Engagement and Metaphysical Dissatisfaction by Barry Stroud

Engagement and Metaphysical Dissatisfaction by Barry Stroud

We all have beliefs to the effect that if a certain thing were to happen a certain other thing would happen. We also believe that some things simply must be so, with no possibility of having been otherwise. And in acting intentionally we all take certain things to be good reason to believe or do certain things. In this book Barry Stroud argues that some beliefs of each of these kinds are indispensable to our having any conception of a world at all. That means no one could consistently dismiss all beliefs of these kinds as merely ways of thinking that do not describe how things really are in the world as it is independently of us and our responses. But the unacceptability of any such negative 'unmasking' view does not support a satisfyingly positive metaphysical 'realism'. No metaphysical satisfaction is available either way, given the conditions of our holding the beliefs whose metaphysical status we wish to understand. This does not mean we will stop asking the metaphysical question. But we need a better understanding of how it can have whatever sense it has for us. This challenging volume takes up these large, fundamental questions in clear language accessible to a wide philosophical readership.

elegant, rigorous, and profoundly original * Thomas Nagel, Times Literary Supplement *

Barry Stroud is Professor of Philosophy at University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of The Quest for Reality, Meaning, Understanding, and Practice, Understanding Human Knowledge, and The Significance of Philosophical Skepticism.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780199764969
ISBN 10	0199764964
Title	Engagement and Metaphysical Dissatisfaction
Author	Barry Stroud
Condition	Unavailable
Publisher	Oxford University Press Inc
Year published	2011-02-03
Number of pages	184
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.