This book is designed to explain the technical ideas that are taken
for granted in much contemporary philosophical writing. Notions like
'denumerability', 'modal scope distinction', 'Bayesian
conditionalization', and 'logical completeness' are usually only
elucidated deep within difficult specialist texts. By offering simple
explanations that by-pass much irrelevant and boring detail,
Philosophical Devices is able to cover a wealth of material that is
normally only available to specialists. The book contains four
sections, each of three chapters. The first section is about sets and
numbers, starting with the membership relation and ending with the
generalized continuum hypothesis. The second is about analyticity, a
prioricity, and necessity. The third is about probability, outlining
the difference between objective and subjective probability and
exploring aspects of conditionalization and correlation. The fourth
deals with metalogic, focusing on the contrast between syntax and
semantics, and finishing with a sketch of Gödel's theorem.
Philosophical Devices will be useful for university students who have
got past the foothills of philosophy and are starting to read more
widely, but it does not assume any prior expertise. All the issues
discussed are intrinsically interesting, and often downright
fascinating. It can be read with pleasure and profit by anybody who is
curious about the technical infrastructure of contemporary philosophy.
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Proofs, Probabilities, Possibilities, and Sets
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780191656255
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Oxford University Press Academic UK
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter