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Seductive Reasoning: Pluralism as the Problematic of Contemporary Literary Theory
by Ellen RooneySeductive Reasoning takes a provocative look at contemporary Anglo-American literary theory, calling into question the critical consensus on pluralism's nature and its status in literary studies. Drawing on the insights of Marxist and feminist critical theory and on the works of Althusser, Derrida, and Foucault, Rooney reads the pluralist’s invitation to join in a "dialogue" as a seductive gesture. Critics who respond find that they must seek to persuade all of their potential readers. Rooney examines pluralism as a form of logic in the work of E. D. Hirsch, as a form of ethics for Wayne Booth, as a rhetoric of persuasion in the books of Stanley Fish. For Paul de Man, Rooney argues, pluralism was a rhetoric of tropes just as it was, for Fredric Jameson, a form of politics.
See Your Way to Mindfulness: Ideas and Inspiration to Open Your I
by David SchillerSeeing, really seeing, is like meditation. In a world filled with distraction, seeing mindfully is a way to pay attention, to hit pause and find calm by focusing on what’s directly in front of us. See Your Way to Mindfulness is a gift book of inspiration and instruction to help readers open their eyes—and their “I’s.” <P><P>Written by David Schiller, author of the national bestseller The Little Zen Companion, it’s a collection of quotes, prompts, exercises, meditations—married with photographs and drawings that bring the words to life. The quotes are from artists, Buddhists, philosophers, poets, and more, all centered on the theme of how “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes” (Marcel Proust). <P>The short, playful exercises and prompts—like Seeing in the Rain, Eye Spy with My Open I, Spend 30 Minutes Taking a Five-Minute Walk, Get Lost—are designed to disrupt routine and inspire readers to see for themselves. Some of the exercises involve drawing, writing, and taking photographs, opening a path to creativity as well as showing how to engage in the moment. <P>Think of it as the Zen of seeing—a new way to look at the world afresh and rediscover joy in the everyday.
Seeing Both Sides: Classic Controversies in Abnormal Psychology
by Scott O. LilienfeldAbnormal psychology is an enormously exciting, and yet at times greatly frustrating, discipline. What often makes the study of abnormal psychology frustrating to students is the multiplicity of opposing viewpoints on so many of the issues that occupy this field's center stage.
Seeing Double
by Raymond GeussThe world is never going to make complete sense to us, yet we find that conclusion almost impossible to accept. Can we live, and feel at home, in a world composed at best of incompatible fragments of meaning?This is the theme that runs through this collection of essays by Raymond Geuss. Drawing on a characteristically wide range of insights from moral and political philosophy, history, and aesthetics, he addresses topics such as knowledge (of self, the world, and others), language, the visual and the auditory, authority, hope, and the success and failure of life projects. He argues that, to get by in our bewildering world, we must embrace the virtue of ‘double vision’: that is, immersing ourselves in and learning the ways of the culture surrounding us, even as we feel alienated from it. Together the essays explore some of the consequences of abandoning the idea of a unitary view of the world, while at the same time trying to avoid quietism.Seeing Double is a compelling collection of work by one of the world’s most versatile and creative philosophers.
Seeing Green: The Use and Abuse of American Environmental Images
by Finis DunawayThis “smart, highly readable book” examines how the iconography of environmentalism has help shape—and limit—popular discourse (American Studies).American environmentalism is defined by its icons: from the “Crying Indian” who shed a tear over litter to Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth. These kinds of images helped make environmental consciousness central to American culture. And yet these same images obscured critical environmental truths. Finis Dunaway examines this dual role in Seeing Green.Considering a wide array of images—from print magazines and television news to political posters and even cartoons—Dunaway shows how popular environmentalism has been entwined with mass media spectacles of crisis. He focuses on key moments in which media images provoked environmental anxiety while prescribing limited forms of action. Moreover, he shows how the media blamed individual consumers for environmental degradation and thus deflected attention from corporate and government responsibility.Ultimately, Dunaway argues, iconic images have impeded efforts to realize—or even imagine—sustainable visions of the future. Generously illustrated, this innovative book examines both the history of environmentalism and the power of the media to shape our politics.
Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: Expanded Edition
by Lawrence WechslerWhen this book first appeared in 1982, it introduced readers to Robert Irwin, the Los Angeles artist "who one day got hooked on his own curiosity and decided to live it." Now expanded to include six additional chapters and twenty-four pages of color plates, Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees chronicles three decades of conversation between Lawrence Weschler and light and space master Irwin. It surveys many of Irwin's site-conditioned projects—in particular the Central Gardens at the Getty Museum (the subject of an epic battle with the site's principal architect, Richard Meier) and the design that transformed an abandoned Hudson Valley factory into Dia's new Beacon campus—enhancing what many had already considered the best book ever on an artist.
Seeing Opera Anew: A Cultural and Biological Perspective
by Joseph ConeWhat people ultimately want from opera, audience research suggests, is to be absorbed in a story that engages their feelings, even moves them deeply, and that may lead them to insights about life and, perhaps, themselves. How and why can this combination of music and drama do that? What causes people to be moved by opera? How is it that people may become more informed about living and their own lives? Seeing Opera Anew addresses these fundamental questions. Most approaches to opera present information solely from the humanities, providing musical, literary, and historical interpretations, but this book offers a “stereo” perspective, adding insights from the sciences closely related to human life, including evolutionary biology, psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience. It can be hoped that academic specialists less familiar with the science will find points of interest in this book’s novel approach, and that open-minded students and inquisitive opera-goers will be stimulated by its “cultural and biological perspective.”
Seeing Red: A Study in Consciousness (Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative)
by Nicholas Humphrey“A brilliantly inventive account of the evolution of consciousness, the best yet” (Paul Broks, Prospect).“Consciousness matters. Arguably it matters more than anything. The purpose of this book is to build towards an explanation of just what the matter is.” Nicholas Humphrey begins this compelling exploration of the biggest of big questions with a challenge to the reader, and himself. What’s involved in “seeing red”? What is it like for us to see someone else seeing something red?Seeing a red screen tells us a fact about something in the world. But it also creates a new fact—a sensation in each of our minds, the feeling of redness. And that’s the mystery. Conventional science so far hasn’t told us what conscious sensations are made of, or how we get access to them, or why we have them at all. From an evolutionary perspective, what’s the point of consciousness? Humphrey offers a daring and novel solution, arguing that sensations are not things that happen to us, they are things we do—originating in our primordial ancestors’ expressions of liking or disgust. Tracing the evolutionary trajectory through to human beings, he shows how this has led to sensations playing the key role in the human sense of Self.The Self, as we now know it from within, seems to have fascinating other-worldly properties. It leads us to believe in mind-body duality and the existence of a soul. And such beliefs—even if mistaken—can be highly adaptive, because they increase the value we place on our own and others’ lives. “Consciousness matters,” Humphrey concludes with striking paradox, “because it is its function to matter. It has been designed to create in human beings a Self whose life is worth pursuing.”Praise for Seeing Red“A wonderful amalgam of science, philosophy, and art. [Seeing Red] is based on deep knowledge of visual processing by the brain and poetic understanding of human experience. This is a remarkable achievement.” —Richard Gregory, Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychology, University of Bristol, and editor of The Oxford Companion to the Mind“A brief, brilliant, and wonderfully lucid contribution to consciousness studies. By combining empirical scientific method, evolutionary theory, and a sensitive appreciation of the arts, Nicholas Humphrey argues plausibly that the “hard problem” of consciousness—the difficulty of explaining the connection between the material brain and the phenomenon of individual selfhood—may itself be the answer to a bigger question: what makes us human?”—David Lodge, author of Consciousness and the Novel: Connected Essays“Illustrating his argument with the musings of poets and painters, Humphrey stylishly inspires curiosity about consciousness.” —Gilbert Taylor, Booklist
Seeing Silence
