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Showcasing the best of the Cambridge philosophy canon from the last hundred years, Cambridge Philosophy Classics brings together important and influential works by celebrated scholars into a single collection. Unique to Cambridge, these titles are presented in a fresh series livery for the twenty-first century, each one including a new preface by an eminent philosopher in the field illuminating its continuing importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry. The series includes works across the philosophical spectrum - from ethics and political philosophy to logic and philosophy of science - by thinkers including Armstrong, Cavell, Oakeshott, Ryle, Whitehead and Williams.

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20 results in Cambridge Philosophy Classics

Probability and Evidence
  • Paul Horwich
  • Published online:
    05 August 2016
    Print publication:
    26 August 2016
  • In this influential study of central issues in the philosophy of science, Paul Horwich elaborates on an important conception of probability, diagnosing the failure of previous attempts to resolve these issues as stemming from a too-rigid conception of belief. Adopting a Bayesian strategy, he argues for a probabilistic approach, yielding a more complete understanding of the characteristics of scientific reasoning and methodology. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by Colin Howson, illuminating its enduring importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this engaging work has been revived for a new generation of readers.

Nietzsche on Tragedy
  • M. S. Silk, J. P. Stern
  • Published online:
    05 August 2016
    Print publication:
    26 August 2016
  • The first comprehensive study of Nietzsche's earliest book, The Birth of Tragedy (1872), this important volume by M. S. Silk and J. P. Stern examines the work in detail: its place in Nietzsche's philosophical career; its value as an account of ancient Greek culture; its place in the history of German ideas, and its value as a theory of tragedy and music. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by Lesley Chamberlain, illuminating its enduring importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this accessible study has been revived for a new generation of readers.

Traditional and Analytical Philosophy
  • Lectures on the Philosophy of Language
  • Ernst Tugendhat
  • Translated by P. A. Gorner
  • Published online:
    05 August 2016
    Print publication:
    26 August 2016
  • Ernst Tugendhat's major work, Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die sprachanalytische Philosophie (1976), was translated into English in 1982. Although trained in Heideggerian phenomenological and hermeneutical thinking, Tugendhat increasingly came to believe that the most appropriate approach to philosophy was an analytical one. This influential work grew from that conviction and brought new perspectives to some of the central and abiding questions of metaphysics and the philosophy of language. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by Hans-Johann Glock, illuminating its enduring importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this impressive work has been revived for a new generation of readers.

Kant's Analytic
  • Jonathan Bennett
  • Published online:
    05 July 2016
    Print publication:
    26 August 2016
  • This engaging and instructive analysis of the first half of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason continues to be valuable to both practiced Kant scholars and newcomers. Jonathan Bennett examines the arguments and themes of Kant's work in relation to those of the works of philosophers old and new, including Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, Wittgenstein, Ryle, Ayler, Quine, Warnock, and others. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by James Van Cleve, illuminating its continuing importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this influential work is available for a new generation of readers.

Rational Decision and Causality
  • Ellery Eells
  • Published online:
    05 July 2016
    Print publication:
    26 August 2016
  • First published in 1982, Ellery Eells' original work on rational decision making had extensive implications for probability theorists, economists, statisticians and psychologists concerned with decision making and the employment of Bayesian principles. His analysis of the philosophical and psychological significance of Bayesian decision theories, causal decision theories and Newcomb's paradox continues to be influential in philosophy of science. His book is now revived for a new generation of readers and presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, including a specially commissioned preface written by Brian Skyrms, illuminating its continuing importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry.

On the Nature and Existence of God
  • Richard M. Gale
  • Published online:
    05 July 2016
    Print publication:
    26 August 2016
  • First published in 1991, Richard M. Gale's classic book is a response to and critique of new, contemporary arguments for the existence of God from analytical philosophers. Considering concepts including time, free will, personhood, actuality and the objectivity of experience, Gale evaluates the new versions of cosmological, ontological, pragmatic and religious experience arguments that emerged in the late-twentieth century. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by Paul K. Moser, illuminating its enduring importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this influential work has been revived for a new generation of readers.

Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences
  • Essays on Language, Action and Interpretation
  • Paul Ricoeur
  • Edited and translated by John B. Thompson
  • Published online:
    05 July 2016
    Print publication:
    26 August 2016
  • Collected and translated by John B. Thompson, this collection of essays by Paul Ricoeur includes many that had never appeared in English before the volume's publication in 1981. As comprehensive as it is illuminating, this lucid introduction to Ricoeur's prolific contributions to sociological theory features his more recent writings on the history of hermeneutics, its central themes and issues, his own constructive position and its implications for sociology, psychoanalysis and history. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by Charles Taylor, illuminating its enduring importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this classic work has been revived for a new generation of readers.

Sour Grapes
  • Studies in the Subversion of Rationality
  • Jon Elster
  • Published online:
    05 July 2016
    Print publication:
    26 August 2016
  • Drawing on philosophy, political and social theory, decision-theory, economics, psychology, history and literature, Jon Elster's classic book Sour Grapes continues and complements the arguments of his acclaimed earlier book, Ulysses and the Sirens. Elster begins with an analysis of the notation of rationality, before tackling the notions of irrational behavior, desires and belief with highly sophisticated arguments that subvert the orthodox theories of rational choice. Presented in a fresh series livery and with a specially commissioned preface written by Richard Holton, illuminating its continuing importance to philosophical enquiry, Sour Grapes has been revived for a new generation of readers.

Logic of Statistical Inference
  • Ian Hacking
  • Preface by Jan-Willem Romeijn
  • Published online:
    05 July 2016
    Print publication:
    26 August 2016
  • One of Ian Hacking's earliest publications, this book showcases his early ideas on the central concepts and questions surrounding statistical reasoning. He explores the basic principles of statistical reasoning and tests them, both at a philosophical level and in terms of their practical consequences for statisticians. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by Jan-Willem Romeijn, illuminating its enduring importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, Hacking's influential and original work has been revived for a new generation of readers.

What is a Law of Nature?
  • D. M. Armstrong
  • Published online:
    05 July 2016
    Print publication:
    26 August 2016
  • First published in 1985, D. M. Armstrong's original work on what laws of nature are has continued to be influential in the areas of metaphysics and philosophy of science. Presenting a definitive attack on the sceptical Humean view, that laws are no more than a regularity of coincidence between stances of properties, Armstrong establishes his own theory and defends it concisely and systematically against objections. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by Marc Lange, illuminating its continuing importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this influential work is available for a new generation of readers.

Kant's Dialectic
  • Jonathan Bennett
  • Published online:
    05 July 2016
    Print publication:
    26 August 2016
  • Jonathan Bennett's analysis of the second half of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, in which Kant concerns himself with topics such as substance, the nature of the self, the cosmos, freedom and the existence of God, continues to be an engaging and accessible exploration of Kant's major work. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by Karl Ameriks, illuminating its enduring importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this influential work has been revived for a new generation of readers.

Obscenity and Film Censorship
  • An Abridgement of the Williams Report
  • Edited by Bernard Williams
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    08 October 2015
  • When it first appeared in 1979, the Williams Report on Obscenity and Film Censorship provoked strong reactions. The practical issues and political principles examined are of continuing interest and remain a crucial point of reference for discussions on obscenity and censorship. Presented in a fresh series livery for the twenty-first century, and with a specially commissioned preface written by Onora O'Neill, illuminating its continuing importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this abridged edition of Bernard Williams's Report presents all the main findings and arguments of the full report, central to which is the application of Mill's 'harm principle' and the conclusion that restrictions are out of place where no harm can be reasonably thought to be done.

Dilemmas
  • The Tarner Lectures 1953
  • Gilbert Ryle
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    07 October 2015
  • Common sense tells me I can control my life to some extent; should I then, faced with a logical argument for fatalism, reject common sense? There seems to be no place in a physical theory of the universe for the sensory experiences of colours, taste and smells, yet I know I have these experiences. In this book, Gilbert Ryle explores the conflicts that arise in everyday life and shows that the either/or which such dilemmas seem to suggest is a false dilemma: one side of the dilemma does not deny what we know to be true on the other side. This classic book has been revived in a new series livery for twenty-first-century readers, featuring a specially commissioned preface written by Barry Stroud.

Art and its Objects
  • 2nd edition
  • Richard Wollheim
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    08 October 2015
  • Richard Wollheim's classic reflection on art considers central questions regarding expression, representation, style, the significance of the artist's intention and the essentially historical nature of art. Presented in a fresh series livery for the twenty-first century, with a specially commissioned preface written by Richard Eldridge, illuminating its continuing importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, Art and its Objects continues to be a perceptive and engaging introduction to the questions and philosophical issues raised by works of art and the part they play in our culture and society. Wollheim's insights into theories of art, criticism, perception and the nature of aesthetic value make this one of the most influential works on aesthetics of the twentieth century.

