Thinking Things Through – An Introduction to Philosophical Issues & Achievements (Paper) (Bradford Books) - Softcover

Glymour, Clark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262571196 ISBN 13: 9780262571197

Publisher: MIT Press, 1997

Synopsis

Thinking Things Through provides a broad, historical, and rigorous introduction to the logical tradition in philosophy and to its contemporary significance. The presentation is centered around three of the most fruitful issues in Western thought: What are proofs, and why do they provide knowledge? How can experience be used to gain knowledge or to alter beliefs in a rational way? What is the nature of mind and of mental events and mental states? In a clear and lively style, Glymour describes these key philosophical problems and traces attempts to solve them, from ancient Greece to the present.Thinking Things Through reveals the philosophical sources of modern work in logic, the theory of computation, Bayesian statistics, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence, and it connects these subjects with contemporary problems in epistemology and metaphysics. The text is full of examples and problems, and an instructor's manual is available.Clark Glymour is Alumni Professor of Philosophy at Carnegie-Mellon University and Adjunct Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh.

About this title

Review

"I have never encountered an introductory text like this one. As far as textbooks go, it is unique. It attempts to present a side of philosophy that has been hidden from the view of all but its practitioners... Glymour's book should make a good many people proud to be philosophers in the twentieth century." Douglas Stalker, University of Delaware I have never encountered an introductory text like this one. As far as textbooks go, it is distinctive. It attempts to present a side of philosophy that has been hidden from the view of all but its practitioners. Real philosophy can be formal and rigorous in the very same ways in which mathematics and physical science are formal and rigorous. Glymour's book should make a good many people proud to be philosophers in the twentieth century." Douglas Stalker , Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Delaware

Synopsis

"Thinking things through" provides a broad, historical introduction to the logical tradition in philosophy and to its contemporary significance. The presentation is centred around three issues in Western thought: What are proofs, and why do they provide knowledge? How can experience be used to gain knowledge or to alter beliefs in a rational way? What is the nature of mind and of mental events and mental states? Glymour describes these key philosophical problems and traces attempts to solve them, from ancient Greece to the present. "Thinking Things Through" reveals the philosophical sources of modern work in logic, the theory of computation, Bayesian statistics, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence, and it connects these subjects with contemporary problems in epistemology and metaphysics. The text is full of examples and problems, and an instructor's manual is available.

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262571196
• ISBN 13: 9780262571197
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 392