Experimental Thoughts and Thought Experiments

Philosophia Christi 14 (1):193-207 (2012)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Parfit’s new two-volume book, On What Matters, is used to make three points about the use of thought experiments in philosophy: thought experiments must be relevantly focused, finely-grained in descriptive force, and, when they meet these conditions, a thought experiment can overturn a substantial philosophical position, namely Parfit’s rejection of libertarian freedom. While principally a contribution to philosophical methodology, along the way this paper defends moral realism, Parfit’s rejection of a combined egoist and contractualist ethic, and a defense of libertarian free agency.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Essays on Derek Parfit's On what matters.Jussi Suikkanen & John Cottingham (eds.) - 2009 - Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Go Tell It on the Mountain. [REVIEW]James Bohman - 2014 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences 44 (2):233-251.
Go Tell It on the Mountain.Bart Schultz - 2014 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences 44 (2):233-251.
On What Matters: Two-Volume Set.Derek Parfit - 2011 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Parfit’s mountain. [REVIEW]Jussi Suikkanen - 2011 - The Philosophers' Magazine 54 (54):102-103.
Does Indeterminacy Matter?Christopher T. Buford - 2013 - Theoria 79 (2):155-166.
Not Knowing Everything That Matters.Jonathan Dancy & Daniel Muñoz - 2014 - The Philosophers' Magazine (66):94-99.
Parfit on fission.Jens Johansson - 2010 - Philosophical Studies 150 (1):21 - 35.
The new neo-Kantian and reductionist debate.Kathy Behrendt - 2003 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 84 (4):331-350.
Identity, relation r, and what matters: A challenge to Derek Parfit.James Baillie - 1996 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 77 (4):263-267.

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-01-31

Downloads
21 (#630,965)

6 months
1 (#1,040,386)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Charles Taliaferro
St. Olaf College

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references