Frank Jackson champions the cause of conceptual analysis as central to philosophical inquiry. In recent years conceptual analysis has been undervalued and widely misunderstood, suggests Jackson. He argues that such analysis is mistakenly clouded in mystery, preventing a whole range of important questions from being productively addressed. He anchors his argument in discussions of specific philosophical issues, starting with the metaphysical doctrine of physicalism and moving on, via free will, meaning, personal identity, motion, and change, to ethics and the philosophy of color. In this way the book not only offers a methodological program for philosophy, but also casts new light on some much-debated problems and their interrelations. ~ Book Description

Table of Contents

• • Ch. 1    Serious Metaphysics and Supervenience    1
  • Ch. 2    The Role of Conceptual Analysis    28
  • Ch. 3    Conceptual Analysis and Metaphysical Necessity    56
  • Ch. 4    The Primary Quality View of Colour    87
  • Ch. 5    The Location Problem for Ethics: Moral Properties and Moral Content    113
  • Ch. 6    Analytical Descriptivism    139
  • Bibliography    163
  • Index    171