Wisdom's philosophical method restated and applied to the problem of determinism

Abstract

In Chapter one of 'Other Minds' Wisdom, John. Other Minds. Oxford 1952 Wisdom outlines a method of tackling certain classical philosophical problems. The ambitions aim of this first part of my thesis is to explain what this method is even more clearly than Wisdom does. The very range and richness of Wisdom's presentation make it hard at first reading to grasp his meaning though these same qualities ensure that the patient reader will in the end understand thoroughly. I hope by concentrating on one of the philosophical problems and by showing in detail how the logical features of his models correspond to the logical features of the problems they are designed to illumine to make the moment of grasping the full richness of Wisdom's argument come more speedily to the new reader.