Toronto Studies in Philosophy

2 total works

Insight and Inference

by Murray Miles

Published 1 January 1999

In this major re-examination of Descartes's founding principle, cogito, ergo sum, Murray Miles presents a portrait of Descartes as the Father of Modern Philosophy that is very different from the standard one.

Viewing Descartes in both a historical and a systematic perspective, Miles presents a wealth of original analyses, arguments, and re-interpretations of key texts. The result is a fresh and illuminating account of Descartes's metaphysical project and theory of the mind. Descartes's achievement is a radical reversal of the order of knowing, a subjectivism that places knowledge of the mind ahead of knowledge of material things, yet is free of the metaphysical idealism that some of his successors went on to embrace.

A meticulous, scholarly, and exhaustive analysis, this book provides a minutely detailed reading of each word of Descartes's founding principle, exploring in great depth the underlying epistemology and ontology. The book will fully repay a careful reading by any serious student of Descartes's philosophy.

Inroads

by Murray Miles

Published 11 July 2003

This unique introduction to philosophy is designed as a companion volume to a number of classic philosophical texts widely used in first- and upper-year philosophy courses. While remaining clear and readable, Inroads provides detailed analyses of fundamental issues in metaphysics and morals: the existence of God, the meaning of death, and the elements and definitions of the 'good life' for humankind. Combining a historical with a systematic approach, Murray Miles's work straddles the customary divisions between ancient and modern, and Anglo-American and continental European philosophy. In each of its five main parts - in turn, focusing on Socrates, Plato, Descartes, Hume, and Sartre - Inroads discusses, from a philosophical rather than a religious or scientific perspective, those questions that make up the common inheritance of academic philosophy and ethico-religious thought. Other features include a detailed glossary of philosophical terms, suggestions for further reading, and questions for reflection and review.
Inroads is a useful text for first-year undergraduate courses or, equally, a sound resource for the general reader looking for a good grounding in philosophy and its history.