Nature : Its Conceptual Architecture.
Title:
Nature : Its Conceptual Architecture.
Author:
Caruana, Louis.
ISBN:
9783035107623
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (334 pages)
Series:
Berner Reihe Philosophischer Studien ; v.49
Berner Reihe Philosophischer Studien
Contents:
Cover -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 - Nature: a short history -- 1. The Dynamic view of Nature -- 2. The Mechanistic view of Nature -- 3. The Romantic view of Nature -- 4. The Evolutionary view of Nature -- Chapter 2 - Explaining Nature -- 1. Observation -- 2. The elements of the logic of explanation -- 3. The practice of explanation -- 4. Explanation and nature -- Chapter 3 - Causes -- 1. Causation detached from nature -- 2. The concepts of causation and nature reunited? -- 3. Natural causers -- 4. Causal pluralism -- Chapter 4 - The Limits of Causation -- 1. What is the universe? -- 2. The cause of the universe -- 3. First objection: randomness -- 4. Second objection: infinite regress -- 5. Third objection: transcendence -- Chapter 5 - Nature and ordinary language -- 1. Ordinary language about the mind -- 2. Ontological implications -- 3. A new account of the mental -- 4. Evaluation -- Chapter 6 - Nature and meaning -- 1. The "Tractatus" -- 2. The "Philosophical Investigations" -- 3. Nature and meaning -- Chapter 7 - Levels in Nature -- 1. Emergent properties -- 2. Habits as emergent properties -- 3. Consciousness as an emergent property -- 4. Conclusion -- Chapter 8 - Nature, evolution and mind -- 1. The evolutionary account of nature revisited -- 2. Biology and culture -- 3. Animal Cognition -- 4. Mind and language -- 5. A synthetic account -- Conclusion -- Chapter 9 - Nature, value, and morality -- 1. Preliminary remarks on value and right action -- 2. Evolutionary ethics -- 3. A synthetic approach -- Conclusion -- Chapter 10 - Nature and Concepts -- 1. Microstucture -- 2. "A priori" knowledge -- 3. Conceptual analysis: two further clarifications -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.
Abstract:
Many philosophers adopt methods that emulate those of the natural sciences. They call such an overall approach naturalism, and consider it indispensable for fruitful philosophical debate in various areas. In spite of this consensus however, little is ever said about how naturalism depends on the underlying idea of nature, which we often endorse unconsciously. If we can determine how naturalism reflects an underlying account of nature, we would be in a better position to distinguish between different kinds of naturalism and to assess the merits of each. This book undertakes a sustained study of the concept of nature to answer this need. It examines in detail how conceptual, historical, and scientific constraints affect the concept of nature in various domains of philosophy, and how, in the opposite sense, these constraints are themselves affected by the concept of nature. In so doing, this book relates the conceptual framework of scientific inquiry back to the lived experience that is proper to everyday self-understanding.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
Genre:
Electronic Access:
Click to View