In Memoriam: Jaakko Hintikka (1929-2015)

Our condolences go out to the surviving family and colleagues of world-renowned Finnish philosopher and logician, Dr. Jaakko Hintikka, who has passed away.

His obituary is linked here, in Finnish.

Having taught at Florida State University, Stanford, the University of Helsinki, and the Academy of Finland, Dr. Hintikka ended his career as a professor emeritus at Boston University.

Over his career, Dr. Hintikka made great contributions to mathematical logic, philosophical logic, the philosophy of mathematics, epistemology, language theory, and the philosophy of science. He is credited as the main architect of game-theoretical semantics and of the interrogative approach to inquiry. Dr. Hintikka is also revered as one of the main architects of distributive normal forms, possible-worlds semantics, tree methods, infinitely deep logics, and the present-day theory of inductive generalization.

To celebrate Dr. Hintikka’s long life and career, we’ve made free a small collection of his articles.

Photo Credit: Australasian Association of Philosophy

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Existence and Predication from Aristotle to Frege

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research | Volume 73, Issue 2, September 2006

 

Quine’s ultimate presuppositions

Theoria | Volume 65, Issue 1, April 1999

 

Wittgenstein on being and time

Theoria | Volume 62, Issue 1-2, April 1996

 

The Games of Logic and the Games of Inquiry

Dialectica | Volume 49, Issue 2-4, June 1995

 

On proper (popper?) and improper uses of information in epistemology

Theoria | Volume 59, Issue 1-3, April 1993

 

Overcoming “Overcoming Metaphysics Through Logical Analysis of Language” Through Logical Analysis of Language

Dialectica | Volume 45, Issue 2-3, September 1991

 

Metaphor and the Varieties of Lexical Meaning*

Dialectica | Volume 44, Issue 1-2, June 1990

 

Kant on Existence, Predication, and the Ontological Argument

Dialectica | Volume 35, Issue 1, June 1981

 

Language-Games

Dialectica |Volume 31, Issue 3-4, December 1977

 

Partially Ordered Quantifiers vs. Partially Ordered Ideas

Dialectica | Volume 30, Issue 1, March 1976

 

Quine vs. Peirce?

Dialectica | Volume 30, Issue 1, March 1976

 

The Prospects for Convention T

Dialectica | Volume 30, Issue 1, March 1976

 

The Question of?: A Comment on Urs Egli

Dialectica | Volume 30, Issue 1, March 1976

 

Comment on Professor Bergström

Theoria | Volume 41, Issue 1, April 1975

 

Quantifiers vs. Quantification Theory

Dialectica | Volume 27, Issue 3-4, December 1973

 

‘Prima facie’ obligations and iterated modalities

Theoria | Volume 36, Issue 3, December 1970

 

“Knowing oneself” and other problems in epistemic logic

Theoria | Volume 32, Issue 1, April 1966

 

Distributive Normal Forms and Deductive Interpolation

Mathematical Logic Quarterly | Volume 10, Issue 13-17, 1964

 

Modality and Quantification

Theoria | Volume 27, Issue 3, December 1961

 

*Written by Jaakko Hintikka and Gabriel Sandu

Interview: The Art of Comics: A Philosophical Approach

Aaron Meskin is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Leeds. He is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on aesthetics and other philosophical subjects. He was the first aesthetics editor for the online journal Philosophy Compass, and he co-edited Aesthetics: A Comprehensive Anthology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007). He is a former Trustee of the American Society for Aesthetics and is Treasurer of the British Society of Aesthetics.

Roy T Cook is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota, a Resident Fellow of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, and an Associate Fellow of the Northern Institute of Philosophy (Aberdeen). He works in the philosophy of logic, the philosophy of mathematics, and the aesthetics of popular art. He blogs about comics at:  www.pencilpanelpage.wordpress.com

Philosopher’s Eye: Why did you two decide to edit The Art of Comics: A Philosophical Approach?

AM: I thought there was enough good work out there being done on comics that someone could produce a good book on the subject matter. I like to work collaboratively, so when I met Roy it seemed like a good idea to work together. I suppose there’s also a sort of selfish reason–philosophy is about conversation and I wanted more conversation (and more interlocutors) on a topic I care about.

