Second Philosophy: A Naturalistic Method

Many philosophers these days consider themselves naturalists, but it's doubtful any two of them intend the same position by the term. In Second Philosophy, Penelope Maddy describes and practices a particularly austere form of naturalism called Second Philosophy. Without a definitive
criterion for what counts as science and what doesn't, Second Philosophy can't be specified directly (trust only the methods of science for example), so Maddy proceeds instead by illustrating the behaviors of an idealized inquirer she calls the Second Philosopher. mhis Second Philosopher
begins from perceptual common sense experimentation, theory formation and testing, working all the while to asses, correct and improve her methods as she goes. Second Philosophy is then the result of the Second Philosopher's investigations.

Maddy delineates the Second Philosopher's approach by tracing her reactions to various familiar skeptical and transcendental views (Descartes, Kant, Carnap, late Putnam, van Fraassen), comparing her methods to those of other self-described naturalists (especially Quine), and examining a prominent
contemporary debate (between disquotationalists and correspondence theorists in the theory of truth) to extract a properly second-philosophical line of thought. She then undertakes to practice Second Philosophy in her reflections on the ground of logical truth, the methodology, ontology and
epistemology of mathematics, and the general prospects for metaphysics naturalized.


Author: Penelope Maddy
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Published: 06/01/2007
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.84lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.49w x 1.29d
ISBN: 9780199273669

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