Synopses & Reviews
The relation between common-sense belief and scientific theory is hotly debated in contemporary philosophy. The author gives an extended defense of ordinary belief and outlines its contents on the nature of reality, the soundness of ordinary language, and the existence of the mind and its relation to the body.
Synopsis
Sceptics raise doubts about our ability to have knowledge generally, and naturalists use scientific discoveries to question common-sense thinking about the world, language, and the mind. This book replies to these contentions, using a transcendental argument to show that everyday thought constitutes an interlocking system of concepts presupposed by all types of reasoning, including empirical science. Thus sceptics cannot question ordinary belief, or science challenge everyday thinking, without undermining their own legitimacy. In addition to replying to arguments by scientific naturalists in a number of areas, the book presents common-sense thought in detail about reality and the mind. It also considers the circumstances under which religious belief is justified. The result is a contemporary defense of our over-all conceptual scheme giving everyday thought a central place but also accommodating scientific and other forms of thinking.
About the Author
CHARLES CRITTENDEN is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at California State University, Northridge. He is the author of Unreality: The Metaphysics of Fictional Objects and articles on philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, social and political philosophy, and non-Western religion.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
A Transcendental Argument for Everyday Thought
Beginning to Talk About the World: Philosophical Requirements, Empirical Facts, and Expanding the Basic Framework
Objects and Nature
Reference and Natural Kinds
Having a Mental Life
Contemporary Theory of the Mental: Pains, Brains, and Consciousness
Thought: Computers and Varieties of Functionalism
The Mental and the Physical
Overviews, Overbeliefs, and a Final Survey
Index