The September 2009 book reviews from Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews are available.

The reviewed books cover Hannah Arendt, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Ernst Cassirer, David Kaplan, Rene Descartes, David Hume, Socrates, Stephen Stich, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Topics covered include aesthetics, Asian philosophy, ancient philosophy, moral & political philosophy, and time, among others.

Are any worth considering for the Robbins collection?

For your reading pleasure this week:

The new May 2009 reviews from Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews are now available.   There’s quite a variety of philosophers and topics covered this month — Hegel, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, al-Kindi, Simplicius, Epictetus, the liar paradox, the will, aesthetics, and more.  Are any of these worth considering for the Robbins collection?

I came across this article, “The Case for Working With Your Hands,” by Matthew Crawford, several days ago, via Brian Leiter and a few friends posting it on Facebook.  It’s a very thoughtful and profound essay, on work, education, and where our culture places its priorities.

Next week, we’re back to our regular Friday posting schedule.  See you then!

Here are the March 2009 Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews:

Moral & Political Philosophy

• Wendell Wallach, Colin Allen, Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong, Reviewed by Peter Danielson, University of British Columbia
• Louis M. Guenin, The Morality of Embryo Use, Reviewed by Alfonso Gómez-Lobo, Georgetown University/Catholic University of Chile
• Joseph Heath, Following the Rules: Practical Reasoning and Deontic Constraint, Reviewed by Joseph Mendola, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Ishtiyaque Haji, Incompatibilism’s Allure: Principal Arguments for Incompatibilism, Reviewed by Matt King, Carleton College
• Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (ed.), Moral Psychology, Volume 1: The Evolution of Morality: Adaptations and Innateness, Reviewed by Jon Tresan, University of Florida
• Eric Gregory, Politics and the Order of Love: An Augustinian Ethic of Democratic Citizenship, Reviewed by John von Heyking, University of Lethbridge
• Eckhart Arnold, Explaining Altruism: A Simulation-Based Approach and its Limits, Reviewed by Kevin J.S. Zollman, Carnegie Mellon University
• John Deigh, Emotions, Values, and the Law, Reviewed by Bryce Huebner, Tufts University

Metaphysics

• Michael J. Almeida, The Metaphysics of Perfect Beings, Reviewed by Joshua Hoffman, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• Francis A. Grabowski III, Plato, Metaphysics and the Forms, Reviewed by Andrew Mason, University of Edinburgh
• Robert Sokolowski, Phenomenology of the Human Person, Reviewed by Lilian Alweiss, Trinity College Dublin
• Kevin Timpe, Free Will: Sourcehood and Its Alternatives, Reviewed by C. P. Ragland, Saint Louis University

Epistemology

• Søren Overgaard, Wittgenstein and Other Minds: Rethinking Subjectivity and Intersubjectivity with Wittgenstein, Levinas, and Husserl, Reviewed by Bettina Bergo, Université de Montréal
• Shaun Gallagher, Brainstorming: Views and Interviews on the Mind, Reviewed by Mark Okrent, Bates College
• Georg Brun, Ulvi Doguoglu, Dominique Kuenzle (eds.), Epistemology and Emotions, Reviewed by Craig DeLancey, State University of New York at Oswego

Aesthetics

• Cynthia Willett, Irony in the Age of Empire: Comic Perspectives on Democracy and Freedom, Reviewed by Bernard G. Prusak, Villanova University
• Charles O. Nussbaum, The Musical Representation: Meaning, Ontology, and Emotion, Reviewed by Jenefer Robinson, University of Cincinnati
• Dan Flory, Philosophy, Black Film, Film Noir, Reviewed by Angela Curran, Carleton College

Philosophers & History of Philosophy

• Anthony Kenny, From Empedocles to Wittgenstein: Historical Essays in Philosophy, Reviewed by Owen Goldin, Marquette University
• W. J. Mander, The Philosophy of John Norris, Reviewed by Lawrence Nolan, Marquette University, and June Yang, Grossmont College
• Michel Foucault, Introduction à l’Anthropologie (published in one volume with Foucault’s translation of Emmanuel Kant’s Anthropologie d’un point de vue pragmatique), Reviewed by Béatrice Han-Pile, University of Essex
• Oliver Feltham, Alain Badiou: Live Theory, Reviewed by Todd May, Clemson University
• S. J. McGrath, Heidegger: A (Very) Critical Introduction, Reviewed by Charles Guignon, University of South Florida
• M. Jamie Ferreira, Kierkegaard, Reviewed by Edward F. Mooney, Syracuse University
• Jeremy Wanderer, Robert Brandom Reviewed by Christopher Gauker, University of Cincinnati
• Catherine Wilson, Epicureanism at the Origins of Modernity, Reviewed by Margaret J. Osler, University of Calgary

