The Philosophy of Philosophy

Description

The Philosophy of Philosophy The Blackwell / Brown Lectures in Philosophy The Philosophy of Philosophy presents an original, unified concept of philosophy as a non-natural science. In this provocative work, distinguished philosopher Timothy Williamson challenges widely-held assumptions and clarifies long-standing misconceptions about the methodology and nature of philosophical inquiry. The author rejects the standard narratives of contemporary philosophy developed from naturalism, the linguistic turn, postmodern irony, and other prominent trends of the twentieth century. Viewing the method of philosophy as evolving from non-philosophical pursuits, Williamson provides readers with fresh insight into the “self-image” of philosophy and offers new ways of understanding what philosophy is and how it actually works. Now in its second edition, this landmark volume comprises the original book and the author’s subsequent work. New topics include the recent history of analytic philosophy, assessments of experimental philosophy, theories of concepts and understanding, Wittgensteinian approaches, popular philosophy, naturalism, morally-loaded examples in philosophy, philosophical applications of scientific methods, and many more. This edition features the author’s latest thoughts on a variety of issues, autobiographical reflections, and replies to critics. The Philosophy of Philosophy, Second Edition remains essential reading for philosophers, scholars, graduate and advanced undergraduate students in philosophy, and other readers with a sustained interest in the method and rationale of the doing of philosophy. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition Acknowledgments Part I Introduction 1 The Linguistic Turn and the Conceptual Turn 2 Taking Philosophical Questions at Face Value 3 Metaphysical Conceptions of Analyticity 4 Epistemological Conceptions of Analyticity 5 Knowledge of Metaphysical Modality 6 Thought Experiments 7 Evidence in Philosophy 8 Knowledge Maximization Afterword Must Do Better Appendix 1 Modal Logic within Counterfactual Logic Appendix 2 Counterfactual Donkeys Part II 9 Widening the Picture 9.1 How Did We Get Here from There? The Transformation of Analytic Philosophy 9.2 Abductive Philosophy 9.3 Model-Building in Philosophy 9.4 Morally Loaded Cases in Philosophy 9.5 Reply to Dennett and Kuznetsov on Abductive Philosophy 9.6 Reply to Kuznetsov and Stoljar on Model-Building in Philosophy 10 Experimental Philosophy 10.1 Reply to Weinberg 10.2 Philosophical Expertise and the Burden of Proof 10.3 On Joshua Alexander’s Experimental Philosophy: An Introduction 10.4 Philosophical Criticisms of Experimental Philosophy 10.5 Reply to Dennett, Knobe, and Kuznetsov on “Philosophical Intuitions” 11 Naturalism 11.1 Reply to Kornblith 11.2 Reply to Stalnaker 11.3 Reply to Bianchi 11.4 What is Naturalism? 11.5 The Unclarity of Naturalism 11.6 On Penelope Maddy’s What Do Philosophers Do? Skepticism and the Practice of Philosophy 12 Concepts, Understanding, Analyticity 12.1 Reply to Jackson 12.2 Reply to Boghossian 12.3 Reply to Peacocke 12.4 Reply to Mišcevic 12.5 Reply to Smokrovic 12.6 Reply to Trobok 13 Wittgensteinian Approaches 13.1 Reply to Moore 13.2 Reply to Horwich 13.3 Reply to Frascolla 13.4 Reply to Marconi 13.5 Reply to Tripodi 13.6 On Paul Horwich’s Wittgenstein’s Metaphilosophy 14 Miscellany 14.1 Reply to Ichikawa 14.2 Reply to Martin 14.3 On Robert Brandom’s Reason in Philosophy: Animating Ideas 14.4 On Peter Unger’s Empty Ideas: A Critique of Analytic Philosophy 14.5 Plato Goes Pop 14.6 Popular Philosophy and Populist Philosophy Bibliography Index EULA