Beyond Red and Blue: How Twelve Political Philosophies Shape American Debates (The MIT Press)

A new program of philosophical analysis that reconciles a certain account of analysis when philosophical naturalism is applied to a range of philosophical issues.Many philosophical naturalists eschew analysis in favor of discovering metaphysical truths from the a posteriori, contending that analysis does not lead to philosophical insight. A countercurrent to this approach seeks to reconcile a certain account of conceptual analysis with philosophical naturalism; prominent and influential proponents of this methodology include the late David Lewis, Frank Jackson, Michael Smith, Philip Pettit, and David Armstrong. Naturalistic analysis (sometimes known as "the Canberra Plan" because many of its proponents have been associated with Australian National University in Canberra) is a tool for locating in the scientifically given world objects and properties we quantify over in everyday discourse.This collection gathers work from a range of prominent philosophers who are working within this tradition, offering important new work as well as critical evaluations of the methodology. Its centerpiece is an important posthumous paper by David Lewis, "Ramseyan Humility," published here for the first time. The contributors first address issues of philosophy of mind, semantics, and the new methodology's a priori character, then turn to matters of metaphysics, and finally consider problems regarding normativity.Conceptual Analysis and Philosophical Naturalism is one of the first efforts to apply this approach to such a wide range of philosophical issues. Contributors include David Braddon-Mitchell, Mark Colyvan, Frank Jackson, Justine Kingsbury, Fred Kroon, David Lewis, Dustin Locke, Kelby Mason, Jonathan McKeown-Green, Peter Menzies, Robert Nola, Daniel Nolan, Philip Pettit, Huw Price, Denis Robinson, Steve Stich, Daniel Stoljar A new program of philosophical analysis that reconciles a certain account of analysis with philosophical naturalism is applied to a range of philosophical issues.Many philosophical naturalists eschew analysis in favor of discovering metaphysical truths from the a posteriori, contending that analysis does not lead to philosophical insight. A countercurrent to this approach seeks to reconcile a certain account of conceptual analysis with philosophical naturalism; prominent and influential proponents of this methodology include the late David Lewis, Frank Jackson, Michael Smith, Philip Pettit, and David Armstrong. Naturalistic analysis (sometimes known as “the Canberra Plan” because many of its proponents have been associated with Australian National University in Canberra) is a tool for locating in the scientifically given world objects and properties we quantify over in everyday discourse. This collection gathers work from a range of prominent philosophers who are working within this tradition, offering important new work as well as critical evaluations of the methodology. Its centerpiece is an important posthumous paper by David Lewis, “Ramseyan Humility,” published here for the first time. The contributors first address issues of philosophy of mind, semantics, and the new methodology's a priori character, then turn to matters of metaphysics, and finally consider problems regarding normativity. Conceptual Analysis and Philosophical Naturalism is one of the first efforts to apply this approach to such a wide range of philosophical issues.ContributorsDavid Braddon-Mitchell, Mark Colyvan, Frank Jackson, Justine Kingsbury, Fred Kroon, David Lewis, Dustin Locke, Kelby Mason, Jonathan McKeown-Green, Peter Menzies, Robert Nola, Daniel Nolan, Philip Pettit, Huw Price, Denis Robinson, Steve Stich, Daniel Stoljar Why Americans do not divide neatly into red and blue or right and left but form coalitions across party lines on hot-button issues ranging from immigration to same-sex marriage. On any given night cable TV news will tell us how polarized American politics Republicans are from Mars, Democrats are from Canada. But in fact, writes Peter Wenz in Beyond Red and Blue , Americans do not divide neatly into two ideological camps of red/blue, Republican/Democrat, right/left. In real life, as Wenz shows, different ideologies can converge on certain issues; people from the right and left can support the same policy for different reasons. Thus, for example, libertarian-leaning Republicans can oppose the Patriot Act's encroachment on personal freedom and social conservatives can support gay marriage on the grounds that it strengthens the institution of marriage. Wenz maps out twelve political philosophies--ranging from theocracy and free-market conservatism to feminism and cosmopolitanism--on which Americans draw when taking political positions. He then turns his focus to some of America's most controversial issues and shows how ideologically diverse coalitions can emerge on such hot-button topics as extending life by artificial means, the war on drugs, the war on terrorism, affirmative action, abortion, same-sex marriage, health