Overview

The central question in this book is why it seems reasonable for the words of our language to divide up the world in ordinary ways rather than other imaginable ways. Hirsch calls this the division problem. His book aims to bring this problem into sharp focus, to distinguish it from various related problems, and to consider the best prospects for solving it. In exploring various possible responses to the division problem, Hirsch examines series of ""division principles"" which purport to express rational constraints on how our words ought to classify and individuate. The ensuing discussion deals with a wide range of metaphysical and epistemological topics, including projectibility and similarity, alternative analyses of natural properties and things, the inscrutability of reference, and the relevance of such pragmatic notions as salience and economy. The final chapters of the book develop what Hirsch contends is the most promising response to the division problem: a theory in which constraints on classification and individuation are seen to derive from the necessary structure of ""fine-grained"" propositions and the necessary dependence of some concepts on others.

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9780195111422

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Reviews

""Dividing Reality is filled with detailed and uniformly interesting argumentation [constituting] an important addition to thinking about the problem. Hirsch's work will will serve as a major basis for subsequent discussion in the area.""--The Review of Metaphysics ""Important and challenging. Hirsch leads us through the heart of metaphysics, [leaving] his special mark on all the topics he touches.... I'd put it on the Metaphysician's Must Read list.""--Philosophy and Phenomenological Research ""Not often does a book pose a genuinely new philosophical problem, but this is precisely Eli Hirsch's intent in Dividing Reality. He poses 'The Division Problem', the problem of whether there is any 'rational basis for the ordinary classificatory and individuative functions of general words'....Hirsch does an excellent job of separating related, but often conflated conceptual, linguistic, and metaphysical issues....Given Hirsch's care for detail, Dividing Reality may well serve not only as a thorough introduction to a new problem, but also as a kind of refresher course in the process of doing precise analytic philosophy.""--Australasian Journal of Philosophy ""Like any good philosophical work, Dividing Reality is filled with detailed and uniformly interesting argumentation. Those arguments, in turn, constitute an important addition to thinking about the problem. Hirsch's work will will serve as a major basis for subsequent discussion in the area.""--The Review of Metaphysics ""In Dividing Reality Eli Hirsch continues the work he does so well....important and challenging, and covers much...territory....Hirsch leads us through the heart of metaphysics...he leaves his special mark on all the topics he touches. He has an eye for interesting questions and his pursuit of them draws in even those initially skeptical of the problems. I would love to sing more praises, but space forbids; let me just say that I'd put it on the Metaphysician's Must Read list, and enthusiastically recommend it to others.""--Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

Dividing Reality is filled with detailed and uniformly interesting argumentation [constituting] an important addition to thinking about the problem. Hirsch's work will will serve as a major basis for subsequent discussion in the area. --The Review of Metaphysics<br> Important and challenging. Hirsch leads us through the heart of metaphysics, [leaving] his special mark on all the topics he touches.... I'd put it on the Metaphysician's Must Read list. --Philosophy and Phenomenological Research<br>

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