Product Description
Disillusionment with psychology is leading more and more people to philosophy for clues about how to think about life. But most of us who try to grapple with concepts such as reality, truth, commonsense, consciousness and society lack the means, background and structure to discuss them with any confidence. After disentangling the major questions we face when we try and engage with the world, Searle then focuses on those forces that inhibit that engagement. In a systematic and lucid way, he takes the reader through the conceptual problems associated with metaphysics, the biology of the mind, the paradox of intentionality, the structure of consciousness and the organization of the social universe to present a brilliantly coherent account of what philosophy can -- and cannot do. John Searle stresses throughout this book that there exists a real material world and condemns the belief that the reality of our world depends on our perception of it. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
A dictionary definition of Bioethics is, 'the ethics, or moral principles and rules of conduct, of medical and biological research'. This book is an introductory text of just biological and not medical bioethics. It covers the ethics of experimentation, including genetic manipulation, in plants and animals; ethics and biodiversity, ethics and the environment.

There is increasing interest in bioethics - both in academia and by the media and the general public. Awareness of bioethics is incorporated into Biological / Environmental Science courses, plus the first dedicated modular courses on bioethics are starting up.

• Includes case studies
• Has questions for students
• Chapters include environmental, animal, agricultural and reproductive ethics as well as a wide range of issues regarding genetic manipulation.

Customer Reviews (1)

bioethics by scientists?
Most of the chapters in this book seem to be written by scientists, not academic philosophers or ethicists.So, unfortunately, they tend to not be very subtle, sophisticiated or carefully argued.I'd recommend something written by specialists in ethics, not scientists, to learn more about how to reasonably address some of the ethical issues that confront scientists.Almost any bioethics anthology edited by philosophers would do that.

I borrowed this book from the libary mostly because I was interested in looking at the chapters on animal experimentation.With the exception of the very fine chapter by philosophy Ray Frey, the remaining chapters on this issue were not up to snuff. ... Read more

Product Description
This book deals with a major problem in the study of language: the problem of reference.The ease with which we refer to things in conversation is deceptive.Upon closer scrutiny, it turns out that we hardly ever tell each other explicitly what object we mean, although we expect our interlocutor to discern it.Amichai Kronfeld provides an answer to two questions associated with this: how do we successfully refer, and how can a computer be programmed to achieve this? Beginning with the major theories of reference, Dr Kronfeld provides a consistent philosophical view which is a synthesis of Frege's and Russell's semantic insights with Grice's and Searle's pragmatic theories.This leads to a set of guiding principles, which are then applied to a computational model of referring. The discussion is made accessible to readers from a number of backgrounds: in particular, students and researchers in the areas of computational linguistics, artificial intelligence and the philosophy of language will want to read this book. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume investigates how, through critical engagement, the philosophy of John Searle in the Western analytic tradition and some thoughts and strands in Chinese philosophy can jointly contribute to the common philosophical enterprise and shows how such comparative methodology of constructive engagement is important or even indispensable in philosophical inquiry. The anthology includes Searle's keynote essay and 15 engaging pairs of essay-reply dialogues, each of which consists of one previously unpublished essay by some expert(s) and Searle's engaging reply, and which are organized into four subjects respectively on mind, language, morality, and meta-philosophical and methodological issues.The anthology also includes the volume editor's theme introduction on the constructive-engagement movement in view of Searle's philosophy and Chinese philosophy. Contributors include: Robert E. Allinson, Chung-ying Cheng, Kim-chong Chong, Chris Fraser, Yiu-ming Fung, Soraj Hongladarom, Joel W. Krueger, B. Jeannie Lum, Aloysius P. Martinich, Bo Mou, Anh Tuan Nuyen, John R. Searle, Avrum Stroll, Marshall D. Willman, Kai-yee Wong, and Yujian Zheng. ... Read more

Product Description
This brief text assists students in understanding Searle's philosophy and thinking so they can more fully engage in useful, intelligent class dialogue and improve their understanding of course content. Part of the Wadsworth Notes Series, (which will eventually consist of approximately 100 titles, each focusing on a single "thinker" from ancient times to the present), ON SEARLE is written by a philosopher deeply versed in the philosophy of this key thinker. Like other books in the series, this concise book offers sufficient insight into the thinking of a notable philosopher, better enabling students to engage in reading and to discuss the material in class and on paper. ... Read more