Analysis and Metaphysics: An Introduction to Philosophy

Strawson, P. F.

ISBN 10: 0198751184 / ISBN 13: 9780198751182

Published by Oxford University Press, 1992

Pages are clean with no markings. May show minor signs of wear or cosmetic defects marks, cuts, bends, or scuffs on the cover, spine, pages, or dust jacket. May have remainder marks on edges. Seller Inventory # DBV.0198751184.VG

Synopsis:

All developed human beings possess a practical mastery of a vast range of concepts, including such basic structural notions as those of identity, truth, existence, material objects, mental states, space, and time; but a practical mastery does not entail theoretical understanding. It is that understanding which philosophy seeks to achieve. In this book, one of the most distinguished of living philosophers, assuming no previous knowledge of the subject on the part of the reader, sets out to explain and illustrate a certain conception of the nature of analytical philosophy. Strawson draws on his many years of teaching at Oxford University, during which he refined and developed what he regards as the most productive route to understanding the fundamental structure of human thinking. Among the distinctive features of his exposition are the displacement of an older, reductive conception of philosophical method (the ideal of "analyzing" complex ideas into simpler elements) in favor of elucidating the interconnections between the complex but irreducible notions which form the basic structure of our thinking; and the demonstration that the three traditionally distinguished departments of metaphysics (ontology), epistemology, and logic are but three aspects of one unified enquiry. Strawson has produced an elegant work that will be invaluable to students and stimulating for professional philosophers and general readers alike.

About the Author: P. F. Strawson is at St Johns, University, and Magdalen Colleges, Oxford.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Analysis and Metaphysics: An Introduction to...
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication Date: 1992
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: very_good