The Philosopher’s Toolkit

The second edition of this popular compendium provides the necessary intellectual equipment to engage with and participate in effective philosophical argument, reading, and reflection Features significantly revised, updated and expanded entries, and an entirely new section drawn from methods in the history of philosophy This edition has a broad, pluralistic approach--appealing to readers in both continental philosophy and the history of philosophy, as well as analytic philosophy Explains difficult concepts in an easily accessible manner, and addresses the use and application of these concepts Proven useful to philosophy students at both beginning and advanced levels

The second edition of this popular compendium provides thenecessary intellectual equipment to engage with and participate ineffective philosophical argument, reading, and reflection* Features significantly revised, updated and expanded entries,and an entirely new section drawn from methods in the history ofphilosophy* This edition has a broad, pluralistic approach--appealing toreaders in both continental philosophy and the history ofphilosophy, as well as analytic philosophy* Explains difficult concepts in an easily accessible manner, andaddresses the use and application of these concepts* Proven useful to philosophy students at both beginning andadvanced levels

Alphabetical Table of Contents xiPreface xivAcknowledgements xvi1 Basic Tools for Argument 11.1 Arguments, premises and conclusions 11.2 Deduction 61.3 Induction 81.4 Validity and soundness 131.5 Invalidity 171.6 Consistency 191.7 Fallacies 231.8 Refutation 261.9 Axioms 281.10 Definitions 311.11 Certainty and probability 341.12 Tautologies, self-contradictions and the law of non-contradiction 382 More Advanced Tools 422.1 Abduction 422.2 Hypothetico-deductive method 462.3 Dialectic 492.4 Analogies 522.5 Anomalies and exceptions that prove the rule 552.6 Intuition pumps 582.7 Logical constructions 602.8 Reduction 622.9 Thought experiments 652.10 Useful fictions 683 Tools for Assessment 713.1 Alternative explanations 723.2 Ambiguity 743.3 Bivalence and the excluded middle 773.4 Category mistakes 793.5 Ceteris paribus 813.6 Circularity 843.7 Conceptual incoherence 873.8 Counterexamples 903.9 Criteria 933.10 Error theory 953.11 False dichotomy 973.12 False cause 993.13 Genetic fallacy 1013.14 Horned dilemmas 1053.15 Is/ought gap 1083.16 Masked man fallacy 1103.17 Partners in guilt 1133.18 Principle of charity 1143.19 Question-begging 1183.20 Reductios 1213.21 Redundancy 1233.22 Regresses 1253.23 Saving the phenomena 1273.24 Self-defeating arguments 1303.25 Sufficient reason 1333.26 Testability 1364 Tools for Conceptual Distinctions 1404.1 A priori/a posteriori 1414.2 Absolute/relative 1444.3 Analytic/synthetic 1474.4 Categorical/modal 1504.5 Conditional/biconditional 1514.6 De re/de dicto 1534.7 Defeasible/indefeasible 1564.8 Entailment/implication 1584.9 Essence/accident 1614.10 Internalism/externalism 1644.11 Knowledge by acquaintance/description 1674.12 Necessary/contingent 1704.13 Necessary/sufficient 1734.14 Objective/subjective 1764.15 Realist/non-realist 1784.16 Sense/reference 1814.17 Syntax/semantics 1824.18 Thick/thin concepts 1854.19 Types/tokens 1875 Tools of Historical Schools and Philosophers 1905.1 Aphorism, fragment, remark 1905.2 Categories and specific differences 1935.3 Elenchus and aporia 1965.4 Hume's fork 1995.5 Indirect discourse 2025.6 Leibniz's law of identity 2045.7 Ockham's razor 2095.8 Phenomenological method(s) 2115.9 Signs and signifiers 2145.10 Transcendental argument 2186 Tools for Radical Critique 2226.1 Class critique 2226.2 Deconstruction and the critique of presence 2256.3 Empiricist critique of metaphysics 2276.4 Feminist critique 2296.5 Foucaultian critique of power 2316.6 Heideggerian critique of metaphysics 2346.7 Lacanian critique 2376.8 Critiques of naturalism 2396.9 Nietzschean critique of Christian-Platonic culture 2416.10 Pragmatist critique 2446.11 Sartrean critique of 'bad faith' 2467 Tools at the Limit 2497.1 Basic beliefs 2497.2 Gödel and incompleteness 2527.3 Philosophy and/as art 2547.4 Mystical experience and revelation 2577.5 Paradoxes 2597.6 Possibility and impossibility 2627.7 Primitives 2657.8 Self-evident truths 2677.9 Scepticism 2707.10 Underdetermination 273Internet Resources for Philosophers 276Index 277