Category: philosophy
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Aping Mankind
Raymond Tallis, Aping Mankind: Neuromania, Darwinitis and the Misrepresentation of Humanity On the everything-list Craig has written his expression about this book and I have decided to read it. I am personally annoyed by statements from science that we are just biological machines and I have decided to read the opposite camp. Craig’s recommendation happens to be…
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Maxwell on Metaphysics and Theology
Jordi Cat Into the ‘regions of physical and metaphysical chaos’: Maxwell’s scientific metaphysics and natural philosophy of action (agency, determinacy and necessity from theology, moral philosophy and history to mathematics, theory and experiment) Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 43 (2012) 91–104 Abstract Maxwell’s writings exhibit an enduring preoccupation with the role of metaphysics…
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Cognitive Science, Religion, and Theology
Justin L. Barrett, Cognitive Science, Religion, and Theology: From Human Minds to Divine Minds The book is a bit ideologically loaded but it is written nicely and there is a logic in what the author says. A big part of the book is devoted to an overview of cognitive science. The discussion on whether cognitive science…
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John Stuart Mill on Pluralism
John Stuart Mill according to Feyerabend in Philosophical Papers, (Problems of Empiricism, Chapter 4, Two models of epistemic change: Mill and Hegel). p. 65 “What has made the European family of nations as improving, instead of a stationary, portion of a mankind? Not any superior excellence in them, which, when it exists, exists as the effect,…
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Selves: An Essay in Revisionary Metaphysics
Galen Strawson, Selves: An Essay in Revisionary Metaphysics A review by Thomas Nagel, The I in Me http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n21/thomas-nagel/the-i-in-me “Galen Strawson’s book Selves, a work of shameless metaphysics“ A review by Sydney Shoemaker, Cornell University http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/24233-selves-an-essay-in-revisionary-metaphysics/ Strawson’s paper in Internet that is close to the idea of the book http://www.imprint.co.uk/strawson.htm From Section 1.7 Thing, object p.…
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Philosophy Changes Practice
Paul Feyerabend, Philosophical Papers, (Problems of Empiricism, Chapter 7, Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations). p. 130. “Finally, a critical comment on Wittgenstein’s idea of philosophy. Wittgenstein assumes that philosophers want to provide a theory of already existing things, and he is correct in pointing out that what exists is much more complicated than any philosophical theory. However,…
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Geoffrey Gorham: Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Science: Bolinda Beginner Guides by Geoffrey Gorham. As a printed book: The Philosophy of Science: A Beginner’s Guide The Origin of Science Defining Science The Scientific Method The Aims of Science The Social Dimensions of Science Science and Human Features My impression of the book was quite good. The book is well structured…
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Playing Chess in the Game of Life
In the discussion after my comments to The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow: http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list/t/863ed5c8b04572e0 I have asked what it looks like to be a pattern in the Game of Life (the analog of the Theory-of-Everything in The Grand Design). John Clark has compared in this respect the Theory-of-Everything with the rules of Chess.…