Philosopher's Toolkit

Peter S. Fosl is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of PPE at Transylvania University, Kentucky. He is author of Hume's Scepticism (2020), co-author of The Critical Thinking Toolkit (Wiley Blackwell, 2016) and The Ethics Toolkit (Wiley Blackwell, 2007), editor of The Big Lebowski and Philosophy (Wiley Blackwell, 2012), and co-editor of Philosophy: The Classic Readings (Wiley Blackwell, 2009). Julian Baggini is Academic Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Kent. He was the founding editor of The Philosophers' Magazine and has written for numerous newspapers and magazines, as well as for the think tanks The Institute of Public Policy Research, Demos, and Counterpoint. He is the author, co-author, or editor of over 20 books, including How the World Thinks, The Virtues of the Table, The Ego Trick, Freedom Regained, and The Edge of Reason.

• Acknowledgements xiiiAlphabetical Table of Contents xvPreface xixInternet Resources for Philosophers xxi1 Basic Tools for Argument 11.1 Arguments, premises, and conclusions 11.2 Deduction 71.3 Induction 91.4 Validity and soundness 151.5 Invalidity 191.6 Consistency 211.7 Fallacies 251.8 Refutation 281.9 Axioms 311.10 Definitions 341.11 Certainty and probability 381.12 Tautologies, self‐contradictions, and the law of non‐contradiction 422 More Advanced Tools 472.1 Abduction 472.2 Hypothetico‐deductive method 512.3 Dialectic 552.4 Analogies 582.5 Anomalies and exceptions that prove the rule 612.6 Intuition pumps 642.7 Logical constructions 662.8 Performativity and speech acts 692.9 Reduction 722.10 Representation 762.11 Thought experiments 802.12 Useful fictions 823 Tools for Assessment 853.1 Affirming, denying, and conditionals 863.2 Alternative explanations 903.3 Ambiguity and vagueness 933.4 Bivalence and the excluded middle 973.5 Category mistakes 1003.6 Ceteris paribus 1023.7 Circularity 1043.8 Composition and division 1083.9 Conceptual incoherence 1103.10 Contradiction/contrariety 1123.11 Conversion, contraposition, obversion 1153.12 Counterexamples 1183.13 Criteria 1213.14 Doxa/para‐doxa 1233.15 Error theory 1253.16 False dichotomy 1283.17 False cause 1293.18 Genetic fallacy 1323.19 Horned dilemmas 1353.20 Is/ought gap 1383.21 Masked man fallacy 1413.22 Partners in guilt 1433.23 Principle of charity 1453.24 Question‐begging 1493.25 Reductios 1523.26 Redundancy 1543.27 Regresses 1563.28 Saving the phenomena 1583.29 Self‐defeating arguments 1613.30 Sufficient reason 1643.31 Testability 1674 Tools for Conceptual Distinctions 1714.1 A priori/a posteriori 1724.2 Absolute/relative 1764.3 Analytic/synthetic 1794.4 Belief/knowledge 1824.5 Categorical/modal 1854.6 Cause/reason 1864.7 Conditional/biconditional 1894.8 De re/de dicto 1914.9 Defeasible/indefeasible 1944.10 Entailment/implication 1964.11 Endurantism/perdurantism 1994.12 Essence/accident 2024.13 Internalism/externalism 2054.14 Knowledge by acquaintance/description 2084.15 Mind/body 2114.16 Necessary/contingent 2154.17 Necessary/sufficient 2194.18 Nothingness/being 2214.19 Objective/subjective 2254.20 Realist/non‐realist 2274.21 Sense/reference 2304.22 Substratum/bundle 2324.23 Syntax/semantics 2344.24 Universal/particular 2364.25 Thick/thin concepts 2394.26 Types/tokens 2415 Tools of Historical Schools and Philosophers 2455.1 Aphorism, fragment, remark 2455.2 Categories and specific differences 2485.3 Elenchus and aporia 2515.4 Hegel’s master/slave dialectic 2545.5 Hume’s fork 2575.6 Indirect discourse 2605.7 Leibniz’s law of identity 2635.8 Ockham’s razor 2675.9 Phenomenological method(s) 2705.10 Signs and signifiers 2735.11 Transcendental argument 2766 Tools for Radical Critique 2816.1 Class critique 2816.2 Différance, deconstruction, and the critique of presence 2846.3 Empiricist critique of metaphysics 2866.4 Feminist and gender critiques 2896.5 Foucaultian critique of power 2926.6 Heideggerian critique of metaphysics 2966.7 Lacanian critique 2986.8 Critiques of naturalism 3006.9 Nietzschean critique of Christian–Platonic culture 3036.10 Pragmatist critique 3056.11 Sartrean critique of ‘bad faith’ 3087 Tools at the Limit 3117.1 Basic beliefs 3117.2 Godel and incompleteness 3147.3 Hermeneutic circle 3167.4 Philosophy and/as art 3197.5 Mystical experience and revelation 3227.6 Paradoxes 3257.7 Possibility and impossibility 3287.8 Primitives 3327.9 Self‐evident truths 3347.10 Scepticism 3377.11 Underdetermination and incommensurability 341Index 345