The Great Endarkenment
Title | The Great Endarkenment PDF eBook |
Author | Elijah Millgram |
Publisher | Oxford University Press, USA |
Total Pages | 313 |
Release | 2015 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 0199326029 |
Human beings have always been specialists, but over the past two centuries division of labor has become deeper, ubiquitous, and much more fluid. The form it now takes brings in its wake a series of problems that are simultaneously philosophical and practical, having to do with coordinating the activities of experts in different disciplines who do not understand one another. Because these problems are unrecognized, and because we do not have solutions for them, we are on the verge of an age in which decisions that depend on understanding more than one discipline at a time will be made badly. Since so many decisions do require multidisciplinary knowledge, these philosophical problems are urgent. Some of the puzzles that have traditionally been on philosophers' agendas have to do with intellectual devices developed to handle less extreme forms of specialization. Two of these, necessity and the practical `ought', are given extended treatment in Elijah Millgram's The Great Endarkenment. In this collection of essays, both previously published and new, Millgram pays special attention to ways a focus on cognitive function reframes familiar debates in metaethics and metaphysics. Consequences of hyperspecialization for the theory of practical rationality, for our conception of agency, and for ethics are laid out and discussed. An Afterword considers whether and how philosophers can contribute to solving the very pressing problems created by contemporary division of labor. "These always interesting, often brilliant, and contentious essays focus on the question of how we need to reason practically, if we are to flourish, given Millgram's account of our human nature and of the environments that we inhabit. The originality of his thought is matched by his clarity and his wit."--Alasdair MacIntyre, University of Notre Dame
The Great Endarkenment
Title | The Great Endarkenment PDF eBook |
Author | Elijah Millgram |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Total Pages | 313 |
Release | 2015-05-01 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 0199326037 |
Human beings have always been specialists, but over the past two centuries division of labor has become deeper, ubiquitous, and much more fluid. The form it now takes brings in its wake a series of problems that are simultaneously philosophical and practical, having to do with coordinating the activities of experts in different disciplines who do not understand one another. Because these problems are unrecognized, and because we do not have solutions for them, we are on the verge of an age in which decisions that depend on understanding more than one discipline at a time will be made badly. Since so many decisions do require multidisciplinary knowledge, these philosophical problems are urgent. Some of the puzzles that have traditionally been on philosophers' agendas have to do with intellectual devices developed to handle less extreme forms of specialization. Two of these, necessity and the practical `ought', are given extended treatment in Elijah Millgram's The Great Endarkenment. In this collection of essays, both previously published and new, Millgram pays special attention to ways a focus on cognitive function reframes familiar debates in metaethics and metaphysics. Consequences of hyperspecialization for the theory of practical rationality, for our conception of agency, and for ethics are laid out and discussed. An Afterword considers whether and how philosophers can contribute to solving the very pressing problems created by contemporary division of labor. "These always interesting, often brilliant, and contentious essays focus on the question of how we need to reason practically, if we are to flourish, given Millgram's account of our human nature and of the environments that we inhabit. The originality of his thought is matched by his clarity and his wit."--Alasdair MacIntyre, University of Notre Dame
The Great Endarkenment
Title | The Great Endarkenment PDF eBook |
Author | Elijah Millgram |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Total Pages | 312 |
Release | 2015-06-01 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 019029759X |
