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7The real Molyneux question and the basis of Locke's answerIn Graham Alan John Rogers (ed.), Locke's philosophy: content and context, Oxford University Press. 1994.
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22Primary and Secondary Qualities in Early Modern PhilosophyThe Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2022.
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416. Confused and Obscure Ideas of SenseIn Amélie Oksenberg Rorty (ed.), Essays on Descartes’ Meditations, University of California Press. pp. 389-404. 1986.
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50Leibniz and Hobbes on Arbitrary TruthPhilosophy Research Archives 3 242-273. 1977.Leibniz repeatedly daims to refute "Hobbes' doctrine of arbitrary truth". I argue against several recent expositors of Hobbes that Hobbes' view comes to nothing more scandalous than "nominalism" about kind terms. Although some have recognized that it is this thesis which Leibniz claims to refute, his argument has not been correctly understood. I maintain that the argument rests upon Leibniz' theory of signs and his account of concepts. In brief, Leibniz argues that concepts have structures which…Read more
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The real Molyneux question and the basis of Locke's answerIn Graham Alan John Rogers (ed.), Locke's philosophy: content and context, Oxford University Press. 1994.
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66Primary and secondary qualities in the phenomenalist theory of LeibnizIn Lawrence Nolan (ed.), Primary and secondary qualities: the historical and ongoing debate, Oxford University Press. 2011.
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Modes and composite material things according to Descartes and LockeIn Philippe Hamou & Martine Pécharman (eds.), Locke and Cartesian Philosophy, Oxford University Press. 2018.
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The Real Molyneux Question and the Basis of Locke's AnswerIn Graham Alan John Rogers (ed.), Locke's philosophy: content and context, Oxford University Press. 1994.
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11Judgment and Proposition: From Descartes to Kant (review)Philosophical Review 95 (3): 481-483. 1986.
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102Lady Mary Shepherd and David Hume on Cause and EffectIn Eileen O’Neill & Marcy P. Lascano (eds.), Feminist History of Philosophy: The Recovery and Evaluation of Women’s Philosophical Thought, Springer. pp. 129-152. 2019.Shepherd propounds a theory of mind with a fair claim to be better than Hume’s at explaining the sources of commonly held human beliefs about causal necessity due largely to her relational theory of sense perception. In comparison with Hume’s account, it incorporates a more sophisticated treatment of mental representation, especially the role of relational structure and logical form. Most important, perhaps, Shepherd’s theory enforces the division, obscured by Hume, between the evidence of neces…Read more
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14Locke's Science of Knowledge by Matthew PriselacJournal of the History of Philosophy 58 (2): 405-406. 2020.This interesting and challenging book addresses the apparent gap between the empiricist account of the origin of ideas and the theory of knowledge in the Essay concerning Human Understanding. Matthew Priselac makes an impressive argument that they are complementary parts of a coherent program. It consists of a naturalistic interpretation on which the Essay's main aim is to provide the kind of understanding of the mind, knowledge, and probability afforded by modern methods of natural scientific i…Read more
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Substances, Substrata and Names of Substances in Locke's EssayIn Vere Claiborne Chappell (ed.), Locke, Oxford University Press. 1998.
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158Locke on the semantic and epistemic role of simple ideas of sensationPacific Philosophical Quarterly 85 (3). 2004.This paper argues that Locke has a representative theory of sensitive knowledge. Perceivers are immediately aware of nothing but sensory ideas in the mind; yet perceivers think of real external substances that correspond to and cause those ideas, and they are warranted in believing that those substances exist (at that time). The theory poses two questions: what warrants the truth of such beliefs? What is it in virtue of which sensory ideas represent external objects and how do they make perceive…Read more
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The Idea-Theoretic Basis of Locke's Anti-Essentialist Doctrine of Nominal EssenceIn Phillip D. Cummins (ed.), Minds, Ideas, and Objects: Essays on the Theory of Representation in Modern Philosophy, Ridgeview Publishing Company. 1992.
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71The Epistemological Status of Ideas: Locke Compared to ArnauldHistory of Philosophy Quarterly 9 (4). 1992.
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142Locke, Leibniz, and the logic of mechanismJournal of the History of Philosophy 36 (2): 189-213. 1998.Locke, Leibniz, and the Logic of Mechanism MARTHA BRANDT BOLTON l~ EARLY MECHANIST PHILOSOPHERS demanded a new standard of perspicuity in the natural sciences. They accused others of "explaining" phenomena in terms of obscurely defined, unconfirmed, and uninformative causes. These complaints were leveled, not just at the real qualities and forms of Scholastics, but also against the sympathetic attractions of Hermetics and the sophic prin- ciples of the Spagyrites. These competitors to mecha- nis…Read more
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39The Nominalist Argument of the New EssaysThe Leibniz Review 6 1-24. 1996.There is in the New Essays a prominent line of argument that Leibniz took to have remarkable scope. If it works, it sweeps away most of the mainstays of Locke’s metaphysics: atoms, vacuum, real space and time, absolute rest, inactive faculties, and the tabula rasa. It alone does not suffice to undermine the possibility of thinking matter, but it contributes support to that most important of Leibniz’s claims against Locke. Because it is so central to the project of New Essays, I am going to focus…Read more
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8Locke on Sensory RepresentationIn Ralph Schumacher (ed.), Perception and Reality: From Descartes to the Present, Mentis. 2004.
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273Substances, substrata, and names of substances in Locke's essayPhilosophical Review 85 (4): 488-513. 1976.
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2The Relevance of Locke's Theory of Ideas to his Doctrine of Nominal Essence and Anti-Essentialist Semantic TheoryIn Vere Claiborne Chappell (ed.), Locke, Oxford University Press. 1998.
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3Berkeley and mental representation : why not a Lockean theory of ideas?In Stephen Hartley Daniel (ed.), New interpretations of Berkeley's thought, Humanity Books. 2008.
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2Locke and Pyrrhonism: The Doctrine of Primary and Secondary QualitiesIn Myles Burnyeat (ed.), The Skeptical Tradition, University of California Press. 1983.
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8Berkeley's Objection to Abstract Ideas and Unconceived ObjectsIn Ernest Sosa (ed.), Essays on the Philosophy of George Berkeley, D. Reidel. 1986.
Areas of Specialization
History of Western Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
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