Overview

Regardless of who you are or how you live your life, you disagree with millions of people on an enormous number of topics from politics, religion and morality to sport, culture and art. Unless you are delusional, you are aware that a great many of the people who disagree with you are just as smart and thoughtful as you are - in fact, you know that often they are smarter and more informed. But believing someone to be cleverer or more knowledgeable about a particular topic usually won’t change your mind. Should it? This book is devoted to exploring this quandary - what should we do when we encounter disagreement, particularly when we believe someone is more of an authority on a subject than we are? The question is of enormous importance, both in the public arena and in our personal lives. Disagreement over marriages, beliefs, friendships and more causes immense personal strife. People with political power disagree about how to spend enormous amounts of money, about what laws to pass, or about wars to fight. If only we were better able to resolve our disagreements, we would probably save millions of lives and prevent millions of others from living in poverty. The first full-length text-book on this philosophical topic, Disagreement provides students with the tools they need to understand the burgeoning academic literature and its (often conflicting) perspectives. Including case studies, sample questions and chapter summaries, this engaging and accessible book is the perfect starting point for students and anyone interested in thinking about the possibilities and problems of this fundamental philosophical debate.

Full Product Details

Author:   Bryan Frances
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:   Polity Press
Dimensions:   Width: 13.70cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 21.30cm
Weight:   0.299kg
ISBN:  

9780745672274

ISBN 10:   0745672272
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   11 July 2014
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

List of Stories  Introduction  Part 1: Basics of Disagreement  1. Genuine vs. Illusory Disagreement  2. Easier Questions about Disagreement  3. Harder Questions about Disagreement  4. Expert Testimony and Higher-Order Evidence  5. Peers, Inferiors, and Superiors  6. Some Results  7. The Peer Rule and the Superior Rule  8. Disagreement over Facts, Values, And Religion  9. Disagreement over Beliefs vs. Actions  10. What We Should Believe vs. What We Actually Believe  11. Response to Disagreement vs. Subsequent Level Of Confidence  12. What It Means To Realize Disagreement  13. The Disagreement Question Refined  14. Disagreement with One vs. Disagreement with Many  15. Some More Results  16. Study Questions and Problems  Part 2: Conciliatory or Steadfast?  1. Introduction  2. Revising the Three Rules Of Thumb  3. Rethinking Judgments about Peers And Superiors  4. More Revision: Confidence Level vs. Evidence Level  5. When You Have No Idea Who is in the Better Position  6. Split Experts  7. Special Case: Religious Belief  8. Some Results  9. Questions on Uniqueness, Independence, and Peerhood  Uniqueness  Independence  Conditional Peers and Superiors  Feldman’s Questions  10. Does Disagreement Lead To Skepticism?  11. The Disagreement Question Revisited  12. Study Questions and Problems  Index 

Reviews

A fine introduction to the issues surrounding disagreement, this text will engage students with its lively prose and lucid thought. Ernest Sosa, Rutgers University Frances's commitment to working with realistic examples makes for a kind of contact with everyday intellectual life that can seem missing in much of the professional literature on disagreement. Although the book is designed for students, it also gave me new things to think about. David Christensen, Brown University

A fine introduction to the issues surrounding disagreement, this text will engage students with its lively prose and lucid thought. Ernest Sosa, Rutgers University Frances's commitment to working with realistic examples makes for a kind of contact with everyday intellectual life that can seem missing in much of the professional literature on disagreement. Although the book is designed for students, it also gave me new things to think about. David Christensen, Brown University

Author Information

Bryan Frances is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University

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