Models of Man
  • Philosophical Thoughts on Social Action
  • Martin Hollis
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    08 October 2015
  • All social theorists and philosophers who seek to explain human action have a 'model of man'; a metaphysical view of human nature that requires its own theory of scientific knowledge. In this influential book, Martin Hollis examines the tensions that arise from the differing views of sociologists, economists and psychologists. He then develops a rationalist model of his own which connects personal and social identity through a theory of rational action and a priori knowledge, allowing humans to both act freely and still be a subject for scientific explanation. Presented in a fresh series livery and including a specially commissioned preface written by Geoffrey Hawthorn, Hollis's important work is made available to a new generation of readers.

Proofs and Refutations
  • The Logic of Mathematical Discovery
  • Imre Lakatos
  • Edited by John Worrall, Elie Zahar
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    08 October 2015
  • Imre Lakatos's Proofs and Refutations is an enduring classic, which has never lost its relevance. Taking the form of a dialogue between a teacher and some students, the book considers various solutions to mathematical problems and, in the process, raises important questions about the nature of mathematical discovery and methodology. Lakatos shows that mathematics grows through a process of improvement by attempts at proofs and critiques of these attempts, and his work continues to inspire mathematicians and philosophers aspiring to develop a philosophy of mathematics that accounts for both the static and the dynamic complexity of mathematical practice. With a specially commissioned Preface written by Paolo Mancosu, this book has been revived for a new generation of readers.

Must We Mean What We Say?
  • A Book of Essays
  • 2nd edition
  • Stanley Cavell
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    06 October 2015
  • In this classic collection of wide-ranging and interdisciplinary essays, Stanley Cavell explores a remarkably broad range of philosophical issues from politics and ethics to the arts and philosophy. The essays explore issues as diverse as the opposing approaches of 'analytic' and 'Continental' philosophy, modernism, Wittgenstein, abstract expressionism and Schoenberg, Shakespeare on human needs, the difficulties of authorship, Kierkegaard and post-Enlightenment religion. Presented in a fresh twenty-first century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface, written by Stephen Mulhall, illuminating its continuing importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this influential work is now available for a new generation of readers.

The Concept of Nature
  • Tarner Lectures
  • Alfred North Whitehead
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    07 October 2015
  • When The Concept of Nature by Alfred North Whitehead was first published in 1920 it was declared to be one of the most important works on the relation between philosophy and science for many years, and several generations later it continues to deserve careful attention. Whitehead explores the fundamental problems of substance, space and time, and offers a criticism of Einstein's method of interpreting results while developing his own well-known theory of the four-dimensional 'space-time manifold'. With a specially commissioned new preface written by Michael Hampe, this book is presented in a fresh series livery for the twenty-first century for a new generation of readers.

Experience and its Modes
  • Michael Oakeshott
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    06 October 2015
  • When it first appeared in 1933, Experience and its Modes was not considered a classic. But as philosophical fashion moved away from the analytic philosophy of the 1930s, this work began to seem ahead of its time. Arguing that experience is 'modal', in the sense that we always have a theoretical or practical perspective on the world, Michael Oakeshott explores the nature of philosophical experience and its relationship to three of the most important 'modes' of non-philosophical experience - science, history and practice - seeking to establish the autonomy and superiority of philosophy. In recognition of its enduring importance, this book is presented in a fresh series livery for a new generation of readers, featuring a specially commissioned preface written by Paul Franco.

Hegel and Modern Society
  • Charles Taylor
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    06 October 2015
  • This rich study explores the elements of Hegel's social and political thought that are most relevant to our society today. Combating the prevailing post-World War II stereotype of Hegel as a proto-fascist, Charles Taylor argues that Hegel aimed not to deny the rights of individuality but to synthesise them with the intrinsic good of community membership. Hegel's goal of a society of free individuals whose social activity is expressive of who they are seems an even more distant goal now, and Taylor's discussion has renewed relevance for our increasingly globalised and industrialised society. This classic work is presented in a fresh series livery for the twenty-first century with a specially commissioned new preface written by Frederick Neuhouser.