Canadian Journal of Philosophy 

About: Canadian Journal of Philosophy is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Contemporary philosophy & Argument. It has an ISSN identifier of 0045-5091. Over the lifetime, 2096 publications have been published receiving 24466 citations. The journal is also known as: CJP.

The Nature of Laws

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the question of the truth conditions of nomological statements. My fundamental thesis is that it is possible to set out an acceptable, non Circular account of the truth conditions of laws and nomological statements if and only if relations among universals — that is, among properties and relations, construed realistically — are taken as the truth-makers for such statements. My discussion will be restricted to strictly universal, nonstatistical laws. The reason for this limitation is not that I feel there is anything dubious about the concept of a statistical law, nor that I feel that basic laws cannot be statistical. The reason is methodological. The case of strictly universal, nonstatistical laws would seem to be the simplest case. If the problem of the truth conditions of laws can be solved for this simple subcase, one can then investigate whether the solution can be extended to the more complex cases. I believe that the solution I propose here does have that property, though I shall not pursue that question here.

Pronouns, Quantifiers, and Relative Clauses (I)

Abstract: Some philosophers, notably Professors Quine and Geach, have stressed the analogies they see between pronouns of the vernacular and the bound variables of quantification theory. Geach, indeed, once maintained that ‘for a philosophical theory of reference, then, it is all one whether we consider bound variables or pronouns of the vernacular'. This slightly overstates Geach's positition since he recognizes that some pronouns of ordinary language do function differently from bound variables; he calls such pronouns ‘pronouns of laziness'. Geach's characterisation of pronouns of laziness has varied from time to time, but the general idea should be clear from a paradigm example: (1) A man who sometimes beats his wife has more sense than one who always gives in to her. The pronouns ‘one’ and ‘her’ go proxy for a noun or a noun phrase (here: ‘a man’ and ‘his wife’) in the sense that the pronoun is replaceable in paraphrase by simple repetition of its antecedent.

The Ontology of Complex Systems: Levels of Organization, Perspectives, and Causal Thickets

Abstract: (1994). The Ontology of Complex Systems: Levels of Organization, Perspectives, and Causal Thickets. Canadian Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 24, Supplementary Volume 20: Biology & Society: Reflections on Methodology, pp. 207-274.

Autonomy and Personal History

Abstract: (1991). Autonomy and Personal History. Canadian Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 1-24.