Alfred North Whitehead's SCIENCE AND THE MODERN WORLD, originally published in 1925, redefines the concept of modern science.

Philospher, mathematician, and general man of science, Alfred North Whitehead was a polymath whose interests and generous sympathies encompassed entire worlds.

Alfred North Whitehead was a prominent English mathematician and philosopher who co-authored the highly influential Principia Mathematica with Bertrand Russell. Originally published in 1919, and first republished in 1925 as this Second Edition, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Natural Knowledge ranks among Whitehead's most important works; forming a perspective on scientific observation that incorporated a complex view of experience, rather than prioritising the position of 'pure' sense data. Alongside companion volumes The Concept of Nature and The Principle of (...) Relativity, it created a framework for Whitehead's later metaphysical speculations. This is an important book that will be of value to anyone with an interest in the relationship between science and philosophy. (shrink)

This classic text in American Philosophy by one of the foremost figures in American philosophy offers a concise analysis of the various factors in human nature which go toward forming a religion, to exhibit the inevitable transformation of religion with the transformation of knowledge and to direct attention to the foundation of religion on our apprehension of those permanent elements by reason of which there is a stable order in the world, permanent elements apart from which there could be no (...) changing world. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be (...) preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Autonomous Agents addresses the related topics of self-control and individual autonomy. "Self-control" is defined as the opposite of akrasia-weakness of will. The study of self-control seeks to understand the concept of its own terms, followed by an examination of its bearing on one's actions, beliefs, emotions, and personal values. It goes on to consider how a proper understanding of self-control and its manifestations can shed light on personal autonomy and autonomous behaviour. Perspicuous, objective, and incisive throughout, Alfred Mele makes (...) a convincing case for the value of individual autonomy. (shrink)

RésuméLocke a apporté des changements significatifs à plusieurs points de sa psychologie morale au fil des cinq premières editions de l'Essay.Je ferai valoir qu'en acceptant une certaine liberté de la volonté (willing) dans sa correspondance avec van Limborch (1702) et en concédant une certaine «liberté eu égard à la volonté» dans la cinquième édition de l'Essay(1706), Locke ne comprometpas la cohérence de sa position définitive, contenue dans la cinquième édition, ces libertés étant distinctes du genre de libre arbitre qu'il rejette (...) à maintes reprises. Je tenterai de souligner la continuité de la pensée de Locke sur la liberté humaine en faisant appel à sa théorie de la liberté de pensée, qui n'a cessé d'évoluer dés la première édition. (shrink)

[Richard Glauser] Shaftesbury's theory of aesthetic experience is based on his conception of a natural disposition to apprehend beauty, a real 'form' of things. I examine the implications of the disposition's naturalness. I argue that the disposition is not an extra faculty or a sixth sense, and attempt to situate Shaftesbury's position on this issue between those of Locke and Hutcheson. I argue that the natural disposition is to be perfected in many different ways in order to be exercised (...) in the perception of the different degrees of beauty within Shaftesbury's hierarchy. This leads to the conclusion that the exercise of the disposition depends, from case to case, on many different cognitive and affective conditions, that are realised by the collaborative functionings of our ordinary faculties. Essential to Shaftesbury's conception of aesthetic experience is a disinterested, contemplative love, that causes (or contains) what we may call a 'disinterested pleasure', but also an interested pleasure. I argue that, within any given aesthetic experience, the role of the disinterested pleasure is secondary to that of the disinterested love. However, an important function of the disinterested pleasure is that, in combination with the interested pleasure, it leads one to aspire to pass from the aesthetic experience of lower degrees of beauty to the experience of higher ones in the hierarchy. /// [Anthony Savile] (1) If Shaftesbury is to be seen as the doyen of modern aesthetics, his most valuable legacy to us may not so much be his viewing aesthetic response as a sui generis disinterested delight as his insistence on its turning 'wholly on [experience of] what is exterior and foreign to ourselves'. Not that we cannot experience ourselves, or what is our own, as a source of such admiration. Rather our responses, favourable or no, are improperly grounded in any essentially reflexive, or first-personal, ways of taking what engages us. The suggestion is tested against the case of Narcissus. (2) Glauser interestingly emphasizes Shaftesbury's neo-Platonic conception of a hierarchy of aesthetic experience that culminates in the joyful contemplation of God. That hierarchy must be something that is less unitary and systematic than Shaftesbury himself had supposed, even when his emphasis on the tie between aesthetic pleasure and contemplative experience is allowed to extend beyond perception and to encompass episodes of thought itself. (shrink)

