Princeton Monographs in Philosophy23

Harry G. Frankfurt, Series Editor

Short, argument-driven books by leading philosophers.

  • Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals Pamela Hieronymi

    An innovative reassessment of philosopher P. F. Strawson’s influential “Freedom and Resentment”

  • Taking Wittgenstein at His Word Taking Wittgenstein at His Word: A Textual Study Robert J. Fogelin

    Taking Wittgenstein at His Word is an experiment in reading organized around a central question: What kind of interpretation of Wittgenstein's later philosophy emerges if we adhere strictly to his claims that he is not in the business...

  • Kierkegaard's Concept of Despair Kierkegaard's Concept of Despair Michael Theunissen
    Translated by Barbara Harshav and Helmut Illbruck

    The literature on Kierkegaard is often content to paraphrase. By contrast, Michael Theunissen articulates one of Kierkegaard's central ideas, his theory of despair, in a detailed and comprehensible manner and confronts it with...

  • The Pathologies of Individual Freedom The Pathologies of Individual Freedom: Hegel's Social Theory Axel Honneth
    Translated by Ladislaus Löb

    This is a penetrating reinterpretation and defense of Hegel's social theory as an alternative to reigning liberal notions of social justice. The eminent German philosopher Axel Honneth rereads Hegel's Philosophy of Right to show how it...

  • Hegel on Self-Consciousness Hegel on Self-Consciousness: Desire and Death in the Phenomenology of Spirit Robert B. Pippin

    In the most influential chapter of his most important philosophical work, the Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel makes the central and disarming assertions that "self-consciousness is desire itself" and that it attains its "satisfaction"...

  • Locke on Personal Identity Locke on Personal Identity: Consciousness and Concernment - Updated Edition Galen Strawson

    John Locke's theory of personal identity underlies all modern discussion of the nature of persons and selves—yet it is widely thought to be wrong. In this book, Galen Strawson argues that in fact it is Locke’s critics who are wrong...

  • Social Conventions Social Conventions: From Language to Law Andrei Marmor

    Social conventions are those arbitrary rules and norms governing the countless behaviors all of us engage in every day without necessarily thinking about them, from shaking hands when greeting someone to driving on the right side of the...

  • Partiality Partiality Simon Keller

    We are partial to people with whom we share special relationships--if someone is your child, parent, or friend, you wouldn't treat them as you would a stranger. But is partiality justified, and if so, why? Partiality presents a theory...

  • When Is True Belief Knowledge? When Is True Belief Knowledge? Richard Foley

    A woman glances at a broken clock and comes to believe it is a quarter past seven. Yet, despite the broken clock, it really does happen to be a quarter past seven. Her belief is true, but it isn't knowledge. This is a classic...

  • Thinking of Others Thinking of Others: On the Talent for Metaphor Ted Cohen

    In Thinking of Others, Ted Cohen argues that the ability to imagine oneself as another person is an indispensable human capacity--as essential to moral awareness as it is to literary appreciation--and that this talent for identification...

  • Locke on Personal Identity Locke on Personal Identity: Consciousness and Concernment Galen Strawson

    John Locke's theory of personal identity underlies all modern discussion of the nature of persons and selves--yet it is widely thought to be wrong. In his new book, Galen Strawson argues that in fact it is Locke's critics who are wrong...

  • Michael Oakeshott's Skepticism Michael Oakeshott's Skepticism Aryeh Botwinick

    The English philosopher Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) is known as a conservative who rejected philosophically ambitious rationalism and the grand political ideologies of the twentieth century on the grounds that no human ideas have...

  • Kant and Skepticism Kant and Skepticism Michael N. Forster

    This book puts forward a much-needed reappraisal of Immanuel Kant's conception of and response to skepticism, as set forth principally in the Critique of Pure Reason. It is widely recognized that Kant's theoretical philosophy aims to...

  • The Apologetics of Evil The Apologetics of Evil: The Case of Iago Richard Raatzsch
    Translated by Ladislaus Löb

    This book is a concise philosophical meditation on Iago and the nature of evil, through the exploration of the enduring puzzle found in Shakespeare's Othello. What drives Iago to orchestrate Othello's downfall? Instead of treating...

  • Physicalism, or Something Near Enough Physicalism, or Something Near Enough Jaegwon Kim

    Contemporary discussions in philosophy of mind have largely been shaped by physicalism, the doctrine that all phenomena are ultimately physical. Here, Jaegwon Kim presents the most comprehensive and systematic presentation yet of his...

  • Philosophical Myths of the Fall Philosophical Myths of the Fall Stephen Mulhall

    Did post-Enlightenment philosophers reject the idea of original sin and hence the view that life is a quest for redemption from it? In Philosophical Myths of the Fall, Stephen Mulhall identifies and evaluates a surprising...

  • Fixing Frege Fixing Frege John P. Burgess

    The great logician Gottlob Frege attempted to provide a purely logical foundation for mathematics. His system collapsed when Bertrand Russell discovered a contradiction in it. Thereafter, mathematicians and logicians, beginning with...

  • A Defense of Hume on Miracles A Defense of Hume on Miracles Robert J. Fogelin

    Since its publication in the mid-eighteenth century, Hume's discussion of miracles has been the target of severe and often ill-tempered attacks. In this book, one of our leading historians of philosophy offers a systematic response to...

  • Welfare and Rational Care Welfare and Rational Care Stephen Darwall

    What kind of life best ensures human welfare? Since the ancient Greeks, this question has been as central to ethical philosophy as to ordinary reflection. But what exactly is welfare? This question has suffered from relative neglect....

  • Public Goods, Private Goods Public Goods, Private Goods Raymond Geuss

    Much political thinking today, particularly that influenced by liberalism, assumes a clear distinction between the public and the private, and holds that the correct understanding of this should weigh heavily in our attitude to human...

  • Justice Is Conflict Justice Is Conflict Stuart Hampshire

    This book, which inaugurates the Princeton Monographs in Philosophy series, starts from Plato's analogy in the Republic between conflict in the soul and conflict in the city. Plato's solution required reason to impose agreement and...

  • Self-Deception Unmasked Self-Deception Unmasked Alfred R. Mele

    Self-deception raises complex questions about the nature of belief and the structure of the human mind. In this book, Alfred Mele addresses four of the most critical of these questions: What is it to deceive oneself? How do we deceive...

  • Liberty Worth the Name Liberty Worth the Name: Locke on Free Agency Gideon Yaffe

    This is the first comprehensive interpretation of John Locke's solution to one of philosophy's most enduring problems: free will and the nature of human agency. Many assume that Locke defines freedom as merely the dependency of conduct...