Bücher der Reihe Oxford Philosophical Monographs

Examines the views of the great medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas, on friendship - the ideal type of relationship that rational beings should cultivate. This book tells that Aquinas presents a broader view of friendship than Aristotle's, allowing for a higher extent of disagreement, lack of mutual understanding, and inequality between friends.

An historically informed study of Wittgenstein's philosophy of mathematics in the OXFORD PHILOSOPHICAL MONOGRAPHS series. The author traces Wittgenstein's thinking from the 1920s through to the 50s in the context of mathematical and philosophical work of the times to make coherent sense of the thinker's work on the subject.

C S Peirce, the founder of pragmatism, argued that truth is what we would agree upon, were inquiry to be pursued as far as it could fruitfully go. This book argues for and elucidates the pragmatic account of truth, paying attention both to Peirce's texts and to the requirements for a suitable account of truth.

Examining the kinds of visual and cultural skills viewers need to have to understand pictures, the author explains why pictures can be understood out of their cultural and historical context, as well as how visual images can convey messages other forms of media cannot.

Everyone seems to think it obvious that equality of opportunity is at least part of what constitutes a fair society. At the same time, they are so vague about what equality of opportunity actually amounts to that it can begin to look like an empty term. This work suggests that the way we think about equality and opportunity should be changed.

Presents a comprehensive study of Plato's and Aristotle's conceptions of non-rational desire. This book shows this as something that humans share with animals, and which aims primarily at the pleasures of food, drink, and sex. It also explores the cognitive resources that both philosophers make available for the explanation of such desires.

A monograph devoted exclusively to Kant's theory of the sublime, a subject currently witnessing a revival amongst European philosphers in relation to debates about the nature of postmodernism.

Freedom is the value that Hegel most admired and the central organizing concept of his social philosophy. Alan Patten presents an interpretation of Hegel's idea of freedom, and offers answers to a number of central questions about his ethical and political thought.

Examines the interplay of the two main schools of thought, Platonism and Aristotelianism, from the first century BC to the third century AD. This book argues that the Platonists turned to Aristotle only in order to elucidate Plato's doctrines and to reconstruct Plato's philosophy.

This book offers an original interpretation and a critical assessment of Friederich Nietzsche's influential work on the traditionally central questions of philosophy concerning the possibility of knowledge and the nature of reality. Dr Poellner draws upon not only Nietzsche's published works but also his voluminous notebooks, largely unpublished.

The 18th century was a time of brilliant philosophical innovation in Britain. This work presents a comprehensive account of the period's discussion of what is a central problem of philosophy, the question of the freedom of the will. It offers different interpretations of contributions to the free will debate made by various several figures.

Stefan Sienkiewicz analyses five argument forms which are central to Pyrrhonian scepticism, as expressed in the writings of Sextus Empiricus. In particular, Sienkiewicz distinguishes between two different perspectives of the sceptic and his dogmatic opponent, and interprets the five modes of scepticism from both viewpoints.