[PDF] The Logic Of Essentialism eBook

Author : P. Thom
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 396 pages
File Size : 41,63 MB
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9400916639

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Aristotle's modal syllogistic has been an object of study ever since the time of Theophrastus; but these studies (apart from an intense flowering in the Middle Ages) have been somewhat desultory. Remarkably, in the 1990s several new lines of research have appeared, with series of original publications by Fred Johnson, Richard Patterson and Ulrich Nortmann. Johnson presented for the first time a formal semantics adequate to a de re reading of the apodeictic syllogistic; this was based on a simple intuition linking the modal syllogistic to Aristotelian metaphysics. Nortmann developed an ingenious de dicto analysis. Patterson articulated the links (both theoretical and genetic) between the modal syllogistic and the metaphysics, using an analysis which strictly speaking is neither de re nor de dicto. My own studies in this field date from 1976, when my colleague Peter Roeper and I jointly wrote a paper "Aristotle's apodeictic syllogisms" for the XXIInd History of Logic Conference in Krakow. This paper contained the disjunctive reading of particular affirmative apodeictic propositions, which I still favour. Nonetheless, I did not consider that paper's results decisive or comprehensive enough to publish, and my 1981 book The Syllogism contained no treatment of the modal syllogism. The paper's ideas lay dormant till 1989, when I read Johnson's and Patterson's initial articles. I began publishing on the topic in 1991. Gradually my thoughts acquired a certain comprehensiveness and systematicity, till in 1993 I was able to take a semester's sabbatical to write up a draft of this book.

Author : Vasilis Politis
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 263 pages
File Size : 39,76 MB
Release : 2021-07-08
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 1108833667

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In this book, Vasilis Politis argues that Plato's Forms are essences, not merely things that have an essence. Politis shows that understanding Plato's theory of Forms as a theory of essence presents a serious challenge to contemporary philosophers who regard essentialism as little more than an optional item on the philosophical menu. This approach, he suggests, also constitutes a sharp critique of those who view Aristotelian essentialism as the only sensible position: Plato's essentialism, Politis demonstrates, is a well-argued, rigorous, and coherent theory, and a viable competitor to that of Aristotle. This book will appeal to students and scholars with an interest in the intersection between philosophy and the history of philosophy.

Author : Brian Ellis
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 340 pages
File Size : 10,95 MB
Release : 2001-04-09
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780521800945

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Examines the laws of nature.

Author : James Mahoney
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 410 pages
File Size : 30,9 MB
Release : 2021-08-17
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0691214956

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"Mahoney's starting point is the problem of essentialism in social science. Essentialism--the belief that the members of a category possess hidden properties ("essences") that make them members of the category and that endow them with a certain nature--is appropriate for scientific categories ("atoms", for instance) but not for human ones ("revolutions," for instance). Despite this, much social science research takes place from within an essentialist orientation; those who reject this assumption goes so far in the other direction as to reject the idea of an external reality, independent of human beings, altogether. Mahoney proposes an alternative approach that aspires to bridge this enduring rift in the social sciences between those who take a scientific approach and assume that social science categories correspond to external reality (and thus believe that the methods used in the natural sciences are generally appropriate for the social sciences) and those who take a constructivist approach and believe that because the categories used to understand the social world are humanly-constructed, they cannot possibly follow the science of the natural world. As the name suggests, scientific constructivism brings in aspects of both views and attempts to unite them. Drawing from cognitive science, it focuses on using the rational parts of our brain machinery to overcome the limitations and deeply seated biases (such as essentialism) of our evolved minds. Specifically, Mahoney puts forth a "set-theoretic analysis" that focuses on "sets" of categories as they exist in the mind that are also subject to the mathematical logic of set-theory. He spends the first four chapters of the book establishing the foundations and methods for set-theoretic analysis, the next four chapters looking and how this analysis fits with the existing tools of social science, and the final four chapters focusing on how this approach can be used to study and understand cases"--

Author : David S. Oderberg
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 329 pages
File Size : 31,74 MB
Release : 2007-11-13
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 1134348851

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Real Essentialism presents a comprehensive defence of neo-Aristotelian essentialism. Do objects have essences? Must they be the kinds of things they are in spite of the changes they undergo? Can we know what things are really like – can we define and classify reality? Many if not most philosophers doubt this, influenced by centuries of empiricism, and by the anti-essentialism of Wittgenstein, Quine, Popper, and other thinkers. Real Essentialism reinvigorates the tradition of realist, essentialist metaphysics, defending the reality and knowability of essence, the possibility of objective, immutable definition, and its relevance to contemporary scientific and metaphysical issues such as whether essence transcends physics and chemistry, the essence of life, the nature of biological species, and the nature of the person.

Author : Greg McKeown
Publisher : Crown Currency
Page : 305 pages
File Size : 27,3 MB
Release : 2014-04-15
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0804137390

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THE LIFE-CHANGING NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • MORE THAN TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD • Now in a 10th anniversary edition featuring a new introduction and bonus 21-day challenge. “Essentialism holds the keys to solving one of the great puzzles of life: How can we do less but accomplish more?”—Adam Grant, bestselling author of Think Again Essentialism isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done. Have you ever found yourself stretched too thin? Are you often busy but not productive? Do you feel like your time is constantly being hijacked? If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is the Way of the Essentialist. Essentialism is more than a time-management technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution toward the things that really matter. By forcing us to apply more selective criteria for where to spend our precious time and energy, the disciplined pursuit of less empowers us to reclaim control of our own choices, instead of giving others the implicit permission to choose for us. Essentialism is not one more thing to do. It’s a whole new way of doing less, but better, in every area of our lives. Join the millions of people who have used Essentialism to change their outlook on the world.

Author : Garth L. Hallett
Publisher : SUNY Press
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 38,73 MB
Release : 1991-01-01
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780791407738

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After tracing the recent decline in explicitly essentialistic theories, Hallett (Dean of the College of Philosophy and letters, St. Louis U.) critically surveys the essentialism still strongly operative in much philosophical reasoning, then undertakes a fuller inquiry into the sources of essentialism than has previously been attempted. Paper edition (unseen), $16.95. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Author : Richard Mason
Publisher : SUNY Press
Page : 172 pages
File Size : 11,41 MB
Release : 2000-03-31
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780791445327

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Argues that there is an undeniable and essentially historical dimension to logic.