care, immigration, and globalization. Awareness of these twelve political philosophies, Wenz argues, can help activists enlist allies, citizens better understand politics and elections, and all of us define our own political identities. Why Americans do not divide neatly into red and blue or right and left but form coalitions across party lines on hot-button issues ranging from immigration to same-sex marriage.On any given night cable TV news will tell us how polarized American politics is: Republicans are from Mars, Democrats are from Canada. But in fact, writes Peter Wenz in Beyond Red and Blue, Americans do not divide neatly into two ideological camps of red/blue, Republican/Democrat, right/left. In real life, as Wenz shows, different ideologies can converge on certain issues; people from the right and left can support the same policy for different reasons. Thus, for example, libertarian-leaning Republicans can oppose the Patriot Act's encroachment on personal freedom and social conservatives can support gay marriage on the grounds that it strengthens the institution of marriage.Wenz maps out twelve political philosophies—ranging from theocracy and free-market conservatism to feminism and cosmopolitanism—on which Americans draw when taking political positions. He then turns his focus to some of America's most controversial issues and shows how ideologically diverse coalitions can emerge on such hot-button topics as extending life by artificial means, the war on drugs, the war on terrorism, affirmative action, abortion, same-sex marriage, health care, immigration, and globalization.Awareness of these twelve political philosophies, Wenz argues, can help activists enlist allies, citizens better understand politics and elections, and all of us define our own political identities. Introducing The Canberra Plan / David Braddon-mitchell And Robert Nola -- I: Mind, Concepts, And Theories -- Naturalistic Analysis And The A Priori / David Braddon-mitchell -- Folk Psychology And Tacit Theories : A Correspondence Between Frank Jackson And Steve Stich And Kelby Mason / Frank Jackson, Kelby Mason, And Steve Stich -- A Priori Biconditionals And Metaphysics / Frank Jackson -- The Argument From Revelation / Daniel Stoljar -- Names, Plans, And Descriptions / Fred Kroon -- Jackson's Armchair : The Only Chair In Town? / Justine Kingsbury And Jonathan Mckeown-green -- Is Semantics In The Plan? / Peter Menzies And Huw Price -- Ii: Metaphysics -- Ramseyan Humility / David Lewis -- A Partial Defense Of Ramseyan Humility / Dustin Locke -- Physicalism Without Pop-out / Philip Pettit -- Platitudes And Metaphysics / Daniel Nolan -- Iii: Normativity -- Naturalizing Normativity / Mark Colyvan -- Moral Functionalism, Ethical Quasi-relativism, And The Canberra Plan / Denis Robinson. Edited By David Braddon-mitchell And Robert Nola. A Bradford Book. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [349]-361) And Index. Wenz Maps Out Twelve Political Philosophies - Ranging From Theocracy And Free-market Conservatism To Feminism And Cosmopolitanism - On Which Americans Draw When Taking Political Positions. He Then Turns His Focus To Some Of America's Most Controversial Issues And, Through In-depth Discussions Of Fourteen Of Them, Shows How Ideologically Diverse Coalitions Can Emerge. These Hot-button Issues Include Extending Life By Artificial Means (as In The Terri Schiavo Case), The War On Drugs, The War On Terrorism, Affirmative Action, Abortion, Same-sex Marriage, Health Care, Immigration, And Globalization.--jacket. No Strange Bedfellows -- Pulling The Plug -- Physician-assisted Suicide -- The War On Drugs -- The War On Terrorism -- Affirmative Action -- Pornography, Child Pornography, And The Internet -- Abortion -- Homosexuality, Same-sex Marriage, And Polygamy -- Genetic Engineering And Designer Children -- Wages And Taxes -- Health Care In America -- Immigration -- Globalization. Peter S. Wenz. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [321]-352) And Index. Introducing the Canberra Plan Part I: Mind, concepts, and theories Naturalistic analysis and the A priori / David Braddon-Mitchell Folk psychology and tacit theories : a correspondence between Frank Jackson and Steve Stich and Kelby Mason / Frank Jackson, Kelby Mason, and Steve Stich A priori biconditionals and metaphysics / Frank Jackson The argument from revelation / Daniel Stoljar Names, plans, and descriptions / Fred Kroon Jackson's armchair : the only chair in town? / Jonathan McKeown-Green and Justine Kingsbury Is semantics in the plan? / Huw Price and Peter Menzies Part II: Metaphysics Ramseyan humility / David Lewis A partial defense of ramseyan humility / Dustin Locke Physicalism without pop-out / Philip Pettit Platitudes and metaphysics / Daniel Nolan Part III: Normativity Naturalising normativity / Mark Colyvan Moral functionalism, ethical quasi-relativism, and the Canberra Plan / Denis Robinson. This volume shows how the so-called 'Canberra Plan' of metaphysical research continues to inspire (and provoke) some of the most interesting work in modern metaphysics