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On The Very Idea of Concept Grounding: Thinking Too Big

Caroline Jenkins

in Grounding Concepts: An Empirical Basis for Arithmetical Knowledge

This chapter focuses on objections to the claim that arithmetical concepts are empirically grounded. It argues that the most common form of objection to projects of this type is based upon a failure ... More

This chapter focuses on objections to the claim that arithmetical concepts are empirically grounded. It argues that the most common form of objection to projects of this type is based upon a failure to appreciate that it is even possible that empirical input grounds our arithmetical concepts. It traces this view through an illustrative selection of influential philosophers: Kant, C. I. Lewis, Ayer, Quine, and Fodor.Less

Antirealist Expressivism and Quasi-Realism

Simon Blackburn

David Copp (ed.)

in The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory

Expressivism is the view that the function of normative sentences is not to represent a kind of fact, but to avow attitudes, prescribe behavior, or the like. The idea can be found in David Hume. In ... More

Expressivism is the view that the function of normative sentences is not to represent a kind of fact, but to avow attitudes, prescribe behavior, or the like. The idea can be found in David Hume. In the 20th century, G.E. Moore’s Open Question Argument provided important support for the view. Elizabeth Anscombe introduced the notion of “direction of fit,” which helped distinguish expressivism from a kind of naive subjectivism. The central advantage of expressivism is that it easily explains the motivational force of moral conviction. Its chief problem is it has difficulty explaining the “realist surface” of moralizing. Quasi-realism is a strategy for explaining the realist surface without abandoning the underlying ideas of expressivism. It aims to explain moral error as well as deal with the so-called Frege-Geach problem. This chapter explains quasi-realism, and evaluates it by comparison with its chief rivals: Aristotelian approaches, Kantian approaches, realist moral naturalism, and fictionalism.Less

Isaiah Berlin 1909–1997

Alan Ryan

in Proceedings of the British Academy Volume 130, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows, IV

Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997), a Fellow of the British Academy, was an extraordinary obituarist and memorialist. In the 1930s, Berlin was part of a small group of young and iconoclastic philosophers that ... More

Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997), a Fellow of the British Academy, was an extraordinary obituarist and memorialist. In the 1930s, Berlin was part of a small group of young and iconoclastic philosophers that included John Austin, Stuart Hampshire, and A. J. Ayer. Ayer was an early convert to logical positivism while Austin, Hampshire and Berlin were not. Berlin’s career was first interrupted and then spectacularly accelerated by the outbreak of World War II. The years he spent in Washington brought Berlin into close contact with the makers of American foreign policy and reshaped his sense of what he might do with his life. Even more important were his postwar encounters with Russian poets, novelists, dramatists and other intellectuals in the winter of 1945–1946. During the 1950s, Berlin became an important figure outside academic life in the broader cultural life of Britain. One of his more surprising insights was that the existence of the state of Israel was a necessity for Jews everywhere. He remained a confirmed liberal Zionist and a good friend of Chaim Weizmann, the first President of Israel.Less

Oxford, 1922–1938

Leslie Mitchell

in Maurice Bowra: A Life

When Cecil Maurice Bowra talked of training the mind, this was no platitude. He meant every word. He believed that his generation had unparalleled opportunity. The constraints of Victorianism had ... More

When Cecil Maurice Bowra talked of training the mind, this was no platitude. He meant every word. He believed that his generation had unparalleled opportunity. The constraints of Victorianism had been dispersed. It was now possible to think freely, as the Greeks had advocated. In retrospect, Maurice would agree that many of the opportunities of the 1920s had been lost or misused. Opportunities always are. There had been too much silliness and some self-indulgence. However in establishing the principle that everything could be talked of and nearly everything done, the 1920s had opened gates that would be hard to close. In Oxford, there was no doubt about who captained the new wave. A. J. Ayer and others were clear that Maurice was ‘by far the most influential’ don in the University. According to Elizabeth Longford, he was ‘Voltaire and the Sun King rolled into one’.Less

On Strawson's Rehabilitation of Metaphysic s

P. M. S Hacker

in Wittgenstein: Connections and Controversies

The logical positivists’ critical attitude towards metaphysics is sketched. Strawson’s conception of descriptive and revisionary metaphysics is described. Revisionary metaphysics is argued to be ... More

The logical positivists’ critical attitude towards metaphysics is sketched. Strawson’s conception of descriptive and revisionary metaphysics is described. Revisionary metaphysics is argued to be chimerical, and descriptive metaphysics is argued not to be a form of metaphysics at all. Strawson’s failure to account for the status of propositions of descriptive metaphysics is held to be remediable by reference to Wittgenstein’s conception of grammatical propositions that express norms of representation.Less

Does Moral Subjectivism Rest on a Mistake ?

Philippa Foot

in Moral Dilemmas: and Other Topics in Moral Philosophy

Foot examines the moral theory known as ‘non‐cognitivism’ (a form of subjectivism). Her central thesis is that all non‐cognitivist moral theories are based on the same serious mistake. This mistake ... More

Foot examines the moral theory known as ‘non‐cognitivism’ (a form of subjectivism). Her central thesis is that all non‐cognitivist moral theories are based on the same serious mistake. This mistake is traced to a distinction taken for granted by non‐cognitivist moral philosophers such as A. J. Ayer (an emotivist) and R. M. Hare (a prescriptivist). Such philosophers wrongly believed that there is a logical gap between ‘descriptive language’ (which states facts) and ‘evaluative language’ (which expresses evaluations). Foot argues that this supposed gap between facts and values, which crucially gives a logical gap between a moral judgement and its grounds, is a chimera.Less

