Henry E. Allison
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199532889
- eISBN:
- 9780191714450
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199532889.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
The book examines the central tenets of Hume's epistemology and cognitive psychology. It adopts a two level approach. On the one hand, it considers Hume's thought in its own terms and historical ...
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The book examines the central tenets of Hume's epistemology and cognitive psychology. It adopts a two level approach. On the one hand, it considers Hume's thought in its own terms and historical context. So considered, Hume is viewed as a naturalist, whose project in the first three parts of the first book of the Treatise is to provide an account of the operation of the understanding in which reason is subordinated to custom and other non-rational propensities. Scepticism arises in the fourth part as a form of metascepticism, directed not against first-order beliefs, but against philosophical attempts to ground these beliefs in the ‘space of reasons’. On the other hand, it provides a critique of these tenets from a Kantian perspective. This involves a comparison of the two thinkers on a range of issues, including space and time, causation, existence, induction, and the self. In each case, the issue is seen to turn on a contrast between their underlying models of cognition. Hume is committed to the perceptual model, according to which cognition is regarded as a seeing with the ‘mind's eye’ of the relation between mental contents. By contrast, Kant appeals to a discursive model in which the fundamental cognitive act is judgment, understood as the application of concepts to sensory data. Regarded from the first point of view, Hume's account is deemed a major philosophical achievement, while seen from the second it suffers from a failure to develop an adequate account of concepts and judgments.Less
The book examines the central tenets of Hume's epistemology and cognitive psychology. It adopts a two level approach. On the one hand, it considers Hume's thought in its own terms and historical context. So considered, Hume is viewed as a naturalist, whose project in the first three parts of the first book of the Treatise is to provide an account of the operation of the understanding in which reason is subordinated to custom and other non-rational propensities. Scepticism arises in the fourth part as a form of metascepticism, directed not against first-order beliefs, but against philosophical attempts to ground these beliefs in the ‘space of reasons’. On the other hand, it provides a critique of these tenets from a Kantian perspective. This involves a comparison of the two thinkers on a range of issues, including space and time, causation, existence, induction, and the self. In each case, the issue is seen to turn on a contrast between their underlying models of cognition. Hume is committed to the perceptual model, according to which cognition is regarded as a seeing with the ‘mind's eye’ of the relation between mental contents. By contrast, Kant appeals to a discursive model in which the fundamental cognitive act is judgment, understood as the application of concepts to sensory data. Regarded from the first point of view, Hume's account is deemed a major philosophical achievement, while seen from the second it suffers from a failure to develop an adequate account of concepts and judgments.
A. N. Prior
- Published in print:
- 1963
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198241577
- eISBN:
- 9780191680380
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198241577.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics, Moral Philosophy
This book discusses and aims to clarify the issue of describing conduct and character as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, or as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. The book states that one of the main factors that have made this ...
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This book discusses and aims to clarify the issue of describing conduct and character as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, or as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. The book states that one of the main factors that have made this issue obscure is the illusion of some anti-naturalists that purely logical considerations can settle it. It clearly defines the limitations of the discussions: it is not concerned with the ‘other things’ people use to define conduct and character. The book attempts to consider the issue from the purely logician point of view and suggests to the naturalists and anti-naturalists how their positions may be freed from logical faults. The book also introduces the ‘logic of ethics’, which is not a special kind or branch of logic, but rather an application of it.Less
This book discusses and aims to clarify the issue of describing conduct and character as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, or as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. The book states that one of the main factors that have made this issue obscure is the illusion of some anti-naturalists that purely logical considerations can settle it. It clearly defines the limitations of the discussions: it is not concerned with the ‘other things’ people use to define conduct and character. The book attempts to consider the issue from the purely logician point of view and suggests to the naturalists and anti-naturalists how their positions may be freed from logical faults. The book also introduces the ‘logic of ethics’, which is not a special kind or branch of logic, but rather an application of it.
Robert J. Fogelin
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195387391
- eISBN:
- 9780199866489
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387391.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter spells out the fundamental goal of the book: to make sense out of the radical change in perspective from a buoyant confidence at the start of book 1 of the Treatise to a serious case of ...
