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Diversity Reading List

Helping you include authors from under-represented groups in your teaching

Teach Yourself Political Philosophy: A Complete Introduction

Posted on September 26, 2017June 26, 2025 by Simon Fokt

Publisher’s Note: Written by Phil Parvin and Clare Chambers, who are current political philosophy lecturers and leading researchers, Political Philosophy – The Essentials is designed to give you everything you need to succeed, all in one place. It covers the key areas that students are expected to be confident in, outlining the basics in clear jargon-free English, and then providing added-value features like summaries of key thinkers, and even lists of questions you might be asked in your seminar or exam. The book’s structure follows that of most university courses on political philosophy, by looking at the essential concepts within political philosophy (freedom, equality, power, democracy, rights, the state, political obligation), and then looking at the ways in which political philosophers have used these fundamental concepts in order to tackle a range of normative political questions such as whether the state has a responsibility to alleviate inequalities, and what interest liberal and democratic states should take in the cultural or religious beliefs of citizens.

Posted in Political Theory, Social and Political Philosophy, Value TheoryTagged communitarianism, democracy, equality, feminism, freedom, global justice, justice, liberalism, libertarianism, luck egalitarianism, multiculturalism, opportunity, political obligation, political power, power, Rawls, rights, utilitarianismLeave a comment

Structural Proof Theory

Posted on September 26, 2017May 13, 2025 by Simon Fokt

Publisher’s Note: Structural proof theory is a branch of logic that studies the general structure and properties of logical and mathematical proofs. This book is both a concise introduction to the central results and methods of structural proof theory, and a work of research that will be of interest to specialists. The book is designed to be used by students of philosophy, mathematics and computer science. The book contains a wealth of results on proof-theoretical systems, including extensions of such systems from logic to mathematics, and on the connection between the two main forms of structural proof theory – natural deduction and sequent calculus. The authors emphasize the computational content of logical results. A special feature of the volume is a computerized system for developing proofs interactively, downloadable from the web and regularly updated.

Posted in Logic and Philosophy of Logic, Proof Theory, Science Logic & MathematicsTagged classical logic, intuitionistic logic, logic, natural deduction, proof theory, sequent calculiLeave a comment

Political Philosophy

Posted on September 26, 2017June 26, 2025 by Simon Fokt

Publisher’s Note: Political philosophy, perhaps even more than other branches of philosophy, calls for constant renewal to reflect not just re-readings of the tradition but also the demands of current events. In this lively and readable survey, Jean Hampton has created a text for our time that does justice both to the great traditions of the field and to the newest developments. In a marvelous feat of synthesis, she links the classical tradition, the giants of the modern period, the dominant topics of the twentieth century, and the new questions and concerns that are just beginning to rewrite contemporary political philosophy.Hampton presents these traditions in an engaging and accessible manner, adding to them her own views and encouraging readers to critically examine a range of ideas and to reach their own conclusions. Of particular interest are the discussions of the contemporary liberalism-communitarianism debates, the revival of interest in issues of citizenship and nationality, and the way in which feminist concerns are integrated into all these discussions. Political Philosophy is the most modern text on the topic now available, the ideal guide to what is going on in the field. It will be welcomed by scholars and students in philosophy and political science, and it will serve as an introduction for readers from outside these fields.

Posted in Political Theory, Social and Political Philosophy, Value TheoryTagged citizenship, communitarianism, consent, democracy, distributive justice, justice, liberalism, political authority, political science, social contractLeave a comment

Underdetermination, methodological practices, and realism

Posted on September 26, 2017May 13, 2025 by Simon Fokt

Abstract: In this paper, the author argues (i) that there are certain methodological practices that are epistemically significant, and (ii) that we can test for the success of these practices empirically by examining case-studies in the history of science. Analysing a particular episode from the history of medicine, she explains how this can help us resolve specific cases of underdetermination. She concludes that, while the anti-realist is (more or less legitimately) able to construct underdetermination scenarios on a case-by-case basis, he will have to abandon the strategy of using algorithms to do so, thus losing the much needed guarantee that there will always be rival cases of the required kind.

