Single Idea 6985

[catalogued under 18. Thought / D. Concepts / 4. Structure of Concepts / c. Classical concepts]

Full Idea

Conceptual analysis is sometimes understood as the business of finding necessary and sufficient conditions by the method of possible cases.

Gist of Idea

Analysis is finding necessary and sufficient conditions by studying possible cases

Source

Frank Jackson (From Metaphysics to Ethics [1998], Ch.3)

Book Reference

Jackson,Frank: 'From Metaphysics to Ethics' [OUP 2000], p.60


A Reaction

Some (e.g. Stich) reject this, but it seems to me undeniable that the procedure can be very illuminating, even if it is never totally successful. Jackson prefers to see analysis as the study of entailments between stories about the world.