Metaphysics and Explanation - Paperback

by W. Capitan (Editor), D. D. Merrill (Editor)

This volume offers an unusual variety of topics presented during the fifth annual Oberlin Colloquium in Philosophy. Essays topics include: a dispute of the standard deductivist account of scientific testability; two definitions of \u201cnonsense\u201d that are closely related and correlate to science's concern with truth and philosophy's concern with concepts; contesting the causes of voluntary actions purported in Hart and Honor\u00e9's Causation and the Law; distinguishing two kinds of metaphysical tasks---taxonomic and evaluative; and discussions of \u201cwhat a thing is\u201d in terms of its qualities and particulars and the distinction between numerical and conceptual differences, universals and individuation.

Author Biography

W. H. Capitan was associate professor of philosophy at Oberlin College.