The Review of Metaphysics back issues from December 2008:
Nature and inertia.(Essay)
Dec 01, 2008; ... NEWTON'S FIRST LAW OF MOTION, also known as the principle of inertia, says "Every body perseveres in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by forces impressed." (1) I will argue that inertia is an inherent ...
The moral inevitability of enlightenment and the precariousness of the moment: reading Kant's What is Enlightenment?(Immanuel Kant)(Critical essay)
Dec 01, 2008; ... SYMBOL AND TEXT. Where the Enlightenment is concerned, there are few philosophical texts which are so often cited as Kant's famous essay An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? (1) This occasional text, which started out as an answer to a question raised incidentally in the ...
From logic to the person: an introduction to Edmund Husserl's ethics.(Essay)
Dec 01, 2008; ... MANY POPULAR INTRODUCTIONS to ethics attempt to systematize ethical theories by distinguishing three different types of normative ethics: virtue ethics, which can be traced back to Aristotle, deontological ethics of a Kantian type, and consequentialist theories, including, most ...
A functionalist reinterpretation of Whitehead's metaphysics.(Alfred North Whitehead)(Essay)
Dec 01, 2008; ... IN HIS CONTRIBUTION to a 1936 APA symposium on the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, John Dewey complains that Process and Reality attempts to combine a method of philosophizing based on the mathematical sciences with one based on the natural sciences. He argues that the two methods ...
Kantian autonomy and the moral self.(Immanuel Kant)(Essay)
Dec 01, 2008; ... KANT'S ACCOUNT OF AUTONOMY is not designed to solve the traditional problem of free will. It is a response to the problem of heteronomy rather than the problem of determinism. And the former pertains to concerns about the structure of practical reason rather than the scope of nature's ...
Avicenna Latinus. Liber Primus Naturalium. Tractatus Secundus. De motu et de consimilibus.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... AVICENNA Latinus. Liber Primus Naturalium. Tractatus Secundus. De motu et de consimilibus. Critical edition by S. Van Riet, J. Janssens, A. Allard, with an introduction by G. Verbeke, Academie Royale de Belgique, 2006. v + 89*-373 pp. $80.00--This publication forms the tenth volume of the ...
Baker, Lynne Rudder. The Metaphysics of Everyday Life: An Essay in Practical Realism.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... BAKER, Lynne Rudder. The Metaphysics of Everyday Life: An Essay in Practical Realism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. xv + 253 pp. Cloth, $85.00--When Al-Quaeda attacked the Twin Towers, aside from human lives lost, was anything actually existing destroyed? In many quarters of ...
Blignieres, Louis-Marie de. Le mystere de l'etre. L'itineraire thomiste de Guerard des Lauriers. [The Mystery of Being. The Thomistic Itinerary of Guerard des Lauriers.].(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... BLIGNIERES, Louis-Marie de. Le mystere de l'etre. L'itineraire thomiste de Guerard des Lauriers. [The Mystery of Being. The Thomistic Itinerary of Guerard des Lauriers.] Bibliotheque Thomiste. Paris: Vrin, 2007. 454 pp. Paper, $48.00--This book should be a landmark for 21st century ...
Campbell, James. A Thoughtful Profession: The Early Years of the American Philosophical Association.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... CAMPBELL, James. A Thoughtful Profession: The Early Years of the American Philosophical Association. Chicago and La Salle: Open Court, 2006. xi + 339 pp. Paper, $49.95--Campbell commences by examining what it meant to teach philosophy in America in the nineteenth century. His focus here is ...
Caranti, Luigi. Kant and the Scandal of Philosophy: The Kantian Critique of Cartesian Scepticism.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... CARANTI, Luigi. Kant and the Scandal of Philosophy: The Kantian Critique of Cartesian Scepticism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007. 218 pp. Cloth, $60.00--The purpose of the present book is to evaluate the different responses to external world skepticism that Kant set forth in ...
Chakravartty, Anjan. A Metaphysics for Scientific Realism: Knowing the Unobservable.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... CHAKRAVARTTY, Anjan. A Metaphysics for Scientific Realism: Knowing the Unobservable. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. xvi + 251 pp. Cloth, $85.00--Anjan Chakravartty describes and to some extent argues for a version of scientific realism according to which our best scientific ...
