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Peter Geach: Philosophical Encounters PDF

327 Pages·1991·5.263 MB·English
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PETER GEACH: PHILOSOPHICAL ENCOUNTERS SYNTHESE LIBRARY STUDIES IN EPISTEMOLOGY, LOGIC, METHODOLOGY, AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Managing Editor: JAAKKO HINTIKKA, Boston University Editors: DONALD DAVIDSON, University of California, Berkeley GABRIEL NUCHELMANS, University ofL eyden WESLEY C. SALMON, University of Pittsburgh VOLUME 213 PETER GEACH: PHILOSOPHICAL ENCOUNTERS Edited by HARRY A. LEWIS Department of Philosophy, The University of Leeds Springer Science+Business Media, B.V. LLilbbrraarryy ooff CCoonnggrreessss CCaattaallooggllnngg--IInn--PPuubbllllccaattlloonn DDaattaa PPeetteerr GGeeaacchh.. pphhiilloossoopphhilccaall eennccoouunntteerrss II [[eessssaayyss bbyy PPeetteerr GGeeaacchh ...... eett aall..ll ;; eeddiitteedd bbyy HHaarrrryy AA.. LLeewwiiss.. pp.. ccmm.. ---- ((SSyynntthheessee lliibbrraarryy ;; vv.. 221133)) IInncclluuddeess bbiibbllilooggrraapphhilccaall rreeffeerreenncceess aanndd iInnddeexx.. ((aallkk.. ppaappeerr)) 11.. PPhhii lloossoopphhyy.. 22.. GGeeaacchh.. 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BB2299..PP441166 11999900 119922----ddcc2200 9900--3388772244 ISBN 978-90-481-4072-5 ISBN 978-94-015-7885-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-7885-1 PPrriinntteedd oann aacciidd--ffrreeee ppaappeerr AAIlIl RRiigghhttss RReesseerrvveedd ©© 11999911 bbyy SSpprriinnggeerr SScciieennccee++BBuussiinneessss MMeeddiiaa DDoorrddrreecchhtt OOrriiggiinnaallllyy ppuubblliisshheedd bbyy KKlluuwweerr AAccaaddeemmiicc PPuubblliisshheerrss iinn 11999911 SSooffttccoovveerr rreepprriinntt ooff tthhee hhaarrddccoovveerr 11ss tt eeddiittiioonn 11999911 NNoo ppaarrtt ooff tthhee mmaatteerriiaall pprrootteecctteedd bbyy tthhiiss ccooppyyrriigghhtt nnoottiiccee mmaayy bbee rreepprroodduucceedd oorr uuttiilliizzeedd iinn aannyy ffoorrmm oorr bbyy aannyy mmeeaannss,, eelleeccttrroonniicc oorr mmeecchhaanniiccaall,, iinncclluuddiinngg pphhoottooccooppyyiinngg,, rreeccoorrddiinngg oorr bbyy aannyy iinnffoorrmmaattiioonn ssttoorraaggee aanndd rreettrriieevvaall ssyysstteemm,, wwiitthhoouutt wwrriitttteenn ppeerrmmiissssiioonn ffrroomm tthhee ccooppyyrriigghhtt oowwnneerr.. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ix PETER GEACH-A Philosophical Autobiography 1 WILLARD VAN ORMAN QUINE-Selected Correspondence with Geach 27 PETER GEACH - History of Philosophy 45 DESMOND PAUL HENRY - Abelard and Medieval Mereology 49 ANTHONY KENNY - Form, Existence and Essence in Aquinas 65 BOGUSLAW WOLNIEWICZ-On the Discontinuity of Wittgenstein's Philosophy 77 GEORG HENRIK VON WRIGHT - Possibility, Plenitude and Determinism 83 PETER GEACH-Logic 99 J. E. J. ALTHAM-Plural and Pleonetetic Quantification 105 G. E. M. ANSCOMBE-On a Queer Pattern of Argument 121 JAAKKO HINTIKKA-Geach and the Methodology of the Logical Study of Natural Language 137 JAMES D. McCAWLEY -Natural Deduction and Ordinary Language Discourse Structure 151 Identity MICHAEL DUMMETT - Does Quantification Involve Identity? 161 ANSELM W. MULLER - Conceptual Surroundings of Absolute Identity 185 C. J. F. WILLIAMS-On Sameness and Selfhood 195 PETER GEACH - Philosophy of Religion 213 NORMAN MALCOLM - Philosophical Confusion and Sin 215 HUGO MEYNELL-On Improving Christianity 229 PETER GEACH - Replies 247 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS OF P. T. GEACH 307 INDEX 317 PREFACE The present volume owes its existence to a proposal of Dr Esa Saarinen. Our aim was to celebrate the work of a living philosopher by presenting it both from his own point of view, through the medium of a philosophical autobiography, and from that of his closest philo sophical colleagues and adversaries. We felt that a philosophical career lived through vigorous controversy was best reflected not by adulation but in the spirit of that career - by open debate. Contributors were not constrained in their choice of topic, but their contributions fell naturally into groups linked with some of Peter Geach's principal areas of interest, and we have so grouped them in the book. There is an interweaving of biographical and philosophical themes, not only in Peter Geach's philosophical autobiography, but also in the introductions he has contributed to each section. Professor W. V. O. Quine's contribution, which consists of extracts from his correspondence with Peter Geach, has been set apart as it forms a natural bridge between Peter Geach's autobiography and the contri butions that follow. Their correspondence reproduced here throws new light on many familiar themes from the writings of both philosophers: among them, the objects of belief and other attitudes, issues in set theory, the nature of causality, and evolution in epistemology. A feature of Peter Geach's work for which British philosophers of his generation have not all been noted is a scholarly, but also philo sophically informed, concern for the writings of philosophers of the past. (Indeed, his first two books were translations of writings of such philosophers - from Frege, and from Descartes.) Our contributors here write in the same spirit, whether of Aristotle and Diodorus on time and necessity, of Aquinas, of Abelard, or of Wittgenstein. Peter Geach, who crowned his career of university employment (his philosophical career is still in progress) with his appointment to a Chair of Logic at the University of Leeds, has been a vigorous proponent of logic both within philosophy and as a subject of educational value. He is also more aware than most that not all that goes by the honorific title of 'logic' is worthy of the name. (He has built up a notable ix Harry A. Lewis (ed.), Peter Geach: Philosophical Encounters, ix-xi. © 1991 Springer Science+Business Media New York or Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht x PREFACE collection of Bad Logic Books.) His views are as pertinent as ever when the line between good and bad logic is blurred, if not in