Realism Regained
An Exact Theory of Causation, Teleology, and the Mind
1st Edition
Published in December 2000
368 pages
978-0-19-535053-1 (ISBN)
Description
In this wide-ranging philosophical work, Koons takes on two powerful dogmas--anti-realism and materialism. In doing so, Koons develops an elegant metaphysical system that accounts for such phenomena as information, mental representation, our knowledge of logic, mathematics and science, the structure of spacetime, the identity of physical objects, and the objectivity of values and moral norms.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
File size
20,15 MB
ISBN-13
978-0-19-535053-1 (9780195350531)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
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Book
12/2000
Oxford University Press Inc
€226.40
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Content
- Intro
- Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 1.1 A Comprehensive Realism
- 1.2 Metaphysical Method
- 1.3 An Alternative to Both Physicalism and Mysterianism
- 1.4 Causal Internalism
- 1.5 The Ontology of Causation
- 1.6 The Need for an Indeterministic Model
- 1.7 A Causal-Probabilistic Theory of Information
- 1.8 Why an Exact Theory?
- 1.9 The Big Picture: Preview of Part II
- 1.10 A Glossary of Symbols
- I: A Theory of Causation and Information
- 2 Toward a Unified Theory of Causation
- 2.1 The Nomological/Deductive Tradition
- 2.2 Theories of Probabilistic Causation
- 2.3 Davidson and Event-Tokens
- 2.4 Lewis's Counterfactual Account
- 2.5 Mackie's INUS Conditions
- 2.6 Yablo's Theory
- 2.7 Branching-Time Models
- 2.8 Artificial Intelligence and Models of Causal Inference
- 2.9 Tooley and Cartwright
- 2.10 Process and Linkage Theories
- 2.11 Mellor's Theory
- 2.12 Accounts of Causal Asymmetry
- 2.13 Distinctive Features of My Theory
- 3 Situation Theory and Causation
- 3.1 The Need for Situation Theory
- 3.2 Situation Mereology and Causation
- 3.3 A Situation-Theoretic Logic of Causation
- 3.4 The Transitivity of INUS Causation
- 4 A Deterministic Model
- 4.1 Desiderata
- 4.2 Causation and Determinism
- 4.3 Basic Ontology
- 4.4 Constraints and Causation
- 4.5 Defining Causal Explanation
- 4.6 Singular Causation
- 4.7 Empiricism and Modality
- 4.8 Causal Relevance
- 4.9 Piecemeal Causation
- 4.10 Desirable Features of the Theory
- 4.11 Applying the Theory to Some Examples
- 4.12 Verifying the Axioms of Chapter 3
- 5 An Indeterministic Model
- 5.1 Beyond Determinism
- 5.2 Why an Indeterministic Account Is Difficult
- 5.3 If Not Determinism, Then What?
- 5.4 Causation and Causal Explanation
- 5.5 Desirable Features of the Theory
- 5.6 Example Applications
- 6 A Probabilistic Model of Causation
- 6.1 Models
- 6.2 Token Causation
- 6.3 Weighted Causal Constraints on Types
- 6.4 Probabilistic Explanation
- 6.5 Examples
- 6.6 Humphreys's Explanation
- 7 Higher-Order Causation: Modal Facts as Causes
- 7.1 A Problem with Higher-Order Causation
- 7.2 Modal Facts as Causes
- 7.3 The Causal Relevance of the Excluded Middle
- 7.4 First-Order Teleological Causation
- 7.5 Higher-Order Teleological Causation
- 8 The Universality of Causation
- 8.1 A Modal Mereology of Situations
- 8.2 Principles of Causation
- 8.3 The Universality of Causation
- 8.4 The Existence of an Uncaused First Cause
- 8.5 The Well-Foundedness of Causation
- 8.6 Objections
- 9 A Theory of Information and Misinformation
- 9.1 Introduction
- 9.2 The Historical (Retrospective) Strategy
- 9.3 Two New Strategies
- 9.4 Information as the Basis of Knowledge
- 10 A Look Back, and Ahead
- 10.1 The Causal Relation
- 10.2 Against Determinism
- 10.3 Spacetime as Constrained by Causation, Not Vice Versa
- II: Applications to Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Ethics
- 11 An Overview
- 11.1 Teleology as Higher-Order Causation
- 11.2 Teleosemantics
- 11.3 The Link between Teleosemantics and Epistemology
- 11.4 Causal/Teleological Accounts of Knowledge
- 11.5 Mental Causation and Qualia
- 11.6 Teleological Accounts of Ethics
- 11.7 Enduring Substances as Logical Constructions
- 12 Teleology as Higher-Order Causation
- 12.1 Three Definitions of Teleology
- 12.2 Darwin: Real or Only Apparent Functionality?
