Thought and World: The Hidden NecessitiesJames F. Ross is a creative and independent thinker in contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of mind. In this concise metaphysical essay, he argues clearly and analytically that meaning, truth, impossibility, natural necessity, and our intelligent perception of nature fit together into a distinctly realist account of thought and world. Ross articulates a moderate realism about repeatable natural structures and our abstractive ability to discern them that poses a challenge to many of the common assumptions and claims of contemporary analytic philosophy. He develops a broadly Aristotelian metaphysics that recognizes the "hidden necessities" of things, which are disclosed through the sciences, which ground his account of real impossibility as a kind of vacuity, and which require the immateriality of the human ability to understand. Those ideas are supported by a novel account of false judgment. Ross aims to offer an analytically and historically respectable alternative to the prevailing positions of many British-American philosophers. "In Thought and World, James F. Ross synthesizes and develops much of his work from the last two decades; and as he did in his two other major works (Philosophical Theology and Portraying Analogy) he challenges many of the common dogmatic assumptions from the mainstream of analytic philosophy. While relentlessly challenging these assumptions from a unique and unorthodox perspective, he is nonetheless able to masterfully articulate his position using the dialect of philosophical discourse in analytic philosophy." --John Zeis, Canisius College |
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ability abstraction actual analytic animal animal cognition Aristotle atomic awareness belief C. I. Lewis causation chapter cognition coherence commitment common conception constitutive corundum counterfactual definite Descartes determinate dicto discourse divine domain earned truth example exist experience explain explanatory expressed formal truths happen hidden necessities Hilary Putnam humans idea imagination impossible incompossible indeterminate individuals instance intelligible structures intentional kinds knowledge language logical match-up material material implication matter meaning inclusions merely metaphysical modal modal logic modus ponens names natural necessities necessities of nature Nelson Goodman notion one's ontology overflow conditions overflow necessities particular perceived perception philosophers possible worlds pragmatic predicates present propositions pure functions real natures real possibility real things reality reasoning relation semantics sensation sense sentences sometimes sorts statements supervenience supposed theory thought tion true or false truth conditions truth value truthmaking tures verbal Wilfred Sellars words