Routledge Nelson Goodman

Nelson Goodman's acceptance and critique of certain methods and tenets of positivism, his defence of nominalism and phenomenalism, his formulation of a new riddle of induction, his work on notational systems, and his analysis of the arts place him at the forefront of the history and development of American philosophy in the twentieth-century. However, outside of America, Goodman has been a rather neglected figure. In this first book-length introduction to his work Cohnitz and Rossberg assess Goodman's lasting contribution to philosophy and show that although some of his views may be now considered unfashionable or unorthodox, there is much in Goodman's work that is of significance today. The book begins with the "grue"-paradox, which exemplifies Goodman's way of dealing with philosophical problems. After this, the unifying features of Goodman's philosophy are presented - his constructivism, conventionalism and relativism - followed by an discussion of his central work, The Structure of Appearance and its significance in the analytic tradition. The following chapters present the technical apparatus that underlies his philosophy, his mereology and semiotics, which provides the background for discussion of Goodman's aesthetics. The final chapter examines in greater depth the presuppositions underlying his philosophy. Review "Measured by the task of presenting Goodman's philosophy not merely in its breadth but also regarding its internal connections, Cohnitz and Rossberg's book convinces by the clarity in its arguments and its excellent readability. The book succeeds in making Goodman's position clear and comprehensible in the demanding debate concerning the basic principles of analytic philosophy and the philosophy of science." - Grazer Philosophische Studien "This book is the first attempt to cover the whole range of Goodman's projects and achievements from epistemology to the general theory of symbols and its application to the arts, the sciences and our everyday worlds. Engagingly written, the text succeeds at once as a highly readable introduction for the beginner and as a stimulating discussion for the initiated." - Oliver R. Scholz, University of Muenster, Germany About the Author Daniel Cohnitz is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tartu, Estonia. Marcus Rossberg is a research fellow of Arche, the AHRC Research Centre for the Philosophy of Logic, Language, Mathematics and Mind at the University of St Andrews.