- United States
Evan Fales
The University of Iowa, Philosophy, Faculty Member
Drawing significantly on the work of Emile Durkheim and Claude Lévi-Strauss, this book proposes a way to navigate between two pitfalls that undermine comprehension of alien cultures and their sacred literature. First, it offers a vigorous... more
Drawing significantly on the work of Emile Durkheim and Claude Lévi-Strauss, this book proposes a way to navigate between two pitfalls that undermine comprehension of alien cultures and their sacred literature. First, it offers a vigorous defense of the principle of charity when interpreting religious texts. But this, then, must confront the oddity, even deep implausibility, of many religious claims. The "way out" of this dilemma takes seriously Durkheim's seminal hypothesis that religious belief systems reflect native efforts to understand the social realities of their society. It brings to bear Lévi-Strauss's claim that the structure of religious narratives reflects attempts to bring intellectual order to those realities in a way we can decipher through the use of certain analytic techniques. The next major element to this book is philosophical. What are such things as social roles, institutions, and conventions? Finding possible answers to that question enables ...
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EVAN FALES Darwin's Doubt, Calvin's Calvary In the closing chapter of his book Warrant and Proper Function, Alvin Plantinga turns the tables on the theories of knowledge gener-ally described as naturalized epistemologies. What... more
EVAN FALES Darwin's Doubt, Calvin's Calvary In the closing chapter of his book Warrant and Proper Function, Alvin Plantinga turns the tables on the theories of knowledge gener-ally described as naturalized epistemologies. What is ingenious about the attack is that Plantinga's own ...
Research Interests: Philosophy and Realism
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(4) What is to be done about borderline cases that refuse to fit un-equivocally into any (putatively) natural classification? With respect to nominal essences, a fairly clear answer to (i) can be given in terms of the force of linguistic... more
(4) What is to be done about borderline cases that refuse to fit un-equivocally into any (putatively) natural classification? With respect to nominal essences, a fairly clear answer to (i) can be given in terms of the force of linguistic convention; but with respect to putative ...
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The objections to which Gellman responds are (in order of appearance): 1) the argument that mystical experiences (ME's) have little or no evidential value because, unlike sense perception, these experiences have... more
The objections to which Gellman responds are (in order of appearance): 1) the argument that mystical experiences (ME's) have little or no evidential value because, unlike sense perception, these experiences have 'private'content and are not susceptible to ...
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The objections to which Gellman responds are (in order of appearance): 1) the argument that mystical experiences (ME's) have little or no evidential value because, unlike sense perception, these experiences have... more
The objections to which Gellman responds are (in order of appearance): 1) the argument that mystical experiences (ME's) have little or no evidential value because, unlike sense perception, these experiences have 'private'content and are not susceptible to ...
Research Interests:
Drawing significantly on the work of Emile Durkheim and Claude Lévi-Strauss, this book proposes a way to navigate between two pitfalls that undermine comprehension of alien cultures and their sacred literature. First, it offers a vigorous... more
Drawing significantly on the work of Emile Durkheim and Claude Lévi-Strauss, this book proposes a way to navigate between two pitfalls that undermine comprehension of alien cultures and their sacred literature. First, it offers a vigorous defense of the principle of charity when interpreting religious texts. But this, then, must confront the oddity, even deep implausibility, of many religious claims. The "way out" of this dilemma takes seriously Durkheim's seminal hypothesis that religious belief systems reflect native efforts to understand the social realities of their society. It brings to bear Lévi-Strauss's claim that the structure of religious narratives reflects attempts to bring intellectual order to those realities in a way we can decipher through the use of certain analytic techniques. The next major element to this book is philosophical. What are such things as social roles, institutions, and conventions? Finding possible answers to that question enables ...
A familiar story about reference that developed in the 1970s appeared to offer a light at the end of the tunnel of positivist theories of meaning. Coherence theories of truth and justification, paradigm shifts, and incommensurability... more
A familiar story about reference that developed in the 1970s appeared to offer a light at the end of the tunnel of positivist theories of meaning. Coherence theories of truth and justification, paradigm shifts, and incommensurability stalked the land. Causal theories of reference (Kripke 1980) promised to change all that and restore scientific realism. But another dialectic took hold that led to what Putnam called internal realism. This chapter aims to rescue Putnam from internal realism, and to breathe new life into real realism. It also aims to rescue science from Plantinga’s argument N (and arguments O and K). That will allow an answer to perhaps the strongest link in the chain of arguments that Naturalism is epistemically self-defeating. The chapter offers a diagnosis of the central difficulty that appears to wreak havoc with the realist aspirations of causal theories of reference. Finally, a cure is offered for that malady.
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(4) What is to be done about borderline cases that refuse to fit un-equivocally into any (putatively) natural classification? With respect to nominal essences, a fairly clear answer to (i) can be given in terms of the force of linguistic... more
(4) What is to be done about borderline cases that refuse to fit un-equivocally into any (putatively) natural classification? With respect to nominal essences, a fairly clear answer to (i) can be given in terms of the force of linguistic convention; but with respect to putative ...
