McDowell and His Critics

Cynthia Macdonald is Professor of Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Her previous publications include Mind–Body Identity Theories (1989), Varieties of Things: Foundations of Contemporary Metaphysics (Blackwell, 2005), and she is co-editor, with Stephen Laurence, of Contemporary Readings in the Foundations of Metaphysics (Blackwell, 1998).Graham Macdonald is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and Distinguished International Fellow at the Institute of Cognition and Culture, Queen’s University Belfast. He is co-author, with Philip Pettit, of Semantics and Social Science (1980). In addition, he is editor of Perception and Identity: Essays Presented to A. J. Ayer, with His Replies to Them (1979), co-editor, with Crispin Wright, of Fact, Science, and Morality (Blackwell, 1986), and co-editor, with Philip Catton, of Karl Popper: Critical Appraisals (2004). Together, they have edited Philosophy of Psychology: Debates on Psychological Explanation and Connectionism: Debates on Psychological Explanation (both Blackwell, 1995).

"This is an excellent collection of essays on the wide-ranging work of one of the most significant and original philosophers of our day. They raise some fundamental questions about McDowell's views on a variety of topics, to which his own exemplary responses provide extremely valuable further elaboration and development of his thought." Bill Brewer, University of Warwick "A very welcome addition to the ‘Philosophers and their Critics’ series: there is much to be learnt from the interplay between the ten contributors’ probing papers and McDowell’s responses to them." Jennifer Hornsby, Birkbeck College

• Notes on Contributors viiIntroduction ix1 Austerity and Openness 1R. M. SainsburyResponse to Sainsbury 14JOHN McDOWELL2 Reason and Language 22Richard G. Heck, Jr.Response to Heck 45JOHN McDOWELL3 Some Philosophical Integrations 50 Akeel BilgramiResponse to Bilgrami 66JOHN McDOWELL4 Self-Knowledge and Inner Space 73CYNTHIA MacDONALDResponse to Macdonald 89JOHN McDOWELL5 Personal Identity, Ethical not Metaphysical 95Carol RovaneResponse to Rovane 114JOHN McDOWELL6 Acting in the Light of the Appearances 121Jonathan DancyResponse to Dancy 134JOHN McDOWELL7 External Reasons 142Philip Pettit and Michael SmithResponse to Pettit and Smith 170JOHN McDOWELL8 Aristotle’s Use of Prudential Concepts 180T. H. IrwinResponse to Irwin 198JOHN McDOWELL9 Julius Caesar and George Berkeley Play Leapfrog 203Simon BlackburnResponse to Blackburn 217JOHN McDOWELL10 The Two Natures: Another Dogma? 222GRAHAM MacDONALDResponse to Macdonald 235JOHN McDOWELLIndex 240