Conceptual Analysis and Philosophical Naturalism

by Braddon-Mitchell, David; Nola, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780262512282
• ISBN10: 0262512289
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-27
• Publisher: Bradford Books

Summary

Many philosophical naturalists eschew analysis in favor of discovering metaphysical truths from the a posteriori, contending that analysis does not lead to philosophical insight. A countercurrent to this approach seeks to reconcile a certain account of conceptual analysis with philosophical naturalism; prominent and influential proponents of this methodology include the late David Lewis, Frank Jackson, Michael Smith, Philip Pettit, and David Armstrong. Naturalistic analysis(sometimes known as "the Canberra Plan" because many of its proponents have been associated with Australian National University in Canberra) is a tool for locating in the scientifically given world objects and properties we quantify over in everyday discourse. This collection gathers work from a range of prominent philosophers who are working within this tradition, offering important new work as well as critical evaluations of the methodology. Its centerpiece is an important posthumous paper by David Lewis, "Ramseyan Humility," published here for the first time. The contributors first address issues of philosophy of mind, semantics, and the new methodology's a priori character, then turn to matters of metaphysics, and finally consider problems regarding normativity. Conceptual Analysis and Philosophical Naturalismis one of the first efforts to apply this approach to such a wide range of philosophical issues. Contributors: David Braddon-Mitchell, Mark Colyvan, Frank Jackson, Justine Kingsbury, Fred Kroon, David Lewis, Dustin Locke, Kelby Mason, Jonathan McKeown-Green, Peter Menzies, Robert Nola, Daniel Nolan, Philip Pettit, Huw Price, Denis Robinson, Steve Stich, Daniel Stoljar A Bradford Book

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introducing the Canberra Plan	p. 1
Mind, Concepts, and Theories	p. 21
Naturalistic Analysis and the A Priori	p. 23
Folk Psychology and Tacit Theories	p. 45
A Correspondence between
A Priori Biconditionals and Metaphysics	p. 99
The Argument from Revelation	p. 113
Names, Plans, and Descriptions	p. 139
Jackson's Armchair	p. 159
The Only Chair in Town?
Is Semantics in the Plan?	p. 183
Metaphysics	p. 201
Ramseyan Humility	p. 203
A Partial Defense of Ramseyan Humility	p. 223
Physicalism without Pop-out	p. 243
Platitudes and Metaphysics	p. 267
Normativity	p. 301
Naturalizing Normativity	p. 303
Moral Functionalism, Ethical Quasi-Relativism, and the Canberra Plan	p. 315
References	p. 349
Contributors	p. 363
Index	p. 365
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