Human beings have always been specialists, but over the past two centuries division of labor has become deeper, ubiquitous, and much more fluid. The form it now takes brings in its wake a series of problems that are simultaneously philosophical and practical, having to do with coordinating the activities of experts in different disciplines who do not understand one another. Because these problems are unrecognized, and because we do not have solutions for them, we are on the verge of an age in which decisions that depend on understanding more than one discipline at a time will be made poorly. Since so many decisions do require multidisciplinary knowledge, these philosophical problems are urgent. Some of the puzzles that have traditionally been on philosophers' agendas have to do with intellectual devices developed to handle less extreme forms of specialization. Two of these, necessity and the practical `ought', are given extended treatment in Elijah Millgram's The Great Endarkenment. In this collection of essays, both previously published and new, Millgram pays special attention to ways a focus on cognitive function reframes familiar debates in metaethics and metaphysics. Consequences of hyperspecialization for the theory of practical rationality, for our conception of agency, and for ethics are laid out and discussed. An afterword considers whether and how philosophers can contribute to solving the very pressing problems created by contemporary division of labor. "These always interesting, often brilliant, and contentious essays focus on the question of how we need to reason practically, if we are to flourish, given Millgram's account of our human nature and of the environments that we inhabit. The originality of his thought is matched by his clarity and his wit."--Alasdair MacIntyre, University of Notre Dame "The book is a rewarding one--richly argues, whilst being a genuinely good read. The writing is clear, bolding self-assured, and often very funny." -- A.B. Dickerson, Australasian Journal of Philosophy
The Endarkenment
Title | The Endarkenment PDF eBook |
Author | Jeffrey McDaniel |
Publisher | University of Pittsburgh Press |
Total Pages | 80 |
Release | 2008-05-30 |
Genre | Poetry |
ISBN | 0822990679 |
The poet employs colloquial diction, references pop and classical culture, and travels at 1000 miles per hour in his fourth collection. For those who think contemporary poetry is about abject confessions, vacation in Provence and opaque ‘academicisms,’ McDaniel is an intro to a new world.
Games
Title | Games PDF eBook |
Author | C. Thi Nguyen |
Publisher | Oxford University Press, USA |
Total Pages | 253 |
Release | 2020 |
Genre | Games & Activities |
ISBN | 0190052082 |
"Games are a unique art form. The game designer doesn't just create a world; they create who you will be in that world. They tell you what abilities to use and what goals to take on. In other words, they specify a form of agency. Games work in the medium of agency. And to play them, we take on alternate agencies and submerge ourselves in them. What can we learn about our own rationality and agency, from thinking about games? We learn that we have a considerable degree of fluidity with our agency. First, we have the capacity for a peculiar sort of motivational inversion. For some of us, winning is not the point. We take on an interest in winning temporarily, so that we can play the game. Thus, we are capable of taking on temporary and disposable ends. We can submerge ourselves in alternate agencies, letting them dominate our consciousness, and then dropping them the moment the game is over. Games are, then, a way of recording forms of agency, of encoding them in artifacts. Our games are a library of agencies. And exploring that library can help us develop our own agency and autonomy. But this technology can also be used for art. Games can sculpt our practical activity, for the sake of the beauty of our own actions. Games are part of a crucial, but overlooked category of art - the process arts. These are the arts which evoke an activity, and then ask you to appreciate your own activity. And games are a special place where we can foster beautiful experiences of our own activity. Because our struggles, in games, can be designed to fit our capacities. Games can present a harmonious world, where our abilities fit the task, and where we pursue obvious goals and act under clear values. Games are a kind of existential balm against the difficult and exhausting value clarity of the world. But this presents a special danger. Games can be a fantasy of value clarity. And when that fantasy leaks out into the world, we can be tempted to oversimplify our enduring values. Then, the pleasures of games can seduce us away from our autonomy, and reduce our agency."--
Hard Truths
Title | Hard Truths PDF eBook |
Author | Elijah Millgram |
Publisher | John Wiley & Sons |
Total Pages | 312 |
Release | 2009-03-30 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 9781444310757 |
Hard Truths is a groundbreaking new work in whichnoted philosopher Elijah Millgram advances a new approach to truthand its role in our day-to-day reasoning. Takes up the hard truths of real reasoning and draws out theirimplications for logic and metaphysics Introduces and takes issue with prevailing views of thepurpose of truth and the way we reason, including deflationismabout truth, possible worlds treatments of modality, andantipsychologism in philosophy of logic Develops philosophically ambitious ideas in a style accessibleto non-specialists Will make us rethink the place of metaphysics in our dailylives
Letters at 3am
Title | Letters at 3am PDF eBook |
Author | Michael Ventura |
Publisher | Spring Publications |
Total Pages | 264 |
Release | 1993 |
Genre | History |
ISBN |
"I'd rather have one or two of his whiplashing essays in my hands than almost any tome of philosophy". -- Thomas Moore