Daston, Lorraine, and Galison, Peter. Objectivity.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... DASTON, Lorraine, and GALISON, Peter. Objectivity. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Zone Books, 2007. 542 pp. Cloth, $38.95--It is rare in a treatise that runs 500 pages to conclude that not a single page could be deleted except at the reader's expense. The concept of objectivity is so foundational in ...
Desmond, William. God and the Between.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... DESMOND, William. God and the Between. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2008. xiv + 368 pp. Cloth, $89.95; paper, $44.95--This is a very difficult book on very important, indeed pressing, topics in the philosophy of religion. The book completes Desmond's trilogy beginning with Being and the ...
Foster, Roger. Adorno: The Recovery of Experience.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... FOSTER, Roger. Adorno: The Recovery of Experience. SUNY Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007. x + 236 pp. Cloth, $70.00--Theodor W. Adorno's writings resist interpretation. Their challenges stem in part from the unusual range he ...
Grosholz, Emily R. Representation and Productive Ambiguity in Mathematics and the Sciences.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... GROSHOLZ, Emily R. Representation and Productive Ambiguity in Mathematics and the Sciences. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. xviii + 313 pp. Cloth, $63.00--This book provides a series of case studies supporting the author's claim that ambiguous representation can be central to ...
Grosholz, Emily R. Representation and Productive Ambiguity in Mathematics and the Sciences.
Dec 01, 2008; ... GSCHWANDTNER, Christina M. Reading Jean-Luc Marion: Exceeding Metaphysics. Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2007. xxiii + 320 pp. Cloth, $65.00; Paper, $24.95--The fundamental aim of this handsomely printed volume is to explain ...
Hardin, Russell. David Hume: Moral and Political Theorist.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... HARDIN, Russell. David Hume: Moral and Political Theorist. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. xi + 260 pp. Cloth, $49.50--The aim of this book is, in the author's words, "to explicate Hume's political theory" (p. 23). Hume's moral theory is included in the title and the work, because, ...
Hintikka, Jaakko. Socratic Epistemology: Explorations of Knowledge-Seeking by Questioning.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... HINTIKKA, Jaakko. Socratic Epistemology: Explorations of Knowledge-Seeking by Questioning. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. viii + 239 pp. Cloth, $80.00; paper, $24.99--This is a rich and ambitious collection of ten papers drawn from Hintikka's work in various fields, ranging ...
Kaplan, Benjamin J. Divided by Faith: Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... KAPLAN, Benjamin J. Divided by Faith: Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 2007. xiv + 415 pp. Cloth, $29.95--In Divided by Faith, author Benjamin Kaplan (Professor of Dutch History, University ...
Kavanaugh, Leslie Jaye. The Architectonic of Philosophy: Plato, Aristotle, Leibniz.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... KAVANAUGH, Leslie Jaye. The Architectonic of Philosophy: Plato, Aristotle, Leibniz. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2007. vii + 340 pp. Paper, $45.00--The guiding idea of this work is that the analysis of the systemic ('architectural') implications of selected concepts from Plato's, ...
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Rousseau on Philosophy, Morality, and Religion.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... ROUSSEAU, Jean-Jacques. Rousseau on Philosophy, Morality, and Religion. Translated and edited by Christopher Kelly. Hanover, N.H.: Dartmouth College Press, 2007. xxx + 277 pp. Paper, $24.95--Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote in the voice of the Savoyard Vicar that "I am not a great philosopher, ...
Ladyman, James, and Ross, Don, with Spurrett, David and Collier, John. Everything Must Go: Metaphysics Naturalized.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... LADYMAN, James, and ROSS, Don, with SPURRETT, David and COLLIER, John. Everything Must Go: Metaphysics Naturalized. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2007. 346 pp. n.p.--This is a "truly naturalistic metaphysics," with reality closed by scientific verifiability, (see "naturalistic closure" ...
