The Realm of Reason [Paperback]

The Realm of Reasonis a manifesto for a new rationalism in philosophy. Christopher Peacocke develops an original theory of what makes a thinker entitled to form a given belief. The theory is articulated in three principles of rationalism, which together imply that all entitlement has an element that is independent of experience. Peacocke elaborates this rationalism in detail for the classical issues of perceptual knowledge, induction, and the status of moral thought. His new generalized approach to epistemology has applications throughout philosophy, and it will interest all concerned with knowledge, truth, and rationality.

Introduction: Reasons and Sense
1. Entitlement, Truth, and Content
2. States, Contents, and the Nature of Entitlement
3. Explaining Perceptual Entitlement
4. Extensions and Consequences
5. Induction
6. A Priori Entitlement
7. Moral Rationalism
8. Moral Rationalism, Realism, and the Emotions
9. Conclusion

Peacocke's best work is done in classifying the various types of rationalist position that are available, and motivating the kind of view he wants to defend...highly valuable to anyone wanting to draw a plausible rationalist picture. -- Brian Weatherson,Times Literary Supplement

Christopher Peacockeis Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.