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Research Interests: Philosophy and Mind
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Philosophical logic has its problem-children; and among these the Principle of Substitutivity of codesignating expressions - the linguistic spawn of Leibniz's Law - has achieved a place of prominence. It has become increasingly... more
Philosophical logic has its problem-children; and among these the Principle of Substitutivity of codesignating expressions - the linguistic spawn of Leibniz's Law - has achieved a place of prominence. It has become increasingly apparent that a certain style of linguistic analysis, ...
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Preface Acknowledgments 1 Introduction 2 How Does God Do Things? 3 Divine Governance and the Laws of Nature 4 Trouble With Time 5 Eternal God as Author of Nature 6 What Can God Know? 7 Healed Hearts, Inspired Minds 8 Mystical Revelations... more
Preface Acknowledgments 1 Introduction 2 How Does God Do Things? 3 Divine Governance and the Laws of Nature 4 Trouble With Time 5 Eternal God as Author of Nature 6 What Can God Know? 7 Healed Hearts, Inspired Minds 8 Mystical Revelations 9 Is Science a Mystic's Friend? 10 Concluding Remarks Notes Bibliography Index
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Is there a distinction in method between quantitative and qualitative sociology? If so, which kind is better? Philosophers and sociologists have debated these questions for a long time; and among philosophers, at least, they are by no... more
Is there a distinction in method between quantitative and qualitative sociology? If so, which kind is better? Philosophers and sociologists have debated these questions for a long time; and among philosophers, at least, they are by no means resolved. I wish to examine the alleged ...
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Naturalism and physicalism are metaphysical positions commonly associated with atheism. Both are stronger than atheism: they entail atheism, conceived (minimally) as the denial that there is an all-powerful, omniscient, perfectly good... more
Naturalism and physicalism are metaphysical positions commonly associated with atheism. Both are stronger than atheism: they entail atheism, conceived (minimally) as the denial that there is an all-powerful, omniscient, perfectly good disembodied personal being who has created the physical universe. Naturalism and physicalism are, therefore, natural allies of atheism, and offer a philosophical framework within which atheism finds a natural home. PHYSICALISM Main Positions on the Mind/Body Problem Physicalism may be understood, roughly, as the claim that minds are not distinct from matter and hence cannot exist apart from it. There are many varieties of physicalism. They may be graded, from most “extreme” to least, as follows. eliminative materialism . On this view, there simply are no mental events, and no “inner theater.” Subjective experience is an illusion; all that is happening “in our heads” are neurochemical events in our brains. reductive materialism . This view allows that there are mental events, but holds that each mental event type is identical with a physical event type in the brain. supervenience theories . Supervenience is a relation that holds between a physical and a mental state just in case it is necessary that when that physical state obtains, so does the mental state. A supervenience theorist could hold, for example, that each instance (token) of a certain mental state type is identical to an instance of some physical state type, without holding that the two state types can be identified. For example, those who maintain that mental characteristics are functional properties often subscribe to such a view. There are those (such as Hilary Putnam) who define functional states in terms of their logical role in the execution of a computation (i.e., the formal states a computer is in when it executes a program) or those (such as David Lewis) who define them in terms of the causal role of the state. property dualism . Property dualists deny that mental properties are in any sense identical to physical properties. They may hold, however, that there are only material substances, some of which have mental properties. It is not clear in what principled way one ought to distinguish mental from physical properties. A property dualist may further hold that the instantiation of mental properties by a material thing is strongly dependent on which physical properties it has: that the relation between the instances is either one of nomological (lawlike) necessity or one of metaphysical necessity.
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I One test of a man's rationality is that a significant number of his beliefs are true. This claim is controversial on at least two counts, and I shall begin by attempting to dispose of them. Firstly, it may be said that the test is... more
I One test of a man's rationality is that a significant number of his beliefs are true. This claim is controversial on at least two counts, and I shall begin by attempting to dispose of them. Firstly, it may be said that the test is gratuitous, since its application presupposes ...
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Since Durkheim expressed his views on the matter, there has emerged a considerable body of literature devoted to the question of whether the subject-matter of the social sciences can be explained in terms of the actions and psychology of... more
Since Durkheim expressed his views on the matter, there has emerged a considerable body of literature devoted to the question of whether the subject-matter of the social sciences can be explained in terms of the actions and psychology of individual persons taken collectively, or whether these phenomena are irreducibly emergent. Some methodological individualists have held that an explanatory reduction is possible and perspicuous. This paper is divided into two parts. In Part I, the prospects for such a reduction are examined once again, and an alternative proposal for the construal of events and institutions at the social level is sketched which is ultimately materialistic without conceding reductionism in the intended sense. I then explore the implications which such a nonreductionist stance has for the way in which we should understand the
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University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242 Copyright © 1994 by the University of Iowa Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic... more
University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242 Copyright © 1994 by the University of Iowa Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying ...