Malpas, Jeff. Heidegger's Topology: Being, Place, World.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... MALPAS, Jeff. Heidegger's Topology: Being, Place, World. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 2007. 413 pp. Cloth, $38.00--Jeff Malpas' latest book is an ambitious and sweeping study of the concept of place in Heidegger's thinking, a topic that has received relatively little attention from ...
Moran, Dermot. Husserl: Founder of Phenomenology.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... MORAN, Dermot. Husserl: Founder of Phenomenology. Malden, Mass.: Polity Press, 2005. xiii + 297 pp. Cloth, $62.95; Paper, $24.95--Moran has written a fine introduction to Husserl's thought that complements two recent works in this genre, Robert Sokolowski's Introduction to Phenomenology ...
Morrison, Jeffry H. John Witherspoon and the Founding of the American Republic.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... MORRISON, Jeffry H. John Witherspoon and the Founding of the American Republic. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005. xv + 220 pp. Cloth, $22.50--Every U. S. citizen should remember and honor the important American founding fathers, their ideas, and their achievements. Why ...
O'Brien, Lucy. Self-Knowing Agents.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... O'BRIEN, Lucy. Self-Knowing Agents. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. x + 231 pp. Cloth, $63.00--The thesis of Self-Knowing Agents is that one can solve various problems facing standard theories of self-reference and self-knowledge by appealing to "agent's awareness"--that is, the ...
Owens, Joseph. Aristotle's Gradations of Being in Metaphysics E-Z.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... OWENS, Joseph. Aristotle's Gradations of Being in Metaphysics E-Z. South Bend, Ind.: St. Augustine's Press, 2007. xlvii + 186 pp. Cloth, $40.00--These reflections on Aristotle, completed shortly before the author's death, were finalized for publication by Lloyd Gerson. Included are ...
Reath, Andrews. Agency and Autonomy in Kant's Moral Philosophy.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... REATH, Andrews. Agency and Autonomy in Kant's Moral Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. 286 pp. Cloth, $143.00; Paper, $45.00--Andrews Reath is one of the most important post-Rawlsian Kantian moral philosophers and particularly important for his focus on close readings of ...
Rosenberg, Alex. Darwinian Reductionism: Or, How to Stop Worrying and Love Molecular Biology.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... ROSENBERG, Alex. Darwinian Reductionism: Or, How to Stop Worrying and Love Molecular Biology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. x + 263 pp. Cloth, $40.00--Three major concerns inform this work. The foremost is the dualism held to exist between the physical realm and the biological, ...
Sarkar, Husain. Group Rationality in Scientific Research.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... SARKAR, Husain. Group Rationality in Scientific Research. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. xv + 284 pp. Cloth, $88.00--In the wake of the epistemological turn of early modern philosophy, the question of what it means to be rational has remained central. What began as an ...
Scmitz, Kenneth L.: The Texture of Being: Essays in First Philosophy.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... SCMITZ, Kenneth L. The Texture of Being: Essays in First Philosophy. Edited by Paul O'Herron. Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy, vol. 46. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2007. xvii + 327 pp. Cloth, $59.95--It is always difficult to capture in a ...
Schofield, Malcolm. Plato: Political Philosophy.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... SCHOFIELD, Malcolm. Plato: Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. x + 384 pp. Paper, $45.00--Taking the Republic as its central text, but with comparisons and contrasts to other dialogues throughout, this thoroughly engaging book takes a thematic, rather than ...
Sokolowski, Robert. Phenomenology of the Human Person.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... SOKOLOWSKI, Robert. Phenomenology of the Human Person. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 345 pp. Cloth, $68.00; Paper, $24.29--Readers familiar with Robert Sokolowski's earlier books have come to expect the blend of philosophical depth and elegant style that make him one of the ...
Sorabji, Richard. Self: Ancient and Modern Insights about Individuality, Life, and Death.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... SORABJI, Richard. Self: Ancient and Modern Insights about Individuality, Life, and Death. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, co-published with Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. xi + 400 pp. Cloth, $35.00--Richard Sorabji's Self: Ancient and Modern Insights about Individuality, ...
Steinbock, Anthony J.: Phenomenology and Mysticism: The Verticality of Religious Experience.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... STEINBOCK, Anthony J. Phenomenology and Mysticism: The Verticality of Religious Experience. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007. x + 309 pp. Cloth, $44.95.--As the title suggests, this work provides a phenomenological account of mysticism and the "verticality of religious ...
