Philosophical Interpretations

Robert Fogelin here collects fifteen of his essays, organized around the theme of interpreting philosophical texts. The essays place particular emphasis on understanding the argumentative or dialectical role that passages play in the specific context in which they occur. The somewhat surprising result of taking this principle seriously is that certain traditional, well-worked texts are given a radical re-interpretation. Throughout the essays reprinted here, Fogelin argues that, when carefully read, the philosophical position under consideration has more merit than commonly believed. Included are essays dealing with texts from the works of Plato, Aquinas, Hume, Berkeley, Kant, Price, Hamilton, and Wittgenstein. Contents Introduction 1. Three Platonic Analogies 2. A Reading of Aquinas's Five Ways 3. Hume and Berkeley on the Proofs of Infinite Divisibility 4. Hume and the Missing Shade of Blue 5. Hume's Worries about Personal Identity 6. What Hume Actually Said about Miracles 7. Kant and Hume on Simultaneity of Causes and Effects 8. The Tendency of Hume's Skepticism 9. Richard Price on Promising: A Limited Defense 10. a. Hamilton's Quantification of the Predicate b. Hamilton's Theory of Quantifying the Predicate—a Correction 11. Wittgenstein on Identity 12. Negative Elementary Propositions 13. Wittgenstein and Intuitionism 14. Wittgenstein and Classical Scepticism 15. Thinking and Doing Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Z Annotation Robert Fogelin here collects fifteen of his essays, organized around the theme of interpreting philosophical texts. The essays place particular emphasis on understanding the argumentative or dialectical role that passages play in the specific context in which they occur. The somewhat surprising result of taking this principle seriously is that certain traditional, well-worked texts are given a radical re-interpretation. Throughout the essays reprinted here, Fogelin argues that, when carefully read, the philosophical position under consideration has more merit than commonly believed. Included are essays dealing with texts from the works of Plato, Aquinas, Hume, Berkeley, Kant, Price, Hamilton, and Wittgenstein