Beyond Experience : Metaphysical Theories and Philosophical Constraints.
His book is especially well suited to courses as a lively introduction the key problems in contemporary metaphysics.
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| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
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Toronto :
University of Toronto Press,
1991.
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| Series: | Heritage.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | CONNECT |
Table of Contents:
- Cover; Foreword by Nicholas Rescher; Acknowledgments; 1 Presenting philosophy; 2 The metaphysical impulse; 3 Theories: What they are and what they are not; 4 Underdeterminism (I); 4.1 The interconnectedness of science and metaphysics; 4.2 Case study: Francis Bacon's account of induction; 4.3 Metaphysical strands in The New Organon; 4.4 Case study: Rumford and the Calorists; 4.5 The ineliminability of unproved presuppositions; 5 Underdeterminism (II); 5.1 Human history; 5.2 Listening and probing for extraterrestrial intelligence; 6 Putting concepts under stress (I); 6.1 The limits on science
- 6.2 Vagueness6.3 Conceptual analysis; 6.4 Possible worlds; 6.5 Methodological concerns; 7 Putting concepts under stress (II)
- Pains; 7.1 Case study: Shared out-of-body pains; 7.2 Case study: Unfelt pains; 7.3 Case study: Pains in the absence of nervous systems; 7.4 Case study: Must pains hurt?; 8 Space and time; 8.1 Is it possible to explain what space and time are?; 8.2 A neo-Leibnizian theory of space and time; 8.3 Objections and replies to the neo-Leibnizian theory; 8.4 Interlude: The expression "x does not exist"; 8.5 Positive and negative theories of time; 8.7 Extension in time
- 8.8 Taylor on spatial and temporal analogies8.9 Is there a temporal analog of the "right/left" problem?; 8.10 On the connectedness of space and the connectedness of time; 8.11 Time travel; 9 Properties; 9.1 The one and the many; 9.2 Cataloguing properties and relations; 9.2.1 Primary versus secondary properties; 9.2.2 Manifest versus dispositional properties; 9.2.3 Binary properties; comparative and quantitative properties; 9.2.4 Intensive versus extensive properties; eliminable and ineliminable concepts; 9.2.5 Emergent versus nonemergent properties; 9.2.6 Qualities versus relations
- 9.3 Realism and its rivals abstract and concrete entities; 10 Individuation; 10.1 Physical objects; 10.2 Identity-at-a-time versus identity-through-time; 10.3 Positive and negative theories of individuation; 10.4 The metaphysical and epistemological dimensions of the problem of individuation; 10.5 Positive theories: Substratum as individuator; 10.6 Negative theories: Qualities and relations as individuator; 10.6.1 Relational properties; haecceity; 10.6.2 Ordinal properties; 10.6.3 Spatial and temporal relations; 10.6.4 Impenetrability; 10.6.5 Does individuation presuppose absolute space?
- 10.6.6 The solution: A more radical negative theory10.7 Nonphysical objects; 11 Identity-through-time; 11.1 Is the problem of identity solely an epistemological one?; 11.2 Is identity incompatible with change?; 11.3 Qualitative identity and identity-through-time; 11.4 Parts and properties revisited; 11.5 Positive theories: Substance as identifier; 11.6 Negative theories: Identity without enduring substance; 11.6.1 Space-time paths; 11.6.2 Identity-preserving relations; 11.6.3 Case study: The ship of Theseus; 11.6.4 Case study: Mitosis
