To mark the birthday of David below is a relatively recent and welcome return by him to metaphysics after moving away, primarily to ethics, for the latter part of his career. Sameness and Substance would figure in my top twenty favourite philosophical books, historical or contemporary, and one of a handful of direct influences upon my…
David McPherson in Philosophy ConservatismDavid McPhersonDavid Wigginsjerry cohenMichael OakeshottPolitical philosophyRoger Scruton
Born on this day — a true gentleman in every sense. If ever Wiggins was miffed that I preferred to talk to him about his metaphysics rather than his ethics, he never let on. Sameness and Substance Renewed (2001) and its two precursors, 1967’s Identity and Spatio-Temporal Continuity and 1980’s Sameness and Substance, jointly remain one of my favourite reads. See discussion of…
Very pleased to come across this book on one of my favourite philosophers. Here too is Michael Ayers’ review. Adam FernerDavid WigginsmetaphysicsOntologypersonal identityphilosophy of biologysameness and substancesortals
Until about 2006 I read pretty much everything I could on the knowing-how/knowing-that distinction. Here is one paper that I’ve only recently come across by David Wiggins in Mind. I was very lucky to have Wiggins as a tutor, a most honorable man and an exacting philosopher. AristotleDavid WigginsEpistemologyGilbert Ryleknowing-that knowing-howMichael Oakeshott
Scruton conveys a world where the ideological “lie” reigned and where brave souls successfully resisted it. He also captures that in-between world between moral integrity and open collaboration that was the fate of so many in a decaying yet frightfully repressive ideological regime. Daniel J. Mahoney in New Criterion It was Roger who inspired me to go to…
One of my favourite living philosophers (if not the favourite) is David Wiggins. He was my tutor for ethics but not unfortunately for metaphysics which by then had become a secondary interest for him. Great to see that he has just released a new book gathering several of his most important essays on identity in one volume.…
Here’s a relatively recent piece from David Wiggins of course invoking the historical figure he is most familiar with — Aristotle: One who agrees to speak about the ethical meaning of work might be expected to say something about its religious significance. Given limitations of time and competence, let me simply offer two remarkable utterances from the…
After a long break from writing on metaphysics the wonderful David Wiggins has a freely available paper published in the European Journal of Philosophy. Sameness and Substance remains one of the most satisfying (and most difficult) reads I’ve ever experienced. Forty four years ago I published a short monograph called Identity and Spatio-Temporal Continuity, henceforth ISTC…
Below is David Wiggins’ Preface from one of my favourite books. A tough read but well worth the effort. Here also is the Table of Contents and Preamble. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When Sameness and Substance (Blackwell, 1980) went out of print, Cambridge University Press agreed to take over the book. They suggested that the Longer Notes be dropped…
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