When one thinks--knows, believes, imagines--that something is the case, one's thought has a topic: it is about something, towards which one's mind is directed. What is the logic of thought, so understood? This book begins to explore the idea that, to answer the question, we should take topics seriously. It proposes a hyperintensional account of the propositional contents of thought, arguing that these are individuated not only by the set of possible worlds at which they are true, but also by their topic: what they are about. The book then builds epistemic, doxastic, probabilistic, and conditional logics based on this view. It applies them to issues ranging from dogmatism, scepticism, and epistemic fallibilism, to imagination and suppositional reasoning, belief revision, framing effects, and the acceptability of indicative conditionals.

Topics of Thought: The Logic of Knowledge, Belief, Imagination

Politics & Social Sciences

Berto, Francesco

Philosophy

Oxford University Press

We need to understand the impossible. Francesco Berto and Mark Jago start by considering what the concepts of meaning, information, knowledge, belief, fiction, conditionality, and counterfactual supposition have in common. They are all concepts which divide the world up more finely than logic does. Logically equivalent sentences may carry different meanings and information and may differ in how they're believed. Fictions can be inconsistent yet meaningful. We can suppose impossible things without collapsing into total incoherence. Yet for the leading philosophical theories of meaning, these phenomena are an unfathomable mystery. To understand these concepts, we need a metaphysical, logical, and conceptual grasp of situations that could not possibly exist: Impossible Worlds. This book discusses the metaphysics of impossible worlds and applies the concept to a range of central topics and open issues in logic, semantics, and philosophy. It considers problems in the logic of knowledge, the meaning of alternative logics, models of imagination and mental simulation, the theory of information, truth in fiction, the meaning of conditional statements, and reasoning about the impossible. In all these cases, impossible worlds have an essential role to play.

Impossible Worlds

Jago, Mark

Berto’s highly readable and lucid guide introduces students and the interested reader to Gödel’s celebrated Incompleteness Theorem, and discusses some of the most famous - and infamous - claims arising from Gödel's arguments.  Offers a clear understanding of this difficult subject by presenting each of the key steps of the Theorem in separate chapters Discusses interpretations of the Theorem made by celebrated contemporary thinkers Sheds light on the wider extra-mathematical and philosophical implications of Gödel’s theories Written in an accessible, non-technical style

There's Something About Gödel: The Complete Guide to the Incompleteness Theorem

Wiley/Blackwell

Berto’s highly readable and lucid guide introduces students and the interested reader to Gödel’s celebrated Incompleteness Theorem, and discusses some of the most famous - and infamous - claims arising from Gödel's arguments. 
<ul>
<li>Offers a clear understanding of this difficult subject by presenting each of the key steps of the Theorem in separate chapters</li> <li>Discusses interpretations of the Theorem made by celebrated contemporary thinkers</li> <li>Sheds light on the wider extra-mathematical and philosophical implications of Gödel’s theories</li> <li>Written in an accessible, non-technical style</li> </ul>

There's Something About Godel: The Complete Guide to the Incompleteness Theorem

Ontology and Metaontology: A Contemporary Guide

Ontology and Metaontology: A Contemporary Guide is a clear and accessible survey of ontology, focussing on the most recent trends in the discipline. 
Divided into parts, the first half characterizes metaontology: the discourse on the methodology of ontological inquiry, covering the main concepts, tools, and methods of the discipline, exploring the notions of being and existence, ontological commitment, paraphrase strategies, fictionalist strategies, and other metaontological questions. The second half considers a series of case studies, introducing and familiarizing the reader with concrete examples of the latest research in the field. The basic sub-fields of ontology are covered here via an accessible and captivating exposition: events, properties, universals, abstract objects, possible worlds, material beings, mereology, fictional objects. 
The guide's modular structure allows for a flexible approach to the subject, making it suitable for both undergraduates and postgraduates looking to better understand and apply the exciting developments and debates taking place in ontology today.

Plebani, Matteo

Bloomsbury Academic

Ontology and Metaontology: A Contemporary Guide is a clear and accessible survey of ontology, focussing on the most recent trends in the discipline. 
Divided into parts, the first half characterizes metaontology: the discourse on the methodology of ontological inquiry, covering the main concepts, tools, and methods of the discipline, exploring the notions of being and existence, ontological commitment, paraphrase strategies, fictionalist strategies, and other metaontological questions. The second half considers a series of case studies, introducing and familiarizing the reader with concrete examples of the latest research in the field. The basic sub-fields of ontology are covered here via an accessible and captivating exposition: events, properties, universals, abstract objects, possible worlds, material beings, mereology, fictional objects. 
The guide's modular structure allows for a flexible approach to the subject, making it suitable for both undergraduates and postgraduates looking to better understand and apply the exciting developments and debates taking place in ontology today.

In classe con la testa. Teoria e pratica dell'apprendere in gruppo

Scalari, Paola

Education & Teaching

la meridiana

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Berto, Francesco. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Berto, Francesco

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Berto, Francesco. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Topics of Thought: The Logic of Knowledge, Belief, Imagination

Impossible Worlds

There's Something About Gödel: The Complete Guide to the Incompleteness Theorem

There's Something About Godel: The Complete Guide to the Incompleteness Theorem

Ontology and Metaontology: A Contemporary Guide

Ontology and Metaontology: A Contemporary Guide

In classe con la testa. Teoria e pratica dell'apprendere in gruppo