Philosophy of Science

• Stephan Hartmann, Carl Hoefer, Luc Bovens (eds.), Nancy Cartwright’s Philosophy of Science, Reviewed by Mathias Frisch, University of Maryland, College Park
• Bas C. van Fraassen, Scientific Representation: Paradoxes of Perspective, Reviewed by Gabriele Contessa, Carleton University

Philosophy of Literature

• Peter Lamarque, The Philosophy of Literature, Reviewed by Robert J. Yanal, Wayne State University

Asian Philosophy

• Karyn L. Lai, An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy, Reviewed by Manyul Im, Fairfield University
• Mengzi, Bryan W. Van Norden (trans.), Mengzi: With Selections from Traditional Commentaries, Reviewed by Hui-chieh Loy, National University of Singapore
• Lin Ma, Heidegger on East-West Dialogue: Anticipating the Event, Reviewed by Eric Sean Nelson, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Philosophy of Religion

• Paul K. Moser (ed.), Jesus and Philosophy: New Essays, Reviewed by Michael Rea, University of Notre Dame
• Richard Swinburne, Was Jesus God?, Reviewed by Phillip Wiebe, Trinity Western University

Arrived last week: the latest issue of Philosophy & Phenomenological Research — Philosophy & Phenomenological Research 77(3) November 2008.

Here’s the Table of Contents:

Articles

• The Causal Theory of Properties and the Causal Theory of Reference, or How to Name Properties and Why It Matters, Robert D. Rupert
• Yet Another Paper on the Supervenience Argument Against Coincident Entities, Theodore Sider
• Forgiving Someone for Who They Are (and Not Just What They’ve Done), Macalester Bell
• Divine Hoorays: Some Parallels between Expressivism and Religious Ethics, Nicholas Unwin
• Flattery, Yuval Eylon, David Heyd
• Locke’s Problem Concerning Perceptual Error, Antonia Lolordo
• Epistemic Goals and Epistemic Values, Stephen R. Grimm

Discussions

• The Determinists Have Run Out of Luck—For a Good Reason, Storrs McCall, E.J. Lowe
• Bad Luck Once Again, Neil Levy

Special Symposium

• Understanding Simulation, Susan Hurley
• Hurley on Simulation, Alvin I. Goldman

Book Symposium: Moral Skepticisms

• Précis of Moral Skepticisms, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
• Coping with Moral Uncertainty, Peter Railton
• Contrastivism, Relevance Contextualism, and Meta-Skepticism, Mark Timmons
• Do We Have Any Justified Moral Beliefs?, David Copp
• Replies to Copp, Timmons, and Railton, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong

Critical Notices

• Epistemology and the Psychology of Human Judgment, reviewed by Earl Conee
• Subjectivity and Selfhood: Investigating the First-Person Perspective, reviewed by Charles Siewert

Also arrived this week: the latest issue of Noûs — Noûs 42(4) December 2008 — with an article by the department’s own Jeff McDonough:

• New Foundations for Imperative Logic I: Logical Connectives, Consistency, and Quantifiers, Peter B.M. Vranas
• How Expressivists Can and Should Solve Their Problem with Negation, Mark Schroeder
• The Price of Inscrutability, J.R.G. Williams
• Deontological Restrictions and the Self/Other Symmetry, David Alm
• Leibniz’s Two Realms Revisited, Jeffrey K. McDonough
• The Standard Argument for Blame Incompatibilism, Peter A. Graham
• Problems for Testimonial Acquaintance, Michael J. Raven
• Is the Problem of the Many a Problem in Metaphysics?, Dan López de Sa
• On What it Takes for There to Be No Fact of the Matter, Jody Azzouni and Otávio Bueno
• Frankfurt’s Argument against Alternative Possibilities: Looking Beyond the Exemplars, Michael McKenna

Over the summer, I had the good fortune to meet Bob Doyle.*  Bob is a scientist, inventor, and philosopher with a keen interest in topics like free will and epistemology, among other things.  I’ve enjoyed meeting him several times now, to discuss philosophy and searching for philosophical research.

Bob recently began a fascinating blog, The I-Phi Blog, dedicated to information philosophy.  (I’ve added a link to the I-Phi Blog in the blogroll, under “Online Resources.”) Here’s the description of what the blog is all about: