Book reviews
LOT2 by Jerry Fodor, TLS forthcoming
Fodor lays into ‘pragmatism’ again (see below) in this 30+ years on sequel to The Language of Thought. He also defends a certain kind of nonconceptualism about perception. I find Fodor’s version of nonconceptualism unsatisfactory; but this book gives his best account yet of how to account for the intensionality of thought within an informational theory of content.
Two anthologies on disjunctivism: the Byrne-Logue book collects the classic readings, while the Haddock-Macpherson book is new essays. If you want to know what the fuss is about, read this review!
The Really Hard Problem by Owen Flanagan, TLS 2009
The really hard problem, says Owen Flanagan, is how to explain the meaning of life in a materialistic universe. I doubt whether materialism is really the problem here; and I doubt whether Flanagan’s ‘eudaimonics’ can address his own problem. For all that eudaimonics does is describe the ways in which people actually find meaning in their lives; and the fact that this can be done is something which even the most nihilistic materialist must accept.
This is much longer version of the review that appeared under the title ‘Fraught with Ought’ in the London Review of Books. It’s also a bit more polemical, having a go at Richard Rorty and the cult of Wittgenstein on the way.
All the Power in the World by Peter Unger, TLS 2007
Peter Unger’s massive magnum opus exhibits many of Unger’s many philosophical virtues; it could have been a little less massive, though.
Intentionality: Past and Future edited by Gábor Forrai and George Kampis, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2007
Some good papers deriving from an excellent conference in Hungary in 2002.
Mind Time by Benjamin Libet, TLS 2005
Libet’s experiment is fascinating, but some of the philosophical morals he draws are a bit dodgy.
The Morality of Laughter by F.H. Buckley, TLS 2004
Well-read and good-humoured author tries (and fails) to make sense of why things are funny.
Hume Variations by Jerry Fodor, TLS 2004
Fodor attacks holism, inferentialism, pragmatism -- all in the name of Hume.
The Mind’s Provisions by Vincent Descombes, European Journal of Philosophy 2003
Vincent Descombes wants to attack contemporary philosophy of mind, but it seems to me that he doesn’t have a clear target in his sights.
In Defence of Pure Reason by Laurence BonJour, Mind 2003
Laurence BonJour doesn’t think much of Quine, and gives an account of a priori knowledge in terms of rational insight; but I don’t think he tells us too much about what rational insight is.
Joe Levine explains the explanatory gap; Peter Carruthers expounds his higher-order theory of consciousness; Mark Rowlands is a mysterian.
EJ’s book is still the best introduction to metaphysics around, I think. If anyone knows a better one, let me know. Loux’s anthology is my second favourite of metaphysics anthologies.
Perception and Reason by Bill Brewer, The Nature of Perception by John Foster, Times Higher Educational Supplement 2001.
Bill Brewer gives an account of how perception justifies belief (an account he’s now -- 2008 -- given up) and John Foster ploughs his own lonely furrow, apparently refusing to acknowledge the existence of an intentional theory of perception.
The Paradox of Self-Consciousness by José Luis Bermúdez, Philosophical Review 2001
José Bermúdez thinks he’s unearthed a paradox: I don’t think he has, but he has some interesting things to say in passing about non-conceptual content and bodily awareness.
Mind in a Physical World by Jaegwon Kim, TLS August 2000
Jaegwon Kim gives up on supervenience, and develops a position surprisingly close to David Lewis’s.
Bertrand Russell: The Ghost of Madness by Ray Monk, The Economist October 2000
Monk’s second volume of his Russell biog is as gripping as the first, though Russell himself is a bit more out to lunch in this part of his life. Not much for philosophers here, then, but none the worse for that. The book was unfairly criticised by those who felt Monk was harder on Russell than on his beloved L Wittgenstein.
What Minds Can Do by Pierre Jacob, European Journal of Philosophy 1998
Pierre Jacob tackles the various problems of mental causation with clarity and passion.
The Nature of Consciousness edited by N. Block, Owen Flanagan and Güven Güzeldere, Times Higher Educational Supplement 1998
State of the art on consciousness research circa 98. How much have things changed in the last ten years? Hmmm.
Soul Searching by Nicholas Humphrey, Nature 1996
Nick Humphrey takes on parapsychology and wins. He also speculates about why people believe in it. This review led to my only ever mention by a Nobel Prize Winner.
Physicalism: the Philosophical Foundations by Jeffrey Poland TLS 1995
I found the doctrine of physicalism a bit hard to pin down in this book, but then again it was some time ago and I had a bit of an obsession with this topic in those days.
Full publication details are here.
