•  21
    In Defense of Radical Empiricism: Essays and Lectures
    with Roderick Firth
    Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 1998.
    Roderick Firth's writings on epistemology amount to an exceptionally careful and cogent defense of an account of perceptual knowledge in the tradition Firth called 'radical empiricism.' This important book collects all of Firth's major works on epistemology; it also contains his only publication in ethics, the extremely influential essay on 'Ethical Absolutism and the Ideal Observer.' In addition, the book includes a number of important previously unpublished essays. Together, these writings con…Read more
  •  11
    Human and other natures
    Journal of Consciousness Studies 7 (1-2): 1-2. 2000.
    While I agree with the main theses put forward by Flack and de Waal, I am sceptical about whether we learn much about human morality by looking at the behaviour of other primates or our own evolutionary history. I am especially doubtful about attempts to use such data as a base for conclusions about ‘human nature'. More direct methods of studying human nature indicate that our genotype is compatible with a very wide range of behaviours, including all those required by even the most demanding eth…Read more
  •  29
    Rule-Following and Realism (review)
    Review of Metaphysics 52 (2): 439-440. 1998.
    The aim of this book is to develop and apply what Ebbs calls “a participant perspective” on philosophy of language. This perspective, which Ebbs also characterizes as “deflationary anti-individualism”, seems basically Wittgensteinian, though Ebbs’s references to Wittgenstein are few and scattered and almost no exegetic remarks on the Philosophical Investigations are made. Instead Ebbs devotes the bulk of his book to a careful study of several of the more important and controversial arguments in …Read more
  •  30
    Wittgenstein’s Place in Twentieth-Century Analytic Philosophy
    Review of Metaphysics 51 (1): 155-156. 1997.
    This is an illuminating account of the relations between Wittgenstein’s writings and teaching and the main strands of contemporary analytic philosophy. Although begun as a synoptic epilogue to Hacker’s massive four-volume commentary on the Philosophical Investigations, it became, as the author notes, “an independent historical study in its own right”. While there are frequent summaries of discussions in the longer work, the present volume is self-contained and includes a good deal of material th…Read more
  •  53
    Preface
    Synthese 27 (3-4): 307-307. 1974.
  •  123
    This volume includes the complete texts of two of John Stuart Mill's most important works, Utilitarianism and On Liberty, and selections from his other writings, including the complete text of his Remarks on Bentham's Philosophy. The selection from Mill's A System of Logic is of special relevance to the debate between those who read Mill as an Act-Utilitarian and those who interpret him as a Rule-Utilitarian. Also included are selections from the writings of Jeremy Bentham, founder of modern Uti…Read more
  •  20
    The Elusive Mind (review)
    Journal of Philosophy 69 (6): 168-173. 1972.
  • "Ethics in Nursing", by Martin Benjamin and Joy Curtis (review)
    Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 7 (4): 382. 1982.
  •  21
    Mind and Brain: A Philosophy of Science
    Philosophical Review 80 (4): 522. 1971.
  •  24
  •  11
    Roderick Firth's writings on epistemology amount to an exceptionally careful and cogent defense of an account of perceptual knowledge in the tradition Firth called 'radical empiricism.' This important book collects all of Firth's major works on epistemology; it also contains his only publication in ethics, the extremely influential essay on 'Ethical Absolutism and the Ideal Observer.' In addition, the book includes a number of important previously unpublished essays. Together, these writings con…Read more