Philosophy: Books & E-Books

The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy is a concise reference to the whole history of western philosophy, from ancient Greece to the present day. Spans all the major branches of western philosophical inquiry, all of the key figures.

'A Dictionary of Logic' expands on Oxford's coverage of the topic in works such as 'The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy'. Featuring entries primarily concentrating on technical terminology, the history of logic, the foundations of mathematics, and non-classical logic, this dictionary is an essential resource for students of all levels studying philosophical logic at a high level.

The Dictionary of Philosophy by Dagobert D. Runes is a comprehensive reference book that provides a detailed overview of philosophical concepts and ideas. The book contains over 1,000 entries that cover a wide range of topics, including metaphysics, ethics, logic, epistemology, and more.

This bestselling dictionary is written by one of the leading philosophers of our time, and it is widely recognized as the best dictionary of its kind. Comprehensive and authoritative, it covers every aspect of philosophy from Aristotle to Zen. With clear and concise definitions, it provides lively and accessible coverage of not only Western philosophical traditions, but also themes from Chinese, Indian, Islamic, and Jewish philosophy.

In this work, Baruch Spinoza, one of the cardinal thinkers of all times, answers the eternal questions of man and his passions, and God and nature. In the deepest sense, this dictionary of Spinoza's philosophy is a veritable treasury of sublime wisdom.

Can we know anything for certain? Dogmatists think we can, sceptics think we cannot, and epistemology is the great debate between them. This book is an introductory and historically-based survey of the debate, siding for the most part with scepticism to show that the desire to vanquish it has often led to doctrines of idealism or anti-realism.

Epistemology: An Anthology continues to represent the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of canonical readings in the theory of knowledge. Concentrates on the central topics of the field, such as skepticism and the Pyrrhonian problematic, the definition of knowledge, and the structure of epistemic justification.

Based on the London Lecture Series of the Royal Institute of Philosophy for 2006-7, this collection brings together essays from leading figures in a rapidly developing field of philosophy. Contributors include: Alvin Goldman, Timothy Williamson, Duncan Pritchard, Miranda Fricker, Scott Sturgeon, Jose Zalabardo, and Quassin Casay.

Epistemology, or "the theory of knowledge," is concerned with how we know what we know, what justifies us in believing what we believe, and what standards of evidence we should use in seeking truths about the world and human experience. This comprehensive introduction to the field of epistemology explains the concepts and theories central to understanding knowledge.

In this book, Roberto Di Ceglie offers an historical, theological, and epistemological investigation exploring how commitments to God and/or the good generate the optimum condition to achieve knowledge.

Arguing about Metaethics collects together some of the most exciting contemporary work in metaethics in one handy volume. In it, many of the most influential philosophers in the field discussn key questions in metaethics: Do moral properties exist? If they do, how do they fit into the world as science conceives it? If they don't exist, then how should we understand moral thought and language? What is the relation between moral judgement and motivation?

This introduction to ethics judiciously combines moral theory with applied ethics to give an opportunity for students to develop acute thinking.

An insight into moral skepticism of the 20th century. The author argues that our every-day moral codes are an 'error theory' based on the presumption of moral facts which, he persuasively argues, don't exist. His refutation of such facts is based on their metaphysical 'queerness' and the observation of cultural relativity.

Unmatched in scholarship and scope, The International Encyclopedia of Ethics is the definitive single-source reference work on Ethics. Provides clear definitions and explanations of all areas of ethics including the topics, movements, arguments, and key figures in Normative Ethics, Metaethics, and Practical Ethics.

This acclaimed volume offers a systematic introduction to and striking analysis of the central issues animating current debate in moral philosophy. It will be of interest to anyone with a serious interest in the philosophical foundations of ethics.

Baruch Spinoza's 'Ethics' was published in 1677 just after his death and is regarded as among the most important philosophical work of continental early modern Europe. In this guide Michael LeBuffe follows the 'Ethics' closely and helps readers to understand Spinoza's masterpiece for themselves. It is a hugely ambitious work that offers strong, controversial views on almost every aspect of philosophy.

This is a collection of eleven original essays in analytical philosophy by British and American philosophers, centring on the connection between mind and language. Two themes predominate: how it is that thoughts and sentences can represent the world; and what having a thought - a belief, for instance - involves.

Edited by a A.J. Ayer, Logical Positivism offers—in the words of the movement’s founders—revolutionary theories on meaning and metaphysics, the nature of logic and mathematics, the foundations of knowledge, the content of psychological propositions, ethics, sociology, and the nature of philosophy itself.

Logic Primer presents a rigorous introduction to natural deduction systems of sentential and first-order logic.

A paradox can be defined as an unacceptable conclusion derived by apparently acceptable reasoning from apparently acceptable premises. Many paradoxes raise serious philosophical problems, and they are associated with crises of thought and revolutionary advances.

This new edition of Wittgenstein's book, strictly following the author's recommendations, allows a more immediate comprehension of the text and dissolves several false problems that had deceived readers and scholars for a century.

In From Truth to Reality, Heather Dyke brings together some of the foremost metaphysicians to examine approaches to truth, reality, and the connections between the two.

A complete and self-contained introduction to metaphysics, this anthology provides an extensive and varied collection of fifty-four of the best classical and contemporary readings on the subject. The readings are organized into ten sections: God, idealism and realism, being, universals and particulars, necessity and contingency, causation, space and time, identity, mind and body, and freewill and determinism.

This book covers the gamut of historical and contemporary arguments of metaphysics, engaging readers through three profound questions: what are the most general features of the world, why is there a world and what is the place of human beings in the world?

In this book, which thoroughly revises and greatly expands his classic work Sameness and Substance (1980), David Wiggins retrieves and refurbishes in the light of twentieth-century logic and logical theory certain conceptions of identity, of substance and of persistence through change that philosophy inherits from its past.

Philosophical thinking about time is characterised by tensions between competing conceptions. Different sources of evidence yield different conclusions about it. Common sense suggests there is an objective present, and that time is dynamic. Science recognises neither feature. This Element examines McTaggart's argument for the unreality of time, which epitomises this tension, showing how it gave rise to the A-theory/B-theory debate. Each theory is in tension with either ordinary or scientific thinking, so must accommodate the competing conception. Reconciling the A-theory with science does not look promising. Prospects look better for the B-theory's attempt to accommodate ordinary thinking about time.