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    Doing Philosophy: From Common Curiosity to Logical Reasoning

    £13.49
    £14.99
    Price-Match is available in-store for recommended titles in CCCU module handbooks
    ISBN: 9780198822516
    Products specifications
    Attribute nameAttribute value
    AuthorWilliamson, Timothy (Wykeham Professor o
    Pub Date23/08/2018
    BindingHardback
    Pages176
    Publisher: O.U.P.
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    Is philosophy a unique discipline, or are its methods more like those of other sciences than many philosophers think? Timothy Williamson explains clearly and concisely how contemporary philosophers think and work, and reflects on their powers and limitations.

    What are philosophers trying to achieve? How can they succeed? Does philosophy make progress? Is it in competition with science, or doing something completely different, or neither?

    Timothy Williamson tackles some of the key questions surrounding philosophy in new and provocative ways, showing how philosophy begins in common sense curiosity, and develops through our capacity to dispute rationally with each other. Discussing philosophy's ability to clarify our thoughts, he explains why such clarification depends on the development of philosophical theories, and how those theories can be tested by imaginative thought experiments, and compared against each other by standards
    similar to those used in the natural and social sciences. He also shows how logical rigour can be understood as a way of enhancing the explanatory power of philosophical theories. Drawing on the history of philosophy to provide a track record of philosophical thinking's successes and failures,
    Williamson overturns widely held dogmas about the distinctive nature of philosophy in comparison to the sciences, demystifies its methods, and considers the future of the discipline.

    From thought experiments, to deduction, to theories, this little book will cause you to totally rethink what philosophy is.