Amy Karofsky – författare

This book is the first detailed and focused defense of necessitarianism. The author’s original account of necessitarianism encourages a reexamination of commonly held metaphysical positions as well as important issues in other, related areas of philosophy.

Necessitarianism is the view that absolutely nothing about the world could have been otherwise in any way, whatsoever. Most philosophers believe that necessitarianism is just plain false and presume that some things could have been otherwise than what they are. In this book, the author argues that necessitarianism is true and the view that some things in the world are contingent—what the author terms contingentarianism—is false. The author assesses various theories of contingency, including the possible worlds theory, combinatorialism, and dispositionalism, and argues that no theory can successfully explain why an entity is such as it is rather than not. She then lays out a case for necessitarianism and provides responses to various objections. The book concludes with an explanation of the ways in which necessitarianism is relevant to issues in ethics, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy.

A Case for Necessitarianism will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in metaphysics, logic, and philosophy of science.

This book is the first detailed and focused defense of necessitarianism. The author’s original account of necessitarianism encourages a reexamination of commonly held metaphysical positions as well as important issues in other, related areas of philosophy.

Necessitarianism is the view that absolutely nothing about the world could have been otherwise in any way, whatsoever. Most philosophers believe that necessitarianism is just plain false and presume that some things could have been otherwise than what they are. In this book, the author argues that necessitarianism is true and the view that some things in the world are contingent—what the author terms contingentarianism—is false. The author assesses various theories of contingency, including the possible worlds theory, combinatorialism, and dispositionalism, and argues that no theory can successfully explain why an entity is such as it is rather than not. She then lays out a case for necessitarianism and provides responses to various objections. The book concludes with an explanation of the ways in which necessitarianism is relevant to issues in ethics, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy.

A Case for Necessitarianism will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in metaphysics, logic, and philosophy of science.

This fifth edition of Philosophy through Film uses recently released, well-received movies to explore answers to classic questions in philosophy in an approachable yet philosophically rigorous manner.

Author Amy Karofsky uses two films in each chapter to examine one long-standing philosophical question and assess some of the best solutions to it that have been offered. The chosen movies are not mere “add-ons” to an otherwise straightforward introductory text; instead, they are fully integrated into the discussion of the issues and the various positions. Each chapter also includes discussion questions, an annotated list of films related to the chapter topic, and two or three historically significant primary sources (which are collected together at the end of the book).

Changes to the fifth edition include:

The films examined in depth are: Ad Astra; Anatomy of a Fall; Arrival; Beautiful Boy; Crimes and Misdemeanors; Divergent; Equilibrium, Everywhere Everything All at Once; Ex Machina; Get Out; Gone Baby Gone; Her; Inception; Edge of Tomorrow; The Matrix; Memento; A Serious Man; Silence; The Time Traveler’s Wife.