by Mark C. Taylor“To hear silence is to find stillness in the midst of the restlessness that makes creative life possible and the inescapability of death acceptable.” So writes Mark C. Taylor in his latest book, a philosophy of silence for our nervous, chattering age. How do we find silence—and more importantly, how do we understand it—amid the incessant buzz of the networks that enmesh us? Have we forgotten how to listen to each other, to recognize the virtues of modesty and reticence, and to appreciate the resonance of silence? Are we less prepared than ever for the ultimate silence that awaits us all? Taylor wants us to pause long enough to hear what is not said and to attend to what remains unsayable. In his account, our way to hearing silence is, paradoxically, to see it. He explores the many variations of silence by considering the work of leading modern and postmodern visual artists, including Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, James Turrell, and Anish Kapoor. Developing the insights of philosophers, theologians, writers, and composers, Taylor weaves a rich narrative modeled on the Stations of the Cross. His chapter titles suggest our positions toward silence: Without. Before. From. Beyond. Against. Within. Between. Toward. Around. With. In. Recasting Hegel’s phenomenology of spirit and Kierkegaard’s stages on life’s way, Taylor translates the traditional Via Dolorosa into a Nietzschean Via Jubilosa that affirms light in the midst of darkness. Seeing Silence is a thoughtful meditation that invites readers to linger long enough to see silence, and, in this way, perhaps to hear once again the wordless Word that once was named “God.”
Seeing Style: How Style Orients Phenopractices across Action, Media, Space, and Time (Beiträge zur Praxeologie / Contributions to Praxeology)
by Niklas WoermannHow do social practices prefigure experiences, and how does embodied experience organize the performance of practices? This book suggests that the classic concept of style offers a fresh answer to the question how doings and sayings are linked into practice bundles. Based on a rich ethnographic study of the visual practices of the German-speaking freeskiing subculture, this work develops a theory of phenopractices, or embodied cultural practices dedicated to apprehending and expressing style. Focusing on the visual dimension, it extends the thought of Garfinkel and Schatzki using recent insights from science and technology studies and research at the intersection of neuroscience and phenomenology. This offers a new perspective on fundamental practice-theoretical questions about the nature of practice elements, social order in the context of rules and regularity, or action and practical intelligibility. Each chapter discusses and develops foundational concepts such as time, space, action, emotion, or perception based on an analysis of freeskiing practices such as planning a route in the backcountry, testing a new ski model, or judging freestyle contests. The central argument is that cultural styles of conduct are not only symbolic structures, but a functional resource which organizes situational intelligibility and thus enables social order based on aligned and managed embodied routines. Because the stabilization, dissemination, and evolution of such styles happens via different media, practice change is primarily influenced by media rather than symbolic, rational, or functional needs or ends. A rich ethnography and provocative theoretical argument of interest to anyone working on contemporary practice thought, advancing phenomenology, the sociology of vision, lifestyle sports, media, or practice evolution.
Seeing Through the Veil
by Suzanne Conklin AkbariDuring the later Middle Ages, new optical theories were introduced that located the power of sight not in the seeing subject, but in the passive object of vision. This shift had a powerful impact not only on medieval science but also on theories of knowledge, and this changing relationship of vision and knowledge was a crucial element in late medieval religious devotion. In Seeing through the Veil, Suzanne Conklin Akbari examines several late medieval allegories in the context of contemporary paradigm shifts in scientific and philosophical theories of vision.After a survey on the genre of allegory and an overview of medieval optical theories, Akbari delves into more detailed studies of several medieval literary works, including the Roman de la Rose, Dante's Vita Nuova, Convivio, and Commedia, and Chaucer's dream visions and Canterbury Tales. The final chapter, 'Division and Darkness,' centres on the legacy of allegory in the fifteenth century. Offering a new interdisciplinary, synthetic approach to late medieval intellectual history and to major works within the medieval literary canon, Seeing through the Veil will be an essential resource to the study of medieval literature and culture, as well as philosophy, history of art, and history of science.