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This chapter spells out the fundamental goal of the book: to make sense out of the radical change in perspective from a buoyant confidence at the start of book 1 of the Treatise to a serious case of skeptical jitters at the close of book 1. The leading idea is that the perspective Hume adopts is a function of the level of inquiry he is engaged in at various stages of his investigations. Not one, but four perspectives (or voices) are found in the Treatise: the confident projector of a science of human nature, an abject skeptic, the voice of the vulgar, and finally a mitigated skeptic. The last standpoint is the product of the interaction of the vulgar standpoint with radical or Pyrrhonian doubt.Less
This chapter spells out the fundamental goal of the book: to make sense out of the radical change in perspective from a buoyant confidence at the start of book 1 of the Treatise to a serious case of skeptical jitters at the close of book 1. The leading idea is that the perspective Hume adopts is a function of the level of inquiry he is engaged in at various stages of his investigations. Not one, but four perspectives (or voices) are found in the Treatise: the confident projector of a science of human nature, an abject skeptic, the voice of the vulgar, and finally a mitigated skeptic. The last standpoint is the product of the interaction of the vulgar standpoint with radical or Pyrrhonian doubt.
Ross Shepard Kraemer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199743186
- eISBN:
- 9780199894680
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199743186.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
Since her 1992 study of women’s religions in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, the author has become more concerned with the interwoven problems of data and theory that attend any effort to accurately ...
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Since her 1992 study of women’s religions in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, the author has become more concerned with the interwoven problems of data and theory that attend any effort to accurately reconstruct, redescribe, and explain women’s religious behaviors and beliefs in this period. This introductory chapter explores these problems, drawing especially on the arguments of Elizabeth Clark that ancient literary works deploy ancient ideas about gender, mapped onto female characters, in order to explore issues of concern to their largely elite, male authors (and their initial audiences). The chapter lays out the author’s definitions of the book’s central categories (gender, women, religion), explains the author’s preference for the term Judean (rather than Jew or Jewish, particularly for the earlier centuries), and emphasizes her own naturalist approach to religion. Last, it previews the chapters to come, noting that some revisit some of the author’s earlier work (e.g., on the women philosopher monastics described by Philo of Alexandria, on women drawn to early Christian celibate circles as portrayed in the apocryphal Acts of Thecla and other stories) while others examine previously unconsidered material (e.g., Severus of Minorca’s Letter on the Conversion of the Jews).Less
Since her 1992 study of women’s religions in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, the author has become more concerned with the interwoven problems of data and theory that attend any effort to accurately reconstruct, redescribe, and explain women’s religious behaviors and beliefs in this period. This introductory chapter explores these problems, drawing especially on the arguments of Elizabeth Clark that ancient literary works deploy ancient ideas about gender, mapped onto female characters, in order to explore issues of concern to their largely elite, male authors (and their initial audiences). The chapter lays out the author’s definitions of the book’s central categories (gender, women, religion), explains the author’s preference for the term Judean (rather than Jew or Jewish, particularly for the earlier centuries), and emphasizes her own naturalist approach to religion. Last, it previews the chapters to come, noting that some revisit some of the author’s earlier work (e.g., on the women philosopher monastics described by Philo of Alexandria, on women drawn to early Christian celibate circles as portrayed in the apocryphal Acts of Thecla and other stories) while others examine previously unconsidered material (e.g., Severus of Minorca’s Letter on the Conversion of the Jews).
Frederick R. Davis
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195310771
- eISBN:
- 9780199790098
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195310771.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Aquatic Biology
Archie Carr, one of the greatest biologists of the 20th century, played a leading part in finding a new and critical role for natural history and systematics in a post-1950s world, which was ...
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Archie Carr, one of the greatest biologists of the 20th century, played a leading part in finding a new and critical role for natural history and systematics in a post-1950s world, which was dominated by the glamorous science of molecular biology. With the rise of molecular biology came a growing popular awareness of species extinction. This biography reveals how Carr championed endangered sea turtles, and the ways in which his work reflected major shifts in the study of ecology, evolution, and conservation. A gifted nature writer, Carr's books and lectures on the natural history of sea turtles and their habitats in Florida, the Caribbean, and Africa entertained and educated a wide audience. Carr's conservation ethic grew from his field work as well as his friendships with the fishermen and other locals who supplied him with many of the stories he retold so engagingly. With Archie Carr as the focus, this book explores the evolution of the naturalist tradition, biology, and conservation during the 20th century.Less
Archie Carr, one of the greatest biologists of the 20th century, played a leading part in finding a new and critical role for natural history and systematics in a post-1950s world, which was dominated by the glamorous science of molecular biology. With the rise of molecular biology came a growing popular awareness of species extinction. This biography reveals how Carr championed endangered sea turtles, and the ways in which his work reflected major shifts in the study of ecology, evolution, and conservation. A gifted nature writer, Carr's books and lectures on the natural history of sea turtles and their habitats in Florida, the Caribbean, and Africa entertained and educated a wide audience. Carr's conservation ethic grew from his field work as well as his friendships with the fishermen and other locals who supplied him with many of the stories he retold so engagingly. With Archie Carr as the focus, this book explores the evolution of the naturalist tradition, biology, and conservation during the 20th century.
