Philosophical Method, Timothy Williamson
Philosophical Method, Timothy Williamson
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Philosophical Method
A Very Short Introduction

Author: Timothy Williamson

Narrator: Roger Clark

Unabridged: 4 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/01/2020


Synopsis

What are philosophers trying to achieve? How can they succeed? Does philosophy make progress? Is it in competition with science, or doing something completely different, or neither?

Timothy Williamson tackles some of the key questions surrounding philosophy in new and provocative ways, showing how philosophy begins in common sense curiosity, and develops through our capacity to dispute rationally with each other. Discussing philosophy's ability to clarify our thoughts, he explains why such clarification depends on the development of philosophical theories, and how those theories can be tested by imaginative thought experiments, and compared against each other by standards similar to those used in the natural and social sciences. He also shows how logical rigor can be understood as a way of enhancing the explanatory power of philosophical theories. Drawing on the history of philosophy to provide a track record of philosophical thinking's successes and failures, Williamson overturns widely held dogmas about the distinctive nature of philosophy in comparison to the sciences, demystifies its methods, and considers the future of the discipline.

From thought experiments, to deduction, to theories, this Very Short Introduction will cause you to totally rethink what philosophy is.

About Timothy Williamson

Timothy Williamson is the Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford and A. Whitney Griswold Visiting Professor at Yale University. Previously he was professor of logic and metaphysics at Edinburgh University. He has published books and articles on many branches of philosophy, some of which have been translated into German, Spanish, French, Italian, Hungarian, Serbian, Turkish, Chinese, Korean, and other languages. He frequently writes on philosophy in the Times Literary Supplement, the New York Times blog The Stone, and newspapers in various countries.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sophie on October 23, 2024

Filosofisk metod ain’t all that😔......more

Goodreads review by Henrik on July 24, 2022

What is the book about? A neat and recent, little introduction into the toolkit philosophers use to work their way through the conceptual landscape. Ten pages on average does Williamson give himself to present the core of each method: starting from common sense, disputing, clarifying terms, thought e......more

Goodreads review by Joseph on January 28, 2023

Good synopsis on the basics of developing a helpful philosophical methodology. Williamson encourages readers to understand that all approaches to learning, justification, and argumentation all come with strings attached. The task of the good philosopher is to recognize this, propose solid theories,......more