In Reference and Beyond, Michael Devitt explores philosophy of language from a naturalistic approach. A dominant theme of this book is the semantics of proper names, definite descriptions, and demonstratives. It shows that these terms have conventional "referential" uses to express "singular" thoughts. Those uses are explained by a unified "causal" theory: a term's reference is largely fixed in an object by a causal link between the person and the object when it is, or was, the fo...

This book tells the story of an Idaho teen growing to understand her gender dysphoria and the process of coming out to her immediate family, and her broader family. It also details her family sharing her story with their friends and with their church family, with whom they ultimately severed ties. It is a story of a young woman coming into her own, finding herself and becoming a voice for transgender kids not only in Idaho, but nationwide. It is ultimately a story of a family growing stron...

Spanning 2,700 miles from Banff, Alberta, to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route annually serves as the host for the Tour Divide Bikepacking race. With no awards or prize money for the winners and no entry fee, the Tour Divide is the ultimate athletic test of endurance and self-sufficiency in a battle against nature, the elements, breakdowns (both mechanical and mental), and fatigue, set against the beautiful backdrop of the Continental Divide. Divide by Two Wh...

Decode IRS appraisal regulations and find practical solutions to current issuesQualified Appraisers and Qualified Appraisals provides clarification on complex IRS guidelines, and offers solutions and insight that can help appraisers adhere to the latest Treasury Regulations concerning appraisals submitted in tax matters. From the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice to IRS regulations, this book explores the body of law that has arisen arou...

Biological Essentialism addresses three main issues. The first concerns the essences (natures, identities) of biological taxa, particularly species. Kripke and other metaphysicians hold that these essences are (at least partly) intrinsic, underlying, probably largely genetic properties. This view, based largely on intuitions, is dismissed by the consensus in the philosophy of biology as being incompatible with Darwinism and reflecting ignorance of biology. Biological Essentali...

This book criticizes the methodology of the recent semantics-pragmatics debate in the theory of language and proposes an alternative. It applies this methodology to argue for a traditional view against a group of “contextualists” and “pragmatists”, including Sperber and Wilson, Bach, Carston, Recanati, Neale, and many others. The author disagrees with these theorists who hold that the meaning of the sentence in an utterance never, or hardly ever, yields its literal truth-conditional conten...

Spanning 2700 miles from Banff, Alberta, to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route annually serves as the host for the Tour Divide Bikepacking race. With no awards or prize money for the winners and no entry fee, the Tour Divide is the ultimate athletic test of endurance and self-sufficiency in a battle against nature, the elements, breakdowns (both mechanical and mental), and fatigue, set against the beautiful backdrop of the Continental Divide.Divide by ...

In this book one of the world's foremost philosophers of language presents his unifying vision of the field--its principal achievements, its most pressing current questions, and its most promising future directions. In addition to explaining the progress philosophers have made toward creating a theoretical framework for the study of language, Scott Soames investigates foundational concepts--such as truth, reference, and meaning--that are central to the philosophy of language and important ...

Celebrated scientists Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler explain the amazing power of social networks and our profound influence on one another's lives.Your colleague's husband's sister can make you fat, even if you don't know her. A happy neighbor has more impact on your happiness than a happy spouse. These startling revelations of how much we truly influence one another are revealed in the studies of Dr. Christakis and Fowler, which have repeatedly made front-p...

Readers say it best: "Very informative." "Saved me a lot of money and headaches!" "Recommend it for everyone who has to plan estates for their elderly parents"Living Trusts for Everyone is the best resource for setting up a living trust. Explaining in specific terms what benefits a trust will have, Ronald Farrington Sharp gives the tools necessary to set up a loved one’s trust with no lawyers and no expense.Wills benefit lawyers. Trusts benefit the...

In Vibrant Matter the political theorist Jane Bennett, renowned for her work on nature, ethics, and affect, shifts her focus from the human experience of things to things themselves. Bennett argues that political theory needs to do a better job of recognizing the active participation of nonhuman forces in events. Toward that end, she theorizes a “vital materiality” that runs through and across bodies, both human and nonhuman. Bennett explores how political analyses of public event...

This collection of classic and contemporary essays in philosophy of language offers a concise introduction to the field for students in graduate and upper-division undergraduate courses. It contains some of the most important basic sources in philosophy of language, including a number of classic essays by philosophers such as Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Kripke, Grice, Davidson, Strawson, Austin, and Putnam, as well as more recent contributions by scholars including John McDowell, Stephen...