Lewisian themes : the philosophy of David K. Lewis

David Lewis's untimely death on 14 October 2001 deprived the philosophical community of one of the outstanding philosophers of the 20th century. As many obituaries remarked, Lewis has an undeniable place in the history of analytical philosophy. His work defines much of the current agenda in metaphysics, philosophical logic, and the philosophy of mind and language. This volume, an expanded edition of a special issue of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy , covers many of the topics for which Lewis was well known, including possible worlds, counterpart theory, vagueness, knowledge, probability, essence, fiction, laws, conditionals, desire and belief, and truth. Many of the papers are by very established philosophers; others are by younger scholars including many he taught. The volume also includes Lewis's Jack Smart Lecture at the Australian National University, "How Many Lives has Schrdinger's Cat?," published here for the first time. Lewisian Themes will be an invaluable resource for anyone studying Lewis's work and a major contribution to the many topics that he mastered. How Many Lives Has Schrödinger's Cat? : The Jack Smart Lecture, Canberra, 27 June 2001 / David Lewis -- Counting The Holes / Roberto Casati & Achille C. Varzi -- Adequacy Conditions For Counterpart Theory / M.j. Cresswell -- Don't Forget About The Correspondence Theory Of Truth / Marian David -- Second-order Predication And The Metaphysics Of Properties / Andy Egan -- Infinitesimal Chances And The Laws Of Nature / Adam Elga -- Desire Beyond Belief / Alan Hájek & Philip Pettit -- Two Mistakes About Credence And Chance / Ned Hall -- As Good As It Gets : Lewis On Truth In Fiction / Richard Hanley -- Elusive Knowledge Of Things In Themselves / Rae Langton -- The Ballad Of Ugly Dave / Jim Mackenzie -- Moral Realism With Overlap / Kris Mcdaniel -- David Lewis And Schrödinger's Cat / David Papineau -- Distributional Properties / Josh Parsons -- The Context Of Essence / L.a. Paul -- Worldly Indeterminacy : A Rough Guide / Gideon Rosen & Nicholas J.j. Smith -- Quiddistic Knowledge / Jonathan Schaffer -- Lewis On Intentionality / Robert Stalnaker -- Transworld Similarity And Transworld Belief / Barry Taylor -- Counterpossibles And Similarity / David Vander Laan. Edited By Frank Jackson And Graham Priest. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "David Lewis's untimely death on 14 October 2001 deprived the philosophical community of one of the outstanding philosophers of the twentieth century." "This volume, an expanded edition of a special issue of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, covers many of the topics for which Lewis was well known, including possible worlds, counterpart theory, vagueness, knowledge, probability, essence, fiction, laws, conditionals, desire and belief, and truth. Many of the papers are by very established philosophers; others are by younger scholars including many he taught. The volume also includes Lewis's Jack Smart Lecture at the Australian National University. 'How Many Lives has Schrodinger's Cat?'." "Lewisian Themes will be an invaluable resource for anyone studying Lewis's work and a major contribution to the many topics which engaged him."--BOOK JACKET