The Review of Metaphysics back issues from March 2006:
Optimalism and the rationality of the real: on the prospects of axiological explanation.
Mar 01, 2006; ... I IS THE REAL RATIONAL? Can we ever manage to explain the nature of reality--the make-up of the universe as a whole? Is there not an insuperable obstacle here--an infeasibility that was discerned already by Immanuel Kant who argued roughly as follows: The demand for ...
Science and the synthetic method of the Critique of Pure Reason.(Immanuel Kant)
Mar 01, 2006; ... A PREOCCUPATION WITH THE NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE is a thread that runs the entire length of Kant's career. (1) Often this preoccupation expresses itself through Kant's concern for proper methodology, since Kant understands the very idea of what a science is in methodological terms ....
Induction and experience in metaphysics 1.1.
Mar 01, 2006; ... IN POSTERIOR ANALYTICS 2.19 AND METAPHYSICS 1.1, Aristotle describes the natural process by which man acquires reason and the knowledge that belongs to reason. He says that from perception comes memory, from memory comes experience, and from experience comes reason and the knowledge that ...
What happened to epistemology in our tradition?
Mar 01, 2006; ... WHY HAS CONTEMPORARY PHENOMENOLOGY apparently dropped the discipline of epistemology from the rostrum of philosophy? I find it strange in the highest degree, because the philosopher generally acknowledged as the father of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl, introduced it by way of emphasizing ...
On possessed individualism: Hegel, Socrates' Daimon, and the modern state.
Mar 01, 2006; ... Socrates could thus very well afford to be ignorant; he had a genius, on whose science he could rely, which he loved and feared as his god, whose peace was more important to him than all the reason of the Egyptians and Greeks. J. G. Hamann, Socratic Memorabilia (1759) ...
Thomas Aquinas on the manifold senses of self-evidence.
Mar 01, 2006; ... IT IS CUSTOMARY TO CREDIT Aristotle with the discovery, or at least the first extant formulation, of the concept of self-evidence. (1) Recent work in the history of science has suggested that Aristotle was indebted in this respect to earlier Greek geometrical models of demonstration, but ...
Bondeli, Martin. Kantianismus und Fichteanismus in Bern: Zur philosophischen Geistesgeschichte der Helvetik sowie zur Entstehung des nachkantischen Idealismus.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... BONDELI, Martin. Kantianismus und Fichteanismus in Bern: Zur philosophischen Geistesgeschichte der Helvetik sowie zur Entstehung des nachkantischen Idealismus. Basel: Schwabe and Co., 2001. 419 pp. Cloth, 47.50 [euro]--On the background of this book on essence and development of Swiss ...
Bos, E. P., Editor. Logica Modernorum in Prague about 1400. The Sophistria Disputation "Quoniam Quatuor".(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... BOS, E. P., Editor. Logica Modernorum in Prague about 1400: The Sophistria Disputation "Quoniam Quatuor". Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters, 82. Boston: Brill, 2004. xvi + 488 pp. Cloth, $167.00--This is a reproduction of an anonymous tract preserved in Kracow's ...
De Groot, Jean, Editor. Nature in American Philosophy.(Nature in American Philosophy: Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy, vol. 42)(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... DE GROOT, Jean, Editor. Nature in American Philosophy. Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy, vol. 42. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2004. xx + 204 pp. Cloth, $54.95--This exceptional monograph, comprised of ten essays (which were presented ...
Epperson, Michael. Quantum Mechanics and the Philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... EPPERSON, Michael. Quantum Mechanics and the Philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. New York: Fordham University Press, 2004. xiv + 261 pp. Cloth, $55.00--The central claims of this book are that the philosophy of Whitehead and quantum mechanics are intimately linked, especially in their ...
Flew, Anthony. Social Life and Moral Judgment.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... FLEW, Anthony. Social Life and Moral Judgment. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2003. ix + 179 pp. Cloth $34.95--Social Life and Moral Judgment is not so much a single, sustained argument as a series of complaints against the welfare state, and especially the British welfare state ....
Ginsberg, Robert. The Aesthetics of Ruins.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... GINSBERG, Robert. The Aesthetics of Ruins. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2004. xx + 538 pp. Cloth, $144.00--Bibliographically, this book is outstanding. Ginsberg knows much and tells it all. The generous last chapter (pp. 449-538) contains solid commentaries on books, besides ample indexes of names, ...
Harold, James A. An Introduction to the Love of Wisdom: An Essential and Existential Approach to Philosophy.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... HAROLD, James A. An Introduction to the Love of Wisdom: An Essential and Existential Approach to Philosophy. Lanham: University Press of America, 2004. 370 pp. Paper, $49.00--This introduction to philosophy offers a serious alternative to current introductory textbooks both in purpose and ...
