Is Philosophy Dispensable?: And Other Philosophical Essays

"During 2005-2006 I continued my longstanding practice of writing occasional studies on philosophical topics, both for formal presentation and for informal discussion with colleagues. While my forays of this kind have usually been issued in journal publications, this has not been so in the preset case so that the studies offered here encompass substantially new material. Notwithstanding their thematic variation, they manifest a uniformity of treatment and method in a way that is characteristic of my philosophical modus operandi and inherent is its endeavors to treat classical issues from novel points of view." --Nicholas RescherContentsPrefaceChapter 1: IS PHILOSOPHY DISPENSABLE? (AN APORETIC ANALYSIS) Chapter 2:FIRST PRINCIPLES AND THEIR PLACEIN PHILOSOPHYChapter 3: THE HUME-EDWARDS PRINCIPLE AND ITS PROBLEMSChapter 4:THE LIMITS OF NATURALISM (NATURE AND CULTURE IN PERSPECTIVAL DUALITY) Chapter 5:ON UNIVERSALS, NATURAL KINDS, AND LAWS OF NATUREChapter 6:AQUINAS AND THE PRINCIPLE OF EPISTEMIC DISPARITYChapter 7:SELF-SUBSTANTIATING STATEMENTSChapter 8:REGRETChapter 9:THE PROBLEM OF EVILChapter 10:RATIONALITY, SELF-INTEREST, ALTRUISM, AND OBLIGATIONChapter 11:WHAT IS PRAGMATISM? Chapter 12:THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN PHILOSOPHYIndex of Names