Examples and Their Role in Our Thinking

This book explores the role and significance of examples in shaping arguments and thought, particularly in philosophy and everyday life. It uses real-life events and fictional stories to demonstrate how examples guide or block our understanding, stress morally relevant aspects, and allow us to learn from them. The final chapter explores whether engagement with examples can be understood as thinking primarily through examples.

Format: Hardback
Length: 194 pages
Publication date: 05 March 2021
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This captivating book delves into the profound role and significance of examples in shaping arguments and thought,spanning both the realms of philosophy and everyday life. It raises thought-provoking questions about how our moral thinking is informed by our conceptual practices, particularly in the interconnected domains of ethics and literature, post-Wittgensteinian ethics, and meta-philosophical inquiries into the style of philosophical writing. Written in a clear and accessible style, the book employs real-life events and well-known fictional stories to introduce its discussions, effectively demonstrating how examples, rather than serving as mere exemplifications, shape and condition our approach to the points we seek to argue.

Through meticulous exploration, the author reveals how examples guide or hinder our understanding, emphasizing morally relevant aspects or dimensions of the terms at hand. Moreover, the book explores how the sense of moral seriousness enables us to learn from examples, fostering a deeper understanding of complex issues. In the final chapter, the author examines whether these types of engagement with examples can be understood as thinking primarily through examples.

Examples and Their Role in Our Thinking is a valuable resource for scholars and graduate students engaged in ethics and moral philosophy, philosophy of language, and philosophy of literature. It offers insightful perspectives and practical insights into the power of examples in shaping our thinking and understanding the world around us.

Weight: 440g
Dimension: 158 x 236 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367684709