(1) Alors que Hume distingue plusieurs sortes de propositions, nous expliquons pourquoi il se focalise sur l’inférence causale lorsqu’il examine la nature de la croyance. (2) Après avoir considéré les réponses qu’il écarte concernant la nature de la croyance, nous étudions sa solution. (3) Nous dégageons les implications de sa position, dirigée entre autres contre la théorie cartésienne du jugement. (4) Une interprétation du rôle asymétrique de la croyance par rapport aux passions et à l’action est proposée. (5) La position (...) de Hume au sujet de la nature de la croyance, pensons-nous, rencontre une difficulté : elle est peu apte à rendre compte de la nature de la croyance existentielle négative. (shrink)

Originally published in 1928 this book was an attempt to acquaint the general public with the fundamentals of Individual Psychology. At the same time it is a demonstration of the practical application of these principles to the conduct of everyday relationships, and the organization of our personal life. Based upon a years’ lectures to audiences at the People’s Institute in Vienna, the purpose of the book was to point out how the mistaken behaviour of the individual affects harmony of our (...) social and communal life; to teach the individual to recognize their own mistakes; and finally, to show them how they may effect a harmonious adjustment to the communal life. Adler felt that mistakes in business or in science were costly and deplorable, but mistakes in the conduct of life are usually dangerous to life itself. This book is dedicated by the author in his preface ‘to the task of illuminating man’s progress toward a better understanding of human nature.’. (shrink)

I ON THE PRIMITIVE TERM OF LOGISTICf IN this article I propose to establish a theorem belonging to logistic concerning some connexions, not widely known, ...

Originally published in 1928 this book was an attempt to acquaint the general public with the fundamentals of Individual Psychology. At the same time it is a demonstration of the practical application of these principles to the conduct of everyday relationships, and the organization of our personal life. Based upon a years’ lectures to audiences at the People’s Institute in Vienna, the purpose of the book was to point out how the mistaken behaviour of the individual affects harmony of our (...) social and communal life; to teach the individual to recognize their own mistakes; and finally, to show them how they may effect a harmonious adjustment to the communal life. Adler felt that mistakes in business or in science were costly and deplorable, but mistakes in the conduct of life are usually dangerous to life itself. This book is dedicated by the author in his preface ‘to the task of illuminating man’s progress toward a better understanding of human nature.’. (shrink)

It is unquestionably one of the last objections Descartes might have expected, that if ideas exist, external objects are unknowable. How indeed could he have foreseen such an objection? Did he not seek to establish through his metaphysics, in the Meditations, the certainty of the existence of bodies, as well as the reality of the scientific knowledge we claim to have of them? And this procedure had necessarily to presuppose the existence of ideas: first, in order to demonstrate the existence (...) of God, then, to demonstrate the existence of bodies and to establish the reality of our knowledge of those objects. Hence Descartes could not have imagined the above-mentioned objection. And to my knowledge he does not envisge it at any moment in his writings. In the general form in which I have stated it it would have astonished Spinoza, Arnauld, Malebranche and Leibniz as well. And it did not fail to surprise Locke. The objection was formulated in 1697 by John Sergeant in his work: Solid Philosophy Asserted. In this paper I wish to present that objection. (shrink)

Dans l'Essai pour une nouvelle théorie de la vision (1709) Berkeley critique un usage illégitime de l'optique géométrique dans l'explication de la perception des qualités spatiales. Toutefois, dans la Théorie de la vision défendue et expliquée (1733), il assigne à l'optique géométrique un rôle théorique positif, à côté de sa propre théorie de la vision. Nous défendons la thèse suivant laquelle une image rétinienne, chez Berkeley, est une configuration de corpuscules en mouvement, tangibles de droit. Cette lecture corrobore l'interprétation d'une (...) forme de corpuscularisme dans le système immatérialiste. In An Essay towards a New Theory of Vision (1709) Berkeley objects to an illegitimate use of geometrical optics in the explanation of our perception of spatial qualities. However, in The Theory of Vision, Vindicated and Explained (1733), he grants geometrical optics a positive theoretical role alongside his own philosophical theory of vision. I defend the claim that a retinal image, for Berkeley, is a configuration of moving corpuscles that are tangible in principle. This reading corroborates the interpretation according to which Berkeley accommodates a form of corpuscularism within his immaterialism. (shrink)

The so called ‘Prose Edda’ or ‘Snorra Edda’, usually dated to the third decade of the 13th century, contains after a short prologue two substantial sections dealing mainly with mythography and poetics and a long concluding skaldic poem. In the extant medieval manuscripts from around 1300 and the beginning of the 14th century, additional material like genealogies, grammatical treatises, etc. is included. The present paper focuses on one of the earliest of these manuscripts, codex DG 11 4to, University Library Uppsala, (...) and analyses some central features of the specific way in which it presents different narrative layers. For the first time, this analysis combines a study of textual and visual aspects of the manuscript, and special attention is given to two of the many illustrations in this codex. Together with later scribal notes, the drawings contribute heavily to the process of framing, which is one of the main features of the ‘Prose Edda’. This process of creating potentially endless narrative and visual frames is part of the text‘s ambition to establish a distance to the traditional pagan myths and to facilitate new fictional possibilities. (shrink)

A dissertation in the tradition of logical positivism includes a discussion of the functions and methods of philosophy and a critique of ethics and theology.

