Pesky Essays on the Logic of Philosophy

230 Pages·2015·2.816 MB·English

by  Kenneth G. Lucey (auth.)

Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning 6
Kenneth G. Lucey
Pesky
Essays on
the Logic of
Philosophy
Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning
Interdisciplinary Perspectives from the Humanities and
Social Sciences
Volume 6
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ShahidRahman
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Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning
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modesofcommunication,reception,persuasionandpower;studiesinwhichreasoning
practice is considered from the point of view of its capacity to produce conviction of
persuasion, and focusing on understanding what makes an argument performative;
Diachronictransformationsofreasoningpracticesstudiesthatemphasizetheinvention
andrenewalofreasoningforms,withrespecttoitsperformanceanditseffectiveness.
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deCalais)
Kenneth G. Lucey
Pesky Essays on the Logic of
Philosophy
KennethG.Lucey
UniversityofNevada
Reno,Nevada,USA
ISSN2214-9120 ISSN2214-9139(electronic)
ISBN978-3-319-08062-8 ISBN978-3-319-08063-5(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-08063-5
SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2014955629
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For
Carol Ann
&
our son
Griffin de Luce
ThiSisaFMBlankPage
Contents
PartI Knowledge&Justification
1 Essay#1:WhatIsKnowing?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Essay#2:ScalesofEpistemicAppraisal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3 Essay#3:OnEpistemicPreferability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4 Essay#4:OnBeingUnjustified. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5 Essay#5:“IShouldHaveKnownIt!”GilbertRyleandPoker
Knowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
PartII PhilosophyofReligion
6 Essay#6:AnAgnosticArgument. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
7 “Lucey’sAgnosticism:TheBeliever’sReply”byTomisKapitan. . . . 79
8 Essay#7:Theism,NecessityandInvalidity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
9 Essay#8:LogicalFormandtheOntologicalArgument. . . . . . . . . 89
PartIII PhilosophicalLogic
10 Essay#9:Kant’sAnalytic/SyntheticDistinction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
11 Essay#10:ANewCounter-ExampletoModusPonens. . . . . . . . . . 113
12 CommentsonLucey’s“AnInvalidInstanceofModusPonens”
byTedSider. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
13 Essay#11:TheAncestralRelationWithoutClasses. . . . . . . . . . . . 125
14 Essay#12:LawsofExcludedMiddleandaTemporalDilemma. . . 131
15 Essay#13:TheLogicof‘Unless’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
vii
viii Contents
16 Essay#14:FrankfurtonWhyWeCareAboutTruth:
TheWorldsoftheTwoHarrys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
PartIV CausalityandtheMind
17 Essay#15:AnAnalysisofCausalContribution
(withco-authoredCarolA.Lucey). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
18 Essay#16:TheTestabilityoftheIdentityTheory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
19 Essay#17:OnBeingPurelyPsychological. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
20 “CommentsonLucey’sPaper”byRoderickM.Chisholm
(April16,1984). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
21 Essay#18:OnOntologicalParasites:ArePersonsEntiaPerSe?. . . 181
22 Essay#19:IsThereaSetofAllTruths?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
23 Essay#20:TheGeneralizationArgumentDefended. . . . . . . . . . . . 195
24 Essay#21:Taxonomies&Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
25 Essay#22:RudolfCarnaponFalsePropositions&Specificity. . . . 219
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Introduction
This book is collection of philosophy essays by Kenneth G. Lucey, who is a
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Nevada, Reno, and who has served
thereasTheSanfordDistinguishedProfessoroftheHumanities.
Amajorthemeofthiscollectionisthephilosophyofhumanknowledge,froma
multitudeofperspectives,withaparticularemphasisuponthejustificationcompo-
nentoftheclassicalanalysisofknowledge,andwithanexcursionalongthewayto
explore the role of knowledge in Texas Hold ‘Em Poker’. Roughly half of the
essays have previously appeared in major philosophy journals, while the rest are
originalessaysappearinghereforthefirsttime.Anotherthemeofthecollectionis
the role of knowledge in religion, with a detailed argument for agnosticism. A
number of the essays touch upon issues in philosophical logic, including a fasci-
natingnewcounter-exampletoModusPonens.Thecollectionisroundedoutwith
essaysoncausalityandthephilosophyofmind.Anaddedfeatureofthecollection
is the inclusion of responses to key essays by several prominent contemporary
philosopherssuchasRoderickChisholm,TedSiderandTomasKapitan.
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