and reviews. I introduce the main figures whose work initiated and maintained the sociological orientation in Hungarian philosophy thereby tracing its evolution. I suggest that its sociological outlook, if taken to be a characteristic tendency that gives Hungarian philosophy its distinctive flavour, provides us with the framework of a possible narrative about the history of Hun…Read more
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35The Anatomy and Physiology of Mind: Hume's Vitalistic AccountIn H. F. J. Horstmanshoff, H. King & C. Zittel (eds.), Blood, Sweat and Tears - The Changing Concepts of Physiology from Antiquity Into Early Modern Europe, Brill Academic. 2012.In this paper I challenge the widely held view which associates Hume’s philosophy with mechanical philosophies of nature and particularly with Newton. This view presents Hume’s account of the human mind as passive receiver of impressions which bring into motion, from the outside, a mental machinery whose functioning is described in terms of mechanical causal principles. Instead, I propose an interpretation which suggests that for Hume the human mind is composed of faculties that can be character…Read more
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6József BaloghIn Karla Pollman et al (ed.), Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine, Oxford University Press. forthcoming.
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47From classical studies towards epistemology: The work of józsef BaloghStudies in East European Thought 51 (4): 287-305. 1999.In this paper, I introduce a prominent classical scholar, József Balogh, whose work can be read as a significant contribution to the historiography of ancient, and in some sense modern, philosophy. Following a summary biography, I sketch the relevance of Balogh''s interpretation of Augustine. I draw some analogies between his and Eric Havelock''s treatment of the problems in ancient philosophy, and argue that the obvious similarities between them have a common origin, namely the perspective of t…Read more
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36J.C. Nyíri’s work is well-known for his interpretation of Wittgenstein as a conservative thinker. Nevertheless, his reading of Wittgenstein is only one strand, even if presumably the most influential one, in his general interpretation of Austro-Hungarian philosophy. Therefore his reading of Wittgenstein is best understood if viewed as part of a complex, sociologically inspired picture of Austrian philosophy. In this introductory essay I present Nyíri’s work as an exercise in the sociology of phi…Read more
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45Agency, ethics and politics in Aurel Kolnai’s philosophy: Francis Dunlop and Zoltán Balázs , Exploring the world of human practice: Readings in and about the philosophy of Aurel Kolnai, CEU Press, Budapest – New York, 2004 (review)Studies in East European Thought 60 (1-2): 173-175. 2008.
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19Daniel Garber , Leibniz: Body, Substance, Monad . Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 32 (6): 465-467. 2012.
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74Weltanschauung as a priori: sociology of knowledge from a 'romantic' stanceStudies in East European Thought 64 (1-2): 39-52. 2012.In this paper I reconstruct the central concept of the young Lukács’s and Mannheim’s sociology of knowledge, as they present it in their writings in the early decades of the twentieth century. I argue that this concept, namely Weltanschauung, is used to refer to some conceptually unstructured totality of feelings, which they take to be a condition of possibility of intellectual production, and this understanding is contrasted to an alternative construal of the term that presents it as logically …Read more
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30A Touch of the DramaticIn Josef Steiff (ed.), Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy: The Footprints of a Gigantic Mind, Open Court Pub Co. 2011.
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26John P. Wright, Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature: An IntroductionPhilosophy in Review 30 (6): 464-466. 2010.
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Frank Jackson: From Metaphysics to Ethics: Defence of Conceptual Analysis (review)Philosophischer Literaturanzeiger 54 (2). 2001.
