Metaphysics of Explanation. An Inquiry Into the Nature and Philosophical Limits of Explanation
| Author: | Whitaker, Campbell | |
| Year: | 2004 | |
| Pages: | 508 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-6406-9 978-0-7734-6406-3 | |
| Price: | $299.95 + shipping | |
| (Click the PayPal button to buy) | ||
This study also contains a detailed review and analysis of theories of divine creation and their relation to theories of scientific cosmology. There are exhaustive analyses of arguments for the spatial and temporal extent of the world as a whole. There is a careful and extensive consideration of the various meanings which have been attached to the term “space” by both scientific as well as metaphysical thinkers, and important distinctions between the major concepts of space that have been hopelessly confused in most treatments. Last but not least, there are interesting and novel analyses of concepts of the spiritual and the noumenon.
Reviews
“Dr. Whitaker has brought together in a remarkably coherent critical study the leading views of philosophical theories of explanation shedding new light on the questions that pertain to the limits of answerability. The results of his careful investigations are at once fresh and impressive as contributions to the logic of explanation. The exposition is noted for its clarity and praiseworthy as thorough study of the vital issues in this domain of research. As a study of the logic of explanation it extends in many fruitful and novel ways the analytic approach to the tradition of pragmatism.” - John P. Anton, University of South Florida
“This is a thorough and systematic examination of some of the most important and difficult philosophical problems in (and about) the world. Its greatest strength is the way it interweaves an understanding and appreciation of the grand theories of the traditional philosophers with the technical and analytic virtues of contemporary Anglo-American philosophy. Whitaker is to be commended for taking on some of the most challenging issues we have and dealing with them in a clear and exciting way. The discussions of the unrestricted question of existence (Why is there something rather than nothing?) and of contemporary issues in scientific cosmology are especially valuable to and should be included in the education of any serious student of philosophy.” - Roy Weatherford, University of South Florida
“This is a thorough and systematic examination of some of the most important and difficult philosophical problems in (and about) the world. Its greatest strength is the way it interweaves an understanding and appreciation of the grand theories of the traditional philosophers with the technical and analytic virtues of contemporary Anglo-American philosophy. Whitaker is to be commended for taking on some of the most challenging issues we have and dealing with them in a clear and exciting way. The discussions of the unrestricted question of existence (Why is there something rather than nothing?) and of contemporary issues in scientific cosmology are especially valuable to and should be included in the education of any serious student of philosophy.” - Roy Weatherford, University of South Florida
Table of Contents
Table of Contents:
Preface, Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The Question of Existence and the Concept of Explanation
2. Total Explanation and the Concept of Necessary Being
3. Axiarchism, Explanatory Self-Subsumption, The Universe, and Absolute Nothing
4. The Question of the World: Cosmology and Creation
5. The Finite World
6. The Infinite World
Appendices
Index
Bibliography
Preface, Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The Question of Existence and the Concept of Explanation
2. Total Explanation and the Concept of Necessary Being
3. Axiarchism, Explanatory Self-Subsumption, The Universe, and Absolute Nothing
4. The Question of the World: Cosmology and Creation
5. The Finite World
6. The Infinite World
Appendices
Index
Bibliography