Our trust in the word of others is often dismissed as unworthy, because the illusory ideal of "autonomous knowledge" has prevailed in the debate about the nature of knowledge. Yet we are profoundly dependent on others for a vast amount of what any of us claim to know. Coady explores the nature of testimony in order to show how it might be justified as a source of knowledge, and uses the insights that he has developed to challenge certain widespread assumptions (...) in the areas of history, law, mathematics, and psychology. (shrink)

One of the cornerstone books of Western philosophy, Critique of Pure Reason is Kant's seminal treatise, where he seeks to define the nature of reason itself and builds his own unique system of philosophical thought with an approach known as transcendental idealism. He argues that human knowledge is limited by the capacity for perception and attempts a logical designation of two varieties of knowledge: a posteriori, the knowledge acquired through experience; and a priori, knowledge not derived through experience. This accurate (...) translation by J. M. D. Meiklejohn offers a simple and direct rendering of Kant's work that is suitable for readers at all levels. (shrink)

David Hume's Enquiry concerning Human Understanding is the definitive statement of the greatest philosopher in the English language. His arguments in support of reasoning from experience, and against the "sophistry and illusion"of religiously inspired philosophical fantasies, caused controversy in the eighteenth century and are strikingly relevant today, when faith and science continue to clash. The Enquiry considers the origin and processes of human thought, reaching the stark conclusion that we can have no ultimate understanding of the physical world, or indeed (...) our own minds. In either sphere we must depend on instinctive learning from experience, recognizing our animal nature and the limits of reason. Hume's calm and open-minded skepticism thus aims to provide a new basis for science, liberating us from the "superstition" of false metaphysics and religion. His Enquiry remains one of the best introductions to the study of philosophy, and his edition places it in its historical and philosophical context. (shrink)

Two centuries after they were published, Kant's ethical writings are as much admired and imitated as they have ever been, yet serious and long-standing accusations of internal incoherence remain unresolved. Onora O'Neill traces the alleged incoherences to attempt to assimilate Kant's ethical writings to modern conceptions of rationality, action and rights. When the temptation to assimilate is resisted, a strikingly different and more cohesive account of reason and morality emerges. Kant offers a `constructivist' vindication of reason and a moral vision (...) in which obligations are prior to rights and in which justice and virtue are linked. O'Neill begins by reconsidering Kant's conceptions of philosophical method, reason, freedom, automony and action. She then moves on to the more familiar terrain of interpretation of the Categorical Imperative, while in the last section she emphasises differences between Kant's ethics and recent 'Kantian' ethics, including the work of John Rawls and other contemporary liberal political philosophers. This reassessment will add significantly to the understanding of Kantian practical philosophy. (shrink)

Kant's views on logic and logical theory play an important role in his critical writings, especially the Critique of Pure Reason. However, since he published only one short essay on the subject, we must turn to the texts derived from his logic lectures to understand his views. The present volume includes three previously untranslated transcripts of Kant's logic lectures: the Blumberg Logic from the 1770s; the Vienna Logic (supplemented by the recently discovered Hechsel Logic) from the early 1780s; and the (...) Dohna-Wundlacken Logic from the early 1790s. Also included is a new translation of the Jasche Logic, compiled at Kant's request and published in 1800 but which also appears to stem in part from a transcript of his lectures. Together these texts provide a rich source of evidence for Kant's evolving views on logic, on the relations between logic and other disciplines, and on a variety of topics (e.g. analysis and synthesis) central to Kant's mature philosophy. They also provide a portrait of Kant as lecturer, a role in which he was both popular and influential. This volume contains substantial editorial apparatus: a general introduction, linguistic and factual notes, glossaries of key terms (both German/English and English/German) and concordances relating Kant's lectures to Georg Frederich Meier's Excerpts from the Doctrine of Reason, the book on which Kant lectured throughout his life and in which he left extensive notes. (shrink)

Kant and the Claims of Taste, published here for the first time in paperback in a revised version, has become, since its initial publication in 1979, the standard commentary on Kant's aesthetic theory. The book offers a detailed account of Kant's views on judgments of taste, aesthetic pleasure, imagination and many other topics. For this new edition, Paul Guyer has provided a new foreword and has added a chapter on Kant's conception of fine art. This re-issue will complement the author's (...) companion volume, Kant and the Experience of Freedom, which places Kant's aesthetics in its historical context and examines the fundamental connection between Kant's aesthetics and his moral theory. (shrink)