Hintikka, Jaakko. Analyses of Aristotle.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... HINTIKKA, Jaakko. Analyses of Aristotle. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004. xii + 238 pp. Cloth, $165.00--These fourteen studies comprise the sixth and final collection in the Jaakko Hintikka Selected Papers. Composed during three decades by this renowned scholar, they are ...
Hutton, Sarah. Anne Conway: A Woman Philosopher.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... HUTTON, Sarah. Anne Conway: A Woman Philosopher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. viii + 271 pp. Cloth, $75.00--In the last twenty years Lady Anne Conway, nee Finch (1631-79), has gained scholarly attention, as shown by recent encyclopedia entries on her. A Cambridge Platonist, ...
Hyland, Drew. Questioning Platonism: Continental Interpretations of Plato.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... HYLAND, Drew. Questioning Platonism: Continental Interpretations of Plato. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2004. ix + 202 pp. Cloth, $44.00--This book's subject matter is important for all scholars of Plato's dialogues, no matter where they locate themselves on the ...
John of St. Thomas (John Poinsot). Introduction to the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... JOHN of St. Thomas (John Poinsot). Introduction to the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas. Translation and introduction by Ralph McInerny. South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine's Press, 2004. x + 182 pp. Cloth, $27.00--As any reader of Thomas Aquinas knows, each article and question, each ...
Johnson, Wayne G. Morality: Does "God" Make a Difference?(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... JOHNSON, Wayne G. Morality; Does "God" Make a Difference? Lanham: University Press of America, 2005. ix + 238 pp. Cloth, $65.00; paper, $35.00--In some philosophical circles, ontology (or metaphysics) is considered public enemy number one when it comes to ethics. Hilary Putnam, for ...
Kenaan, Hagi. The Present Personal: Philosophy and the Hidden Face of Language.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... KENAAN, Hagi. The Present Personal: Philosophy and the Hidden Face of Language. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. 208 pp. Cloth, $35.00--"How is the speaking individual present in language?" asks Kenaan. "How do you inhabit your language? ... In what sense are you there 'in' the ...
Lombardo, Mario. La mente affettiva di Spinoza: Teoria delle idee adeguate.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... LOMBARDO, Mario. La mente affettiva di Spinoza. Teoria delle idee adeguate. Padua: il Poligrafo, 2004. 189 pp. Paper, 18.00 [euro]--In this book on Spinoza and the trilemma of spiritualism, functionalism, and materialism, Lombardo takes the perspective of a philosophical psychologist. More ...
Martindale, Brian, Anthony Bateman, Michael Crowe, and Frank Margison, Editors. Psychosis: Psychological Approaches and Their Effectiveness.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... MARTINDALE, Brian, Anthony BATEMAN, Michael CROWE, and Frank MARGISON, Editors. Psychosis: Psychological Approaches and Their Effectiveness. London: Gaskell, 2002. xiii + 306 pp. Paper, 25.00 [pounds sterling]--Mental illnesses, particularly psychoses, are a mystery; nevertheless, they ...
Maxwell, Nicholas. Is Science Neurotic?(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... MAXWELL, Nicholas. Is Science Neurotic? London: Imperial College Press, 2005. xv + 240 pp. Cloth, $48.00--In this new work, the well-known philosopher of science, Nicholas Maxwell, dons the hat of a psychiatrist in his diagnosis of a methodological malaise he calls "rationalistic neurosis" ...
Mayhew, Robert. The Female in Aristotle's Biology: Reason or Rationalization.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... MAYHEW, Robert. The Female in Aristotle's Biology: Reason or Rationalization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. x + 136 pp. Cloth, $28.00--Negative perceptions of Aristotle's view of women are well known. Maryanne Cline Horowitz, Aristotle and Women, connects what she calls ...
Melnyk, Andrew. A Physicalist Manifesto: Thoroughly Modern Materialism.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... MELNYK, Andrew. A Physicalist Manifesto: Thoroughly Modern Materialism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. xii + 328 pp. Cloth, $70.00--Physicalism is a widely accepted commitment among philosophers with scientific persuasions. However, there is little agreement on what exactly ...
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Nature, Course Notes from the College de France.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... MERLEAU-PONTY, Maurice. Nature, Course Notes from the College de France. Edited by Dominique Seglard. Translated by Robert Vallier. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2003. xx + 313 pp. Cloth, $89.95; paper, $25.95--For decades there has been a rumor that out of all the courses ...
Morris, David. The Sense of Space.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... MORRIS, David. The Sense of Space. SUNY Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2004. xi + 220 pp. Cloth, $45.00--This book gives a phenomenological account of the dynamic perceptual integration which constructs our sense of space from the ...
Nietzsche, Friedrich. On the Future of Our Educational Institutions.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... NIETZSCHE, Friedrich. On the Future of Our Educational Institutions. Translated and introduced by Michael W. Grenke. William of Moerbeke Series. South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine Press, 2004. ix + 182 pp. Paper, $24.00--This close translation of Nietzsche's five public lectures at Basel, ...
Nightingale, Andrea Wilson. Spectacles of Truth in Classical Greek Philosophy: Theoria in Its Cultural Context.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... NIGHTINGALE, Andrea Wilson. Spectacles of Truth in Classical Greek Philosophy: Theoria in Its Cultural Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. x + 311 pp. Cloth, $75.00--If one were to miss the subtitle, one might expect this to be a superficial summary of the thought of ...
Pipes, Richard. Russian Conservatism and Its Critics: A Study in Political Culture.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... PIPES, Richard. Russian Conservatism and Its Critics: A Study in Political Culture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005. 240 pp. Cloth, $30.00--One does not normally study Russian history to understand Western identity, but given that any identity can often be described in the light of ...
Reid, Thomas on Logic, Rhetoric and the Fine Arts: Papers on the Culture of the Mind.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... REID, Thomas On Logic, Rhetoric And The Fine Arts: Papers On The Culture Of The Mind. Edited and introduced by Alexander Broadie. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005. i + 350 pp. Cloth $85.00--This is the fifth of a planned ten-volume series under the general heading ...
Rescher, Nicholas. Reason and Reality: Realism and Idealism in Pragmatic Perspective.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... RESCHER, Nicholas. Reason and Reality: Realism and Idealism in Pragmatic Perspective. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005. ix + 169 pp. Cloth, $60.00--At the very beginning the author himself tells us: "This book sets out the theoretical underpinnings of the idealistic approach to ...
Ricoeur, Paul. Memory, History, Forgetting.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... RICOEUR, Paul. Memory, History, Forgetting. Translated by Kathleen Blamey and David Pellauer. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. xvii + 642 pp. Cloth, $ 40.00--The last English translation to appear during the life of the late Paul Ricoeur (1913-2005), Memory, History, Forgetting ...
Rudd, Anthony. Expressing the World: Skepticism, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... RUDD, Anthony. Expressing the World: Skepticism, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger. Chicago: Open Court, 2003. ix + 262 pp. Paper, $29.95--We are used to thinking of the skeptic as an epistemological stalking horse. In refreshing contrast, Expressing the World treats modern skepticism as a ...
Rundle, Bede. Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... RUNDLE, Bede. Why there is Something rather than Nothing. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2004. xii +204 pp. Cloth, $55.00; paper, $27.50--This is a tightly reasoned, ordinary-language treatment of the subject of its title, and of the arguments by those who maintain that the reason for what there ...
Schroeder, Timothy. Three Faces of Desire.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... SCHROEDER, Timothy. Three Faces of Desire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. viii +213 pp. Cloth, $35.00--Admirably clear in its focus and organization, this work sets out to examine desire as a single, complex phenomenon that comprises more than erotic yearning, but less than the ...
Seigel, Jerrold. The Idea of the Self: Thought and Experience in Western Europe since the Seventeenth Century.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... SEIGEL, Jerrold. The Idea of the Self: Thought and Experience in Western Europe since the Seventeenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. viiii +724 pp. Cloth, $70.00; paper, $27.00--Using a series of provocative images, philosopher Phillip Cary outlines the history of ...
Talbott, William J. Which Rights Should Be Universal?(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... TALBOTT, William J. Which Rights Should Be Universal? New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. viii +222 pp. Cloth, $35.00--In this clear and engaging book, William J. Talbott tackles two significant projects. First, he articulates a consequentialist justification of basic human rights; ...
Theunissen, Michael. Kierkegaard's Concept of Despair.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... THEUNISSEN, Michael. Kierkegaard's Concept of Despair. Translated by Barbara Harshav and Helmut Illbruck. Princeton Monographs in Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005. Cloth, $35.00--Michael Theunissen's new volume, Kierkegaard's Concept of Despair, might best be ...
Tye, Michael. Consciousness and Persons: Unity and Identity.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2006; ... TYE, Michael. Consciousness and Persons: Unity and Identity. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 2003. xv +203 pp. Cloth, $35.00--Michael Tye apologizes for writing a "third book ... at least partly on consciousness" by recounting an "epiphany" regarding the unity of consciousness (pp ....
