Download or read book Earthy Realism written by Mary Midgley and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2012-07-27 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: GAIA, named after the ancient Greek mother-goddess, is the notion that the Earth and the life on it form an active, self-maintaining whole. By its use of personification it attacks the view that the physical world is inert and lifeless. It has a scientific side, as shown by the new university departments of earth science which bring biology and geology together to study the continuity of the cycle. It also has a visionary or spiritual aspect. What the contributors to this book believe is needed is to bring these two angles together. With global warming now an accepted fact, the lessons of GAIA have never been more relevant and urgent.

Download or read book Natural Realism and Contact Theory of Perception written by Chittaranjan Naik and published by Notion Press. This book was released on 2019-09-27 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you were told that we perceive the world directly without the causal intervention of the physical brain, or that we see the distant stars instantaneously without their light having to reach our sense organs, would the idea sound incredible to you? Farfetched as it may seem, this idea, the author argues, comes from the time-tested contact theory of perception. Upheld by the Indian philosophical tradition for over 2000 years, it unfolds a definitively coherent process of perception, unlike the stimulus-response theory of perception espoused by empirical science which suffers from a host of logical inconsistencies. The contact theory of perception is a paradigm-changing theory and it has the potential to take us to a domain of knowledge beyond science and to cause a radical transformation in the way we look at the universe we live in. Although a serious philosophical work, the language and lucid style of the presentation should appeal to a wide spectrum of people - from academic philosophers to curious aspirants. If philosophy or the philosophical traditions of India interests you, you cannot afford to ignore this book. But be forewarned: it will challenge the deep-rooted ideas that have become integral to your personal consciousness!

Download or read book The Limits of Realism written by Tim Button and published by . This book was released on 2013-06-27 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tim Button explores the relationship between minds, words, and world. He argues that the two main strands of scepticism are deeply related and can be overcome, but that there is a limit to how much we can show. We must position ourselves somewhere between internal realism and external realism, and we cannot hope to say exactly where.

Download or read book Formal Ontology and Conceptual Realism written by Nino B. Cocchiarella and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-09-05 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theories about the ontological structure of the world have generally been described in informal, intuitive terms. This book offers an account of the general features and methodology of formal ontology. The book defends conceptual realism as the best system to adopt based on a logic of natural kinds. By formally reconstructing an intuitive, informal ontological scheme as a formal ontology we can better determine the consistency and adequacy of that scheme.

Download or read book The Nature of Contingency written by Alastair Wilson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020-01-30 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book defends a radical new theory of contingency as a physical phenomenon. Drawing on the many-worlds approach to quantum theory and cutting-edge metaphysics and philosophy of science, it argues that quantum theories are best understood as telling us about the space of genuine possibilities, rather than as telling us solely about actuality. When quantum physics is taken seriously in the way first proposed by Hugh Everett III, it provides the resources for a new systematic metaphysical framework encompassing possibility, necessity, actuality, chance, counterfactuals, and a host of related modal notions. Rationalist metaphysicians argue that the metaphysics of modality is strictly prior to any scientific investigation; metaphysics establishes which worlds are possible, and physics merely checks which of these worlds is actual. Naturalistic metaphysicians respond that science may discover new possibilities and new impossibilities. This book's quantum theory of contingency takes naturalistic metaphysics one step further, allowing that science may discover what it is to be possible. As electromagnetism revealed the nature of light, as acoustics revealed the nature of sound, as statistical mechanics revealed the nature of heat, so quantum physics reveals the nature of contingency.

Download or read book Summers on the Road written by Stanley Nelson and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2011-10-13 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the mountains of Scotland to the white surf of Hawaii, Guy Gauthier takes us on a journey of exploration and self-discovery. Nothing escapes his watchful eye, not even the tiny insects that land on the pages of his notebook. He pounces on the moment before it’s gone, giving us a snapshot in words. Gauthier travels like there’s no tomorrow, and lives each day as if it were his last.

Download or read book The Limits of Realism written by Tim Button and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2013-06-27 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tim Button explores the relationship between words and world; between semantics and scepticism. A certain kind of philosopherthe external realistworries that appearances might be radically deceptive; we might all, for example, be brains in vats, stimulated by an infernal machine. But anyone who entertains the possibility of radical deception must also entertain a further worry: that all of our thoughts are totally contentless. That worry is just incoherent. We cannot, then, be external realists, who worry about the possibility of radical deception. Equally, though, we cannot be internal realists, who reject all possibility of deception. We must position ourselves somewhere between internal realism and external realism, but we cannot hope to say exactly where. We must be realists, for what that is worth, and realists within limits. In establishing these claims, Button critically explores and develops several themes from Hilary Putnam's work: the model-theoretic arguments; the connection between truth and justification; the brain-in-vat argument; semantic externalism; and conceptual relativity. The Limits of Realism establishes the continued significance of these topics for all philosophers interested in mind, logic, language, or the possibility of metaphysics.