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Quantum Theory and Consciousness Ben Goertzel, University of Nevada, Las Vegas The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Winter 1992, Vol. 13, No. 1, Pages 29-36, ISSN 0271-0137 This article seeks to clarify the relation between consciousness... more
Quantum Theory and Consciousness Ben Goertzel, University of Nevada, Las Vegas The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Winter 1992, Vol. 13, No. 1, Pages 29-36, ISSN 0271-0137 This article seeks to clarify the relation between consciousness and quantum physics. It is argued ...
512 / Social Forces 76:2, December 1997 complexity and multilevel nature of the phenomena we study and our correspondingly rudimentary understanding of them. It is not our purpose to say how scientific disciplines in fact produce or... more
512 / Social Forces 76:2, December 1997 complexity and multilevel nature of the phenomena we study and our correspondingly rudimentary understanding of them. It is not our purpose to say how scientific disciplines in fact produce or receive heterodox theories. Instead, we ...
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EVAN FALES Darwin's Doubt, Calvin's Calvary In the closing chapter of his book Warrant and Proper Function, Alvin Plantinga turns the tables on the theories of knowledge gener-ally described as naturalized epistemologies. What... more
EVAN FALES Darwin's Doubt, Calvin's Calvary In the closing chapter of his book Warrant and Proper Function, Alvin Plantinga turns the tables on the theories of knowledge gener-ally described as naturalized epistemologies. What is ingenious about the attack is that Plantinga's own ...
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In two earlier articles which appeared in this journal, I took up a provocative claim, made by William Alston and others, that mystical experience has not been, and is very unlikely ever to be, scientifically explained.' That claim... more
In two earlier articles which appeared in this journal, I took up a provocative claim, made by William Alston and others, that mystical experience has not been, and is very unlikely ever to be, scientifically explained.' That claim is associated with defences of the view that mystical experiences ...
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In Warrant and Proper Function, Alvin Plantinga claims that metaphysical nat-uralism, when joined to a naturalized epistemology, is self-undermining. Plantinga argues that naturalists are committed to a neoDarwinian account of our... more
In Warrant and Proper Function, Alvin Plantinga claims that metaphysical nat-uralism, when joined to a naturalized epistemology, is self-undermining. Plantinga argues that naturalists are committed to a neoDarwinian account of our origins, and that the reliability of our ...
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This paper presents an argument for the claim that historical events are unique in a nontrivial sense which entails the inapplicability of the Hempelian DN model to historical explanations. Some previous criticisms of Hempel are shown to... more
This paper presents an argument for the claim that historical events are unique in a nontrivial sense which entails the inapplicability of the Hempelian DN model to historical explanations. Some previous criticisms of Hempel are shown to be general criticisms of the DN model ...
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Theoretical simplicity is difficult to characterize, and evidently can depend upon a number of distinct factors. One such desirable characteristic is that the laws of a theory have relatively few "counterinstances" whose... more
Theoretical simplicity is difficult to characterize, and evidently can depend upon a number of distinct factors. One such desirable characteristic is that the laws of a theory have relatively few "counterinstances" whose accommo-dation requires the invocation of a ceteris paribus ...
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Essentialism-understood as the doctrine that there are natural kinds-can be sustained with respect to the most fundamental physical entities of the world, as I elsewhere argue. In this paper I take up the question of the existence of... more
Essentialism-understood as the doctrine that there are natural kinds-can be sustained with respect to the most fundamental physical entities of the world, as I elsewhere argue. In this paper I take up the question of the existence of natural kinds among complex structures built out of ...
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The problem of free will has been with us ever since men began to recog-nize the existence of laws of nature. Explanatory theories exercise a kind of imperialism over human thought, in the sense that we inevitably try to extend the... more
The problem of free will has been with us ever since men began to recog-nize the existence of laws of nature. Explanatory theories exercise a kind of imperialism over human thought, in the sense that we inevitably try to extend the embrace of a successful theory to cover as ...
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Keith Donnellan's extremely helpful paper, "Reference and Definite Descriptions", introduced a distinction between so-called referential and attributive uses of definite descriptions - a distinction that serves... more
Keith Donnellan's extremely helpful paper, "Reference and Definite Descriptions", introduced a distinction between so-called referential and attributive uses of definite descriptions - a distinction that serves very neatly to exhibit the considerable differences between, and the relative ...
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Research Interests: Philosophy and Philo
Research Interests: Philosophy and Philo
Research Interests: Philosophy and Nous
Referring is a kind of action. The intentional considerations which bear upon its character have not, I believe, been sufficiently exploited yet in the area of modal semantics. It has been suggested that in order to make sense of... more
Referring is a kind of action. The intentional considerations which bear upon its character have not, I believe, been sufficiently exploited yet in the area of modal semantics. It has been suggested that in order to make sense of quantification into modal contexts, it is necessary to provide ...