Understanding NaturalismMany contemporary Anglo-American philosophers describe themselves as naturalists. But what do they mean by that term? Popular naturalist slogans like, "there is no first philosophy" or "philosophy is continuous with the natural sciences" are far from illuminating. "Understanding Naturalism" provides a clear and readable survey of the main strands in recent naturalist thought. The origin and development of naturalist ideas in epistemology, metaphysics and semantics is explained through the works of Quine, Goldman, Kuhn, Chalmers, Papineau, Millikan and others. The most common objections to the naturalist project - that it involves a change of subject and fails to engage with "real" philosophical problems, that it is self-refuting, and that naturalism cannot deal with normative notions like truth, justification and meaning - are all discussed. "Understanding Naturalism" distinguishes two strands of naturalist thinking - the constructive and the deflationary - and explains how this distinction can invigorate naturalism and the future of philosophical research. |
Contents
Quine and naturalized epistemology | 28 |
Reliabilism | 54 |
Naturalized philosophy of science | 74 |
Copyright | |
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answer appeal atoms Brandom calls Carnap Cartwright causal causal argument causal role cause Chalmers Chalmers's Chapter chickens claim concepts consciousness continuum mathematics deflationary Descartes Descartes's Dretske empirical entities epiphenomenal epiphenomenalist example existence experience explain fact false frog Higgs boson holism idea imagine inductive inductivists inferences intuitions Inverness Caledonian Thistle justification Kant Kant's knowledge Kuhn language Laudan laws linguistic framework logic look mathematics mechanism mental events mental properties metaphysical methodological methods Millikan minimalist multiple realization naturalist naturalized epistemology non-physical norms numbers objects observation sentences offer ontological paradigm physical events physicalists position possible prediction problem of induction problem of scepticism proper function proposition qualia question Quine realist reason reject relation reliabilism reliabilist reliable represent representation revise rules scientific theories scientists seems semantic sense snow is white Sotul story supervenience Swampman T-schema teleosemantics telescope tell things translation true belief truth understand worry zombies