Posted in Empirically Equivalent Theories, General Philosophy of Science, Nonempirical Virtues, Science Logic & Mathematics, Theoretical Virtues, Underdetermination of Theory by DataTagged epistemic properties of scientific theories, methodology of science, nonempirical virtues, scientific realism, scientific reasoning, theoretical virtues, theory choice, underdeterminationLeave a comment

Saving Unobservable Phenomena

Posted on September 26, 2017June 26, 2025 by Simon Fokt

Abstract: In this paper the author argues -against van Fraassen’s constructive empiricism-that the practice of saving phenomena is much broader than usually thought, and includes unobservable phenomena as well as observable ones. Her argument turns on the distinction between data and phenomena: She discusses how unobservable phenomena manifest themselves in data models and how theoretical models able to save them are chosen. She presents a paradigmatic case study taken from the history of particle physics to illustrate her argument. The first aim of this paper is to draw attention to the experimental practice of saving unobservable phenomena, which philosophers have overlooked for too long. The second aim is to explore some far-reaching implications this practice may have for the debate on scientific realism and constructive empiricism.

Posted in Arguments For and Against Scientific Realism, Constructive Empiricism, General Philosophy of Science, Science Logic & MathematicsTagged data models, particle physics, theoretical entities, unobservable phenomenaLeave a comment

Self-Knowledge

Posted on September 22, 2017May 13, 2025 by Simon Fokt

Publisher’s Note: The problem of self-knowledge is one of the most fascinating in all of philosophy and has crucial significance for the philosophy of mind and epistemology. In this outstanding introduction Brie Gertler assesses the leading theoretical approaches to self-knowledge, explaining the work of many of the key figures in the field: from Descartes and Kant, through to Bertrand Russell and Gareth Evans, as well as recent work by Tyler Burge, David Chalmers, William Lycan and Sydney Shoemaker.Beginning with an outline of the distinction between self-knowledge and self-awareness and providing essential historical background to the problem, Gertler addresses specific theories of self-knowledge such as the acquaintance theory, the inner sense theory, and the rationalist theory, as well as leading accounts of self-awareness. The book concludes with a critical explication of the dispute between empiricist and rationalist approaches.

Posted in Expression-Based Accounts of Self-Knowledge, Metaphysics & Epistemology, Observation-Based Accounts of Self-Knowledge, Philosophy of Mind, Rationality-Based Accounts of Self-Knowledge, Self-KnowledgeTagged introspection, knowledge of mental states, mental states, self-awareness, self-knowledgeLeave a comment

Structural Realism: A Neo-Kantian Perspective

Posted on July 20, 2017May 13, 2025 by Simon Fokt

Introduction: Structural realism was born in the attempt to reach a compromise between a realist argument and an antirealist one, namely the ‘no miracle’ argument and the ‘pessimistic meta-induction’, respectively. In recent years, John Worrall has drawn attention to an epistemological version of structural realism, which he traces back to Henri Poincaré. French and Ladyman, on the other hand, have urged a metaphysical or ontic structural realism, which offers a ‘reconceptualisation of ontology, at the most basic metaphysical level, which effects a shift from objects to structures.’ French and Ladyman want to maintain the distance from neo-Kantianism and detach metaphysical structural realism from neo-Kantian epistemology so as to do justice to the realist’s demand for mind-independence. This manoeuvre raises, however, some difficulties that have been at the centre of a recent ongoing debate: can we really ‘dissolve’ entities into mathematical structures? How can we even conceive of structural relations without relata? In this paper the author offers a diagnosis of the current standoff within structural realism between the epistemological and the metaphysical variant, by drawing attention to some important assumptions underlying the structural realist programme, and to their philosophical sources. It is the heterogeneity of these sources – she suggests – that is mainly responsible for the current stand-off within structural realism.

