A Companion To The Philosophy Of Action

A Companion to the Philosophy of Action offers a comprehensive overview of the issues and problems central to the philosophy of action. The first volume to survey the entire field of philosophy of action (the central issues and processes relating to human actions) Brings together specially commissioned chapters from international experts Discusses a range of ideas and doctrines, including rationality, free will and determinism, virtuous action, criminal responsibility, Attribution Theory, and rational agency in evolutionary perspective Individual chapters also cover prominent historic figures from Plato to Ricoeur Can be approached as a complete narrative, but also serves as a work of reference Offers rich insights into an area of philosophical thought that has attracted thinkers since the time of the ancient Greeks

This is the most authoritative and engaging philosophical reference work in English. It gives clear and reliable guidance to all areas of philosophy and to the ideas of all notable philosophers from antiquity to the present day. The scope of the volume is not limited to English-languagephilosophy: it surveys the foremost philosophy from all parts of the world. A distinguished international assembly of more than two hundred contributors provide almost 2,000 alphabetically arranged entries which are not only instructive but also entertaining: they combine learning, lucidity, elegance, and wit. There are more than fifty extended entries of 3,000 words on themain areas of philosophy and the great philosophers: these include essays by Alasdair MacIntyre on the history of moral philosophy, Paul Feyerabend on the history of the philosophy of science, Jaegwon Kim on problems of the philosophy of mind, Richard Swinburne on problems of the philosophy ofreligion, David Charles on Aristotle, Peter Singer on Hegel, Anthony Kenny on Frege, and Anthony Quinton on philosophy itself. Short entries deal with key concepts (for instance, personal identity, time) doctrines (utilitarianism, holism), problems (the mind-body problem, the meaning of life), schools of thought (Marxist philosophy, the Vienna Circle), and practical issues (abortion, vegetarianism). Individual thinkerspast (Pythagoras, Confucius, Galileo, Goethe, Burke, Santayana, de Beauvoir, Radhakrishnan) and present (over 150 contemporary figures, such as Chomsky, Derrida, and Popper) are profiled, and eighty of them are depicted in black-and-white portraits. Interspersed throughout are short explanations ofparticular philosophical terms (qualia, supervenience, iff), puzzles (the Achilles paradox, the prisoner's dilemma), and curiosities (the philosopher's stone, slime). Every entry is accompanied by suggestions for further reading. A chronological chart of the history of philosophy is located at theend of the book, together with fourteen diagrams showing the structure of philosophy and the relations between its subjects and doctrines. This book will be an indispensable guide and a constant source of stimulation and enlightenment for anyone interested in abstract thought, the eternal questions, and the foundations of human understanding.

A Companion to Donald Davidson presents newly commissioned essays by leading figures within contemporary philosophy. Taken together, they provide a comprehensive overview of Davidson’s work across its full range, and an assessment of his many contributions to philosophy. Highlights the breadth of Davidson's work across philosophy Demonstrates the continuing influence his work has on the philosophical community Includes newly commissioned contributions from leading figures in contemporary philosophy Provides an in-depth exposition and analysis of Davidson's work across the range of areas to which he contributed, including philosophy of action, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind

A Companion to the Philosophy of Education is a comprehensive guide to philosophical thinking about education. Offers a state-of-the-art account of current and controversial issues in education, including issues pertaining to multiculturalism, special education, sex education, and academic freedom. Written by an international team of leading experts, who are directly engaged with these profound and complex educational problems. Serves as an indispensable guide to the field of philosophy of education.

Applied philosophy has been a growing area of research for the last 40 years. Until now, however, almost all of this research has been centered around the field of ethics. A Companion to Applied Philosophy breaks new ground, demonstrating that all areasof philosophy, including epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of science, and philosophy of mind, can be applied, and are relevant to questions of everyday life. This perennial topic in philosophy provides an overview of these various applied philosophy developments, highlighting similarities and differences between various areas of applied philosophy, and examining the very nature of this topic. It is an area to which many of the towering figures in the history of philosophy have contributed, and this timely Companion demonstrates how various historical contributions are actually contributions within applied philosophy, even if they are not traditionally seen as such. The Companion contains 42 essays covering major areas of philosophy; the articles themselves are all original contributions to the literature and represent the state of the art on this topic, as well as offering a map to the current debates.

The philosophy of mind is one of the fastest-growing areas in philosophy, not least because of its connections with related areas of psychology, linguistics and computation. This Companion is an alphabetically arranged reference guide to the subject, firmly rooted in the philosophy of mind, but with a number of entries that survey adjacent fields of interest. The book is introduced by the editor's substantial Essay on the Philosophy of Mind which serves as an overview of the subject, and is closely referenced to the entries in the Companion. Among the entries themselves are several "self-profiles" by leading philosophers in the field, including Chomsky, Davidson, Dennett, Dretske, Fodor, Lewis, Searle and Stalnaker, in which their own positions within the subject are articulated. In some more complex areas, more than one author has been invited to write on the same topic, giving a polarity of viewpoints within the book's overall coverage. All main entries have a full bibliography, and the book is indexed to the high standards set by other volumes in the Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series.

A Companion to the Philosophy of Time presents the broadest treatment of this subject yet; 32 specially commissioned articles - written by an international line-up of experts – provide an unparalleled reference work for students and specialists alike in this exciting field. The most comprehensive reference work on the philosophy of time currently available The first collection to tackle the historical development of the philosophy of time in addition to covering contemporary work Provides a tripartite approach in its organization, covering history of the philosophy of time, time as a feature of the physical world, and time as a feature of experience Includes contributions from both distinguished, well-established scholars and rising stars in the field