Download or read book Realism and Religion written by Michael Scott and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book draws together a distinguished group of philosophers and theologians to present new thinking on realism and religion. The religious realism/antirealism debate concerns the questions of God’s independence from human beings, the nature of religious truth and our access to religious truths. Although both philosophers and theologians have written on these subjects, there has been little sustained investigation into these issues akin to that found in comparable areas of research such as ethics or the philosophy of science. In addition, the absence of any agreed approach to the problem underlines both the need for fresh thought on it and the fruitfulness of this area for further research. The editors’ introduction sets the context of the realism debate, traces connections amongst the essays which follow, and proposes lines for future development and enquiry. The contributors present a variety of contrasting positions on key issues in the religious realism debate and each opens up new and important themes. Gordon Kaufman, Peter Lipton and Simon Blackburn provide the opening chapters and the context for the collection; Alexander Bird, John Hare, Graham Oppy and Nick Trakakis, Merold Westphal, and John Webster explore topics that are central to the debate. This volume of original essays will both introduce newcomers to the field and suggest new lines of research for those already familiar with it.

Download or read book Natural Selection and Spiritual Freedom written by Joseph John Murphy and published by . This book was released on 1893 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Words and Their Stories written by Ban Wang and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2010-10-05 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As China joins the capitalist world economy, the problems of social disintegration that gave rise to the earlier revolutionary social movements are becoming pressing. Instead of viewing the Chinese Revolution as an academic study, these essays suggest that the motifs of the Revolution are still alive and relevant. The slogan “Farewell to Revolution” that obscures the revolutionary language is premature. In spite of dislocations and ruptures in the revolutionary language, to rethink this discourse is to revisit a history in terms of sedimented layers of linguistic meanings and political aspirations. Earlier meanings of revolutionary words may persist or coexist with non-revolutionary rivals. Recovery of the vital uses of key revolutionary words proffers critical alternatives in which contemporary capitalist myths can be contested.

Download or read book Beyond Realism and Antirealism written by David L. Hildebrand and published by Vanderbilt University Press. This book was released on 2003-03-01 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps the most significant development in American philosophy in recent times has been the extraordinary renaissance of Pragmatism, marked most notably by the reformulations of the so-called "Neopragmatists" Richard Rorty and Hilary Putnam. With Pragmatism offering the allure of potentially resolving the impasse between epistemological realists and antirealists, analytic and continental philosophers, as well as thinkers across the disciplines, have been energized and engaged by this movement. In Beyond Realism and Antirealism: John Dewey and the Neopragmatists, David L. Hildebrand asks two important questions: first, how faithful are the Neopragmatists' reformulations of Classical Pragmatism (particularly Deweyan Pragmatism)? Second, and more significantly, can their Neopragmatisms work? In assessing Neopragmatism, Hildebrand advances a number of historical and critical points: • Current debates between realists and antirealists (as well as objectivists and relativists) are similar to early twentieth-century debates between realists and idealists that Pragmatism addressed extensively. • Despite their debts to Dewey, the Neopragmatists are reenacting realist and idealist stands in their debate over realism, thus giving life to something shown fruitless by earlier Pragmatists. • What is absent from the Neopragmatist's position is precisely what makes Pragmatism enduring: namely, its metaphysical conception of experience and a practical starting point for philosophical inquiry that such experience dictates. • Pragmatism cannot take the "linguistic turn" insofar as that turn mandates a theoretical starting point. • While Pragmatism's view of truth is perspectival, it is nevertheless not a relativism. • Pace Rorty, Pragmatism need not be hostile to metaphysics; indeed, it demonstrates how pragmatic instrumentalism and metaphysics are complementary. In examining these and other difficulties in Neopragmatism, Hildebrand is able to propose some distinct directions for Pragmatism. Beyond Realism and Antirealism will provoke specialists and non-specialists alike to rethink not only the definition of Pragmatism, but its very purpose.