Posted in General Philosophy of Science, Science Logic & Mathematics, Structural RealismTagged neo-Kantian epistemology, Newman problem, reference, scientific realism, structuralismLeave a comment

Metaphysics

Posted on July 20, 2017June 26, 2025 by Simon Fokt

Introduction: It is not easy to say what metaphysics is. Ancient and Medieval philosophers might have said that metaphysics was, like chemistry or astrology, to be defined by its subject matter: metaphysics was the ‘science’ that studied ‘being as such’ or ‘the first causes of things’ or ‘things that do not change’. It is no longer possible to define metaphysics that way. First, a philosopher who denied the existence of those things that had once been seen as constituting the subject-matter of metaphysics – first causes or unchanging things – would now be considered to be making thereby a metaphysical assertion. Second, there are many philosophical problems that are now considered to be metaphysical problems (or at least partly metaphysical problems) that are in no way related to first causes or unchanging things – the problem of free will, for example, or the problem of the mental and the physical.

The first three sections of this entry examine a broad selection of problems considered to be metaphysical and discuss ways in which the purview of metaphysics has expanded over time. The central problems of metaphysics were significantly more unified in the Ancient and Medieval eras. Which raises a question – is there any common feature that unites the problems of contemporary metaphysics? The final two sections of the entry discuss some recent theories of the nature and methodology of metaphysics, including those that consider metaphysics as an impossible enterprise.

Posted in Metaphysics, Metaphysics & Epistemology, Metaphysics General Works, Methodology in MetaphysicsTagged metaphysics, modality, space and time, substanceLeave a comment

Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide

Posted on July 20, 2017June 26, 2025 by Simon Fokt

Publisher’s note: We are frequently confronted with arguments. Arguments are attempts to persuade us – to influence our beliefs and actions – by giving us reasons to believe this or that. Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide will equip students with the concepts and techniques used in the identification, analysis and assessment of arguments. Through precise and accessible discussion, this book provides the tools to become a successful critical thinker, one who can act and believe in accordance with good reasons, and who can articulate and make explicit those reasons.
Key topics discussed include:

  • Core concepts in argumentation.
  • How language can serve to obscure or conceal the real content of arguments; how to distinguish argumentation from rhetoric.
  • How to avoid common confusions surrounding words such as ‘truth’, ‘knowledge’ and ‘opinion’.
  • How to identify and evaluate the most common types of argument.
  • How to distinguish good reasoning from bad in terms of deductive validly and induction.
Posted in Critical Thinking, Epistemology, Informal Logic, Logic and Philosophy of Logic, Metaphysics & Epistemology, Science Logic & MathematicsTagged argument identification, critical thinking, fallacies, informal logic, rhetoricLeave a comment

It’s not Them, it’s You: A Case Study in the Exclusion of Non-Western Philosophy

Posted on July 20, 2017June 26, 2025 by Simon Fokt

Abstract: My purpose in this essay is to suggest, via case study, that if Anglo-American philosophy is to become more inclusive of non-western traditions, the discipline requires far greater efforts at self-scrutiny. I begin with the premise that Confucian ethical treatments of manners afford unique and distinctive arguments from which moral philosophy might profit, then seek to show why receptivity to these arguments will be low. I examine how ordinary good manners have largely fallen out of philosophical moral discourse in the west, looking specifically at three areas: conditions in the 18th and 19th centuries that depressed philosophical attention to manners; discourse conventions in contemporary philosophy that privilege modes of analysis not well fitted to close scrutiny of manners; and a philosophical culture that implicitly encourages indifference or even antipathy toward polite conduct. I argue that these three areas function in effect to render contemporary discourse inhospitable to greater inclusivity where Confucianism is concerned and thus, more broadly, that greater self-scrutiny regarding unexamined, parochial western commitments and practices is necessary for genuine inclusivity

Posted in Asian Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy, Confucius, Manners, Normative Ethics, Philosophical Traditions, Value TheoryTagged Chinese philosophy, confucianism, diversity in philosophy, etiquette, mannersLeave a comment

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