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Overview
If asked what Humeanism could mean today, there is no other philosopher to turn to whose work covers such a wide range of topics from a unified Humean perspective as that of David Lewis. The core of Lewis's many contributions to philosophy, including his work in philosophical ontology, intensional logic and semantics, probability and decision theory, topics within philosophy of science as well as a distinguished philosophy of mind, can be understood as the development of philosophical position that is centered around his conception of Humean supervenience. If we accept the thesis that it is physical science and not philosophical reasoning that will eventually arrive at the basic constituents of all matter pertaining to our world, then Humean supervenience is the assumption that all truths about our world will supervene on the class of physical truths in the following sense: There are no truths in any compartment of our world that cannot be accounted for in terms of differences and similarities among those properties and external space-time relations that are fundamental to our world according to physical science.
Synopsis
Reality and Humean Supervenience confronts the reader with central aspects in the philosophy of David Lewis, whose work in ontology, metaphysics, logic, probability, philosophy of mind, and language articulates a unique and systematic foundation for modern physicalism.
Booknews
David Lewis' contributions to philosophy include work in philosophical ontology, intensional logic and semantics, probability and decision theory, and topics within philosophy of science as well as philosophy of mind. This collection of essays by 12 American, European, and Australian philosophers serves as a general introduction to Lewis and his influence on contemporary metaphysics. The essays challenge aspects of Lewis' thinking, pose new questions, and open new points of view on his stances in the areas of modal realism; physicalism, causation, and conditionals; and reduction of mind. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)