Peter Unger
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Peter Unger | |
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| Born | April 25, 1942 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Oxford University |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Analytic philosophy |
Main interests | Metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and the philosophy of mind |
Notable ideas | Effective altruism |
Peter K. Unger (
Biography
Unger attended
Unger has written a defense of profound philosophical skepticism. In Ignorance (1975), he argues that nobody knows anything and even that nobody is reasonable or justified in believing anything.
In Philosophical Relativity (1984), he argues that many philosophical questions cannot be definitively answered.
In the field of applied ethics, his best-known work is ), and that once they have given all of their own money and possessions, beyond what is needed to survive, they should give what belongs to others, even if having to beg, borrow, or steal in the process.
In "The Mental Problems of the Many" (2002), he argues for substantial interactionist dualism on questions of mind and matter: that each of us is an immaterial soul. The argument is extended and fortified in his 2006 book All the Power in the World.
In Empty Ideas (2014), he argues that analytic philosophy has delivered no substantial results as to how things are with concrete reality.
Selected publications
Books
- Ignorance: A Case for Scepticism (ISBN 0-19-824417-7
- Philosophical Relativity (Blackwell and Minnesota, 1984; Oxford, 2002) ISBN 0-19-515553-X
- Identity, Consciousness and Value (Oxford, 1990) ISBN 0-19-507917-5
- ISBN 0-19-510859-0
- All the Power in the World (Oxford, 2006) of 26.12.2005, access: 29.05.2023.
- Philosophical Papers, Volume 1 (Oxford, 2006) ISBN 0-19-515552-1
- Philosophical Papers, Volume 2 (Oxford, 2006) ISBN 0-19-530158-7
- Empty Ideas: A Critique of Analytic Philosophy (Oxford, 2014) ISBN 978-0-19933081-2
Articles
- “An Analysis of Factual Knowledge,” The Journal of Philosophy, LXV (1968): 157-170
- “A Defense of Skepticism,” The Philosophical Review, LXXX (1971): 198-219.
- “The Uniqueness in Causation,” American Philosophical Quarterly, 14 (1977): 177-188.
- “There Are No Ordinary Things,” Synthese, 41 (1979): 117-154.
- "I do not Exist", in Perception and Identity, G. F. MacDonald (ed.), London: Macmillan, 1979 and Material Constitution, Michael C. Rea (ed.), 1996.
- “Why There Are No People,” Midwest Studies in Philosophy, IV (1979): 177-222.
- "The Problem of the Many", Midwest Studies in Philosophy, V (1980), pp. 411‑467.
- “The Causal Theory of Reference,” Philosophical Studies, 43 (1983): 1-45.
- “The Mystery of the Physical and the Matter of Qualities,” Midwest Studies in Philosophy, XXII (1999), 75-99.
- “Minimizing Arbitrariness: Toward Metaphysics of Infinitely Many Isolated Concrete Worlds,” Midwest Studies in Philosophy, IX (1984): 29-51.
- "The Mental Problems of the Many", Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, Volume 1, Oxford, 2002.
- "Free Will and Scientiphicalism", Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, vol. 65 (2002) - dead link, see: Internet Archive copy of 23.12.2005, access: 29.05.2023.
- "The Survival of the Sentient", Philosophical Perspectives, vol. 14 (2000) - dead link, see: Internet Archive copy of 23.12.2005, access: 29.05.2023.
References
- ^ "Swarthmore College :: Philosophy :: Department Alumni with PHIL Ph.D.s". Swarthmore College. 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
- UPI. 2001. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
- ^ "NYU > Philosophy > Unger, Peter". New York University. Retrieved 2009-03-05. - dead link, see: Internet Archive copy of 22.05.2009, access: 29.05.2023.
External links
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