skip to content
Dividing reality Preview this item
ClosePreview this item
  • Preview this Item (Questia)

Dividing reality

Author: Eli Hirsch
Publisher: New York : Oxford University Press, 1993.
Edition/Format:   Book : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
The central question in this book is why it seems reasonable for the words of our language to divide up the world in one way rather than another, or what the rational basis is for our language to contain certain kinds of general words rather than others. Terming this query the division problem, Dividing Reality aims to bring it into sharp focus, to distinguish it from various related problems, and to consider the  Read more...
Rating:

(not yet rated) 0 with reviews - Be the first.

 

Find a copy in the library

Retrieving... Finding libraries that hold this item...

Details

Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Eli Hirsch
ISBN: 0195057546 9780195057546
OCLC Number: 26854367
Description: xv, 247 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Responsibility: Eli Hirsch.
More information:

Abstract:

The central question in this book is why it seems reasonable for the words of our language to divide up the world in one way rather than another, or what the rational basis is for our language to contain certain kinds of general words rather than others. Terming this query the division problem, Dividing Reality aims to bring it into sharp focus, to distinguish it from various related problems, and to consider the best prospects for solving it. In exploring various possible responses to the division problem, Eli Hirsch examines a series of "division principles" which purport to express rational constraints on how our words ought to classify and individuate. The ensuing discussion deals with a wide range of metaphysical and epistemological topics, including projectibility and similarity, alternative analyses of natural properties and things, the inscrutability of reference, and the relevance of such pragmatic notions as salience and economy. The final chapters of the book develop what Hirsch contends is the most promising response to the division problem: a theory in which constraints on classification and individuation are seen to derive from the necessary structure of "fine-grained" propositions and the necessary dependence of some concepts on others. Formulating in clear terms a fundamental problem which has not been properly isolated or seriously addressed previously, this book is of key interest to metaphysicians, philosophers of language, and cognitive psychologists.

Reviews

User-contributed reviews
Retrieving weRead reviews...
Retrieving GoodReads reviews...
Retrieving Amazon reviews...

Tags

Be the first.
Confirm this request

You may have already requested this item. Please select Ok if you would like to proceed with this request anyway.

Close Window

Please sign in to WorldCat 

Don't have an account? You can easily create a free account.