The Roots of Reason: Philosophical Essays on Rationality, Evolution, and Probability by David Papineau (PDF)

Description

David Papineau presents a controversial view of human reason, portraying it as a normal part of the natural world, and drawing on the empirical sciences to illuminate its workings. In these six interconnected essays he discusses both theoretical and practical rationality, and shows how evolutionary theory, decision theory, and quantum mechanics offer fresh approaches to some long-standing problems.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review `Review from previous edition The book succeeds at presenting an articulated and coherent view in various areas of epistemology and philosophy of science, treating a series of issues ranging from the foundations of decision theory and probability to various interesting problems in the cognitive sciences … The book is very well written. Its arguments flow quite naturally and clearly … I do recommend reading the book to any person with interests overlapping any of these areas.’ Horacio Arlo Costa, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews About the Author David Papineau is Professor of Philosophy at King’s College London.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐In The Roots of Reason David Papineau (Department of Philosophy, King’s College London) collected some articles of his, published previously in different journals; one article is significantly expanded.These articles are about reason, its foundation and usage from different points of view, always from Papineau’s naturalistic position.The articles are1 Normativity and Judgement2 The Evolution of Knowledge3 The Evolution of Means-End Reasoning4 Probability as a Guide to Life (& Helen Beebee)5 Causation as a Guide to Life6 Uncertainty Decisions and the Many-Minds Interpretation of Quantum MechanicsSome chapters presuppose knowledge of other essays from various sources. Each chapter has a good reference list, so the reader can track and find these prerequisite articles easily.Although the content is difficult (decision theory, probability, quantum mechanics), the essays are clearly written. The reader can follow the arguments very well.I put this book on a list for general studies. Isn’t reason something everybody should be capable to use adequately. The reason I don’t give the book all the five stars is the sometimes intellectually high effort for the reader. Whoever enjoys highly stimulating thoughts may read it with five stars.

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