Understanding Naturalism: 10 (Understanding Movements in Modern Thought) - Hardcover

Ritchie, Jack

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1844650782 ISBN 13: 9781844650781

Publisher: Routledge, 2008

Synopsis

Many contemporary Anglo-American philosophers describe themselves as naturalists. But what do they mean by that term? Popular naturalist slogans like, "there is no first philosophy" or "philosophy is continuous with the natural sciences" are far from illuminating. "Understanding Naturalism" provides a clear and readable survey of the main strands in recent naturalist thought. The origin and development of naturalist ideas in epistemology, metaphysics and semantics is explained through the works of Quine, Goldman, Kuhn, Chalmers, Papineau, Millikan and others. The most common objections to the naturalist project - that it involves a change of subject and fails to engage with "real" philosophical problems, that it is self-refuting, and that naturalism cannot deal with normative notions like truth, justification and meaning - are all discussed. "Understanding Naturalism" distinguishes two strands of naturalist thinking - the constructive and the deflationary - and explains how this distinction can invigorate naturalism and the future of philosophical research.

About this title

About the Author

Jack Ritchie

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1844650782
• ISBN 13: 9781844650781
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224