The Philosophy of Philosophy

The standard narratives of the development of philosophy over the past century are increasingly inadequate, yet it remains unclear what should replace them. The Philosophy of Philosophy provides an original and provocative take on the nature and methodology of philosophy. Pre–eminent contemporary philosopher Timothy Williamson rejects the ideology of the most distinctive trend of 20th century philosophy—the ′linguistic turn′. He describes the method of philosophy as evolving from non–philosophical ways of thinking and proposes a fresh understanding of both contemporary and past philosophers. This marks the second volume in the Blackwell/Brown Lectures in Philosophy series, offering compact books with cutting–edge research from across the discipline. Based on public lectures held at Brown University, the books in this series are written by established scholars of the highest caliber, presenting their work in a clear and concise format.

Preface. Acknowledgments. Introduction. 1. The Linguistic Turn and the Conceptual Turn. 2. Taking Philosophical Questions at Face Value. 3. Metaphysical Conceptions of Analyticity. 4. Epistemological Conceptions of Analyticity. 5. Knowledge of Metaphysical Modality. 6. Thought Experiments. 7. Evidence in Philosophy. 8. Knowledge Maximization. Afterword. Must Do Better. Appendix 1. Modal Logic within Counterfactual Logic. Appendix 2. Counterfactual Donkeys. Bibliography. Index

Timothy Williamson is Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts. Williamson is the author of Identity and Discrimination (1990), Vagueness (1996), Knowledge and its Limits (2000) and numerous articles on logic, philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics.

“Worthwhile reading … for anyone reckoning him or herself to be part of the analytic tradition. Superb in coming to grips with one’s methodological self–understanding.” Metapsychology <!––end––>