Overview

Four people with radically different outlooks on the world meet on a train and start talking about what they believe. Their conversation varies from cool logical reasoning to heated personal confrontation. Each starts off convinced that he or she is right, but then doubts creep in. In a tradition going back to Plato, Timothy Williamson uses a fictional conversation to explore questions about truth and falsity, and knowledge and belief. Is truth always relative to a point of view? Is every opinion fallible? Such ideas have been used to combat dogmatism and intolerance, but are they compatible with taking each opposing point of view seriously? This book presupposes no prior acquaintance with philosophy, and introduces its concerns in an accessible and light-hearted way. Is one point of view really right and the other really wrong? That is for the reader to decide.

Full Product Details

9780198777175

Table of Contents

Reviews

Tetralogue has an abundance of merits. It is lively and frequently incisive. It pursues several important philosophical issues efficiently and without remaining on well-trodden ground. It does not require any academic background. It could contribute usefully to undergraduate courses that address any of its topics. Earl Conee, Notre Dame Philosphical Reviews The reader can certainly appreciate the value of trained minds and clear thinking as the dialogue proceeds - this is an offbeat and engaging introduction to logic using generic examples to which many readers will relate. David Lorimer, Network Review This small volume would make a great present. Adam Ford, Church Times Tetralogue is presented as an accessible, fun-to-read introduction to philosophical themes for the non-initiated; at the same time, the initiated may enjoy seeing these topics embedded in apparently mundane discussions. Catarina Dutilh Novaes, Times Higher Education This is a serious book that is also a lot of fun. Richard Baron, Analysis and Synthesis Blog It is a valuable introduction to rich intellectual topics which await further exploration for those with an appetite for more. Matthew A. Benton, Marginalia

Author Information

Timothy Williamson was born in Uppsala, Sweden. He has been the Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford University since 2000. Before that he was Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at Edinburgh University, and also taught at Trinity College Dublin. He has held visiting positions in philosophy at MIT, Princeton, Michigan, Yale (from 2016), Australian National University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, National Autonomous University of Mexico, and elsewhere. His books include Identity and Discrimination, Vagueness, Knowledge and its Limits, The Philosophy of Philosophy, and Modal Logic as Metaphysics. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Member of the Academia Europaea.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available