Wittgenstein scholarship has continued to grow at a pace few could have anticipated - a testament both to the fertility of his thought and to the thriving state of contemporary philosophy. In response to this ever-growing interest in the field, we are delighted to announce the publication of a second series of critical assessments on Wittgenstein, emphasising both the breadth and depth of contemporary Wittgenstein research.As well as papers on the nature and method of Wittgenstein's philosophy, this second collection also relates to a broader range of topics, including psychology, politics, art, music and culture.

Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations is one of the great works of 20th Century philosophy, destined to join the philosophical canon. Like all great works of philosophy, it poses new problems, while creating new forms of argument and persuasion. But unlike most contemporary philosophy texts, it is not structured by chapter and section headings, but rather by numbered passages -- evidence of Wittgenstein's distinctive style and profound originality. This anthology draws together in one volume several recent essays that help to make his problems and arguments more accessible. The essays are grouped into four sections that roughly correspond to the development that one finds in the Investigations. These sections are: reference and meaning; rules and their application; the interiority of mind, and the alleged uses of private languages; and necessity and grammar. Both readers who are new to the Investigations as well as those who are familiar with Wittgenstein's work should find these essays illuminating and engaging.

Taking on a small part of the larger issue waged between dualists and materialists, the author presents an analysis of intelligence that supports Gilbert Ryle's analysis while exposing the limits that exist between the application of the concept of intelligence and other mental conduct concepts. Topics include the criteria of intelligence; Holloway's definition; intelligent success and change success; intelligence, reflexes, and tropisms; intelligence and instincts, learning, habit, and training ; purpose and intelligent action; style setting dispositions, exemplaries, and occasions; the minds of machines; Turing's analysis; the intelligence of computers; differences between machines and man; inductive and deductive reasoning; and the autonomous machine. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This revised and updated edition of a standard work provides a clear and authoritative survey of the Western tradition in metaphysics and epistemology from the Presocratics to the present day. Aimed at the beginning student, it presents the ideas of the major philosophers and their schools of thought in a readable and engaging way, highlighting the central points in each contributor's doctrines and offering a lucid discussion of the next-level details that both fills out the general themes and encourages the reader to pursue the arguments still further through a detailed guide to further reading. Whether John Shand is discussing the slow separation of philosophy and theology in Augustine, Aquinas and Ockham, the rise of rationalism, British empiricism, German idealism or the new approaches opened up by Russell, Sartre and Wittgenstein, he combines succinct but insightful exposition with crisp critical comment. This new edition will continue to provide students with a valuable work of initial reference.

How should religion and ethics be studied if we want to understand what people believe and why they act the way they do? In the 1980s and '90s postmodernist worries about led to debates that turned on power, truth, and relativism. Since the turn of the century scholars impressed by 'cognitive science' have introduced concepts drawn from evolutionary biology, neurosciences, and linguistics in the attempt to provide 'naturalist' accounts of religion. Deploying concepts and arguments that have their roots in the pragmatism of C. S. Peirce, Believing and Acting argues that both approaches are misguided and largely unhelpful in answering the questions that matter: What did those people believe then? How does it relate to what these people want to do now? What is our evidence for our interpretations? Pragmatic inquiry into these questions recommends an approach that questions grand theories, advocates a critical pluralism about religion and ethics that defies disciplinary boundaries in the pursuit of the truth. Rationality, on a pragmatic approach, is about solving particular problems in medias res, thus there is no hard and fast line to be drawn between inquiry and advocacy; both are essential to negotiating day to day life. The upshot is an approach to religion and ethics in which inquiry looks much like the art history of Michael Baxandall and advocacy like the art criticism of Arthur Danto.