Frederick Rowe Davis
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195310771
- eISBN:
- 9780199790098
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195310771.003.0011
- Subject:
- Biology, Aquatic Biology
Carr's career demonstrated that the naturalist tradition transformed into related disciplines of ecology and conservation over the course of the 20th century. Carr's life exhibits many dimensions of ...
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Carr's career demonstrated that the naturalist tradition transformed into related disciplines of ecology and conservation over the course of the 20th century. Carr's life exhibits many dimensions of the naturalist tradition. Nearly a decade after Carr died, his example inspired an intense response to an editorial in the journal Conservation Biology. Inspired by the publication of A Naturalist in Florida, editor Reed Noss lamented the demise of natural history and field biology. During the course of his career, Archie Carr embodied E. O. Wilson's goals for the naturalist tradition and conservation biology in his passion for natural history, his acumen for systematics, his sense for ecology, his dedication to conservation, and his ability to write narratives that captured the hearts and minds of scientists and the public in all of these realms. The story of the man who saved sea turtles should be an inspiration to future generations of naturalists and conservationists.Less
Carr's career demonstrated that the naturalist tradition transformed into related disciplines of ecology and conservation over the course of the 20th century. Carr's life exhibits many dimensions of the naturalist tradition. Nearly a decade after Carr died, his example inspired an intense response to an editorial in the journal Conservation Biology. Inspired by the publication of A Naturalist in Florida, editor Reed Noss lamented the demise of natural history and field biology. During the course of his career, Archie Carr embodied E. O. Wilson's goals for the naturalist tradition and conservation biology in his passion for natural history, his acumen for systematics, his sense for ecology, his dedication to conservation, and his ability to write narratives that captured the hearts and minds of scientists and the public in all of these realms. The story of the man who saved sea turtles should be an inspiration to future generations of naturalists and conservationists.
Denis J. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199207145
- eISBN:
- 9780191708893
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207145.003.0013
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
The classical and medieval periods of 1800 BCE to 1500 CE were characterized by some limited technical innovation in agriculture, but little progress was made in crop improvement as global ...
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The classical and medieval periods of 1800 BCE to 1500 CE were characterized by some limited technical innovation in agriculture, but little progress was made in crop improvement as global populations ceased their expansion, which had been occurring since the early Holocene. Babylonian and Assyrian imperial rulers established a much-copied precedent of introducing new crops from conquered regions and in producing manuals for agricultural management. From 500 to 50 BCE, Greek naturalists began systematically to study plant biology and publish their findings, but this first blooming of scientific methodology proved short lived. Later cultures tended to reinterpret old knowledge rather than create it anew. From 700 CE, the expanding Muslim empires introduced many improvements into Mediterranean farming from the Near East, most notably in their Iberian realm of Al Andalus. Medieval farming in Europe was relatively stagnant and declined further after 1320 CE during the Little Ice Age.Less
The classical and medieval periods of 1800 BCE to 1500 CE were characterized by some limited technical innovation in agriculture, but little progress was made in crop improvement as global populations ceased their expansion, which had been occurring since the early Holocene. Babylonian and Assyrian imperial rulers established a much-copied precedent of introducing new crops from conquered regions and in producing manuals for agricultural management. From 500 to 50 BCE, Greek naturalists began systematically to study plant biology and publish their findings, but this first blooming of scientific methodology proved short lived. Later cultures tended to reinterpret old knowledge rather than create it anew. From 700 CE, the expanding Muslim empires introduced many improvements into Mediterranean farming from the Near East, most notably in their Iberian realm of Al Andalus. Medieval farming in Europe was relatively stagnant and declined further after 1320 CE during the Little Ice Age.
Abdulaziz Sachedina
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195388428
- eISBN:
- 9780199866755
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195388428.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Islam
This chapter lays the groundwork for assessing traditionalist Muslim scholarship on human rights to date. It undertakes to argue that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights cannot be dismissed ...
