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Infinite regress arguments are part of a philosopher's tool kit of argumentation. But how sharp or strong is this tool? How effectively is it used? The typical presentation of infinite regress arguments throughout history is so succinct and has so many gaps that it is often unclear how an infinite regress is derived, and why an infinite regress is logically problematic, and as a result, it is often difficult to evaluate infinite regress arguments. These consequences of our customary way of using this tool indicate that there is a need for a theory to re-orient our practice. My general approach to contribute to such a theory, consists of collecting and evaluating as many infinite regress arguments as possible, comparing and contrasting many of the formal and non-formal properties, looking for recurring patterns, and identifying the properties that appeared essential to those patterns. Two very general questions guided this work: (1) How are infinite regresses generated in infinite regress arguments? (2) How do infinite regresses logically function as premises in an argument? In answering these questions I clarify the notion of an infinite regress; identify different logical forms of infinite regresses; describe different kinds of infinite regress arguments; distinguish the rhetoric from the logic in infinite regress arguments; and suggest ways of improving our discussion and our practice of constructing and evaluating these arguments.

Philosophy. --- Logic. --- Metaphysics. --- Epistemology. --- Philosophy of Religion. --- Philosophy (General). --- Genetic epistemology. --- Epistémologie génétique --- Logique --- Métaphysique --- Philosophie --- Infinite regress.

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Western philosophy has long nurtured the hope to resolve moral controversies through reason; thereby to secure moral direction and human meaning without the need for a defining encounter with God or the transcendent. The expectation is for a moral rationality that is universal and able adequately to frame and guide the moral life. Moral and cultural unity was sought though philosophical reflection on human nature and the basic goods of a properly nurtured and virtuous life—that is, through appeal to what has come to be called the natural law. The natural law addresses permissible moral choice through objective understandings of human nature and human goods. Persons are obligated to act in ways that are compatible with creating and integrating the basic human goods into their lives and the lives of others. Such goods provide the basis for practical reasoning about virtuous choices and immediate reasons for action. The goal is the making of rational choices in the pursuit of a virtuous, flourishing, human life. Natural law theorists have argued extensively against human cloning, abortion, and same-gender marriage. Yet, whose assumptions regarding human nature should guide our understanding of the basic goods that mark the full flourishing human life? Moreover, why should nature, even human nature, be thought of as a moral boundary beyond which one must not trespass? Persons may wish actively to direct human evolution, utilizing the tools of both imagination and biotechnology. Perhaps nature is simply a challenge to be addressed, overcome, and set aside. This volume is a critical exploration of natural law theory.

Naturalism. --- Normativity (Ethics). --- Normativity (Ethics) --- Naturalism --- Philosophy --- Philosophy & Religion --- Ethics --- Ethical norms --- Normativeness (Ethics) --- Philosophy. --- Epistemology. --- Ethics. --- Religion --- Political philosophy. --- Philosophy of Religion. --- Philosophy, general. --- Political Philosophy. --- Political philosophy --- Deontology --- Ethics, Primitive --- Ethology --- Moral philosophy --- Morality --- Morals --- Philosophy, Moral --- Science, Moral --- Values --- Epistemology --- Theory of knowledge --- Psychology --- Mental philosophy --- Humanities --- Materialism --- Mechanism (Philosophy) --- Positivism --- Science --- Genetic epistemology. --- Philosophy (General). --- Political science --- Developmental psychology --- Knowledge, Theory of --- Religion—Philosophy. --- Knowledge, Theory of. --- Moral Philosophy and Applied Ethics.

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In recent years, many philosophers of modern physics came to the conclusion that the problem of how objectivity is constituted (rather than merely given) can no longer be avoided, and therefore that a transcendental approach in the spirit of Kant is now philosophically relevant. The usual excuse for skipping this task is that the historical form given by Kant to transcendental epistemology has been challenged by Relativity and Quantum Physics. However, the true challenge is not to force modern physics into a rigidly construed static version of Kant's philosophy, but to provide Kant's method with flexibility and generality. In this book, the top specialists of the field pin down the methodological core of transcendental epistemology that must be used in order to throw light on the foundations of modern physics. First, the basic tools Kant used for his transcendental reading of Newtonian Mechanics are examined, and then early transcendental approaches of Relativistic and Quantum Physics are revisited. Transcendental procedures are also applied to contemporary physics, and this renewed transcendental interpretation is finally compared with structural realism and constructive empiricism. The book will be of interest to scientists, historians and philosophers who are involved in the foundational problems of modern physics. .

kennisleer --- Pure sciences. Natural sciences (general) --- Theory of knowledge --- History of physics --- filosofie --- epistomologie --- geschiedenis --- Philosophy of science --- fysica --- wetenschapsgeschiedenis --- epistemologists --- Philosophy --- Philosophy. --- Philosophy of Science. --- Epistemology. --- History of Physics. --- History of Science. --- Modern Philosophy. --- Philosophy (General). --- Science --- Genetic epistemology. --- Philosophy, modern. --- Physics --- Sciences --- Epistémologie génétique --- Physique --- History. --- Histoire --- Philosophie --- Objectivity. --- Transcendentalism. --- Modern philosophy. --- Philosophy and science. --- Physics. --- History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics. --- Transcendental functions. --- Natural philosophy --- Philosophy, Natural --- Physical sciences --- Dynamics --- Functions, Transcendental --- Functions, Special --- Modern philosophy --- Developmental psychology --- Knowledge, Theory of --- Annals --- Auxiliary sciences of history --- Normal science --- Epistemology --- Psychology --- Science and philosophy --- Transcendantalisme --- Objectivité

