Books in the Oxford Philosophical Monographs series

Vagueness is the study of concepts that admit borderline cases. The epistemology of vagueness concerns attitudes we should have towards propositions we know to be borderline. On this basis Andrew Bacon develops a new theory of vagueness in which vagueness is fundamentally a property of propositions, explicated in terms of its role in thought.

Julia Markovits develops a desire-based, internalist account of what normative reasons are-an account which is compatible with the idea that moral reasons can apply to all of us, regardless of our desires. She builds on Kant's formula of humanity to defend universal moral reasons, and addresses the age-old question of why we should be moral.

Christopher G. Timpson provides the first full-length philosophical treatment of quantum information theory and the questions it raises for our understanding of the quantum world. He argues for an ontologically deflationary account of the nature of quantum information, which is grounded in a revisionary analysis of the concepts of information.

Category mistakes are sentences such as 'Green ideas sleep furiously' or 'Saturday is in bed'. They strike us as highly infelicitous but it is hard to explain precisely why this is so. Ofra Magidor explores four approaches to category mistakes in philosophy of language and linguistics, and develops and defends an original, presuppositional account.

Individual objects have potentials: paper has the potential to burn; an acorn has the potential to turn into a tree. Barbara Vetter investigates the metaphysics of such potentials, and develops a dispositionalist view of metaphysical modality which takes account of contemporary developments in metaphysics, logic, and semantics.

An historically informed study of Wittgenstein's philosophy of mathematics in the OXFORD PHILOSOPHICAL MONOGRAPHS series. The author traces Wittgenstein's thinking from the 1920s through to the 50s in the context of mathematical and philosophical work of the times to make coherent sense of the thinker's work on the subject.

Examines the views of the great medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas, on friendship - the ideal type of relationship that rational beings should cultivate. This book tells that Aquinas presents a broader view of friendship than Aristotle's, allowing for a higher extent of disagreement, lack of mutual understanding, and inequality between friends.

This book offers an original interpretation and a critical assessment of Friederich Nietzsche's influential work on the traditionally central questions of philosophy concerning the possibility of knowledge and the nature of reality. Dr Poellner draws upon not only Nietzsche's published works but also his voluminous notebooks, largely unpublished.

This work suggests that the edifice of contemporary philosophy of mind relies too heavily on an ontology of events, processes and states. It offers a fresh investigation of these three categories, clarifying the distinctions between them.

The 18th century was a time of brilliant philosophical innovation in Britain. This work presents a comprehensive account of the period's discussion of what is a central problem of philosophy, the question of the freedom of the will. It offers different interpretations of contributions to the free will debate made by various several figures.

Examines the interplay of the two main schools of thought, Platonism and Aristotelianism, from the first century BC to the third century AD. This book argues that the Platonists turned to Aristotle only in order to elucidate Plato's doctrines and to reconstruct Plato's philosophy.

Everyone seems to think it obvious that equality of opportunity is at least part of what constitutes a fair society. At the same time, they are so vague about what equality of opportunity actually amounts to that it can begin to look like an empty term. This work suggests that the way we think about equality and opportunity should be changed.

Presents a comprehensive study of Plato's and Aristotle's conceptions of non-rational desire. This book shows this as something that humans share with animals, and which aims primarily at the pleasures of food, drink, and sex. It also explores the cognitive resources that both philosophers make available for the explanation of such desires.

Freedom is the value that Hegel most admired and the central organizing concept of his social philosophy. Alan Patten presents an interpretation of Hegel's idea of freedom, and offers answers to a number of central questions about his ethical and political thought.

Examining the kinds of visual and cultural skills viewers need to have to understand pictures, the author explains why pictures can be understood out of their cultural and historical context, as well as how visual images can convey messages other forms of media cannot.

What should we do when autonomy and rationality seem to be in conflict in medical decision-making, as when there seems no good reason for a patient's wishes? Jonathan Pugh offers a new framework for thinking about the concept of autonomy, grounded in an understanding of the different roles that rational beliefs and rational desires have to play.

Stefan Sienkiewicz analyses five argument forms which are central to Pyrrhonian scepticism, as expressed in the writings of Sextus Empiricus. In particular, Sienkiewicz distinguishes between two different perspectives of the sceptic and his dogmatic opponent, and interprets the five modes of scepticism from both viewpoints.

Alison Denham examines the parallels between moral and metaphorical discourse, and the ways in which our engagement with literary art, and metaphorical discourse in particular, informs our moral beliefs.

What makes something discrimination, and why (and when) are acts of discrimination wrong? Benjamin Eidelson develops systematic answers to these two questions. He argues that what makes some cases of discrimination intrinsically wrongful is that they manifest an attitude of disrespect for the personhood of those who are disfavored.

The Critical Imagination explores metaphor, imaginativeness, and criticism of the arts. James Grant critically examines the idea that art is rewarding because it involves responding imaginatively to a work. He explains the role imaginativeness plays in criticism, and goes on to examine why imaginative metaphors are so common in art criticism.

Uses the techniques of analytical philosophy to investigate the Marxist concept of "false consciousness", and argues that Marxism is committed to the idea of motivated belief, and that the idea is philosophically defensible.

In this work, the author argues for a non-individualist strategy in the social sciences - one that encourages an independent study of social contexts, and a contextual study of individual beliefs and actions.

In this book, Banner examines the nature of scientific theories and of religious belief. He argues that, contrary to what is often supposed, religious belief can receive a defence as compelling as that given to the best scientific theories.

Confronting the scientific conception of the nature of reality, Michael Morris suggests that we can only make sense of concept-possession, belief and truth from within a perspective which counts values in general, and moral goodness in particular, as part of the world.

William Child examines two central tenets in the philosophy of mind - causalism and interpretationism - and argues that an understanding of the mind can and should include study of both elements.

Rowland Stout presents a new philosophical account of human action which is radically and controversially different from all rival theories. He argues that intentional actions are unique among natural phenomena in that they happen because they should happen, and that they are to be explained in terms of objective facts rather than beliefs and intentions

C S Peirce, the founder of pragmatism, argued that truth is what we would agree upon, were inquiry to be pursued as far as it could fruitfully go. This book argues for and elucidates the pragmatic account of truth, paying attention both to Peirce's texts and to the requirements for a suitable account of truth.

This book presents a new theory of probability applicable to general reasoning, science, and the courts. From a strongly subjective starting-point, with probabilities viewed simply as the guarded beliefs one can reasonably hold, the theory shows how such beliefs are legitimately 'projected' outwards as if they existed in the world independent of our judgements.

Transcendental arguments have gained a lot of attention since the 1990s, mainly in the field of theoretical reason. Christian Illies argues that transcendental arguments have great potential in ethics, as they promise rational justification of normative judgements.

The author defends a conception of language as essentially a means for the reception of knowledge through testimony. He finds this account in the work of classical Indian philosophers of language, and presents a detailed analysis of their theories, with emphasis of the work of Gaddhara.