Dealing with theological affirmations and philosophical reactions to them, this concise book presents insightful applications of modern general philosophy to religion. Originally published in 1969, the book investigates epistemological thinking first before turning to notions of assertion, belief, proposition and contradiction – the logic of theology. It concerns itself with doctrine and morality, considering the writings of contemporary thinkers on these themes.

A selection of Aristotle's most important philosophical works in English translation with an introduction and comments by Renford Bambrough with emphasis on metaphysical questions and a new afterword by Susanne Bobzien that focuses on how to study Aristotle and on Aristotle on determinism and freedom.

Gasking, D. A. T. The philosophy of John Wisdom.--Thomson, J. J. Moore's technique revisited.--Yalden-Thomson, D. C. The Virginia lectures.--Dilman, I. Paradoxes and discoveries.--Ayers, M. R. Reason and psycholinguistics.--Roberts, G. W. Incorrigibility, behaviourism and predictionism.--Hinton, J. M. "This is visual sensation."--Gunderson, K. The texture of mentality.--Newell, R. W. John Wisdom and the problem of other minds.--Lyon, A. The relevance of Wisdom's work for the philosophy of science.--Morris, H. Shared guilt.--Bambrough, R. Literature and philosophy.--Chronological list of published writings of John Wisdom, (...) 1928-1972 (p. [293]-300). (shrink)

My theme is tragical–historical–philosophical. Though the chief characters are Aristotle and Agamemnon, there are strong supporting roles for Heraclitus and Professor Sir Denys Page, and you will also hear the voices of Aeschylus, Spinoza, J. A. Froude and Professor A. W. H. Adkins. Heraclitus speaks first: ‘ dis es ton auton potamon ’, he says, ‘ ouk an embaiês .’.

My theme is tragical–historical–philosophical.Though the chief characters are Aristotle and Agamemnon, there are strong supporting roles for Heraclitus and Professor Sir Denys Page, and you will also hear the voices of Aeschylus, Spinoza, J. A. Froude and Professor A. W. H. Adkins.Heraclitus speaks first: ‘dis es ton auton potamon’, he says, ‘ouk an embaiês.’.

Includes selections from Metaphysics, Logic, Physics, Psychology, Ethics, Politics, and Poetics.

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Collected Philosophical Papers, G. E. M. Anscombe Intention and Intentionality: Essays in Honour of G. E. M. Anscombe, Edited by Cora Diamond and Jenny Teichman.

In his speech of welcome to the members of the Classical Joint Meeting at Cambridge in August, 1958, the Master of Peterhouse praised classical scholars for the detachment and pertinacity with which they continue their pursuits while the world is on the edge of the abyss. The remark might be taken to have one more edge than the abyss. At a time when it can no longer be assumed that a knowledge of the Greek and Latin classics is part of (...) the learning of any man who has any learning at all, there are two opposite temptations which beset those whose profession is the study and teaching of the ancient classics. The first is the sentimentality which goes on singing dithyrambs to the Glory that was Greece and the Grandeur that was Rome, on the assumption that the relevance of ancient texts to modern perplexities is too nearly self-evident to need explaining. (shrink)

What can the study of the history of ancient philosophy bring to the study of contemporary philosophical problems and questions? In _New Essays on Plato and Aristotle_ eight distinguished philosophers address topics in Greek philosophy that are connected with current philosophical issues. All the essays are original and include Gilbert Ryle on Dialectic in the Academy and R. M. Hare on Plato’s indictment of mathematicians.

Renford Bambrough; XII—Universals and Family Resemblances, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 61, Issue 1, 1 June 1961, Pages 207–222, https://doi.

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Renford Bambrough; V*—Appearance, Identity and Ontology, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 75, Issue 1, 1 June 1975, Pages 69–76, https://doi.org/.

As there is a condition of mind which is characterized by invincible ignorance, so there is another which may be said to be possessed of invincible knowledge; and it would be paradoxical in me to deny to such a mental state the highest quality of religious faith,—I mean certitude . ‘She's an artist. She keeps saying the same thing without repeating herself. In being initiated into our life as human beings we are subject to causal influences; guiding, teaching, restraint, compulsion, (...) incentives, rewards, warnings, penalties. Until such influences have achieved their most important work we do not share the human understanding within which there can be ratiocination, evidence, argument. So there is and must be a causal story of how we come to acquire a human understanding; a causal story for the species as a whole and a causal story for each of us; and there is not and could not be any acceptable account, either for the species or for the individual, of how we reasoned or argued our way into our initial and fundamental understanding. I say the same thing without repeating myself if I call such knowledge and understanding invincible . It is not possible to Overthrow it by reasoning any more than it is possible to establish it by reasoning. (shrink)

What can the study of the history of ancient philosophy bring to the study of contemporary philosophical problems and questions? In New Essays on Plato and Aristotleeight distinguished philosophers address topics in Greek philosophy that are connected with current philosophical issues. All the essays are original and include Gilbert Ryle on Dialectic in the Academy and R. M. Hare on Plato’s indictment of mathematicians.

Originally published in 1979, this book shows that a recognition of the rationality of moral judgment and moral action in no way involves us in diminishing our respect for liberty, authenticity, sincerity or integrity. It maintains that the resolution of these issues lies in recognising that the necessary involvement of the emotions in moral judgments and moral choices need not give rise to any hesitation or reluctance to treat moral questions as needing and permitting the use of the resources of (...) human understanding. (shrink)

‘Where two principles really do meet which cannot be reconciled with one another, then each man declares the other a fool and a heretic’ This sentence from Wittgenstein's On Certainty is the source of my title. A passage in George Orwell's Shooting an Elephant might have prompted the same choice: ‘The Catholic and the Communist are alike in assuming that an opponent cannot be both honest and intelligent. Each of them tacitly claims that “the truth” has already been revealed, and (...) that the heretic, if he is not simply a fool, is secretly aware of “the truth” and merely resists it out of selfish motives’. (shrink)

When Mr. Apollinax visited the United States, his laughter tinkled among the teacups. When Professor Ryle published Plato's Progress , his paradoxes clattered through the china shops.

Renford Bambrough; IV*—Objectivity and Objects, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 72, Issue 1, 1 June 1972, Pages 65–82, https://doi.org/10.1093/a.

Renford Bambrough; I*—The Presidential Address: Ethics and the Limits of Consistency, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 90, Issue 1, 1 June 1990.

Renford Bambrough; IV*—Objectivity and Objects, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 72, Issue 1, 1 June 1972, Pages 65–82, https://doi.org/10.1093/a.

Renford Bambrough; I*—The Presidential Address: Ethics and the Limits of Consistency, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 90, Issue 1, 1 June 1990.