•  2
    Cambridge Actions
    In Timothy O'Connor & Constantine Sandis (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Action, Wiley‐blackwell. 2010.
    This chapter contains sections titled: References.
  •  4
  •  13
    The Content of Social Explanation
    Philosophical Books 26 (4): 248-250. 2009.
  •  16
    An Essay on Facts
    Philosophical Books 30 (3): 161-162. 1989.
  •  210
    Multifunctional Artefacts and Collocation
    Metaphysics 5 (1): 66-77. 2022.
    There appear to be multifunctional artefacts of a type such that none of their functions can be attributed only to some proper part of the artefact. I use two examples of allegedly multifunctional artefacts of this kind in what follows, one due to Lynne Rudder Baker (aspirin) and another of my own (a spork). The two examples are meant to make the same point. I discuss her aspirin example, since its discussion has entered the literature, but without its being dealt with satisfactorily. My example…Read more
  •  213
    Reply to ‘attempts’: a non-davidsonian account of trying sentences
    Philosophical Studies 179 (12): 3817-3830. 2022.
    In various of my writings, both in Philosophical Studies and elsewhere, I have argued that an account of trying sentences is available that does not require quantification over alleged attempts or tryings. In particular, adverbial modification in such sentences can be dealt with, without quantification over any such particulars. In ‘Attempts’, Jonathan D. Payton (Payton, 2021) has sought to dispute my claim. In this paper, I consider his claims and reply to them. I believe that my account withst…Read more
  •  396
    Prime Cuts and the Method of Recombination
    Episteme 19 (1): 21-30. 2022.
    Whether some condition is equivalent to a conjunction of some conditions has been a major issue in analytic philosophy. Examples include: knowledge, acting freely, causation, and justice. Philosophers have striven to offer analyses of these, and other concepts, by showing them equivalent to such a conjunction. Timothy Williamson offers a number of arguments for the idea that knowledge is ‘prime’, hence not equivalent to or composed by some such conjunction. I focus on one of his arguments: the r…Read more
  •  978
    Searle on Institutional Obligation
    The Monist 56 (4): 600-611. 1972.
    John Searle sets out five statements, the relation of each to its successor being one of entailment.
  • This is an updated and expansed edition of the 1990 Explaining Explanation, Routledge.
  •  37
    Collocation and Constitution
    Metaphysica 22 (2): 251-261. 2021.
    Many philosophers accept the view that, when one object constitutes a second, the two objects can be entirely in the same place at the same time. But what of two objects such that neither constitutes the other? Can they be collocated? If there can be such a pair of objects, they would have to share the same material constituents. To show that there are two collocated objects and not just one object at a specific time and place, one has to show that one of the objects has some property that the o…Read more
  •  268
    Review of Jewish Philosophy in an Analytic Age (review)
    Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2019. 2019.
    A collection of 18 contemporary essays engaged in original, not historical, philosophical research on philosophical themes arising from Judaism.
  •  556
    The Metaphysics of the Social World
    Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1985.
    An analysis of the theses of social holism and individualism, and arguments for the metaphysical integrity and irreducibility of both social properties and social entities. The last chapter discusses explanation in social science.
  •  374
    A discussion of three central ideas in action theory; trying to act, doing or acting, one's action causing further consequences.
  • Action and Its Explanation
    with G. F. Schueler
    Philosophical Quarterly 55 (218): 139-142. 2005.
  •  6
    Book synopsis: It is appropriate to ask about the prospects for metaphysics at the present time as we near the end of a century in which, perhaps more than at any other moment in its long history, metaphysics has been under persistent, unrelenting attack. The traditional concern with metaphysics is very old, depending on the definition, as old as philosophy, even its main theme. Depending on the point of view, much is at stake in the continued viability of metaphysics, including the viability of…Read more
  •  10
    Book synopsis: This Encyclopedia is the first attempt in a generation to map the social and behavioral sciences on a grand scale. Not since the publication in 1968 of the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, edited by David L. Sills, has there been such an ambitious project to describe the state of the art in all the fields encompassed within the social and behavioral sciences.
  •  114
    Karl Marx
    In A. O'Hear (ed.), German Philosophy Since Kant, Cambridge University Press. pp. 65-79. 2000.
    Book synopsis: This collection of essays from the Royal Institute of Philosophy shows the connections and interrelations between the analytic and hermeneutic strains in German philosophy since Kant, partly to challenge the idea that there are two separate, non-communicating traditions. The distinguished contributors include David-Hillel Ruben on Marx, Robert Solomon writing on Nietzsche, Michael Inwood on Heidegger, P. M. S. Hacker on Frege and Wittgenstein, Christopher Janaway on Schopenhauer, …Read more
  •  4
    Relativism
    In J. Rée & J. O. Urmson (eds.), The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy, Routledge. 2005.
    On its first appearance in 1960, the Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy established itself as a classic; this third edition builds on its original strengths but brings it completely up to date. The Concise Encyclopedia offers a lively, readable, comprehensive and authoritative treatment of Western philosophy as a whole, incorporating scintillating articles by many leading philosophical authors. It serves not only as a convenient reference work, but also as an engaging introduction to phi…Read more
  •  7
    Introduction
    In Explanation. Oxford Readings in Philosophy, Oxford University Press. 1993.
    Book synopsis: This volume presents a selection of the most important recent writings on the nature of explanation. It covers a broad range of topics from the philosophy of science to the central philosophical terrain of the theory of knowledge.
  •  9
    Realism
    In J. Rée & J. O. Urmson (eds.), The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy, Routledge. 2005.
    On its first appearance in 1960, the Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy established itself as a classic; this third edition builds on its original strengths but brings it completely up to date. The Concise Encyclopedia offers a lively, readable, comprehensive and authoritative treatment of Western philosophy as a whole, incorporating scintillating articles by many leading philosophical authors. It serves not only as a convenient reference work, but also as an engaging introduction to phi…Read more
  •  107
    Action and Its Explanation
    Oxford University Press. 2003.
    Book synopsis: David-Hillel Ruben's new book pursues some novel and unusual standpoints in the philosophy of action. He rejects, for example, the most widely held view about how to count actions, and argues for what he calls a 'prolific theory' of act individuation. He also describes and argues against the two leading theories of the nature of action, the causal theory and the agent causal theory. The causal theory cannot account for skilled activity, nor for mental action. The agent causalist t…Read more
  •  79
    One-particularism in the theory of action
    Philosophical Studies 175 (11): 2677-2694. 2018.
    In this paper, I intend to introduce what I think is a novel proposal in the metaphysics of action: one-particularism. In order to do so, I must first explain two ideas: a concept in the semantics of English that many philosophers of action take to be of great importance in action theory, causative alternation; and the idea of an intrinsic event. By attempting to understand the role that intrinsic events are meant to play in action theory, I then introduce my proposal. Getting clear on what is a…Read more
  •  15
    The Metaphysics of the Social World
    Philosophy 61 (237): 421-423. 1985.
  • The Metaphysics of the Social World
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 38 (1): 127-132. 1987.
  •  9
    The Metaphysics of the Social World (review)
    Philosophical Quarterly 36 (142): 92-95. 1986.
  •  15
    Action and Its Explanation
    Oxford University Press. 2003.
    an examination of both the causal theory of action and the agent causalist theory, and a proposal for a third alternative.