Table of Contents
Introduction
Coercive Philosophy
Philosophical Explanations
Status of the Hypotheses
Explanation versus Proof
Philosophical Pluralism
METAPHYSICS
1. The Identity of the Self
I. Personal Identity Through Time
The Closest Continuer Theory
The Theory Applied
Overlap
Structuring Philosophical Concepts
Problem Cases
Ties and Caring
II. Reflexivity
Reflexive Self-Reference
Essence as a Self
How is Reflexive Self-Knowledge Possible?
Classification and Entification
Self-Synthesis
What Synthesis Explains
Unities and Wholes
The Self-Conception of the Self
Reflexive Caring
An Ontologically Solid Self?
2. Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
Explaining Everything
Inegalitarian Theories
Egalitarianism
Fecundity
Fecundity and Self-Subsumption
Ultimacy
The Principle of Sufficient Reason
How Are Laws Possible? Beyond
Mystical Experience
EPISTEMOLOGY
3. Knowledge and Skepticism
I. Knowledge
Conditions for Knowledge
Ways and Methods
Knowledge of Necessities
Cases and Complications
II. Skepticism
Skeptical Possibilities
Skeptical Results
Nonclosure
Skepticism and the Conditions for Knowledge
Narrower Skepticisms
Details of Nonclosure
Proof and the Transmission of Knowledge
Skepticism Revisited
Knowing That One Knows
III. Evidence
The Evidential Connection
Evidence Based on Probability
Inference Based on Probability
The Contingency of the Evidential Tie
Is There Evidence for Skepticism?
Knowledge, Evidence, and Justification
Evidence for the Evidential Relation
How the Regress Stops
Knowing Inside Out
What's So Special about Knowledge?
VALUE
4. Free Will
I. Choice and Indeterminism
Weigh(t)ing Reasons
Nonrandom Weighting
Understanding and Explaining Free Choices
Could One Have Bestowed Otherwise?
Why Free Will, and How
Is Free Will Valuable?
II. Deteminism and Aligning with Value
Tracking Bestness
How the Tracking Is Mediated
How Illuminating Is the Parallel?
Does Neurophysiological Reduction Undercut Tracking?
Does Sociobiology Undercut Tracking?
Acts in Equilibrium
Self-choosing
III. Retributive Punishment
A Framework for Retribution
A Rationale Is Needed
Retribution and Revenge
The Message of Retribution
Connecting with Correct Values
The Act Requirement
Flouting Correct Values
Retributive Contours
More on the r x H Structure
Offenders and the Law
Determinism and Punishment
5. Foundations of Ethics
I. Ethical Push
Glaucon's Challenge
Inconsistency and Motivation
The Moral Benefit
Leading the Most Valuable
Life
Intrinsic Value
Degree of Organic Unity
Value as Degree of Organic Unity
The Structure of Value
Conditions on Value and Disvalue
The Allure of Value
Explaining the Role of Organic Unity
Designing Value
Pluralism and Creativity
II. Ethical Pull
The Moral Basis
Seeking Value
Blocking Moral Avoidance
Moral Responsiveness
Responding and Anti-Responding
Responsive Interaction and Moral Principles
III. The Structure of Ethical Pull
Moral Complications and Moral Structures
The Simple Balancing Structure
Judgment in Ethics
The Complex Structure: Alternative Actions
Measurement of Moral Weight
The Complex Structure: Larger Courses of Action
Deontology and Teleology
Rights
IV. The Life of Value
Self-Improvement
Harmonious Hierarchical Development
Developing Self and Others
Flourishing
The Value of Valuers
Treating in Accordance with Value
Responsive Connection to Reality
Parity of Push and Pull
Does Push Cover Pull?
V. Fact and Value
Chasms
Ethical Explanation and Self-Subsumption
Kantian Structuring
VI. The Basis of Value
The Euthyphro Question
Nihilism, Realism, Idealism, Romanticism, and Realizationism
Choosing That There Be Value
The Relationship Between Fact and Value
6. Philosophy and the Meaning of Life
Modes of Meaning(fulness)
Death
Traces
God's Plan
Transcending Limits
The Unlimited
Meaning and Value
Philosophy as Part of the Humanities
Reductionism
Nonreductive Understanding
Philosophy as an Art Form
Notes
