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Clearing a SpaceIn Samuel D. Guttenplan (ed.), Objects of metaphor, Oxford University Press. 2005.This chapter has three aims: to offer a comprehensive and transparent tripartite classification of philosophical accounts of metaphor; to consider three truths about metaphor which cannot be jointly accommodated by familiar accounts in this classification, for example, those of Black, Searle and Davidson; to carve out a space for a further account which fits the classificatory scheme but which does accommodate these features of metaphor. The truths concern: the aptness of metaphor for assertion …Read more
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CompetitorsIn Samuel D. Guttenplan (ed.), Objects of metaphor, Oxford University Press. 2005.Three recent and important accounts of metaphor are discussed in detail. These are: Stern’s Demonstrative account, White’s Conflated Sentence account, and Fogelin’s Simile account. What is right and wrong with these accounts can best be understood from the perspective of the Semantic Descent account, and the materials in this chapter provide some indirect further support for this account.
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32Reading ethics: selected texts with interactive commentary (edited book)Wiley-Blackwell. 2008.This introductory text encourages students to engage with key problems and arguments in ethics through a series of classic and contemporary readings. The text will inspire students to think about the distinctive nature of moral philosophy, and to draw comparisons between different traditions of thought, between ancient and modern philosophies, and between theoretical and literary writing about the place of value in human life. Each of the book's six chapters focuses on a particular theme: the na…Read more
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1New York City, Autumn 1966In Henry Hardy (ed.), The book of Isaiah: personal impressions of Isaiah Berlin, In Association With Wolfson College. pp. 95-102. 2009.
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1TIn Samuel D. Guttenplan (ed.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind, Blackwell. 1994.Derived from the Greek word ‘telos’ meaning purpose or goal, ‘teleology’, as it is most often used in the philosophy of mind, is thought of as the study of the purposes, goals or, more broadly, biological functions of various elements of the mental realm. For example, it has been suggested that we can better understand the propositional attitudes when we have discerned their evolutionary function. It has even been suggested that one can begin to understand specific propositional attitude content…Read more
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1WIn Samuel D. Guttenplan (ed.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind, Blackwell. 1994.The notion of weakness of will or ‘akrasia’(to use its Greek name) figures importantly in moral philosophy. Agents are said to be weak‐willed when they have reached conclusions about their moral duties, but then fail to act on these conclusions. Since it is often difficult to be moral – to live up to one's moral principles – there would seem to be nothing particularly surprising or troubling about this notion, and certainly nothing especially pressing for the philosophy of mind. But this appeara…Read more
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2RIn Samuel D. Guttenplan (ed.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind, Blackwell. 1994.Though not meant as a practical procedure, it can help our thinking about language and the mind if we ask what would be involved in interpreting someone's words and actions. Moreover, if we imagine ourselves beginning this interpretative process without any prior knowledge of what the person means by her words or what propositional attitudes she has, then we are engaged in what is called ‘radical interpretation’, quine originally discussed the idea of radical translation in respect of another's …Read more
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2O, PIn Samuel D. Guttenplan (ed.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind, Blackwell. 1994.Ontology is the branch of metaphysics centrally concerned with determining what there is. (The name comes from the present participle of the Greek verb corresponding to the English verb ‘to be’.) Thus, if one asks whether there are numbers and other abstract objects, or whether there are PROPERTIES, one is asking ontological questions. Given the fundamental nature of these questions, ontology plays a part in virtually all areas of philosophical investigation, but it has a specific importance to …Read more
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1FIn Samuel D. Guttenplan (ed.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind, Blackwell. 1994.Descartes (1596–1650) insisted that the mind was as a special kind of substance, one which contrasts sharply with material substance (see history). Hence, the label ‘Cartesian’ tends to be applied to any view that is DUALIST in thinking of the mind as fundamentally different from matter. Accompanying this Cartesian dualism of substances is a dualism of ways of knowing about minds and about matter. The Cartesian conception has it that we have access to the contents of our own minds in a way denie…Read more
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EIn Samuel D. Guttenplan (ed.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind, Blackwell. 1994.Eliminativists believe there to be something fundamentally mistaken about the common‐sense (sometimes called ‘folk psychological’) conception of the mind, and they suggest that the way forward is to drop part or all of this conception in favour of one which does not use notions such as belief, experience, sensation and the like. The rationale for this suggestion is, in the main, because these notions are fraught with conceptual difficulties as well as being recalcitrant to any REDUCTION to natur…Read more
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4Truth, Meaning and ContextualismIn Richard Schantz (ed.), Prospects for Meaning, Walter De Gruyter. pp. 143-170. 2012.
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10Language and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of LanguagePhilosophical Quarterly 38 (150): 127-130. 1988.
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35Reading Philosophy: Selected Texts With a Method for Beginners, 2nd editionWiley-Blackwell. 2021.Reading Philosophy: Selected Texts with a Method for Beginners, Second Edition, provides a unique approach to reading philosophy, requiring students to engage with material as they read. It contains carefully selected texts, commentaries on those texts, and questions for the reader to think about as she reads. It serves as starting points for both classroom discussion and independent study. The texts cover a wide range of topics drawn from diverse areas of philosophical investigation, ranging ov…Read more
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NotebookPhilosophy 58 (226): 568-568. 1983.//static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS003181910006681X/resource/name/firstPage-S003181910006681Xa.jpg.
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4Rules and Representations By Noam Chomsky Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1980, viii + 299 pp., £7.50 (review)Philosophy 56 (218): 587-589. 1981.
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5Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation By Donald Davidson Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984, xx+292 pp., £16.00, £5.95 paper (review)Philosophy 60 (233): 408-411. 1985.
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M. Devitt and K. Sterelny, "Language and Reality" (review)Philosophical Quarterly 38 (50): 127. 1988.
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Language |
Philosophy of Mind |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Language |
Philosophy of Mind |
Meta-Ethics |