Seeing and Believing: Religion, Digital Visual Culture, and Social Justice
by Ellen T. ArmourSocial media platforms are often denounced as “bubbles” or “echo chambers.” In this view, what we see tends to reinforce what we already believe, and what we already believe shapes what we see. Yet social movements such as Black Lives Matter rely heavily on the widespread dissemination of digital photographs and videos through social media. In at least some cases, visual images can challenge normative and normalized ways of grasping the world and prompt their viewers to see differently—and even bring people together.Seeing and Believing marshals religious resources to recast the significance of digital images in the struggle for social justice. Ellen T. Armour examines what distinguishes digital photography from its analogue predecessor and places the circulation of digital images in the broader context of virtual visual cultures. She explores the challenges and opportunities that visually saturated social media landscapes present for users and organizers. Despite the power of digital platforms and algorithms, possibilities for disruption and resistance emerge from how people engage with these systems. Armour offers ways of seeing drawn from Christianity and found in other religious traditions to help us break with entrenched habits and rethink how we engage with the images that grab our attention. Developing theological perspectives on the power and peril of photography and technology, Seeing and Believing provides suggestions for navigating the new media landscape that can spark what Armour calls “photographic insurrection.”
Seeing as Practice: Philosophical Investigations into the Relation Between Sight and Insight (Performance Philosophy)
by Eva SchuermannThis study provides an overview of philosophical questions relating to sight and vision. It discusses the intertwinement of seeing and ways of seeing against the background of an entirely different theoretical framework.Seeing is both a proven means of acquiring information and a personality-specific way of disclosing the apparent, perceptible world, conditioned by individual and cultural variations. In a peculiar way, the eye holds a middle position between inside and outside of the self and its relations towards itself and others. This book provides a way out of false alternatives by offering a third way with reference to concrete cases of aesthetical and ethical experiences. It will be of particular interest to scholars of the phenomenology and philosophy of perception and it will be valuable to students of philosophy, cultural studies and art.
Seeing the Light
by Wanda TeaysSeeing the Light: Exploring Ethics Through Movies is an engaging and innovative approach to the study of philosophy and the development of moral reasoning skills. Features broad coverage of topics in ethics and moral reasoningOffers an innovative and imaginative approach to showing relevance of movies for ethical reflectionDraws on a diverse selection of popular movies, foreign films, and documentaries to illustrate ethical dilemmas and character development on the big screen that has application to our livesPresents coverage of major ethical theories ranging from Ethical Egoism and Cultural Relativism to Utilitarianism, Kantian Ethics, Rawls' Justice Theory, Aristotle's Virtue Ethics, and Feminist Ethics Demonstrates how film is a powerful vehicle for sharpening skills in analysis and moral reasoningIncludes accompanying website
Seeing the Supernatural: Investigating Angels, Demons, Mystical Dreams, Near-Death Encounters, and Other Mysteries of the Unseen World
by Lee StrobelNow a New York Times bestseller, discover solid answers to the provocative questions you&’ve been asking about the supernatural world through the investigative work of a former spiritual skeptic.We hear stories all the time about the supernatural--miraculous healings, unexplained sightings, near-death experiences--but how do we know what is real? Are rumors of spiritual beings, healings, and prophetic dreams dangerous deceptions, or is there something important for us to explore? Join investigative journalist and former atheist Lee Strobel as he examines the evidence and considers how we should think about the unseen world--and the God who made and rules over it.As the bestselling author of the popular Case For series, which has sold millions of copies, Lee Strobel has interviewed some of the most brilliant scientists and philosophical thinkers in the world on topics of apologetics and faith. In Seeing the Supernatural, Lee weaves together his best material from several previous books with dynamic new and never-published interviews to investigate what the Bible really teaches about the unseen world.As he asks scholars the very questions you have about otherworldly experiences, Lee will help you:Better understand how God chooses to work in the fascinating supernatural realm--and why it is importantAvoid common mistakes people make, including both ignoring the supernatural and becoming obsessed with itHave answers ready for when you face objections or deceptions that are common in a world of supernatural counterfeitsDraw closer to God as you catch glimpses of his power and glory in ways you don't typically experience Written for skeptics and believers alike, Seeing the Supernatural is a transformative exploration of how the supernatural can shape our understanding of God's character and our own faith.
