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Search - List of Books by Crispin Wright

Crispin Wright (born 1942) is a British philosopher, who has written on neo-Fregean philosophy of mathematics, Wittgenstein's later philosophy, and on issues related to truth, realism, cognitivism, skepticism, knowledge, and objectivity.

He was born in Surrey and was educated at Birkenhead School (1950—61) and at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in Moral Sciences in 1964 and taking a PhD in 1968. He took an Oxford BPhil in 1969 and was elected Prize Fellow and then Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, where he worked until 1978. He then moved to the University of St. Andrews, where he was appointed Professor of Logic and Metaphysics and then the first Bishop Wardlaw UniversityProfessorship in 1997. As of fall 2008, he is professor at New York University (NYU). He has also taught at the University of Michigan, Oxford University, Columbia University, and Princeton University. Crispin Wright is founder and director of Arché , which he left in September 2009 to take up leadership of the new Northern Institute of Philosophy(NIP) at the University of Aberdeen.

In the philosophy of mathematics, he is best-known for his book Frege's Conception of Numbers as Objects (1983), where he argues that Frege's logicist project could be revived by removing the Principle of Unrestricted Comprehension (sometimes referred to as Basic Law V) from the formal system. Arithmetic is then derivable in second-order logic from Hume's principle. He gives informal arguments that (i) Hume's principle plus second-order logic is consistent, and (ii) from it one can produce the Dedekind—Peano axioms. Both results were proven informally by Gottlob Frege (Frege's Theorem), and would later be more rigorously proven by George Boolos and Richard Heck. Wright is one of the major proponents of neo-logicism, alongside his frequent collaborator Bob Hale. He has also written Wittgenstein and the Foundations of Mathematics (1980).

In general metaphysics, his most important work is Truth and Objectivity (Harvard University Press, 1992). He argues in this book that there need be no single, discourse-invariant thing in which truth consists, making an analogy with identity. There need only be some principles regarding how the truth predicate can be applied to a sentence, some 'platitudes' about true sentences. Wright also argues that in some contexts, probably including moral contexts, superassertibility will effectively function as a truth predicate. He defines a predicate as superassertible if and only if it is "assertible" in some state of information and then remains so no matter how that state of information is enlarged upon or improved. Assertiveness is warrant by whatever standards inform the discourse in question.

Many of his most important papers in philosophy of language, epistemology, philosophical logic, meta-ethics, and the interpretation of Wittgenstein have been collected in two volumes published by Harvard University Press.

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This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Crispin Wright", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
Total Books: 19
Frege's Conception of Numbers as Objects
Frege's Conception of Numbers As Objects [Scots Philosophical Monographs] (Paperback)Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780080257266
ISBN-10: 0080257267
Genres: Nonfiction, Science & Math
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Frege's Conception of Numbers As Objects
Frege's Conception of Numbers As Objects [Scots philosophical monographs] (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780080303529
ISBN-10: 0080303528
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Mind Psychoanalysis and Science
Mind Psychoanalysis and Science (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780631145448
ISBN-10: 0631145443
Genre: History
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Rails to Infinity Essays on Themes from Wittgensteins iPhilosophical Investigations/i
Realism Meaning and Truth
Realism Meaning and Truth (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780631142218
ISBN-10: 0631142215
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Realism Meaning and Truth
Realism Meaning and Truth (Paperback)Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780631171188
ISBN-10: 0631171185
Genre: Nonfiction
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The Reason's Proper Study Essays Towards a NeoFregean Philosophy of Mathematics
The Reason's Proper Study Essays Towards a NeoFregean Philosophy of Mathematics
RuleFollowing and Meaning
Rulefollowing and Meaning (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780773523814
ISBN-10: 0773523812
Genres: Reference, Nonfiction
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Rulefollowing and Meaning
Rulefollowing and Meaning (Paperback)Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9781902683508
ISBN-10: 1902683501
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Saving the Differences  Essays on Themes from iTruth and Objectivity/i
Truth and Objectivity
Truth and Objectivity (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780674910867
ISBN-10: 0674910869
Genre: Nonfiction
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Truth and Objectivity
Truth and Objectivity (Paperback)Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780674910874
ISBN-10: 0674910877
Genre: Nonfiction
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Wahrheit und Objektivitt
Wahrheit Und Objektivitt (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9783518583036
ISBN-10: 3518583034
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Wittgenstein on the Foundations of Mathematics
Wittgenstein on the Foundations of Mathematics (Hardcover)Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780674953857
ISBN-10: 0674953851
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Wittgenstein on The Foundations of Mathematics
Wittgenstein on the Foundations of Mathematics (Hardcover)Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780715610008
ISBN-10: 0715610007
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Wittgenstein on the Foundations of Mathematics
Wittgenstein on the Foundations of Mathematics (Hardcover)Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780715615447
ISBN-10: 0715615440
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Wittgenstein on the Foundations of Mathematics
Wittgenstein on the Foundations of Mathematics [Modern Revivals in Philosophy] (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780751202953
ISBN-10: 0751202959
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