RTC: Aaron was nice enough to ask me – someone with no prior professional experience in aesthetics – to comment on a three-paper session on comics at an aesthetics conference. The volume was conceived over coffee at the same conference, based on the positive response to the papers and resulting discussion.

PE: What’s the central concern of the book, and why is it important?

AM & RTC: The book focuses on the aesthetic issues that are raised by the art form of comics. It is not philosophy ‘in’ or ‘through’ comics–the basic idea is

The Future of Philosophy: Trends in Philosophy By Matti Eklund

The following opinion piece is one of a series of five being released this week and next to celebrate World Philosophy Day and to publicise the upcoming workshop entitled Editor’s Cut – A view of philosophical research from journal editors. the workshop will take place at the University of London on Friday 13th of January 2012.

Trends in Philosophy
By Matti Eklund
Associate Professor, Cornell
Editor of The Philosophical Review

 

What caused the demise of logical positivism? According to certain potted histories of 20th-Century philosophy, it was Willard V.O. Quine’s refutation of central claims about analyticity in “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” that did it, or Thomas Kuhn’s refutation of logical positivism’s claims about science in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, or it was problems about how to understand the verification principle (is it itself verifiable?) that did it in. These explanations are problematic. Quine just didn’t give any compelling argument against analyticity in “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”. At best he argued that it couldn’t be non-circularly characterized, but the same goes for many perfectly legitimate notions, and notions Quine accepted as perfectly legitimate – as H. P. Grice and Peter Strawson were quick to point out. As for Kuhn, it has now been well-documented that Rudolf Carnap, the most famous logical positivist, was quite positive about Kuhn’s project. Simplifying somewhat: while Kuhn presented an account of actual history of science, the positivists discussed science under a certain idealization. Kuhn does not even talk much about logical positivism in Structure. Problems regarding the verification principle are another matter. Those problems are arguably serious. But they weren’t discovered when logical positivism met its demise. (Which was when, exactly? The 1950s? Early 60s?) Rather, such problems were always

Free virtual issue: 60 years of the Philosophical Quarterly

The first issue of The Philosophical Quarterly was published in October 1950. In the sixty years since, the PQ has established itself as one of the world’s leading general philosophy journals. We continue to publish across the full spectrum of academic philosophy, and welcome original research in all areas of philosophy and its history.

Our aim in compiling this virtual issue was not to select the ‘best’ articles published in the PQ, but rather to produce a representative sample of the last sixty years. Limiting ourselves to two articles for each decade, we sought to give readers a taste of the variety of topics discussed in the journal, and the range of philosophical approaches taken to those issues. As we find every week, when deciding which articles to publish today, the final choice was not easy.

Many wonderful articles missed out. We could, of course, have included more. (The joy of a virtual issue is that there is no restriction on pages.) But we wanted the virtual issue to be as close as possible to a real issue. Our hope is that our selection will whet the readers’ appetites – encouraging them to search back through the PQ archive and discover hidden riches for themselves.

The virtual issue opens with the editor’s introduction from the first issue, and with a brief piece by Malcolm Knox.

The Virtual Issue

Front Matter Volume 1: Issue 1, 1950 A Passage in Hegel’s ‘Philosophy of Right’ T. M. Knox Volume 1: Issue 1, 1950 Feelings Gilbert Ryle Volume 1: Issue 3, 1951 Direct Perception Norman Malcolm Volume 3: Issue 13, 1953 Aristotle on the Good: A Formal Sketch Bernard Williams Volume 12: Issue 49, 1962 Plato’s “Third Man” Argument (PARM. 132A1-B2): Text and Logic Gregory Vlastos Volume 19: Issue 77, 1969 The ideas of Power and Substance in Locke’s Philosophy Michael R. Ayres Volume 25: Issue 98, 1975 Common Knowledge Jane Heal Volume 28: Issue 111, 1978 Epiphenomenal Qualia Frank Jackson Volume 32: Issue 127, 1982 What does a concept script do? Cora Diamond Volume 34: Issue 136, 1984 A Furry Tile About Mental Representation Deborah Brown Volume 36: Issue 185, 1996 Finkish Dispositions David Lewis Volume 47: Issue 187, 1997 How to Reid Moore John Greco Volume 52: Issue 209, 2002 Kant’s second thoughts on race Pauline Kleingeld Volume 57: Issue 229, 2007

