Bücher der Reihe Clarendon Library of Logic and Philosophy

The aim of this study is to explore and defend the notion of modality "de re", the idea that objects have both essential and accidental properties. The argument is developed by means of the notion of possible worlds and ranges over such problems as the nature of essence and the problem of evil.

This work examines the ways in which fictions relate to the real world, and offers an account of how imaginative works of literature can use fictional content to explore matters of universal human interest. It explores the limits of fictionality in relation to metaphysical and sceptical views.

This treatise criticizes the utopian tendency to put a high value on consensus. It advocates instead the approach of pluralism that society should accept and accommodate its internal differences, rather than seek to constrain agreement in matters of opinion, valuation, and choice.

Niiniluoto surveys different kinds of realism in various areas of philosophy, then sets out his own critical realist philosophy of science, characterizing scientific progress in terms of increasing truthlikeness, and defends this theory against its rivals.

Many philosophers doubt that one can provide any successful explanation of the sensory qualities - of how things look, feel, or seem to a perceiving subject. Clark addresses this apparently intractable problem and suggests that a solution is in fact possible.

The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive philosophical theory which explains the cognitive contribution of metaphor. The argument is illustrated with analysis of metaphors from literature, philosophy, science, and everyday language.

Studies causation both as a concept and as it is 'in the objects.' Offers new accounts of the logic of singular causal statements, the form of causal regularities, the detection of causal relationships, the asymmetry of cause and effect, and necessary connection, and it relates causation to functional and statistical laws and to teleology.