Kirjahaku

In the Theaetetus, Plato looks afresh at a problem to which, he now realizes, he had earlier given an inadequate answer: the problem of the nature of knowledge. What Plato has to say on this question is of great interest and importance, not only to scholars of Plato, but also to philosophers with wholly contemporary interests. This book is a sustained philosophical analysis and critique of the Theaetetus. David Bostock provides a detailed examination of Plato's arguments and the issues that they raise. He adjudicates on rival interpretations of the text, and looks at the relations between this and other works of Plato. The book does not presuppose any knowledge of Greek.

This book examines the theories and arguments put forward by Plato in his `Phaedo', in which he attempts to show that the soul is immortal. Chiefly intended for readers who have no previous background in philosophy, it avoids unnecessary technicalities.

David Bostock presents a fresh critical introduction to one of the great classics of moral philosophy. Aristotle's Nicomachaen Ethics is and deserves to be his most widely studied work, for much of what it has to say is still important for today's debate on the problems of ethics. In this new book, David Bostock guides the reader through explanations and evaluations of all the main themes of Aristotle's work, paying due attention to questions of interpretation, and the differing views of a range of commentators. The emphasis is on the philosophical merits and demerits of the doctrines that emerge and these are critically discussed in simple and straightforward terminology. Each chapter concludes with suggestions for further reading on the themes and ideas discussed within the chapter, and the book finishes with an evaluation of the Ethics as a whole. Bostock provides the ideal companion to study of this great work, helping the reader to engage with its ideas and arguments as living philosophy.

Space, Time, Matter, and Form collects ten of David Bostock's essays on themes from Aristotle's Physics, four of them published here for the first time. The first five papers look at issues raised in the first two books of the Physics, centred on notions of matter and form, and the idea of substance as what persists through change. They also range over other of Aristotle's scientific works, such as his biology and psychology and the account of change in his De Generatione et Corruptione. The volume's remaining essays examine themes in later books of the Physics, including infinity, place, time, and continuity. Bostock argues that Aristotle's views on these topics are of real interest in their own right, independent of his notions of substance, form, and matter; they also raise some pressing problems of interpretation, which these essays seek to resolve.

David Bostock presents a critical appraisal of Bertrand Russell's philosophy from 1900 to 1924--a period that is considered to be the most important in his career. Russell developed his theory of logic from 1900 to 1910, and over those years wrote the famous work Principia Mathematica with A. N. Whitehead. Bostock explores Russell's development of 'logical atomism', which applies this logic to problems in the theory of knowledge and in metaphysics, and was central to his philosophical work from 1910 to 1924. This book is the first to focus on this important period of Russell's development, examining the three key areas of logic and mathematics, knowledge, and metaphysics, and demonstrating the enduring value of his work in these areas.

Philosophy of Mathematics: An Introduction provides a critical analysis of the major philosophical issues and viewpoints in the concepts and methods of mathematics - from antiquity to the modern era. Offers beginning readers a critical appraisal of philosophical viewpoints throughout historyGives a separate chapter to predicativism, which is often (but wrongly) treated as if it were a part of logicismProvides readers with a non-partisan discussion until the final chapter, which gives the author's personal opinion on where the truth liesDesigned to be accessible to both undergraduates and graduate students, and at the same time to be of interest to professionals

Philosophy of Mathematics: An Introduction provides a critical analysis of the major philosophical issues and viewpoints in the concepts and methods of mathematics - from antiquity to the modern era. Offers beginning readers a critical appraisal of philosophical viewpoints throughout historyGives a separate chapter to predicativism, which is often (but wrongly) treated as if it were a part of logicismProvides readers with a non-partisan discussion until the final chapter, which gives the author's personal opinion on where the truth liesDesigned to be accessible to both undergraduates and graduate students, and at the same time to be of interest to professionals

David Hume has been one of the most influential, and challenging, philosophers of the last few centuries. This book explains his radically empirical views on epistemology and metaphysics, and criticizes them from a point of view that is both modern and sympathetic. David Bostock sets out Hume's arguments very clearly, and discusses them sympathetically and critically in the light of recent arguments about the issues concerned.