A handbook of the myriad ways we go about being illogical - how we deceive others and ourselves, how we think and argue in ways that are disorderly, disorganized, or irrelevant.

    Intended to clarify the meaning of the philosophical doctrines propounded by Professor Quine in 'Word and Objects, ' the essays included herein both support and expand those doctrines.

     The Fourth Edition does not only update coverage throughout the book, but also restores the introductory chapter--Words and the World--the most distinguished, widely acclaimed feature of the first two editions.

    Book annotation not available for this title.Title: Rhetorical CriticismAuthor: Foss, Sonja K.Publisher: Waveland Pr IncPublication Date: 2008/10/31Number of Pages: 444Binding Type: PAPERBACKLibrary of Congress: 2009464644

    It challenges the orthodoxies of all and suggests fresh modes of inquiry to all." —The Quarterly Journal of Speech

    Whether discussing Greek art and thought, vindicating the church’s battle with Galileo, exploring the development of quantum physics or exposing the dogmatism of Karl Popper, Feyerabend defends a relativist and historicist notion of the sciences. The appeal to reason, he insists, is empty, and must be replaced by a notion of science that subordinates it to the needs of citizens and communities.Provocative, polemical and rigorously argued, Farewell to Reason will infuriate Feyerabend’s critics and delight his many admirers.

    A romance novel with a spooky Hmong ethnic spiritual spin inspired by Moon Vang's personal spiritual and religious life experience.

    John Heil introduces and discusses the major topics in succinct, user-friendly, self-contained chapters:* Cartesian dualism* Descartes's legacy* non-Cartesian dualism* behaviorism* the identity theory* functionalism* the representational theory of mind* qualia* radical interpretation* the intentional stance* eliminativism* property dualism* mind and metaphysics* the mind's place in natureThis revised and updated edition includes expanded chapters on eliminativism, qualia, and the representational theory of mind, and an entirely new chapter on property dualism. There are annotated suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, updated to include recent material and internet resources.

    Discussing philosophy's ability to clarifyour thoughts, he explains why such clarification depends on the development of philosophical theories, and how those theories can be tested by imaginative thought experiments, and compared against each other by standards similar to those used in the natural and social sciences. He also shows howlogical rigor can be understood as a way of enhancing the explanatory power of philosophical theories.Drawing on the history of philosophy to provide a track record of philosophical thinking's successes and failures, Williams overturns widely held dogmas about the distinctive nature of philosophy in comparison to the sciences, demystifies its methods, and considers the future of the discipline. Fromthought experiments, to deduction, to theories, this little book will cause you to totally rethink what philosophy is.

    

    As a celebrated cultural critic and a writer for national publications like The Atlantic and Harper's, Alan Jacobs has spent his adult life belonging to communities that often clash in America's culture wars. And in his years of confronting the big issues that divide us--political, social, religious--Jacobs has learned that many of our fiercest disputes occur not because we're doomed to be divided, but because the people involved simply aren't thinking.Most of us don't want to think, Jacobs writes. Thinking is trouble. Thinking can force us out of familiar, comforting habits, and it can complicate our relationships with like-minded friends. Finally, thinking is slow, and that's a problem when our habits of consuming information (mostly online) leave us lost in the spin cycle of social media, partisan bickering, and confirmation bias.In this smart, endlessly entertaining book, Jacobs diagnoses the many forces that act on us to prevent thinking--forces that have only worsened in the age of Twitter, "alternative facts," and information overload--and he also dispels the many myths we hold about what it means to think well. (For example: It's impossible to "think for yourself.")Drawing on sources as far-flung as novelist Marilynne Robinson, basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain, British philosopher John Stuart Mill, and Christian theologian C.S. Lewis, Jacobs digs into the nuts and bolts of the cognitive process, offering hope that each of us can reclaim our mental lives from the impediments that plague us all. Because if we can learn to think together, maybe we can learn to live together, too.

    

    Escape into the evocative medieval world of Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and his friend Bailiff Simon Puttock, as you join them on the suspenseful trail of three murder mysteries.THE MAD MONK OF GIDLEIGH: As the winter of 1323 descends on Dartmoor, who could blame the young priest, Father Mark, for seeking affection from the miller's daughter, Mary? But when Mary and her unborn child are found dead, Mark is the obvious suspect. Called to investigate, Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and his friend Bailiff Simon Puttock soon begin to have their doubts. And by the time their search is over, life will never be quite the same again.THE TEMPLAR'S PENANCE: It is the summer of 1323, and Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock have been granted leave to go on pilgrimage. When a beautiful girl is found murdered on a hillside en route to Santiago de Compostela, the friends are among the first on the scene. As Baldwin and Simon lend their skills to the inquiry, the unexpected appearance of a face from Baldwin's past could threaten the investigation, as well as the future of Baldwin himself...THE OUTLAWS OF ENNOR: On return from pilgrimage, Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock's ship is attacked by pirates, and Simon sees Baldwin washed overboard. On the island of Ennor, Simon must investigate the murder of the island's hated tax collector while, unbeknownst to his friend, Baldwin begins to unpick the same murder on the other side of the island. Can the pair uncover the truth in time to prevent certain massacre?

    And yet few topics are more basic to human life. We are inquisitive creatures by nature, and the unending quest for truth leads us to raise difficult questions about the quest itself. What are the conditions, sources and limits of our knowledge? Do our beliefs need to be rationally justified? Can we have certainty? In this primer on epistemology, James Dew and Mark Foreman guide students through this discipline in philosophy. By asking basic questions and using clear, jargon-free language, they provide an entry into some of the most important issues in contemporary philosophy.

    More accessible than his other books, Introduction to Logic lays the foundation for his writings with a clear discussion of each of his philosophical pursuits. For more advanced Kantian scholars, this book can bring to light some of the enduring issues in Kant's repertoire, and for the beginner, it can open up the philosophical ideas of one of most influential thinkers on modern philosophy. This edition comprises two parts, including the first Introduction to Logic and the second an essay titled The False Subtlety of the Four Syllogistic Figures, in which Kant analyzes Aristotelian logic. Immanuel Kant was a Prussian philosopher, physicist, and mathematician whose contributions to the study of logic, epistemology, metaphysics, aesthetics, and moral reasoning have had a lasting influence on philosophical scholarship. Born in K�nigsberg, East Prussia in 1724 to a modest family, Kant was raised Pietist, and initially went to the University of K�nigsberg to study theology. He later abandoned theology for mathematics and physics after becoming interested in the work of Sir Isaac Newton. He was appointed chair of logic and metaphysics at the University of K�nigsberg and, at the height of the Enlightenment, began publishing his most famous philosophical texts, including his most important work, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals. Kant has had a tremendous impact on modern philosophy, influencing scholars throughout history, including Karl Marx and G. W. F. Hegel, and he continues to be read and studied today.