The Rediscovery of Common Sense Philosophy

How should one go about conducting the business of philosophy? And what should we make of the paradoxical conclusions defended by the great and the good of the discipline? In this book it is argued that, contrary to common practice, philosophical paradoxes and counter-intuitive theses ought to be taken as clear indications that errors of one form or another have been committed. The author presents a new account, defense, and illustration of this meta-philosophy of common sense, drawing on a variety of sources including the work of Aristotle, Reid, Moore, Ryle, Austin and Grice, current thinking in evolutionary biology and psychology, as well as an historically informed view of the origins of the 'spirit of modernity' so clearly exemplified by Descartes. This approach to philosophy is then illustrated in a series of studies on topical issues ranging from metaphysics to ethics.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Philosophy, Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.