American Philosophical Quarterly: vol. 42, no. 4, October 2005.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2006 ... A Strawsonian defense of corporate moral responsibility, DAVID SILVER It has been argued that corporations are not morally responsible because they lack free wills, bodies, conscious mental states, and/or intentional states. This paper argues that even supposing that ...
Australasian Journal of Philosophy: vol. 83, no. 4, December 2006.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Mar 01, 2006 ... No Objects, No Problem? MATTHEW McGRATH One familiar form of argument for rejecting entities of a certain kind is that, by rejecting them, we avoid certain difficult problems associated with them. Such problem-avoidance arguments backfire if the problems cited "survive" the ...
European Journal of Philosophy: vol. 13, no. 2, August 2005.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Mar 01, 2006 ... Nietzsche on Truth, Illusion, and Redemption, R. LANIER ANDERSON Nietzsche's views on truth have provoked controversy: some commentators emphasize texts attacking the possibility and/or desirability of truth, while others highlight Nietzsche's praise for honesty, truth, and ...
European Journal of Philosophy: vol. 13, no. 3, December 2005.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Mar 01, 2006 ... Habermas's Moral Cognitivism and the Frege-Geach Challenge, JAMES GORDON FINLAYSON This article levels a challenge at Habermas's discourse ethics which is more usually directed to theories denying that moral discourse is truth-bearing. James Gordon Finlayson argues here that the ...
International Philosophical Quarterly: vol. 46, no. 1, March 2006.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Mar 01, 2006 ... A Taxonomy of Technics, RICHARD COMBES Even as philosophers increasingly apply their analytical acumen to other subjects of intellectual study, technology is one area relegated to the sidelines. To help dispel such prejudice, this exercise in applied ontolgy explains why ...
Journal of the History of Philosophy: vol. 44, no. 2, April 2006.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Mar 01, 2006 ... Platonic Recollection and Mental Pregnancy, GLENN RAWSON Plato's founding position in the tradition of epistemological nativism has been underestimated. In addition to his notorious, naively nondispositional model of learning as recollection, Plato offers several neglected ...
The Monist: vol. 89, no. 3, July 2006.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Mar 01, 2006 ... On the Process of Coming into Existence, ANTHONY GALTON If something is in the process of coming into existence, it does not yet exist; so how can it be referred to? In this paper, several cases of coming into existence are examined, focusing on the temporal relationship between ...
The Philosophical Quarterly: vol. 56, no. 222, January 2006.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Mar 01, 2006 ... Conventionalism and Realism-Imitating Counterfactuals, CRAWFORD L. ELDER Historically, opponents of realism have managed to slip beneath a key objection which realists raise against them. The opponents say that some element of the world is constructed by our cognitive practices; ...
Philosophy: vol. 80, no. 4, October 2005.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Mar 01, 2006 ... What, if Aything, are Colours Relative To? JOHN HYMAN The questions considered are whether colors are relative to systems of color concepts, to the conditions in which they are observed, or to observers or communities of observers; and whether the relativity of colors, such as ...
Phronesis: vol. 51, no. 1, February 2006.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Mar 01, 2006 ... Euthyphro's Thesis Revisited, PANOS DIMAS It has been an interpretative dogma to condemn Euthyphro's attempt to account for piety in terms of the gods' wishes as one totally repudiated by Socrates, and in itself untenable. Still at 15c8-9 Socrates expresses some skepticism about ...
Ratio: vol. 18, no. 4, December 2005.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Mar 01, 2006 ... Physical Realism, BRIAN ELLIS Physical realism is the thesis that the world is more or less as present-day physical theory says it is, that is, a mind-independent reality that consists fundamentally of physical objects that have causal powers, are located in space and time, ...
Raymond Klibansky (1905-2005).(Obituary)
Mar 01, 2006; ... On 5 August 2005, Raymond Klibansky passed away in Montreal, just a few weeks before his hundredth birthday--he was born in Paris on 15 October 1905. A true cosmopolitan, Klibansly divided his time among McGill (whose faculty he had joined in 1946 as the John Frothingam Professor of Logic ...
Joseph Owens, CSSR (1908-2005).(IN MEMORIAM)(Obituary)
Mar 01, 2006; ... Joseph Owens died in Toronto, on 30 October 2005, after a long illness. A native of New Brunswick, he chose to serve the Church as a pastor, and he was ordained in 1933 and sent to obtain a Licentiate in philosophy in 1946 and a Ph.D. in 1951. He was encouraged to pursue advanced studies ...