Seeing with Free Eyes: The Poetic Justice of Euripides (SUNY series in Ancient Greek Philosophy)
by Marlene K. SokolonResponding to Plato's challenge to defend the political thought of poetic sources, Marlene K. Sokolon explores Euripides's understanding of justice in nine of his surviving tragedies. Drawing on Greek mythological stories, Euripides examines several competing ideas of justice, from the ancient ethic of helping friends and harming enemies to justice as merit and relativist views of might makes right. Reflecting Dionysus, the paradoxical god of Greek theater, Euripides reveals the human experience of understanding justice to be limited, multifaceted, and contradictory. His approach underscores the value of understanding justice not only as a rational idea or theory, but also as an integral part of the continuous and unfinished dialogue of political community. As the first book devoted to Euripidean justice, Seeing with Free Eyes adds to the growing interest in how citizens in democracies use storytelling genres to think about important political questions, such as "What is justice?"
Seeing with the Hands: Blindness, Vision and Touch After Descartes (Edinburgh University Press)
by Mark PatersonDrawing upon the writings of Descartes, Voltaire, Locke and others, the author reflects upon the philosophical understanding of blindness and what it suggests about the nature of perception. Central to the discussion is the Molyneux Question first posed in 1688: "Suppose a man born blind, and now adult, and taught by his touch to distinguish between a cube and a sphere of the same metal, ... and the blind man be made to see: whether by his sight before he touched them, could he now tell which is the globe and which the cube?" Patterson discusses cases of people blind from early in life who have had vision restored through surgery, and explores the similarities and differences between visual and tactile perception. The final chapter examines the autobiographical writings of blind authors including Helen Keller, John Hull, and Georgina Kleege, and how such works are understood by sighted readers.
Seeking Perfection: A Dialogue About the Mind, the Soul, and What it Means to be Human
by Matt J. Rossano"How would Socrates and Plato react to a modern world where secularism and religious fundamentalism are growing while the gap between the human mind and animal mind is narrowing? Using some creative license mixed with real history, science, and philosophy, Seeking Perfection addresses that question. Matt J. Rossano uses a narrative/dialogue format to superimpose on modern times ancient Greece's two most eminent philosophers, along with its government and culture.The story begins with Plato's daring escape from Sicily, where he tutored Dionysius II in philosophy. On board his homebound ship, Plato recounts his experiences in Sicily. In this narrative, the intellectual difference between practical rewards and the pursuit of ideals provides the basis for a series of dialogue on science, secularism, religion, and the uniqueness of the human mind.Upon the ship's arrival home, Plato's mentor, Socrates, is arrested and his trial provides the venue for the book's final dialogue. The final dialogue serves as a counterweight to the earlier ones. Rossano begins and ends with a philosopher imprisoned by his views, indicative of one of its main messages: the true philosopher uses a well-disciplined mind and the best knowledge of the day to get as close to the truth as possible. In doing so, he invariably gets into trouble. This imaginatively constructed tale will absorb those interested in what the philosophical masters might say about today's world."