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This chapter lays the groundwork for assessing traditionalist Muslim scholarship on human rights to date. It undertakes to argue that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights cannot be dismissed outright as a product of Western secular thought with deep roots in Enlightenment thought. Nor can one entertain the charge of a Eurocentric bias of the document as valid because liberal views about human individuality, dignity, and agency are compatible with Islamic revelation as developed in Muslim philosophical theology and juridical methodology to understand human personhood. Thus far Muslim studies of the Declaration have concentrated on investigating the compatibility or the lack of it from the point of view of the Shari'a—the Sacred Law of Islam—without engaging the juridical system's theological‐ethical foundations. Given the declaration's intellectual anchoring in the historically specific secular and Christian experience of the drafters, academically such an investigation about the Shari'a's compatibility with the declaration is unproductive for understanding the origins of the universal underpinnings of both the Islamic tradition and the secular international document. To get to the root of Muslim traditionalists' arguments against the antireligion bias of the declaration, this chapter endeavors to undertake a critical analysis of Muslim theological resources to propose a fresh understanding of Muslim theology to support universal human rights that envisions the derivation of human rights on the basis of the principle of the inherency and inalienability of the rights that accrue to all humans as humans.Less
This chapter lays the groundwork for assessing traditionalist Muslim scholarship on human rights to date. It undertakes to argue that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights cannot be dismissed outright as a product of Western secular thought with deep roots in Enlightenment thought. Nor can one entertain the charge of a Eurocentric bias of the document as valid because liberal views about human individuality, dignity, and agency are compatible with Islamic revelation as developed in Muslim philosophical theology and juridical methodology to understand human personhood. Thus far Muslim studies of the Declaration have concentrated on investigating the compatibility or the lack of it from the point of view of the Shari'a—the Sacred Law of Islam—without engaging the juridical system's theological‐ethical foundations. Given the declaration's intellectual anchoring in the historically specific secular and Christian experience of the drafters, academically such an investigation about the Shari'a's compatibility with the declaration is unproductive for understanding the origins of the universal underpinnings of both the Islamic tradition and the secular international document. To get to the root of Muslim traditionalists' arguments against the antireligion bias of the declaration, this chapter endeavors to undertake a critical analysis of Muslim theological resources to propose a fresh understanding of Muslim theology to support universal human rights that envisions the derivation of human rights on the basis of the principle of the inherency and inalienability of the rights that accrue to all humans as humans.
Rebekah L. Miles
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195144161
- eISBN:
- 9780199834495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195144163.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
An examination is made of Rosemary Radford Ruether's naturalist moral realism, whose naturalist, ecofeminist ethic locates both God (divine presence) and human norms in natural processes, ...
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An examination is made of Rosemary Radford Ruether's naturalist moral realism, whose naturalist, ecofeminist ethic locates both God (divine presence) and human norms in natural processes, particularly in evolution. Transcendence of immediate context and experience is possible through conscious participation in natural evolutionary development into the future. Ruether's moral realism is evident in her confidence that humans can know the good by looking to nature, including human nature, and this same confidence makes her an idealist about the potential to eliminate domination by creating new selves, theologies, and social structures. Moreover, Ruether's description of normative human nature focuses on boundedness to nature and the self's unique faculty of consciousness as an expression of nature; it does not include the human capacity for radical transcendence of or freedom over nature and consciousness. Thus, it is argued, Ruether offers grounding for moral norms in her naturalist moral realism, but she lacks a mechanism to judge those norms and to account for the resilience of human sin and the potential of human creativity to transmute nature.Less
An examination is made of Rosemary Radford Ruether's naturalist moral realism, whose naturalist, ecofeminist ethic locates both God (divine presence) and human norms in natural processes, particularly in evolution. Transcendence of immediate context and experience is possible through conscious participation in natural evolutionary development into the future. Ruether's moral realism is evident in her confidence that humans can know the good by looking to nature, including human nature, and this same confidence makes her an idealist about the potential to eliminate domination by creating new selves, theologies, and social structures. Moreover, Ruether's description of normative human nature focuses on boundedness to nature and the self's unique faculty of consciousness as an expression of nature; it does not include the human capacity for radical transcendence of or freedom over nature and consciousness. Thus, it is argued, Ruether offers grounding for moral norms in her naturalist moral realism, but she lacks a mechanism to judge those norms and to account for the resilience of human sin and the potential of human creativity to transmute nature.