Download or read book Beyond Realism and Idealism written by Wilbur Marshall Urban and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-08-30 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1949, Beyond Realism and Idealism argues for a consistency of idealism with realism, or synthesis of the two positions which should retain the essential cognitive meanings and values of both. The argument of this book falls into two main parts: chapters one to six are concerned with the argument for the transcendence of the opposition and chapter seven to ten with an attempt to develop in detail a position which can be described as beyond realism and idealism. The method of the first part of the study is dialectical in the broad sense of the term and chapters seven to ten are of a different character. The final chapter, the Epilogue, discusses the significance of a transcendence of realism and idealism for modern culture and philosophy. This is an important read for scholars and researchers of philosophy.

Download or read book Realism for Realistic People written by Hasok Chang and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-10-13 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this innovative book, Hasok Chang constructs a philosophy of science for 'realistic people' interested in understanding and promoting the actual practices of inquiry in science and other knowledge-focused areas of life. Inspired by pragmatist philosophy, he reconceives the very notions of reality and truth on the basis of his concept of the 'operational coherence' of epistemic activities, and offers new pragmatist conceptions of truth and reality as operational ideals achievable in actual scientific practice. Rejecting the version of scientific realism that is concerned with claiming that our theories correspond to an ultimate reality, he proposes instead an 'activist realism': a commitment to do all that we can actually do to improve our knowledge of realities. His book will appeal to scholars and students in philosophy, science and the history of science, and all who are concerned about the place of science and empirical truth in society.

Download or read book The Reception of George Eliot in Europe written by Elinor Shaffer and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-02-11 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George Eliot (born Mary Ann Evans, 1819-1880) was one of the most important writers of the European nineteenth century, as well as a pioneering translator of challenging and controversial Continental thinkers, and an influential editor and essayist. Although such novels of provincial life as Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss and Middlemarch have seen her characterised as a thoroughly English writer, her reception and immersion in the literary, intellectual and political life of Europe was remarkable. Written by a team of leading international scholars, The Reception of George Eliot in Europe is the first comprehensive and systematic survey of Eliot's place in European culture. Exploring Eliot's deep knowledge of German literature and thought, her galvanizing influence on women novelists and translators in countries as diverse as Sweden and Spain, her travels in Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Lands, Italy, and Spain and her friendship with leading figures such as Mazzini, Turgenev, and Liszt, this study reveals her full stature as a cosmopolitan writer and thinker. A film of her Italian Renaissance novel Romola was one of the first to circulate in Europe. Including an historical timeline and a comprehensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources and translations, The Reception of George Eliot in Europe is an essential reference resource for anyone working in the field of Victorian Literature or the European nineteenth century.

Download or read book Environmental Realism written by Kristan Cockerill and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-03-29 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This interdisciplinary book challenges current approaches to “environmental problems” that perpetuate flawed but deeply embedded cultural beliefs about the role of science and technology in society. The authors elucidate and interrogate a cultural history of solutionism that typifies expectations that science can, should, and will reduce risk to people and property by containing and controlling biophysical phenomena. Using historical analysis, eco-evolutionary principles, and case studies on floods, radioactive waste, and epidemics, the authors show that perceived solutions to “environmental problems” generate new problems, leading to problem-solution cycles of increasing scope and complexity. The authors encourage readers to challenge the ideology of solutionism by considering the potential of language, social action and new paradigms of sustainability to shape management systems. This book will appeal to scholars in multi- and interdisciplinary fields such as Environment Studies, Environmental Science, Environmental Policy, and Science, Technology, and Society Studies.

Download or read book Critical Realism written by Roy Wood Sellars and published by . This book was released on 1916 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Evolution of International Society written by Adam Watson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-03-30 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: `This is a real feast of a book. ... a landmark book. It is clear enough to be used as a teaching text, and could make an excellent introduction to the discipline for those courageous enough to revise their courses.' International Affairs `This is a bold, successful and valuable book... It is written with admirable clarity and merciful conciseness.' International Relations `A stunning success. Watson's book is a masterful piece of theoretical and historical analysis.' John A. Vasquez, Rutgers University Adam Watson, who died in 2007, was a former diplomat who in his later academic career became a pioneer of the discipline of international relations. Originally published in 1992, The Evolution of International Society made a major contribution to international theory and to our perception of how relations between states operate, and established Watson’s place within the canon. This acclaimed and uniquely comprehensive work explains how international societies function across time, starting by examining the ancient state systems before turning to look in detail at the current worldwide international society. The book demonstrates that relations between states are not normally anarchic, but are in fact organized and regulated by elaborate rules and practices. In this timely reissue, a new introduction by Barry Buzan and Richard Little assesses Adam Watson's career as a diplomat and examines how his work as a practitioner shaped his subsequent thinking about the nature of international society. It then contextualises Watson's original work, situates it alongside current work in the area and identifies the originality of Watson's key arguments, helping us to understand Watson’s place within the canon.