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book: Thinking Off Your Feet
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Thinking Off Your Feet

How Empirical Psychology Vindicates Armchair Philosophy
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2019

About this book

Many philosophers believe they can gain knowledge about the world from the comfort of their armchairs, simply by reflecting on the nature of things. But how can the mind arrive at substantive knowledge of the world without seeking its input? Michael Strevens proposes an original defense of the armchair pursuit of philosophical knowledge, focusing on “the method of cases,” in which judgments about category membership—Does this count as causation? Does that count as the right action to take?—are used to test philosophical hypotheses about such matters as causality, moral responsibility, and beauty.

Strevens argues that the method of cases is capable of producing reliable, substantial knowledge. His strategy is to compare concepts of philosophical things to concepts of natural kinds, such as water. Philosophical concepts, like natural kind concepts, do not contain the answers to philosophers’ questions; armchair philosophy therefore cannot be conceptual analysis. But just as natural kind concepts provide a viable starting point for exploring the nature of the material world, so philosophical concepts are capable of launching and sustaining fruitful inquiry into philosophical matters, using the method of cases. Agonizing about unusual “edge cases,” Strevens shows, can play a leading role in such discoveries.

Thinking Off Your Feet seeks to reshape current debates about the nature of philosophical thinking and the methodological implications of experimental philosophy, to make significant contributions to the cognitive science of concepts, and to restore philosophy to its traditional position as an essential part of the human quest for knowledge.

Reviews

Thinking Off Your Feet is an outstanding book that will make a splash. It proposes an original defense of philosophical analysis and of its main tool, the method of cases. It is an impressive defense of armchair philosophy, as it is by and large currently practiced, and is also an important contribution to the cognitive science of concepts. Philosophers as well as psychologists will benefit tremendously from reading this book.
-- Edouard Machery, University of Pittsburgh

This book is beautifully written, powerfully argued, and deeply informed on the psychology. Strevens’s combination of respect for science and for ‘armchair’ philosophy results in a framework for understanding philosophy as a seamless and essential part of the human quest for knowledge.
-- Michael Bishop, Florida State University

Topics

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    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    vii
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    List of Figures

    ix
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    1. Philosophical Knowledge

    1
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    2. Classical and Modern Conceptual Analysis

    23
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    3. Other Forms of Conceptual Analysis

    49
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    4. The Psychology of Philosophy

    63
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    5. Natural Kind Concepts

    75
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    6. Conceptual Inductivism

    97
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    7. Inductivism versus Conceptual Analysis

    117
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    8. Inductive Analysis

    133
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    9. Reference

    149
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    10. The Travails of Analysis

    185
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    11. Against Essential Natures

    211
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    12. Substance: Basic Natural Kinds

    227
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    13. Substance: Philosophical Categories

    251
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    14. Learning without the Senses

    271
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    15. The Life and Death of Secondary Categories

    295
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    References

    327
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    Acknowledgments

    337
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    Index

    339
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
February 19, 2019
eBook ISBN:
9780674986473
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
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https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674986473
eBook ISBN: 9780674986473
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