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.
By:
Bryan Frances
Imprint: Polity Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 213mm,
Width: 137mm,
Spine: 18mm
Weight: 299g
ISBN: 9780745672274
ISBN 10: 0745672272
Series: Key Concepts in Philosophy
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 27 June 2014
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
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
Bryan Frances is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University
Reviews for Disagreement
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