the name of 'rhetoric', then in the name of 'informal logic'. Philosophical logicians will find much to please and to intrigue them here. J. E. J. Altham moves forward the boundaries of formal study with his contri bution on plural and pleonetetic quantification; G. E. M. Anscombe questions the applicability of already familiar logical principles using examples of actual argumentation. The relation of natural language to formal argument is further explored in the contributions from Jaakko Hintikka and James D. McCawley. Readers are encouraged to read Peter Geach's replies (printed together at the end of the book: pp. 247-306) with the articles to which they refer. The sub-section of the group of papers on logical topics that deals with identity receives close attention in the replies (pp. 276-306). No discussion of Peter Geach's work would be complete without mention of his views on identity, which have caused much controversy; readers will not be disappointed. Anselm MUller and Michael Dummett address these views directly, while Christopher Williams considers the closely related topic of personal identity. In Peter Geach's writings, logical themes are interwoven with almost all the topics he has considered. But his writings on the philosophy of religion, including now the two books of his Stanton lectures at Cambridge (1971-72 and 1973-74) form a significant corpus that nonetheless stands apart from his other work. He gives a hint of the reason for this asymmetry, if we may so label it, in his introduction (pp. 213-214) to the final group of essays. In those essays, Norman Malcolm takes his lead from a remark in one of the Stanton lectures, in which an analogy is offered between philosophical confusion and sin. Hugo Meynell presents another possible analogy, between re visionary metaphysics and revisionary theology, in the final contri bution. Practising professional philosophers will find their favourite topics quickly in the book. But Peter Geach's writings, in their own clarity and directness, to which the contributors respond in the same style, are accessible to a very wide audience; undergraduates and general readers will find much to interest and stimulate them here. Not least, the historical and personal framework of a career of one of our most distinguished senior philosophers is presented together with his ideas, in a way that reveals how closely they are connected. PREFACE xi We expected when the book was first planned that it would be at press very quickly; and our contributors were punctilious in producing their work in good time. It is a pleasure to make a public acknowledg ment of their expedition. However other difficulties supervened, and it has been some ten years until the volume could be sent to press. In defence of our long-suffering contributors, I must ensure that the reader is aware of this delay. Readers will find hints of the passage of intervening time in certain parts of the book, but the contributions of authors other than Peter Geach himself have remained unaltered for ten years. In graciously allowing us to proceed albeit after such a long delay, our contributors have nonetheless wanted us to draw the reader's attention to this background; they are not to be held responsible for any failure to take into account here either more recent work on the subjects of their contributions, or any latter-day modifications of their own views. Special acknowledgment is due to Peter Geach himself, whose work inspired this book; to Esa Saarinen for thinking of it first; and to Antoni Diller for assistance with the bibliography of Peter Geach's works. Leeds, July 1990 PETER GEACH A PHILOSOPHICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY In this account of my life I leave much unsaid; I am concerned with those facts and events that I see as having had a manifest influence on my career as a philosopher and with the way I came to know, in person or in their works, those philosophers who have most guided my thought. I was born in Lower Chelsea, London, on March 29, 1916. My father, George Hender Geach, was at that time working in the Indian Educational Service; he became Professor of Philosophy at Lahore, and afterwards Principal of a training college for teachers at Peshawar. On furlough he had met and fallen in love with my mother, Eleonora Frederyka Adolfina Sgonina, the daughter of Polish emigrants: her father, a civil engineer, had rightly judged that he would prosper in England better than in his own country under the Prussian heel. My mother came back to England for my birth after a short time in India; the marriage had not been happy, and·. she never returned to my father. My earliest years were spent in Cardiff in my Polish grand parents' house; the novelist Doreen Wallace, an old friend of my mother's, told me that my grandmother never learned English well, so I must often have heard Polish spoken, though I lost all memory of the language. When I was four years old my father secured a court order, making me the ward of a Miss Tarr during his absence in India, and for me all contact with my mother and her parents ceased; Miss Tarr, a rather formidable elderly lady, had been my paternal grandfather's betrothed and the guardian of his children after his death. I remained in Miss Tarr's care until my father was once again in England, invalided out of the LE.S. The first philosophical reading I did was in this period. I could not resist the impulse of curiosity that led me to take down some of my father's books, stored in Miss Tarr's house, from the shelves. I made little of them, but I remember in particular Bradley's Appearance and Reality. The work bewildered me; there were hardly any words I did not know, and the sentences were simply constructed, but I could not tell what it all meant. However, I formed the general impression that 1 Harry A. Lewis (ed.), Peter Geach: Philosophical Encounters, 1-25. © 1991 Springer Science+Business Media New York or Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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