Reasons why
Skow, Bradford
Reasons Why first argues that what philosophers are really after, or at least should be after, when they seek a theory of explanation, is a theory of answers to why-questions. It then advances a thesis about what form a theory of answers to why-questions should take: a theory of answers to why-questions should say what it takes for one fact to be a reason why another fact obtains. The book's main thesis, then, is a theory of reasons why. Every reason why some event happened is either a cause, or a ground, of that event. Challenging this thesis are many examples philosophers have thought they have found of "non-causal explanations." Reasons Why uses two ideas to show that these examples are not counterexamples to the theory it defends. First is the idea that not every part of a good response to a why-question is part of an answer to that why-question. Second is the idea that not every reason why something is a reason why an event happened is itself a reason why that event happened. In the book's final chapter its theory of reasons why is extended to cover teleological answers to why-questions, and answers to why-questions that give an agent's reason for acting.
సంవత్సరం:
2016
ముద్రణం:
1st ed
ప్రచురణకర్త:
Oxford University Press
భాష:
english
పేజీల సంఖ్య:
195
ISBN 10:
0198785844
ISBN 13:
9780198785842
ఫైల్:
PDF, 1.63 MB
IPFS:
,
english, 2016