Free Will as Involving Determinism *

Philippa Foot

in Virtues and Vices: and other essays in moral philosophy

There is a widely accepted view that free will is compatible with determinism, and some have even argued that free will implies determinism. The arguments of R. E. Hobart, David Hume, and A. J. Ayer, ... More

There is a widely accepted view that free will is compatible with determinism, and some have even argued that free will implies determinism. The arguments of R. E. Hobart, David Hume, and A. J. Ayer, which support the latter view, are analysed and rejected.Less

The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Natural Theology

Herman Philipse

in God in the Age of Science?: A Critique of Religious Reason

Chapter 2 offers a structured synopsis of the history of natural theology from Xenophanes to Richard Swinburne. It is argued, for example, that the Five Ways of Thomas Aquinas are outdated, and that ... More

Chapter 2 offers a structured synopsis of the history of natural theology from Xenophanes to Richard Swinburne. It is argued, for example, that the Five Ways of Thomas Aquinas are outdated, and that the decline of natural theology in the nineteenth century was due largely to Kant’s and Hume’s philosophies of science. However, since these philosophies of science have turned out to be problematic, there is no reason for religious believers to stick to some blend of religious irrationalism à la Kierkegaard or William James, or to hold that natural theology must be meaningless. In principle, natural theology can be a perfectly decent intellectual enterprise.Less

Perception and its Objects

P. F. Strawson

in Philosophical Writings

Ayer has always given the problem of perception a central place in his thinking. The movement of Ayer's own thought has been from phenomenalism to what he describes in his latest treatment of the ... More

Ayer has always given the problem of perception a central place in his thinking. The movement of Ayer's own thought has been from phenomenalism to what he describes in his latest treatment of the topic as ‘a sophisticated form of realism’. The epithet is doubly apt. No adequate account of the matter can be simple; and Ayer's account, while distinguished by his accustomed lucidity and economy of style, is notably and subtly responsive to all the complexities inherent in the subject itself and to all the pressures of more or less persuasive argument which have marked the course of its treatment by philosophers. Yet the form of realism he defends has another kind of sophistication about which it is possible to have reservations and doubts. This chapter focuses on some of these doubts and reservations. It draws on Chapters 4 and 5 of The Central Questions of Philosophy, and considers a different kind of realism — that was advocated by J. L. Mackie in his book on Locke. There are points of contact as well as of contrast between Ayer's and Mackie's views. A comparison between them helps to bring out the nature of Strawson's reservations about both.Less

The Significance of Questioning

John Finnis

in Religion and Public Reasons: Collected Essays Volume V

This chapter presents an unpublished university sermon which challenges Hume's account of intelligence, A. J. Ayer's account of explanation and other forms of sceptical dogmatism, and attends to the ... More

This chapter presents an unpublished university sermon which challenges Hume's account of intelligence, A. J. Ayer's account of explanation and other forms of sceptical dogmatism, and attends to the role of questions in science. Questioning and scientific inquiry is then considered as an action, to which ethical demands apply so as to exclude obscurantism, over-confidence. As in Chapters 2 and 6 in Volume IV of this text, this is linked with friendship. An explanation is offered of Plato's ‘God is the measure’.Less

A Splendid Little War

THOMAS KIFFMEYER

in Reformers to Radicals: The Appalachian Volunteers and the War on Poverty

Roslea Johnson was a child of what historian Chad Berry referred to as the “northern exiles”, or Appalachians, who had to relocate to Northern industrial enters to look for employment opportunities ... More

Roslea Johnson was a child of what historian Chad Berry referred to as the “northern exiles”, or Appalachians, who had to relocate to Northern industrial enters to look for employment opportunities during World War II. Her family's financial situation, when Johnson's father lost his job, led her to Berea College where she took classes under Perley Ayer—leader of the CSM. After which, Johnson began to attend CSM conferences as she learned about “mountain culture.” Johnson served as the student representative at the first AV meeting after Ayer and President Kennedy discussed the possibility for establishing a “Domestic Peace Corps.” One of the first projects of the new organization involved repairing schools in Kentucky which had only one or two rooms. Another goal of the organization was to recruit soldiers for the fundamental mission in advocating self-help in improving life conditions.Less

The New Model Army

THOMAS KIFFMEYER

in Reformers to Radicals: The Appalachian Volunteers and the War on Poverty

Loyal Jones, CSM's assistant director, encountered a crucial challenge. The headquarters of the movement was moved to Bristol as it was closer to the heart of the mountains. The Council was ... More

Loyal Jones, CSM's assistant director, encountered a crucial challenge. The headquarters of the movement was moved to Bristol as it was closer to the heart of the mountains. The Council was considering establishing an independent branch of the Appalachian Volunteers as some members began to question Ayer's leadership. However, it was thought that the CSM would lose control over the most significant reform effort if the AVs were to leave. Jones advised the Office of Economic Opportunity to separate the Councils from the AVs. Although Jones may be perceived to have been more sympathetic to the frustration that the volunteers felt on the War on Poverty, Ayer's call to partnership was able to invite everyone to become involved in an educational and political sense, recognizing that the program was their own. This chapter looks into the separation of the AVs from the CSM.Less

Editorial Methods and Description of the Dumont De Montigny Manuscript Memoir

Gordon M. Sayre

in The Memoir of Lieutenant Dumont, 1715–1747: A Sojourner in the French Atlantic

This part of the book shows how the memoir came to the attention of the Newberry Library in Chicago. It came from a collection of the Illinois businessman, Edward E. Ayer who had been a collector of ... More

This part of the book shows how the memoir came to the attention of the Newberry Library in Chicago. It came from a collection of the Illinois businessman, Edward E. Ayer who had been a collector of source material relating to contact between Europeans and the indigenous people of North and South America, the Philippines, and Hawaii. The text here describes the size and scope of the memoir, its condition on acquisition, and changes that have happened to it over time.Less