- 12.3 Retrospective and Non-Retrospective Accounts
- 12.4 Extrinsic Functions and the Extended Phenotype
- 12.5 Our Knowledge of Teleology
- 12.6 Teleological Natural Kinds
- 13 Causal Theories of Mental Content
- 13.1 Millikan
- 13.2 Dretske
- 13.3 Fodor's Critique of Teleological Semantics
- 14 Teleosemantics of Mental Representations
- 14.1 An Overview of Representational States
- 14.2 Pre-cognitive Representations
- 14.3 Cognitive States: Opinions and Intentions
- 14.4 Mental Representation and Language
- 14.5 The Narrowness of Mental Content
- 14.6 Teleosemantics and the Liar Paradox
- 15 A Causal Theory of Logical and Mathematical Cognition
- 15.1 The Need for a Causal Theory
- 15.2 Logico-Modal Facts as Causes
- 15.3 Knowing How to Infer Correctly
- 15.4 Is Logic Factual?
- 15.5 Logical and Physical Necessity
- 15.6 From Logic to Arithmetic
- 15.7 Set Theory and Other Branches of Mathematics
- 15.8 Alternatives to Mathematical Realism
- 15.9 Why the Human Mind Is Not a Turing Machine
- 16 A Teleological Theory of the Mind
- 16.1 The Irony of Non-Reductive Materialism
- 16.2 Supervenience and Type and Token Identity
- 16.3 Downward Causation versus Epiphenomenalism
- 16.4 Two Further Problems of Mental Causation
- 16.5 Qualia
- 16.6 Problem Cases
- 16.7 The Correlation of Qualia and Physiology
- 16.8 Free Will
- 17 Teleological Reliabilism
- 17.1 Reliabilism: The Reference Class Problem
- 17.2 Grue, Bleen, and the New Riddle of Induction
- 17.3 Curve-Fitting: The Problem of Mathematical Simplicity
- 17.4 The Reliability of Simplicity as a Criterion of Truth
- 17.5 The Incompatibility of Materialism and Scientific Realism
- 17.6 When Does Bayesian Learning Constitute Knowledge?
- 17.7 Objective Chance and Empiricism
- 18 Enduring Substances and Their Identities
- 18.1 Substances as Logical Constructions
- 18.2 Change and the Johnston Paradox
- 18.3 Zeno's Paradox and the Instant of Change
- 18.4 Hard Cases for Substance Identity
- 18.5 Quantum Reality and the Foundations of Materialism
- 19 Eudaemonism and the Objectivity of Value
- 19.1 Objectified Subjectivity: A Dead End
- 19.2 Eudaemonia
- 19.3 The Connection between Eudaemonia and Motivation
- 19.4 Nature and Nurture
- 19.5 The Unity and Universality of Good
- 19.6 Indeterminacy and Objectivity
- 19.7 The Semantics and Epistemology of Ethics
- 19.8 Eudaemonism versus Evolutionary Ethics
- 19.9 Moore and the Indefinability of Good
- 20 Moral Theory as the Teleology of Character
- 20.1 Virtue as Both Means and End
- 20.2 Eudaemonism versus Egoism
- 20.3 Is and Ought
- 20.4 Sociobiology, Game Theory, and Species Relativity
- 20.5 Elements of a Teleo-Ethological Morality
- 20.6 Politics and the Natural Law
- 20.7 Justice toward Future Generations
- 20.8 Kierkegaard and the Teleological Suspension of the Ethical
- 21 A Coherent Realism Is a Comprehensive Realism
- 21.1 The Four Waves of Anti-Realism
- 21.2 A Prolegomenon to Any Future Critique of Metaphysics
- 21.3 Causalism, Yes! Materialism, No!
- 21.4 Anti-Realist Obscurantism
- 21.5 Is the Theory Naturalistic?
- A: Partiality, Modality, and Conditionals
- A.1 Partial Propositional Logics
- A.2 Partial Modal Logics
- A.3 Partial Conditional Logics
- A.4 Partiality and Quantificational Logic
- A.5 First-Order Quantification over Situation-Types
- B: A Causal Calculus
- B.1 Causation and Projectible Statistics
- B.2 Some Other Well-Known Puzzles
- B.3 Screening Off
- B.4 Conditions on Hyperfinite Probability Functions
- B.5 Examples
- B.6 Abduction and Induction
- B.7 Proofs of Theorems B.2 through B.4
- Bibliography
- Index
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
