Philosophy as Criticism: Essays on Dennett, Searle, Foot, Davidson, Nozick

Philosophy of Criticism is both the final word from a celebrated philosopher on his distinguished career and an attempt, through critiques of his major contemporaries, to explore the future of philosophy. Born in Turkey, Ilham Dilman spent the majority of his working life teaching philosophy in the United States and Great Britain and published widely in moral philosophy and psychology, most notably on Wittgenstein and Freud. After an autobiographical introduction, in which Dilman reflects on how he came to become a philosopher, he moves, chapter by chapter, into an incisive critique of key contemporary thinkers and movements in philosophy. Dilman asks us to review afresh the contributions of Dennett, Searle, Foot, Davidson and Nozick to the modern debate. The result is a vital and urgent engagement with the core questions of philosophy and a re-instatement of the centrality of criticism in philosophy.