Uncovering Facts And Values Studies In Contemporary Epistemology And Political Philosophy

This volume contains new papers on foundational issues in epistemology, ethics and political philosophy.

This book offers a comparative analysis of the theories of justice developed by Rawls, Sen and Nussbaum, and aims to demonstrate their mutual relationship. All three liberal theories significantly enrich the set of fundamental principles of morality that concerns the sphere of political action. The novelty of Sen’s and Nussbaum’s capability approach in comparison with Rawls is that they discuss the problem of social justice on a global scale. They do not try to extend and adjust the two principles of justice to the whole of mankind, nor do they treat the difference principle as to be applied everywhere. Instead, they present their own cosmopolitan approach to applying their theories of justice to take into account issues which are neglected or insufficiently developed by Rawls, such as global inequalities, discrimination against women, the rights of people with disabilities, and animal rights. These theories can be described as an alternative to the crucial objection towards Rawls’ work that this theory of justice does not address these important global problems.

Krzysztof Poslajko offers a novel version of an anti-realist view about beliefs, rejecting the extreme proposal of eliminativism that beliefs do not exist. He shows us we should rather say that beliefs exist, but they are not real. Poslajko demonstrates how we might make sense of this idea by providing a unified account of the debates in philosophical psychology. The antirealist view interprets beliefs as being causally irrelevant, that they do not constitute a natural kind, and that their content cannot be naturalized. Exploring the status of folk psychology, Poslajko raises key questions in the analytic metaphysics of mind: Are beliefs real? Do people really possess mental states which are causally efficacious bearers of propositional content? By arguing for the antirealist view and revising our common-sense view about the nature of mind, he makes a compelling case for adopting a pragmatic metaphilosophy when we deal with questions about belief.

The book provides a historical (with an outline of the history of the concept of truth from antiquity to our time) and systematic exposition of the semantic theory of truth formulated by Alfred Tarski in the 1930s. This theory became famous very soon and inspired logicians and philosophers. It has two different, but interconnected aspects: formal-logical and philosophical. The book deals with both, but it is intended mostly as a philosophical monograph. It explains Tarski’s motivation and presents discussions about his ideas (pro and contra) as well as points out various applications of the semantic theory of truth to philosophical problems (truth-criteria, realism and anti-realism, future contingents or the concept of correspondence between language and reality).

Develops and defends a new metaphysical and logical theory of arbitrary objects that will reinvigorate the philosophy of mathematics.

This is a collection of new investigations and discoveries on the history of a great tradition, the Lvov-Warsaw School of logic and mathematics, by the best specialists from all over the world. The papers range from historical considerations to new philosophical, logical and mathematical developments of this impressive School, including applications to Computer Science, Mathematics, Metalogic, Scientific and Analytic Philosophy, Theory of Models and Linguistics.

Song-Chong Lee’s Ham Sok Hon's Ssial Philosophy for a Cosmopolitan Vision offers an introduction to the philosophy of Ham Sok Hon (함석헌), an iconic figure in the intellectual and political history of modern Korea, and a discussion of the contributions of his ssial (씨알/seeds, people) philosophy to cosmopolitanism. Known as Gandhi of Han’guk, Ham (1901–1989) was at the epicenter of a series of tumultuous political events in Korea and played a pioneering role in progressive social activism, including the independence movement, promotion of nationalist education, protests against military regimes, and pietistic, religious liberalism. According to Lee, Ham developed his own syncretic, authentic philosophy of ssial and applied it to his understanding and assessment of theology, history, politics, and even international relations. His syncretism culminated at his anthropology of ssial and his expanded notion of community. Lee argues that Ham’s ssial philosophy, which reconstructed the citizen’s identity as an active agent for political progress, led him to defy the excessively parochial nationalism, romanticized patriotism, and indoctrinated religiosity with which he believed the whole society was infatuated during the mid-twentieth century--and ultimately to advocate for a cosmopolitan community.