Taylor, Mark C.: After God.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... TAYLOR, Mark C. After God. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. xviii + 464 pp. Cloth, $35.00--Like many scholars of the twentieth century, Mark Taylor is impressed by the revival of religion despite what was supposed to be the inexorable secularization of modernity. Taylor presents ...
Verene, Donald Philip. Hegel's Absolute--An Introduction to Reading the Phenomenology of Spirit.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... VERENE, Donald Philip. Hegel's Absolute--An Introduction to Reading the Phenomenology of Spirit. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007. xv + 131 pp. Cloth, $59.50; Paper, $19.95--The Phenomenology of Spirit represents a watershed in the history of philosophy. At the same time, ...
Wimsatt, William C.: Re-Engineering Philosophy for Limited Beings. Piecewise Approximations to Reality.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... WIMSATT, William C. Re-Engineering Philosophy for Limited Beings. Piecewise Approximations to Reality. Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Press, 2007. xvi + 450 pp. Cloth, $ 49.95--The book contains essays written by William C. Wimsatt since 1971. The essays discuss how ...
Wood, Allen W.: Kantian Ethics.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... WOOD, Allen W. Kantian Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. xviii + 342 pp. Cloth, $80.00; Paper $25.99--Wood's Kantian Ethics is a systematic reconstruction of Kant's moral philosophy that never leaves Kant's text far behind; in fact, Wood mobilizes Kant's entire corpus to ...
Ziolkowski, Theodore. Modes of Faith, Secular Surrogates for Lost Religious Belief.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... ZIOLKOWSKI, Theodore. Modes of Faith, Secular Surrogates for Lost Religious Belief. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007. 296 pp. Cloth, $35.00--This book presents what it promises in the title. It analyses different kinds of secular faith in European literature and sees this ...
Zuckert, Rachel. Kant on Beauty and Biology: An Interpretation of the 'Critique of Judgment'.(Book review)
Dec 01, 2008; ... ZUCKERT, Rachel. Kant on Beauty and Biology: An Interpretation of the 'Critique of Judgment'. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. xiii + 409 pp. Cloth, $99.00--It is not easy to say what Kant's third Critique is about. Its two main parts deal with aesthetics and teleology, but ...
American Philosophical Quarterly: Vol. 45, No. 3, July 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... The Problem of the Essential Icon, CATHERINE LEGG The article provides information on the philosophical meanings of icon, index, and symbol. It discusses the distinction among these three which are considered as kinds of signification or the three kinds of relationship between a ...
The Australasian Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 86, Issue 3, September 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACT)
Dec 01, 2008 ... The Error in the Error Theory, STEPHEN FINLAY Moral error theory of the kind defended by J. L. Mackie and Richard Joyce is premised on two claims: (1) that moral judgments essentially presuppose that moral value has absolute authority, and (2) that this presupposition is false, ...
European Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 16, No. 2, August 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... Compassion and the Solidarity of Sufferers: The Metaphysics of Mitleid, DAVID CARTWRIGHT On the centenary of Arthur Schopenhauer's death, Max Horkheimer spoke of his relevance (Aktualitat), praising the philosopher for confronting the horrors of existence without delusion and ...
European Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 16, No. 3, December 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... Respecting Value, MARK ELI KALDERON Joseph Raz motivates his own account of respect by criticizing Kant's. Many (though not all) of Raz's criticisms are found deficient--Kant's account, properly interpreted and sympathetically extended, has the means to evade these criticisms ....
The Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 105, Issue 2, February 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)(Abstract)
Dec 01, 2008 ... The Situation-Dependency of Perception, SUSANNA SCHELLENBERG Is Realism Really Bad for You? A Realistic Response, NEERA K. BADHWAR Realism about oneself and others has long been regarded as a hallmark of mental health and happiness, conceived of as subjective ...
The Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 105, Issue 3, March 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)(Brief article)
Dec 01, 2008 ... Nobody Needs a Theory of Art, DOMINIC MCIVER LOPES What Colors Could Not Be: An Argument for Color Primitivism, ...
The Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 105, Issue 4, April 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)(Abstract)
Dec 01, 2008 ... Indeterminacy and Incomplete Definitions, DAVID BARNETT A question is indeterminate just in case it is unsettled, not merely epistemically, but metaphysically. Initially, many questions appear to be indeterminate. For example, it appears to be indeterminate how many mountains ...
The Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 105, Issue 5, May 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)(Abstract)
Dec 01, 2008 ... Counterfactual Intervention and Agent's Capacities, NEIL LEVY On Having a Point of View: Belief, Action, and Egocentric States, CHERYL K. CHEN ...
Journal of the History of Philosophy: Volume 47, Number 1, January 2009.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... "Techne" and the Good in Plato's "Statesman" and "Philebus", GEORGE HARVEY This paper addresses a number of questions raised in the Statesman by the Eleatic Visitor's identification of certain ontological conditions for the existence of art of due measure, and therefore of all ...
Mind: Vol. 117, no. 467, July 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... Epistemic Conditions for Collective Action, SARA RACHEL CHANT and ZACHARY ERNST Writers on collective action are in broad agreement that in order for a group of agents to form a collective intention, the members of that group must have beliefs about the beliefs of the other ...
The Philosophical Quarterly: Vol. 58, no. 233, October 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... A New Defense of Anselmian Theism, YUJIN NAGASAWA Anselmian theists, for whom God is the being than which no greater can be thought, usually infer that he is an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent being. Critics have attacked these claims by numerous distinct arguments, ...
Philosophical Review: Vol. 117, Issue 2, April 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... Utilitarianism without Consequentialism: The Case o f John Stuart Mill, DANIEL JACOBSON This essay argues, flouting paradox, that Mill was a utilitarian but not a consequentialist. First, it contends that there is logical space for a view that deserves to be called utilitarian ...
Philosophical Review: Vol. 117, Issue 3, May 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... The Egg and I: Conception, Identity, and Abortion, EUGENE MILLS Suppose you and I are "human beings" in the sense of human "animals," members of the genus "Homo." Given this supposition, this article argues first and foremost that (it's at least very plausible that) we ...
Philosophy: Vol. 83, Issue 4, October 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... Moral Perception, TIMOTHY CHAPPELL This paper develops an account of moral perception which is able to deal well with familiar naturalistic nonrealist complaints about ontological extravagance and "queerness". It shows how this account can also ground a cogent response to ...
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research: Vol. 76, Issue 3, May 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... Klein on the Unity of Cartesian and Contemporary Skepticism, ERIK J. OLSSON "Whatever Begins to Be Must Have a Cause for Its Existence": Hume's Analysis and Kant's Response, HENRY E. ALLISON How Are Basic Belief-Forming Methods Justified, DAVID ENOCH and JOSHUA ...
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research: Vol. 77, Issue 1, July 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... The Virtue of Practical Rationality, SIGRUM SVAVARSDOTTIR Practical rationality is best regarded as a virtue: an excellence in the exercise of one's cognitive capacities in one's practical endeavors. The author develops this idea so as to yield a Humean conception of practical ...
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research: Vol. 77, Issue 2, September 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... Wittgenstein and Bodily Self-Knowledge, EDWARD HARCOURT Expressivism, Inferentialism, and Saving the Debate, MATTHEW CHRISMAN "True" as Ambiguous, MAX KOLBEL This paper argues (a) that the predicate "true" is ambiguously used to express a deflationary and ...
Phronesis: Vol. 53, no. 4/5, November 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... Doctrinalia Heraclitia I et II: Ame du Monde et Embrasement Universal (Notes de Lecture), SERGE MOURAVIEV In this paper dealing with Heraclitus's doctrine, the author examines two recent controversial articles with the content of which he sympathizes--one by Gabor Betegh (2007) ...
Ratio: Vol. 21, Issue 3, September 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
Dec 01, 2008 ... The Harm of Immorality, PAUL BLOOMFIELD A central problem in moral theory is how it is to be defended against those who think that there is no harm in being immoral, and that immorality can be in one's self-interest, assuming the perpetrator is not caught and punished. The ...