Seeking Wisdom: A Spiritual Manifesto
by Larry CullifordA skilled physician and psychiatrist has turned his gifted attention to the ailments of society. Where is humanity heading, towards misery and destruction or a far more glorious future? How can we as individuals make a difference? These are among the most timely questions addressed by this boldly reasoned Spiritual Manifesto. Part 1 (Rationale) examines the human predicament in terms of both intellectual understanding, and spiritual experiences that are both deeply personal and universal. Progress towards wisdom and maturity occurs in recognizable stages involving not despair but growth in the face of inevitable misfortune, threats and losses as life proceeds. Healthy grieving allows emotional pain to be healed through a reliable natural process, comparable to the healing of wounds. Part 2 (Commentary) follows, offering incisive and coherent remarks on Politics, Leadership, Religion, Education, Health, Mental Health and Social Care, and Capitalism Economics, Banking and Business , highlighting especially a correctable imbalance between rational, left-brain dominated, worldly attitudes and ambitions, and intuitive, right-brain derived, spiritual values. Part 3 (Seeking Wisdom) continues seamlessly, revealing a simple, constructive way forward, recommending personal Spiritual Development Plans (SDPs) that reduce the destructive power of the false everyday ego , and increase the highly beneficial influence of the true spiritual self. Wisdom, compassion and love are thus restored to primacy above more worldly, self-orientated, materialistic aims and attachments like power, fame and possessions. In this way, generation by generation, society itself will evolve. Whenever one individual commits to Seeking Wisdom, the future for all is improved.
Seeking the Perfect World: A Critical Discussion of Global Challenges for the Bright and Curious
by Karem RoitmanConsider this book your invitation to the most exciting party of the century. We have invited you and some of the greatest minds of our species to dance, share cake, and ponder the age-old question: how can we make our world better? Seeking the Perfect World guides readers through thoughtful discussions of twenty-first-century challenges while providing everything needed to critically engage with current events and personal dilemmas.This book explores topics humans have discussed for centuries … and more recent developments. We discuss what is human nature, why humans go to war, international relations, education, animal rights, transhumanism, artificial intelligence, and more! Chapters introduce readers to different philosophies (and philosophers) and prompt nuanced reasoning via Socratic questions and thought experiments. Not only will this book enable readers to understand the complexities of some of the most pressing global challenges, but it will also provide a grounding on philosophical, sociological, and economic thinking and ideas.Whether you are dipping your toes into philosophy for the first time, or you are a bright, curious teen seeking interesting conversations on the current events and global challenges, or a parent seeking ways to discuss difficult topics with your child – this book will provide you with the language and strategies needed to understand your own views and feelings while engaging in civic discourse. Come chat with philosophers, challenge your critical thinking, and expand your understanding of our world: past, present, and future.
Seeking the Truth of Things: Confessions of a (Catholic) Philosopher
by Al GiniFar too many people think philosophy is an intellectual exercise that is beyond them, over their heads, or an intellectual waste of time. In Seeking the Truth of Things, Gini attempts to reestablish philosophy at the center and not the periphery of the public square by relating bits of wisdom that are both manageable yet imaginative and flavorful enough to entice and satisfy readers without ever overwhelming them.Known for his books on practical philosophy, such as The Importance of Being Lazy: In Praise of Play, Leisure, and Vacations and Why It's Hard to Be Good, Gini is a philosopher who writes for real people about things they actually care about, such as the meaning of work, moral courage, choice, sin, laughter, and leisure. In Seeking the Truth of Things, he explores his lifelong quest for wisdom. Part memoir, part introduction to key philosophical concepts, this book exposes the profound concerns that make us human in the context of real life.