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33Where Rationality IsIn Barbara Merker (ed.), Verstehen: Nach Heidegger und Brandom, Meiner. 2009.The paper contrasts Robert Brandom’s account of rationality with that of Daniel Dennett. It argues that neither of them is tenable, and sketches an alternative outlook that avoids the problems. In spite of their fundamental differences, both Brandom and Dennett employ a robust, i.e. explanatory and predictive notion of rationality, and for different reasons they both fail to offer a plausible theory supporting it. The lesson offered here is that rationality should not be treated alongside other …Read more
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49Before the Two Cultures: Merging the Canons of the History of Science and PhilosophyMetaphilosophy 46 (3): 344-363. 2015.This article argues that early modern philosophy should be seen as an integrated enterprise of moral and natural philosophy. Consequently, early modern moral and natural philosophy should be taught as intellectual enterprises that developed hand in hand. Further, the article argues that the unity of these two fields can be best introduced through methodological ideas. It illustrates these theses through a case study on Scottish Newtonianism, starting with visions concerning the unity of philosop…Read more
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71Two Kinds of Mental RealismJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 40 (1): 59-71. 2009.I argue that there is a distinction to be drawn between two kinds of mental realism, and I draw some lessons for the realism-antirealism debate. Although it is already at hand, the distinction has not yet been drawn clearly. The difference to be shown consists in what realism is about: it may be either about the interpretation of folk psychology, or the ontology of mental entities. I specify the commitment to the fact-stating character of the discourse as the central component of realism about f…Read more
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32Nyíri, J.C., Tradition and Individuality: Philosophical Essays, “Synthese Library”; Nyíri, Kristóf, A hagyomány filozófiája (The Philosophy of Tradition); Neumer, Katalin, Gondolkodás, beszéd, írás (Thought, Language, and Writing) (review)Studies in East European Thought 51 (4): 329-340. 1999.
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24IntroductionStudies in East European Thought 64 (1-2): 1-4. 2012.In this paper I reconstruct the central concept of the young Lukács’s and Mannheim’s sociology of knowledge, as they present it in their writings in the early decades of the twentieth century. I argue that this concept, namely Weltanschauung, is used to refer to some conceptually unstructured totality of feelings, which they take to be a condition of possibility of intellectual production, and this understanding is contrasted to an alternative construal of the term that presents it as logically …Read more
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20Essays on Wittgenstein and Austrian Philosophy: In Honour of J.C. Nyíri (edited book)BRILL. 2004._Essays on Wittgenstein and Austrian Philosophy_ is presented for the 60th birthday of professor Christoph Nyíri. The essays presented here for the first time are focused on Austrian intellectual history, and on Wittgenstein’s philosophy – the two main areas of Professor Nyíri’s interests. Typically, the contributors are outstanding scholars of the field, including among others David Bloor, Lee Congdon, Newton Garver, Wilhelm Lütterfields, Joachim Schulte, Barry Smith. The volume is of primary i…Read more
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81Liberty, necessity and the foundations of Hume’s ‘science of man’History of the Human Sciences 25 (1): 15-31. 2012.In this article I suggest that section VIII of Hume’s Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding could be read as a contribution to the foundational issues of a characteristic 18th-century enterprise, namely the ‘science of man’. More specifically, it can be read as a summary of his attempt to place this science on an experimental footing, with an awareness of the lessons he has drawn in the previous sections of the Enquiry. This interpretation fits with an overall reading of the work as responding …Read more
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21Rachel Cohon, Hume's Morality: Feeling and Fabrication (review)Philosophy in Review 30 (2): 83-86. 2010.
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Katalin Neumer: Die Relativität der Grenzen. Studien zur Philosophie Wittgensteins (review)Philosophischer Literaturanzeiger 54 (3). 2001.
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482Folk Psychology Is Not a Metarepresentational DeviceEuropean Journal of Analytic Philosophy 5 (2): 19-38. 2009.Here I challenge the philosophical consensus that we use folk psychology for the purposes of metarepresentation. The paper intends to show that folk psychology should not be conceived on par with fact-stating discourses in spite of what its surface semantics may suggest. I argue that folk-psychological discourse is organised in a way and has conceptual characteristics such that it cannot fulfill a fact-stating function. To support this claim I develop an open question argument for psychological …Read more
Tamas Demeter
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
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Hungarian Academy of SciencesResearch Group Leader, Senior Fellow
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Corvinus University of BudapestProfessor
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Mind |
General Philosophy of Science |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |
European Philosophy |