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Over the last few decades information and communication technology has come to play an increasingly prominent role in our dealings with other people. Computers, in particular, have made available a host of new ways of interacting, which we have increasingly made use of. In the wake of this development a number of ethical questions have been raised and debated. Ethics in Cyberspace focuses on the consequences for ethical agency of mediating interaction by means of computers, seeking to clarify how the conditions of certain kinds of interaction in cyberspace (for example, in chat-rooms and virtual worlds) differ from the conditions of interaction face-to-face and how these differences may come to affect the behaviour of interacting agents in terms of ethics. Thomas Ploug’s book is a very significant contribution to the literature of applied ethics. It provides an original and fascinating account of the morally relevant features of interaction in cyberspace and explains the implications that these features have for the moral judgements of agents involved in such interaction. As Ethics in Cyberspace illustrates, cyberspatial interaction raises new ethical challenges that need to be met head-on. This book is indispensable to anyone interested in the application of ethical principles in the modern world. Professor Søren Holm, PhD, DMed, Cardiff Law School and University of Oslo. Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Medical Ethics Thomas Ploug’s Ethics in Cyberspace contains a meticulously argued analysis of the ethically relevant differences between interaction inside and outside cyberspace. Ploug’s main focus is on interaction in chat-rooms and various kinds of tele-operation, but the theoretical approach formulated in the book has much wider applicability. Ploug offers an admirably clear conceptual framework and investigates a range of approaches to the subject, all of which will be useful for anyone seeking to develop a philosophical analysis of the moral aspects of interaction in cyberspace. I have no hesitation in recommending this book highly. Professor Peter Øhrstrøm, PhD, DSc, Information Science, Aalborg University, Denmark. Author of Temporal Logic (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995) and co-editor of Arthur N. Prior: Papers on Time and Tense (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Internet --Moral and ethical aspects. --- Internet. --- Interpersonal relations. --- Internet --- Interpersonal relations --- Computer Science --- Telecommunications --- Engineering & Applied Sciences --- Electrical & Computer Engineering --- Moral and ethical aspects --- Moral and ethical aspects. --- Social aspects. --- Human relations --- Interpersonal relationships --- Personal relations --- Relations, Interpersonal --- Relationships, Interpersonal --- Social behavior --- Computer science. --- Epistemology. --- Ethics. --- Metaphysics. --- Philosophy. --- Computers and civilization. --- Computer Science. --- Computers and Society. --- Philosophy of Technology. --- Social psychology --- Object relations (Psychoanalysis) --- Genetic epistemology. --- Deontology --- Ethics, Primitive --- Ethology --- Moral philosophy --- Morality --- Morals --- Philosophy, Moral --- Science, Moral --- Philosophy --- Values --- God --- Ontology --- Philosophy of mind --- Mental philosophy --- Humanities --- Developmental psychology --- Knowledge, Theory of --- Informatics --- Science --- Epistemology --- Theory of knowledge --- Psychology --- Civilization and computers --- Civilization

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Nelson Goodman’s disparate writings are often written about only within their own particular discipline, such that the epistemology is discussed in contrast to others’ epistemology, the aesthetics is contrasted with more traditional aesthetics, and the ontology and logic is viewed in contrast to both other contemporary philosophers and to Goodman’s historical predecessors. This book argues that that is not an adequate way to view Goodman. The separate disciplines of ontology, epistemology, and aesthetics should be viewed as sequential steps within his thought, such that each provides the ground rules for the next section and, furthermore, providing the reasons for limitations on the terms available to the subsequent writing(s). This is true not merely because this is the general chronology of his writing, but more importantly because within his metaphysics lies Goodman’s basic nominalist ontology and logic, and it is upon those principles that he builds his epistemology and, furthermore, it is the sum of both the metaphysics and the epistemology, with the nominalist principle as the guiding force, which constructs the aesthetics. At the end of each section of this book, the consequent limitations imposed on his terms and concepts available to him are explicated, such that, by the end of the book, the book delineates the constraints imposed upon the aesthetics by both the metaphysics and the epistemology. "The author has given us the needed scholarly reference work on Goodman. Goodman sought to replace psychology with semantics, and showed us how far we could travel in that direction. The trip was admirably designed and guided by his genius. In end, it was genius, and not the lack of it, that showed us that the philosophy of language and languages of art will lead us back to the hardest questions in the philosophy of mind." Keith Lehrer, Regents Professor of Philosophy, The University of Arizona.

Goodman, Nelson. --- Nominalism --- Philosophy & Religion --- Philosophy --- Nominalism. --- Goodman, Nelson --- Criticism and interpretation. --- Goodman, Henry Nelson --- Philosophy. --- Aesthetics. --- Epistemology. --- Metaphysics. --- Philosophy of mind. --- Philosophy, general. --- Philosophy of Mind. --- Conceptualism --- Logic --- Realism --- Reality --- Scholasticism --- Universals (Philosophy) --- Philosophy (General). --- Genetic epistemology. --- God --- Ontology --- Philosophy of mind --- Beautiful, The --- Beauty --- Esthetics --- Taste (Aesthetics) --- Art --- Criticism --- Literature --- Proportion --- Symmetry --- Mind, Philosophy of --- Mind, Theory of --- Theory of mind --- Cognitive science --- Metaphysics --- Philosophical anthropology --- Developmental psychology --- Knowledge, Theory of --- Psychology --- Epistemology --- Theory of knowledge --- Mental philosophy --- Humanities --- Radio broadcasting Aesthetics --- Aesthetics