Passions and Projections: Themes from the Philosophy of Simon Blackburn

Best known to the general public for his attempts to make philosophy accessible to those with little or no formal training, Simon Blackburn's reputation in academic circles is based on a lifetime pursuit of a projectivist and anti-realist research program in the spirit of the great David Hume. According to Blackburn, we must always try first to understand and explain what we are doing when we think and talk as we do. Sometimes the most fundamental answer will be that we are expressing our beliefs about how the world is. Other times a more fundamental answer will be available: that we are expressing our attitudes of approval, our habits of mind, or some other non-cognitive state. Blackburn's research program reaches into nearly all of the main areas of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, moral philosophy, and moral psychology. This volume of critical essays by some of the most influential philosophers working today documents the whole range and influence of Blackburn's work, and poses some novel challenges for him.