Geoffrey Cantor
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199276684
- eISBN:
- 9780191603389
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199276684.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter examines a variety of answers to the question: How did Quakers respond to Darwin’s theory of evolution? When Quakers were writing for fellow Quakers, the older evangelicals tended to be ...
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This chapter examines a variety of answers to the question: How did Quakers respond to Darwin’s theory of evolution? When Quakers were writing for fellow Quakers, the older evangelicals tended to be suspicious of evolution, while many younger Quakers adopted it enthusiastically as part of their engagement with modernism. However, by the time of the Manchester Conference (1895) — which marks the eclipse of evangelicalism and the rise of modernism — a doctrine of progressive revelation became aligned with evolutionary ideas. Turning to Quaker naturalists, while some encompassed evolution as an essential theory for any practising botanist or zoologist, others considered that natural selection needed to be supplemented by some other process, especially in accounting for the development of mind. Despite this diversity, Quakers were generally supportive of Darwin’s theory and were critical of those Christians who rejected the theory on religious grounds.Less
This chapter examines a variety of answers to the question: How did Quakers respond to Darwin’s theory of evolution? When Quakers were writing for fellow Quakers, the older evangelicals tended to be suspicious of evolution, while many younger Quakers adopted it enthusiastically as part of their engagement with modernism. However, by the time of the Manchester Conference (1895) — which marks the eclipse of evangelicalism and the rise of modernism — a doctrine of progressive revelation became aligned with evolutionary ideas. Turning to Quaker naturalists, while some encompassed evolution as an essential theory for any practising botanist or zoologist, others considered that natural selection needed to be supplemented by some other process, especially in accounting for the development of mind. Despite this diversity, Quakers were generally supportive of Darwin’s theory and were critical of those Christians who rejected the theory on religious grounds.
Christine M. Korsgaard
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199552733
- eISBN:
- 9780191720321
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199552733.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter traces the development of one of the central debates of late 20th-century moral philosophy — the debate between realism and what Rawls called “constructivism.” It argues that realism is ...
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This chapter traces the development of one of the central debates of late 20th-century moral philosophy — the debate between realism and what Rawls called “constructivism.” It argues that realism is a reactive position that arises in response to almost every attempt to give a substantive explanation of morality. It results from the realist's belief that such explanations inevitably reduce moral phenomena to natural phenomena. The chapter traces this belief, and the essence of realism, to a view about the nature of concepts: that it is the function of all concepts to describe reality. Constructivism may be understood as the alternative view that the function of a normative concept is to refer schematically to the solution to a practical problem. A constructivist account of a concept, unlike a traditional analysis, is an attempt to work out the solution to that problem. The chapter explains how the philosophies of Kant and Rawls can be understood on this model.Less
This chapter traces the development of one of the central debates of late 20th-century moral philosophy — the debate between realism and what Rawls called “constructivism.” It argues that realism is a reactive position that arises in response to almost every attempt to give a substantive explanation of morality. It results from the realist's belief that such explanations inevitably reduce moral phenomena to natural phenomena. The chapter traces this belief, and the essence of realism, to a view about the nature of concepts: that it is the function of all concepts to describe reality. Constructivism may be understood as the alternative view that the function of a normative concept is to refer schematically to the solution to a practical problem. A constructivist account of a concept, unlike a traditional analysis, is an attempt to work out the solution to that problem. The chapter explains how the philosophies of Kant and Rawls can be understood on this model.
Richard Higgins and Robert D. Richardson
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520294042
- eISBN:
- 9780520967311
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520294042.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
Thoreau and the Language of Trees is the first in-depth study of Thoreau’s passionate engagement with trees and his writing about them. It explores his keen eye for trees as a naturalist, his ...
