Modality, Morality and Belief: Essays in Honor of Ruth Barcan Marcus

by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Diana Raffman, Nicholas Asher

Overview

Modality, morality and belief are among the most controversial topics in philosophy today, and few philosophers have shaped these debates as deeply as Ruth Barcan Marcus. Inspired by her work, a distinguished group of philosophers explore these issues, refine and sharpen arguments and develop new positions on such topics as possible worlds, moral dilemmas, essentialism, and the explanation of actions by beliefs. Together, this collection honors one of the most rigorous and iconoclastic of philosophical pioneers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521440820
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/27/1995
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	290
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.98(d)

Table of Contents

Part I. Modality: 1. Ruth Barcan Marcus and the Barcan Formula Terence Parsons; 2. The interaction of modality with quantification and identity Robert Stalnaker; 3. S1 is not so simple Maxwell J. Cresswell; 4. A problem in possible-world semantics David Kaplan; 5. Senses of essence Kit Fine; 6. Structuralism and the concept of set Charles Parsons; 7. The Kant-Frege-Russell view of existence David Wiggins; Part II. Morality: 8. Moral dilemmas revisited Philippa Foot; 9. Perspectival Guilt Patricia S. Greenspan; 10. Instigating the unpredisposed Joel Feinberg; 11. Marcus and the problem of nested deontic modalities Nuel Belnap and Paul Bartha; Part III. Belief: 12. Pierre, Saul, Ruth and Bob and a puzzle about belief Robert J. Fogelin; 13. Closure and consistency Issac Levi; 14. De Re Belief, action explanations and the essential indexical Ernest Sosa; 15. T-sentences Scott Soames.

Editorial Reviews

"In an intersting and wide-ranging discussion, Parsons surveys various explanations and justifications provided by mathematicians and philosophers, concluding that ontological features do not play an essential role in the development of ZF, and need not be taken to be part of the literal truth about sets." Philip Bricker, Journal of Symbolic Logic

From the Publisher