Kenneth L. Pearce's Books

Language and the Structure of Berkeley's World

By: Kenneth L. Pearce

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Language and the Structure of Berkeley's World

By: Kenneth L. Pearce

According to George Berkeley (1685-1753), there is fundamentally nothing in the world but minds and their ideas. Ideas are understood as pure phenomenal 'feels' which are momentarily had by a single perceiver, then vanish. Surprisingly, Berkeley tries to sell this idealistic philosophical system as a defense of common-sense and an aid to science. However, both common-sense and Newtonian science take the perceived world to be highly structured in a way that Berkeley's system does not appear to allow. Kenneth L. Pearce argues that Berkeley's solution to this problem lies in his innovative philosophy of language. The solution works at two levels. At the first level, it is by means of our conventions for the use of physical object talk that we impose structure on the world. At a deeper level, the orderliness of the world is explained by the fact that, according to Berkeley, the world itself is a discourse 'spoken' by God - the world is literally an object of linguistic interpretation. The structure that our physical object talk - in common-sense and in Newtonian physics - aims to capture is the grammatical structure of this divine discourse. This approach yields surprising consequences for some of the most discussed issues in Berkeley's metaphysics. Most notably, it is argued that, in Berkeley's view, physical objects are neither ideas nor collections of ideas. Rather, physical objects, like forces, are mere quasi-entities brought into being by our linguistic practices.

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233

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198790333

ISBN 13

9780198790334

Is There a God?

A Debate

By: Graham Oppy,Kenneth L. Pearce

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Is There a God?

A Debate

By: Graham Oppy,Kenneth L. Pearce

Bertrand Russell famously quipped that he didn’t believe in God for the same reason that he didn’t believe in a teapot in orbit between the earth and Mars: it is a bizarre assertion for which no evidence can be provided. Is belief in God really like belief in Russell’s teapot? Kenneth L. Pearce argues that God is no teapot. God is a real answer to the deepest question of all: why is there something rather than nothing? Graham Oppy argues that we should believe that there are none but natural causal entities with none but natural causal properties—and hence should believe that there are no gods. Beginning from this basic disagreement, the authors proceed to discuss and debate a wide range of philosophical questions, including questions about explanation, necessity, rationality, religious experience, mathematical objects, the foundations of ethics, and the methodology of philosophy. Each author first presents his own side, and then they interact through two rounds of objections and replies. Pedagogical features include standard form arguments, section summaries, bolded key terms and principles, a glossary, and annotated reading lists. In the volume foreword, Helen De Cruz calls the debate "both edifying and a joy," and sums up what’s at stake: "Here you have two carefully formulated positive proposals for worldviews that explain all that is: classical theism, or naturalistic atheism. You can follow along with the authors and deliberate: which one do you find more plausible?" Though written with beginning students in mind, this debate will be of interest to philosophers at all levels and to anyone who values careful, rational thought about the nature of reality and our place in it.

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376

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1000456293

ISBN 13

9781000456295

Language and the Structure of Berkeley's World

By: Kenneth L. Pearce

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Language and the Structure of Berkeley's World

By: Kenneth L. Pearce

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233

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0192507540

ISBN 13

9780192507549

Kant's Transcendental Proof of Realism

By: Kenneth R. Westphal

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Kant's Transcendental Proof of Realism

By: Kenneth R. Westphal

This book is the first detailed study of Kant's method of 'transcendental reflection' and its use in the Critique of Pure Reason to identify our basic human cognitive capacities, and to justify Kant's transcendental proofs of the necessary a priori conditions for the possibility of self-conscious human experience. Kenneth Westphal, in a closely argued internal critique of Kant's analysis, shows that if we take Kant's project seriously in its own terms, the result is not transcendental idealism but (unqualified) realism regarding physical objects. Westphal attends to neglected topics - Kant's analyses of the transcendental affinity of the sensory manifold, the 'lifelessness of matter', fallibilism, the semantics of cognitive reference, four externalist aspects of Kant's views, and the importance of Kant's Metaphysical Foundations for the Critique of Pure Reason - that illuminate Kant's enterprise in new and valuable ways. His book will appeal to all who are interested in Kant's theoretical philosophy.

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311

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1107320593

ISBN 13

9781107320598

Swaiman's Pediatric Neurology E-Book

Principles and Practice

By: Kenneth F. Swaiman,Stephen Ashwal,Donna M Ferriero,Nina F Schor,Richard S. Finkel,Andrea L. Gropman,Phillip L Pearl

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Swaiman's Pediatric Neurology E-Book

Principles and Practice

By: Kenneth F. Swaiman,Stephen Ashwal,Donna M Ferriero,Nina F Schor,Richard S. Finkel,Andrea L. Gropman,Phillip L Pearl

Since 1975, Dr. Kenneth Swaiman's classic text has been the reference of choice for authoritative guidance in pediatric neurology, and the 6th Edition continues this tradition of excellence with thorough revisions that bring you fully up to date with all that's new in the field. Five new sections, 62 new chapters, 4 new editors, and a reconfigured format make this a comprehensive and clearly-written resource for the experienced clinician as well as the physician-in-training. - Nearly 3,000 line drawings, photographs, tables, and boxes highlight the text, clarify key concepts, and make it easy to find information quickly.

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2955

Publisher

Elsevier Health Sciences

Published Date

ISBN 10

0323374816

ISBN 13

9780323374811

Is There a God?

A Debate

By: Graham Oppy,Kenneth L. Pearce

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Is There a God?

A Debate

By: Graham Oppy,Kenneth L. Pearce

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

376

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1000456293

ISBN 13

9781000456295

Book's by Kenneth L. Pearce

Language and the Structure of Berkeley's World

Language and the Structure of Berkeley's World

Is There a God?

Is There a God?

Language and the Structure of Berkeley's World

Language and the Structure of Berkeley's World

Kant's Transcendental Proof of Realism

Kant's Transcendental Proof of Realism

Swaiman's Pediatric Neurology E-Book

Swaiman's Pediatric Neurology E-Book

Is There a God?

Is There a God?

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