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Thoreau and the Language of Trees is the first in-depth study of Thoreau’s passionate engagement with trees and his writing about them. It explores his keen eye for trees as a naturalist, his creative response to them as a poet, his philosophical understanding of them, the joy they gave him and the spiritual bond he felt with them. It includes excerpts from Thoreau’s extraordinary writing about trees from 1837 to 1861, illustrated with Higgins’s photography. The excerpts show his detailed observations on trees, his sense of loss at the ravaging of the forest during his life and the delight he took in the splendor of Concord’s woods and meadows. They also show his response to individual trees: an iconic Concord elm, a stand of old-growth oaks he discovered, his beloved white pines, trees made new by snow and trees as ships at sea. Higgins shows that Thoreau probed the complex lives of trees in the forest as a scientist and, as a poet and spiritual seeker, saw them as miracles that encapsulate all that is good about nature.Less
Thoreau and the Language of Trees is the first in-depth study of Thoreau’s passionate engagement with trees and his writing about them. It explores his keen eye for trees as a naturalist, his creative response to them as a poet, his philosophical understanding of them, the joy they gave him and the spiritual bond he felt with them. It includes excerpts from Thoreau’s extraordinary writing about trees from 1837 to 1861, illustrated with Higgins’s photography. The excerpts show his detailed observations on trees, his sense of loss at the ravaging of the forest during his life and the delight he took in the splendor of Concord’s woods and meadows. They also show his response to individual trees: an iconic Concord elm, a stand of old-growth oaks he discovered, his beloved white pines, trees made new by snow and trees as ships at sea. Higgins shows that Thoreau probed the complex lives of trees in the forest as a scientist and, as a poet and spiritual seeker, saw them as miracles that encapsulate all that is good about nature.
Janet A. Kourany
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199732623
- eISBN:
- 9780199866403
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732623.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
This chapter takes up the feminists’ normative questions regarding science introduced in chapter 1 together with the various feminist science studies approaches they have engendered—the ...
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This chapter takes up the feminists’ normative questions regarding science introduced in chapter 1 together with the various feminist science studies approaches they have engendered—the methodological approach rationalized by the ideal of value-free science, the social approach rationalized by the social value management ideal of science, and the naturalist approaches rationalized by the empiricist ideal of science. In the end, however, a new approach is found necessary—a political approach rationalized by the ideal of socially responsible science. According to this approach sound social values as well as sound epistemic values must control every aspect of the scientific research process from the choice of research questions to the communication and application of results, this to be enforced by such political means as funding requirements on research.Less
This chapter takes up the feminists’ normative questions regarding science introduced in chapter 1 together with the various feminist science studies approaches they have engendered—the methodological approach rationalized by the ideal of value-free science, the social approach rationalized by the social value management ideal of science, and the naturalist approaches rationalized by the empiricist ideal of science. In the end, however, a new approach is found necessary—a political approach rationalized by the ideal of socially responsible science. According to this approach sound social values as well as sound epistemic values must control every aspect of the scientific research process from the choice of research questions to the communication and application of results, this to be enforced by such political means as funding requirements on research.
Penelope Maddy
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199273669
- eISBN:
- 9780191706264
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199273669.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics
The closest ancestor of Second Philosophy is Quine's naturalism. This chapter details the Second Philosopher's departures from Quinean orthodoxy: the Quinean chooses naturalism in response to the ...
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The closest ancestor of Second Philosophy is Quine's naturalism. This chapter details the Second Philosopher's departures from Quinean orthodoxy: the Quinean chooses naturalism in response to the failures of first philosophy, the Second Philosopher simply begins in her characteristic ways; she doesn't share his empiricism leanings, e.g., in her modified approach to epistemology naturalized; her reactions to radical skepticism differ from his; and perhaps most dramatically, she rejects his holism. These differences ramify into the philosophy of logic, mathematics, and natural science in subsequent chapters.Less
The closest ancestor of Second Philosophy is Quine's naturalism. This chapter details the Second Philosopher's departures from Quinean orthodoxy: the Quinean chooses naturalism in response to the failures of first philosophy, the Second Philosopher simply begins in her characteristic ways; she doesn't share his empiricism leanings, e.g., in her modified approach to epistemology naturalized; her reactions to radical skepticism differ from his; and perhaps most dramatically, she rejects his holism. These differences ramify into the philosophy of logic, mathematics, and natural science in subsequent chapters.
Adrian Haddock, Alan Millar, and Duncan Pritchard (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199577477
- eISBN:
- 9780191595189
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577477.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Language
The idea of approaching epistemological concerns from a social perspective is relatively new. For much of its history the epistemological enterprise — and arguably philosophy more generally — has ...
