By the time of his death in 2006, Sir Peter Strawson was regarded as one of the world's most distinguished philosophers. First published thirty years ago but long since unavailable, Freedom and Resentment collects some of Strawson's most important work and is an ideal introduction to his thinking on such topics as the philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology and aesthetics.
Beginning with the title essay Freedom and Resentment, this invaluable collection is testament to the astonishing range of Strawson's thought as he discusses free will, ethics and morality, logic, the mind-body problem and aesthetics. The book is perhaps best-known for its three interrelated chapters on perception and the imagination, subjects now at the very forefront of philosophical research.
This reissue includes a substantial new foreword by Paul Snowdon and a fascinating intellectual autobiography by Strawson.
Foreword Paul Snowdon Intellectual Autobiography P F Strawson Preface 1. Freedom and Resentment 2. Social Morality and Individual 3. Imagination and Perception 4. Causation and Perception 5. Perception and Identification 6. Catagories 7. Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations 8. Self, Mind and Body 9. Aesthetic Appraisal and Works of Art 10. Is Existence Never a Predicate? 11. On Understanding the Structure of One’s Language Index
Biography
P.F. Strawson was regarded as one of Oxford’s most distinguished scholars. He taught at the University College of North Wales and at Oxford University, where he remained until his retirement in 1987. Associated with the golden age of Oxford scholarship, Strawson came to prominence with the publication of On Referring (Mind, 1950), in which he famously critiqued Russell’s theory of language. He was knighted in 1977 and throughout his life engaged in rigorous philosophical debate with leading thinkers such as Quine, Dummett and Austin throughout his life. His publications include Individuals: An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics (1959) and The Bounds of Sense: An Essay on Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (1966).
‘Prime philosopher of Oxford’s golden age, and champion of both the richness of ordinary language and of natural beliefs’ - The Guardian
‘Distinguished Oxford philosopher whose spare, elegant work made sense of Kant’s metaphysics’ - The Independent
‘A stimulating and wide-ranging book.’ - A.J. Ayer, New Statesman
‘. . .this collection enabled one to appreciate the great versatility Professor Strawson has. We have here, under one cover, valuable contributions to the most diverse and broad ranging problems in philosophy.’ - Philosophical Books