Arthur Collins's succinct, revisionist exposition of Kant's _Critique of Pure Reason_ brings a new clarity to this notoriously difficult text. Until recently most readers, ascribing broadly Cartesian assumptions to Kant, have concluded that the _Critique_ advances an idealist philosophy, because Kant calls it "transcendental idealism" and because the work abounds in apparent confirmations of that interpretation. Collins maintains not only that this reading of Kant is false but also that it conceals Kant's real achievements. To counter it, he addresses the (...) themes and passages in the _Critique_ that seem to require an idealist thesis and shows how they may be better understood without ascribing any idealist philosophy to Kant. His account coheres with Kant's explicit "refutations" of idealism, it fits Kant's rejection of the imputation of idealism to him by early critics and readers, and it validates Kant's contention that the second edition of the _Critique_ changes the expression but not the doctrine of the first. (shrink)

Coady’s book is probably the single most comprehensive treatment of philosophical questions relating to testimony and as such must be read by anyone interested in the topic. His epistemological conclusions concerning testimony challenge much of the philosophical tradition.

Theories of epistemically justified belief have long assumed individualism. In its extreme, or Lockean, form individualism rules out justified belief on testimony by insisting that a subject is justified in believing a proposition only if he or she possesses first-hand justification for it. The skeptical consequences of extreme individualism have led many to adopt a milder version, attributable to Hume, on which a subject is justified in believing a proposition only if he or she is justified in believing that there (...) is testimony in favor of the proposition deriving from a reliable source. I argue that this Humean individualism also leads to skepticism in a wide range of cases; it makes it impossible for a layperson to be justified on expert testimony. In addition, I argue that the apparent motivation for the Humean view, an insistence on intellectual autonomy in justification, does not succeed in motivating it. I then explore the contours of a collectivist view of justification on testimony, with special attention to the place of a subject's intellectual autonomy in such justification. I try to bring empirical results of the psychology of persuasion to bear on the epistemological issues. (shrink)

Kant's body of works on logic has two sides. On the one hand it reflects the philosophy of the Enlightenment. Anyone wanting to gain vivid insights into the intellectual world of the German Enlightenment cannot ignore Kants works on logic. On the other hand these works, which include his reflections on his legacy, transcripts of his lectures and the Jasche-Handbuch, cover a period of more than 40 years and are of great interest for his developmental history. They are at the (...) same time the nucleus of critical philosophy and provide fundamental insight into the origins of the Critique of Pure Reason, thus contributing more than any commentary to the understanding of the work. Kants Logikcorpus tragt ein Janusgesicht: Auf der einen Seite spiegelt es die Philosophie der Aufklarung. Wer einen plastischen Einblick in die Gedankenwelt der deutschen Aufklarung gewinnen mochte, darf an Kants Logikcorpus nicht vorbeigehen. Auf der anderen Seite aber ist Kants Logikcorpus, das mit seinen Nachlassreflexionen, Vorlesungsnachschriften und dem Jasche-Handbuch einen Zeitraum von mehr als vierzig Jahren umfasst, von hochstem entwicklungsgeschichtlichem Interesse. Es ist zugleich die Keimzelle der kritischen Philosophie. Es gewahrt grundlegende Einblicke in die Entstehungsgeschichte der Kritik der reinen Vernunft und tragt damit besser als mancher Kommentar zum Verstandnis des Werkes bei.'Das Buch zeichnet sich durch eine analytische Kraft und einen umfassenden Uberblick uber die behandelten Themen und Autoren aus, den nur ein Autor wie Hinske vorlegen kann, der der deutschen Aufklarung und der kritischen Philosophie Jahrzehnte der Forschung gewidmet hat.' Rivista di Filosofi. (shrink)

Die Untersuchung wendet sich gegen die von Paulsen, Adickes, Riehl, Kemp-Smith, Strawson u.a. vertretene Ansicht, dass Kant die Gliederungspaare der Kritik der reinen Vernunft unreflektiert aus bloss systematischen Grunden aus der Logik seiner Zeit ubernommen habe. Die Analyse der Nachschriften von Kants Logikvorlesungen und der Reflexionen in seinem Logikkompendium zeigt namlich, dass Kant die beiden grossen Gliederungspaare seines Hauptwerks, transzendentale Elementar- und Methodenlehre und transzendentale Analytik und Dialektik, in seinen Vorlesungen in einem jahrzehntelangen Prozess der Auseinandersetzung mit der traditionellen Logik (...) entwickelt hat. This study opposes the view held by Paulsen, Adickes, Riehl, Kemp- Smith, Strawson etc. that Kant adopted his division into two parts in the Critique of Pure Reason without thinking and for purely systematic reasons from the logic of his time. The analysis of transcripts of Kants lectures on logic and his reflections shows that Kant developed the two major parts of his main work, transcendental doctrine of the elements and transcendental doctrine of method and transcendental analytic and dialectic, in his lectures in an analysis of traditional logic which he did over a period of many decades. (shrink)