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The idea of approaching epistemological concerns from a social perspective is relatively new. For much of its history the epistemological enterprise — and arguably philosophy more generally — has been cast along egocentric lines. Where a non-egocentric approach has been taken, as in the recent work of naturalist epistemologists, the focus has been on individuals interacting with their environment rather than on the significance of social interaction for an understanding of the nature and value of knowledge. The fifteen chapters presented in this book aim to show the fertility and variety of social epistemology and to set the agenda for future research. They examine not only the well-established topic of testimony, but also newer topics such as disagreement, comprehension, the norm of trust, epistemic value, and the epistemology of silence. Several contributors discuss metaphilosophical issues to do with the nature of social epistemology and what it can contribute to epistemology more generally.Less
The idea of approaching epistemological concerns from a social perspective is relatively new. For much of its history the epistemological enterprise — and arguably philosophy more generally — has been cast along egocentric lines. Where a non-egocentric approach has been taken, as in the recent work of naturalist epistemologists, the focus has been on individuals interacting with their environment rather than on the significance of social interaction for an understanding of the nature and value of knowledge. The fifteen chapters presented in this book aim to show the fertility and variety of social epistemology and to set the agenda for future research. They examine not only the well-established topic of testimony, but also newer topics such as disagreement, comprehension, the norm of trust, epistemic value, and the epistemology of silence. Several contributors discuss metaphilosophical issues to do with the nature of social epistemology and what it can contribute to epistemology more generally.
Juliette Atkinson
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199572137
- eISBN:
- 9780191722967
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572137.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This chapter looks in detail at one of the many ways in which the contemporary interest in ‘hidden’ lives took form: through biographies of working‐class men. The chapter begins with an overview of ...
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This chapter looks in detail at one of the many ways in which the contemporary interest in ‘hidden’ lives took form: through biographies of working‐class men. The chapter begins with an overview of working‐class biography, with a particular focus on the works of James Everett, the most sophisticated early biographer of humble men. The majority of the chapter, however, is devoted to two biographies of working‐class amateur naturalists published in the late nineteenth century: Samuel Smiles's Life of a Scotch Naturalist (1876), which narrated the life of Thomas Edward, and William Jolly's Life of John Duncan (1883). The works show how the biographers sought to demonstrate their cultural significance by exploring the discourse of literary realism, presenting biography as a form of tourism, and testing their own role as philanthropists. In their hands, biography becomes a space to explore social fantasies.Less
This chapter looks in detail at one of the many ways in which the contemporary interest in ‘hidden’ lives took form: through biographies of working‐class men. The chapter begins with an overview of working‐class biography, with a particular focus on the works of James Everett, the most sophisticated early biographer of humble men. The majority of the chapter, however, is devoted to two biographies of working‐class amateur naturalists published in the late nineteenth century: Samuel Smiles's Life of a Scotch Naturalist (1876), which narrated the life of Thomas Edward, and William Jolly's Life of John Duncan (1883). The works show how the biographers sought to demonstrate their cultural significance by exploring the discourse of literary realism, presenting biography as a form of tourism, and testing their own role as philanthropists. In their hands, biography becomes a space to explore social fantasies.
John Bartram and William Bartram
Thomas Hallock and Richard Franz (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780813062259
- eISBN:
- 9780813051949
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813062259.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
Travels on the St. Johns River presents writings by pioneering American naturalists John Bartram and William Bartram during their exploration of Florida in the second half of the eighteenth century. ...
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Travels on the St. Johns River presents writings by pioneering American naturalists John Bartram and William Bartram during their exploration of Florida in the second half of the eighteenth century. Part I (chapters one–three) includes selections from John Bartram's Diary, William Bartram's description of the St. Johns River valley in his celebrated Travels, and selected correspondence. Part II (chapter four) describes the landscapes, plants and animals, people, and cultural artifacts that John and William encountered in their explorations. Descriptions of the natural world, written in binominal nomenclature, are updated and redefined. Here, armchair and active travelers will find a guide to both the St. Johns River valley, its landscapes, its flora and fauna, and to the Bartrams' responses to the natural world of their time. Photographs, drawings, and maps accompany the writings and the editors’ modern interpretations.Less
Travels on the St. Johns River presents writings by pioneering American naturalists John Bartram and William Bartram during their exploration of Florida in the second half of the eighteenth century. Part I (chapters one–three) includes selections from John Bartram's Diary, William Bartram's description of the St. Johns River valley in his celebrated Travels, and selected correspondence. Part II (chapter four) describes the landscapes, plants and animals, people, and cultural artifacts that John and William encountered in their explorations. Descriptions of the natural world, written in binominal nomenclature, are updated and redefined. Here, armchair and active travelers will find a guide to both the St. Johns River valley, its landscapes, its flora and fauna, and to the Bartrams' responses to the natural world of their time. Photographs, drawings, and maps accompany the writings and the editors’ modern interpretations.