Seeming & Being in Plato’s Rhetorical Theory
by Robin ReamesThe widespread understanding of language in the West is that it represents the world. This view, however, has not always been commonplace. In fact, it is a theory of language conceived by Plato, culminating in The Sophist. In that dialogue Plato introduced the idea of statements as being either true or false, where the distinction between falsity and truth rests on a deeper discrepancy between appearance and reality, or seeming and being. Robin Reames’s Seeming & Being in Plato’s Rhetorical Theory marks a shift in Plato scholarship. Reames argues that an appropriate understanding of rhetorical theory in Plato’s dialogues illuminates how he developed the technical vocabulary needed to construct the very distinctions between seeming and being that separate true from false speech. By engaging with three key movements of twentieth- and twenty-first-century Plato scholarship—the rise and subsequent marginalization of “orality and literacy theory,” Heidegger’s controversial critique of Platonist metaphysics, and the influence of literary or dramatic readings of the dialogues—Reames demonstrates how the development of Plato’s rhetorical theory across several of his dialogues (Gorgias, Phaedrus, Protagoras, Theaetetus, Cratylus, Republic, and Sophist) has been both neglected and misunderstood.
Seemings and Epistemic Justification: How Appearances Justify Beliefs (SpringerBriefs in Philosophy)
by Luca MorettiThis book examines phenomenal conservatism, one of the most influential and promising internalist conceptions of non-inferential justification debated in current epistemology and philosophy of mind. It also explores the significance of the findings of this examination for the general debate on epistemic justification. According to phenomenal conservatism, non-inferential justification rests on seemings or appearances, conceived of as experiences provided with propositional content. Phenomenal conservatism states that if it appears to S that P, in the absence of defeaters, S thereby has some justification for believing that P. This view provides the basis for foundationalism and many ordinary epistemic practices.This book sheds new light on phenomenal conservatism by assessing objections to it and examining epistemological merits and advantages attributed to it. In a nutshell, phenomenal conservatism is actually compatible with Bayesian reasoning, and it is unaffected by bootstrapping problems and challenges that appeal to the cognitive penetrability of perception. Nevertheless, appearance-based justification proves unstable or elusive and its anti-septical bite is more limited than expected. These difficulties could be surmounted if phenomenal conservatism were integrated with a theory of inferential justification. The book appeals to scholars and postgraduates in the field of epistemology and philosophy of mind who are interested in the rational roles of appearances.
Seemings and the Foundations of Justification: A Defense of Phenomenal Conservatism (Routledge Studies in Epistemology)
by Blake McAllisterAll justified beliefs ultimately rest on attitudes that are immediately justified. This book illuminates the nature of immediate justification and the states that provide it. Simply put, immediate justification arises from how things appear to us—from all and only our "seemings." The author defends each aspect of this "seemings foundationalism," including the assumption of foundationalism itself. Most notably, the author draws from common sense philosopher Thomas Reid to present new and improved arguments for phenomenal conservatism and gives the first systematic argument that seemings alone are capable of immediately justifying. The discussion delves deeply into the nature of seemings and how it is that their assertive phenomenal character makes them (and them alone) capable of immediately justifying. Along the way, the author makes novel contributions to perennial debates such as: internalism versus externalism, deontologism and epistemic blame, epistemic circularity, and the common sense response to skepticism. Seemings and the Foundations of Justification will appeal to scholars and advanced students interested in epistemology, Thomas Reid, or the common sense tradition.
Seemings: New Arguments, New Angles (Routledge Studies in Epistemology)
by Matthias Steup Kevin McCain Scott StaplefordThis volume presents new research on the epistemology of seemings. It features original essays by leading epistemologists on the nature and epistemic import of seemings and intuitions. Seemings and intuitions are often appealed to in philosophical theorizing. In fact, epistemological theories such as phenomenal conservatism and dogmatism give pride of place to seemings. Such views insist that seemings are of central importance to theories of epistemic justification. However, there are many questions about seemings that have yet to be answered satisfactorily. What kinds of seemings are there? How do seemings justify? Are seemings connected to truth? Do they play a significant role in inquiry? The chapters in this volume offer a range of useful arguments and fresh ideas about seemings, the nature of justification and evidential support, intuitions, inquiry, and the nature of inference. Seemings: New Arguments, New Angles will be of interest to researchers and advanced students working in epistemology and philosophy of mind.