New Philosophy Compass Issue, Sept 2011

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The latest issue of Philosophy Compass is available on Wiley Online Library

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Aesthetics & Philosophy of Art

Aesthetics of Opera (pages 575–584)
Paul Thom

Continental

Schelling’s Contemporary Resurgence: The Dawn after the Night When All Cows Were Black (pages 585–598)
Jason Wirth

Legal & Political

Emotions and the Criminal Law (pages 599–610)
Mihaela Mihai

Logic & Language

Generalized Quantifiers and Number Sense (pages 611–621)
Robin Clark

Negation, Denial, and Rejection (pages 622–629)
David Ripley

Naturalistic Philosophy

Empirical Arguments for Group Minds: A Critical Appraisal (pages 630–639)
Robert D. Rupert

Philosophy of Science

Introduction to the Philosophy of Statistical Mechanics: Can Probability Explain the Arrow of Time in the Second Law of Thermodynamics? (pages 640–651)
Orly Shenker and Meir Hemmo

New Philosophy Compass Issue, August 2011

The latest issue of Philosophy Compass is now available on Wiley Online Library

Aesthetics & Philosophy of Art

Ideal Observer Theories in Aesthetics (pages 513–522) Stephanie Ross Article first published online: 8 AUG 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2011.00416.x

Logic & Language

Proof Theory for Modal Logic (pages 523–538) Sara Negri Article first published online: 8 AUG 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2011.00418.x

Naturalistic Philosophy

The Instrumental Value of Explanations (pages 539–551) Tania Lombrozo Article first published online: 8 AUG 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2011.00413.x

Philosophy of Religion

Naturalistic Explanation for Religious Belief (pages 552–563) David Leech and Aku Visala Article first published online: 8 AUG 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2011.00414.x Anselmian Theism (pages 564–571) Yujin Nagasawa Article first published online: 8 AUG 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2011.00415.x

Teaching & Learning Guide

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Logic and Divine Simplicity (pages 572–574) Anders Kraal Article first published online: 8 AUG 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2011.00417.x

The Philosophical Quarterly: From past to present

The first issue of The Philosophical Quarterly was published in October 1950. In the sixty years since, the PQ has established itself as one of the world’s leading general philosophy journals. The journal continues to publish across the full spectrum of academic philosophy, and welcomes original research in all areas of philosophy and its history.

The editorial board have recently compiled this virtual issue to produce a representative sample of the last sixty years. Limiting themselves to two articles for each decade, they sought to give readers a taste of the variety of topics discussed in the journal, and the range of philosophical approaches taken to those issues. As the team find every week, when deciding which articles to publish today, the final choice was not easy. Many wonderful articles missed out. They could, of course, have included more, but wanted the virtual issue to be as close as possible to a real issue. The PQ hope  that their selection will whet your appetites – encouraging you to search back through the PQ archive and discover hidden riches for yourselves.

The virtual issue opens with the editor’s introduction from the first issue, and with a brief piece by Malcolm Knox.

The Virtual Issue

Front Matter
Volume 1: Issue 1, 1950

A Passage in Hegel’s ‘Philosophy of Right’
T. M. Knox
Volume 1: Issue 1, 1950

Feelings
Gilbert Ryle
Volume 1: Issue 3, 1951

Direct Perception
Norman Malcolm
Volume 3: Issue 13, 1953

Aristotle on the Good: A Formal Sketch
Bernard Williams
Volume 12: Issue 49, 1962

Plato’s “Third Man” Argument (PARM. 132A1-B2): Text and Logic
Gregory Vlastos
Volume 19: Issue 77, 1969

The ideas of Power and Substance in Locke’s Philosophy
Michael R. Ayers
Volume 25: Issue 98, 1975

Common Knowledge
Jane Heal
Volume 28: Issue 111, 1978

Epiphenomenal Qualia
Frank Jackson
Volume 32: Issue 127, 1982

What does a concept script do?
Cora Diamond
Volume 34: Issue 136, 1984

A Furry Tile About Mental Representation
Deborah Brown
Volume 36: Issue 185, 1996

Finkish Dispositions
David Lewis
Volume 47: Issue 187, 1997

How to Reid Moore
John Greco
Volume 52: Issue 209, 2002

Kant’s second thoughts on race
Pauline Kleingeld
Volume 57: Issue 229, 2007