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Philosophy of Statistical Mechanics
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2015-7-25 9:01)
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[Revised entry by Lawrence Sklar on July 24, 2015.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
Statistical mechanics was the first foundational physical theory in which probabilistic concepts and probabilistic explanation played a fundamental role. For the philosopher it provides a crucial test case in which to compare the philosophers' ideas about the meaning of probabilistic assertions and the role of probability in explanation with what actually goes on when probability enters a foundational physical theory. The account offered by statistical mechanics of the...
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Hartshorne: Biography and Psychology of Sensation
from Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2015-7-25 4:30)
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Charles Hartshorne: Biography and Psychology of Sensation Charles Hartshorne is widely regarded as having been an important figure in twentieth century metaphysics and philosophy of religion. His contributions are wide-ranging. He championed the aspirations of metaphysics when it was unfashionable, and the metaphysic he championed helped change some of the fashions of philosophy. He counted … Continue reading Hartshorne: Biography and Psychology of Sensation →
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Hartshorne Theistic and Anti-Theistic Arguments
from Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2015-7-25 3:10)
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Charles Hartshorne: Theistic and Anti-Theistic Arguments Charles Hartshorne is well known in philosophical circles for his rehabilitation of Anselm’s ontological argument. Indeed, he may have written more on that subject than any other philosopher. He considered it to be the argument that, more than any other, reveals the logical status of theism. Nevertheless, he always … Continue reading Hartshorne Theistic and Anti-Theistic Arguments →
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Medieval Theories of Conscience
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2015-7-24 9:48)
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[Revised entry by Douglas Langston on July 23, 2015.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
Through conscience and its related notion, synderesis, human beings discern what is right and wrong. While there are many medieval views about the nature of conscience, most views regard human beings as capable of knowing in general what ought to be done and applying this knowledge through conscience to particular decisions about action. The ability to act on the determinations of conscience is, moreover, tied to the development of the moral virtues, which in turn refines the...
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Walter Benjamin
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2015-7-23 11:16)
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[Revised entry by Peter Osborne and Matthew Charles on July 22, 2015.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
Walter Benjamin's importance as a philosopher and critical theorist can be gauged by the diversity of his intellectual influence and the continuing productivity of his thought. Primarily regarded as a literary critic and essayist, the philosophical basis of Benjamin's writings is increasingly acknowledged. They were a decisive influence upon Theodor W. Adorno's conception of philosophy's actuality or adequacy to the present (Adorno 1931). In the 1930s, Benjamin's efforts to develop a politically...
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Environmental Ethics
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2015-7-22 9:37)
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[Revised entry by Andrew Brennan and Yeuk-Sze Lo on July 21, 2015.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, biodiversity.html, theories-research.html]
Environmental ethics is the discipline in philosophy that studies the moral relationship of human beings to, and also the value and moral status of, the environment and its non-human contents. This entry covers: (1) the challenge of environmental ethics to the anthropocentrism (i.e., human-centeredness) embedded in traditional western ethical thinking; (2) the early development of the discipline in the 1960s and 1970s; (3) the connection of deep ecology, feminist environmental ethics, animism and social ecology to politics; (4) the...
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Medieval Mereology
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2015-7-19 9:15)
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[Revised entry by Andrew Arlig on July 18, 2015.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
The term "mereology" is sometimes used to refer to any one of the formal languages that describe the part-to-whole relation. In this article, I will use the term more broadly to refer to any theoretical study (formal or informal) of parts, wholes, and the relations (logical or metaphysical) that obtain between them. In what follows I will survey some of the ways that philosophers in the medieval Latin West thought about parts and wholes. (There is very...
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Moore's Moral Philosophy
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2015-7-19 8:10)
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[Revised entry by Thomas Hurka on July 18, 2015.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
G.E. Moore's Principia Ethica of 1903 is often considered a revolutionary work that set a new agenda for 20th-century ethics. This historical view is, however, overstated. In metaethics Moore's non-naturalist position was close to that defended by Henry Sidgwick and other late 19th-century philosophers such as Hastings Rashdall, Franz Brentano, and J.M.E. McTaggart; in normative ethics his ideal consequentialism likewise echoed views of Rashdall,...
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Reformed Epistemology
from Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2015-7-19 8:00)
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Reformed Epistemology Reformed epistemology is a thesis about the rationality of religious belief. A central claim made by the reformed epistemologist is that religious belief can be rational without any appeal to evidence or argument. There are, broadly speaking, two ways that reformed epistemologists support this claim. The first is to argue that there is … Continue reading Reformed Epistemology →
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Feminist Ethics and Narrative Ethics
from Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2015-7-19 6:59)
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Feminist Ethics and Narrative Ethics A narrative approach to ethics focuses on how stories that are told, written, or otherwise expressed by individuals and groups help to define and structure our moral universe.Specifically, narrative ethicists take the practices of storytelling, listening, and bearing empathetic, careful witness to these stories to be central to understanding and … Continue reading Feminist Ethics and Narrative Ethics →
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