David E. Shi
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195106534
- eISBN:
- 9780199854097
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195106534.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
Literary naturalists unearthed sobering new facts about contemporary American life. By exposing the comfortable to the reality of violent households and repulsive persons, they reminded readers that ...
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Literary naturalists unearthed sobering new facts about contemporary American life. By exposing the comfortable to the reality of violent households and repulsive persons, they reminded readers that the supposed moral benefits of poverty may come at the expense of humanity itself. Perhaps most important, the naturalists questioned the very notion of the autonomous self capable of moral judgment and independent action. What most sharply differentiated Theodore Dreiser, Frank Norris, and Stephen Crane from William Dean Howells, Henry James Jr., Sarah Orne Jewett, and Edith Wharton was their recognition of the overwhelming power of economic forces and nonrational impulses. To one degree or another, the naturalists imposed upon the world of observed fact an austere assumption about the deterministic nature of existence. This led them to go beyond a realism of simple facts, literal objects, and evident moral choices.Less
Literary naturalists unearthed sobering new facts about contemporary American life. By exposing the comfortable to the reality of violent households and repulsive persons, they reminded readers that the supposed moral benefits of poverty may come at the expense of humanity itself. Perhaps most important, the naturalists questioned the very notion of the autonomous self capable of moral judgment and independent action. What most sharply differentiated Theodore Dreiser, Frank Norris, and Stephen Crane from William Dean Howells, Henry James Jr., Sarah Orne Jewett, and Edith Wharton was their recognition of the overwhelming power of economic forces and nonrational impulses. To one degree or another, the naturalists imposed upon the world of observed fact an austere assumption about the deterministic nature of existence. This led them to go beyond a realism of simple facts, literal objects, and evident moral choices.
Arthur N. Prior
- Published in print:
- 1963
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198241577
- eISBN:
- 9780191680380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198241577.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics, Moral Philosophy
This chapter discusses and explains what Professor G. E. Moore calls naturalistic fallacy, and what he considers to be involved in its fallaciousness. The chapter also gives reasons regarding Moore’s ...
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This chapter discusses and explains what Professor G. E. Moore calls naturalistic fallacy, and what he considers to be involved in its fallaciousness. The chapter also gives reasons regarding Moore’s argument, not as disproving ethical naturalism itself, but as exposing an inconsistency into which some naturalists have fallen. Naturalistic fallacy is defined by Moore as the assumption that because some quality or combination of qualities invariably and necessarily accompanies the quality of goodness, or is invariably and necessarily accompanied by it, or both, this quality or combination of qualities is identical with goodness.Less
This chapter discusses and explains what Professor G. E. Moore calls naturalistic fallacy, and what he considers to be involved in its fallaciousness. The chapter also gives reasons regarding Moore’s argument, not as disproving ethical naturalism itself, but as exposing an inconsistency into which some naturalists have fallen. Naturalistic fallacy is defined by Moore as the assumption that because some quality or combination of qualities invariably and necessarily accompanies the quality of goodness, or is invariably and necessarily accompanied by it, or both, this quality or combination of qualities is identical with goodness.
Arthur N. Prior
- Published in print:
- 1963
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198241577
- eISBN:
- 9780191680380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198241577.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics, Moral Philosophy
This chapter discusses Ralph Cudworth, a 17th-century writer who anticipated Professor Moore’s opinion that ‘good is indefinable’. Although Cudworth had a bad argument for this opinion, he still had ...
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This chapter discusses Ralph Cudworth, a 17th-century writer who anticipated Professor Moore’s opinion that ‘good is indefinable’. Although Cudworth had a bad argument for this opinion, he still had a good argument against ethical naturalists who could not be quite consistent. This argument is further explored in this chapter and indications of how it was developed by later and clearer writers are provided.Less
This chapter discusses Ralph Cudworth, a 17th-century writer who anticipated Professor Moore’s opinion that ‘good is indefinable’. Although Cudworth had a bad argument for this opinion, he still had a good argument against ethical naturalists who could not be quite consistent. This argument is further explored in this chapter and indications of how it was developed by later and clearer writers are provided.
