Practical Tortoise Raising: and other philosophical essays

by Simon Blackburn

Overview

Simon Blackburn presents a selection of his philosophical essays from 1995 to 2010. He offers engaging and illuminating discussions of various problems which arise when such familiar notions as representation, truth, reason, and assertion are applied in the sphere of practical thought. It is puzzling how our thinking gets to grip with such things as values and norms. Blackburn explores how we can try to understand what we say in terms of what we are doing when we say it. He investigates how propositions interact with linguistic expressions whose primary function is identified in terms of actions performed in expressing commitments with them, when those commitments are thought of in practical rather than descriptive terms. He broadens his investigation from semantic questions to wider issues of pluralism, pragmatism, philosophy of mind, and the nature of practical reasoning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191624759
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	09/30/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Simon Blackburn is currently the Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He has held visiting appointments at the University of Melbourne, the University of British Columbia, Oberlin College, Princeton University, Ohio State University, the Universidad Autonomia de Mexico, and was for ten years Adjunct Professor at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra.

Table of Contents

IntroductionI. Language and Epistemology1. From Doing to Saying2. Success Semantics3. Practical Tortoise Raising4. Wittgenstein's Irrealism5. Circles, Finks, Smells and Biconditionals6. The Absolute Conception7. Julius Caesar and George Berkeley Play Leapfrog8. The Majesty of ReasonII. Practical Philosophy and Ethics9. Truth, Goodness and Beauty10. Dilemmas, Dithering, Plumping, Grief11. Group Minds and Expressive Harm12. Trust, Cooperation, and Human Psychology13. Must we Weep for Sentimentalism? 14. Morality and Thick Concepts15. Perspectives, Fiction, Error, Play16. Fiction and Conviction