How might people be wronged in relation to their feelings, moods, and emotions? Recently philosophers have begun to investigate the idea that these kinds of wrongs may constitute a distinctive form of injustice: affective injustice (Archer & Mills 2019; Mills 2019; Srinivasan 2018; Whitney 2018). In previous work, we have outlined a particular form of affective injustice that we called emotional imperialism (Archer & Matheson 2022). This paper has two main aims. First, we aim to provide an expanded account of (...) the forms that emotional imperialism can take. We will do so by drawing inspiration from William Reddy’s concept of an emotional regime and investigating ways in which colonial powers of the 18th to 20th Centuries sought to impose their emotional regimes on their colonial subjects. Second, we will offer more expansive accounts of both emotional imperialism and affective injustice that can accommodate these additional forms of emotional imperialism. (shrink)

The contents of this book were originally delivered at Trinity College in the autumn of 1919 as the inaugural course of Tarner lectures.

Is it appropriate to honour and admire people who have created great works of art, made important intellectual contributions, performed great sporting feats or shaped the history of a nation if those people have also acted immorally? This book provides a philosophical investigation of this important and timely question. -/- The authors draw on the latest research from ethics, value theory, philosophy of emotion, social philosophy and social psychology to develop and substantiate arguments that have been made in the public (...) debates about this issue. They offer a detailed analysis of the nature and ethics of honour and admiration, and present reasons both in favor and against honouring and admiring the immoral. They also take on the important matter of whether we can separate the achievements of public figures from their immoral behavior. Ultimately, the authors reject a "one-size-fits-all" approach and argue that we must weigh up the reasons for and against honouring and admiring in each particular case. -/- Honouring and Admiring the Immoral is written in an accessible style that shows how philosophy can engage with public debates about important ethical issues. It will be of interest to scholars and students working in moral philosophy, philosophy of emotion, and social philosophy. (shrink)

Modes of Thought was written 20 years ago from lectures delivered by Whitehead at Wellesley, the University of Chicago, and Harvard. In it Whitehead developed the brilliant new concepts of clarity and precision of statement which have since become fundamental principles of construction underlying all of the fields of modern intellectual analysis.

Importance.--Expression.--Understanding.--Perspective.--Forms of process.--Civilized universe.--Nature lifeless.--Nature alive.--The aim of philosophy.

Is it appropriate to honor artists who have created great works but who have also acted immorally? In this article, after arguing that honoring involves identifying a person as someone we ought to admire, we present three moral reasons against honoring immoral artists. First, we argue that honoring can serve to condone their behavior, through the mediums of emotional prioritization and exemplar identification. Second, we argue that honoring immoral artists can generate undue epistemic credibility for the artists, which can lead (...) to an indirect form of testimonial injustice for the artists’ victims. Third, we argue, building on the first two reasons, that honoring immoral artists can also serve to silence their victims. We end by considering how we might respond to these reasons. (shrink)

A classic in the area, originally published in 1901, this book is a survey of the past work in the field of philosophy of religion, a conspectus of literature and comparison of methods and theologies from the Reformation to the start of the twentieth century. The Introduction part of the volume offers a classification system to explain the order of the detailed section of the book. Lesser-known theologians are covered as well as great thinkers, a deliberate choice on the part (...) of the author. Within each chapter, types of theism are then broken down into sections on individual thinkers, or group of thinkers with a reference to their main works. (shrink)

Der Autor versucht die Literaturtheorie der Enzyklopädisten im Kontext jener liberalen Ideologie der Aufklärung zu situieren, die vom Handelsbürgertum ausgeht und auf eine Überwindung des Feudalabsolutismus hinzielt. Im Verhältnis von Schriftsteller und Gesellschaft konkretisiert sich ein neues Selbstverständnis der Intelligenz, die im Rahmen der politischen Emanzipation des Bürgertums einen gesellschaftlich relevanten Standpunkt für ihre eigene Arbeit zu definieren versucht.

My topic lies on conceptual terrain that is quite familiar to philosophers. For others, a bit of background may be in order. In light of what has filtered down from quantum mechanics, few philosophers today believe that the universe is causally deterministic. That is, to use Peter van Inwagen's succinct definition of “determinism,” few philosophers believe that “there is at any instant exactly one physically possible future.” Even so, partly for obvious historical reasons, philosophers continue to argue about whether free (...) will and moral responsibility are compatible with determinism. Compatibilists argue for compatibility, and incompatibilists argue against it. Some incompatibilists maintain that free will and moral responsibility are illusions. But most are libertarians, libertarianism being the conjunction of incompatibilism and the thesis that at least some human beings are possessed of free will and moral responsibility. (shrink)