Causality, Method, and Modality

Deservedly so, Jules Vuillemin is widely respected and greatly admired. It is not simply that he has produced a large body of outstanding work, in many different areas of philosophy. Or that he combines to an unusual degree rigorous standards with a very wide perspective. Or even that in his path-breaking accounts of algebra, of !)escartes, of Kant and of Russell, he showed in new and profound ways how the histories of science and philosophy could be used to illuminate each other. It is also that he has pursued the application of formal techniques and the defense of liberal institutions with a rare singlemindedness and courage. In a time and place where the former were generally ignored and the latter often attacked, he carried on, at some personal cost, embodying a traditional and ideal conception of the philosophical life, bridging national differences. Those who know him also treasure his friendship. Always curious, he delights in new facts and new experiences, and continually heightens the perception of those around him. Almost yearly, at the College de France he introduced brand new courses always with fresh and fruitful inSights. Exceptionally solicitous, he follows the lives of the families around him in great detail. The devotion of his students is legend. His personal energy is also legend. Many of us have followed him bounding up the stairs two at a time or through the gardens of the Luxembourg, his wit and irony apace.

Inhalt
Ma vie en bref.- Indeterminism or Instability, Does It Matter?.- Covariance and the Non-Preference of Coordinate Systems.- Kant's 'Platonic' Argument in Behalf of the A Priori Character of the Representation of Space.- The Sense of the A Priori Method in Leibniz's Dynamics.- Méthode axiomatique et idée de système dans l'oeuvre de Jules Vuillemin.- Algebra, Constructibility, and the Indeterminate.- On Whether an Answer to a Why-Question Is an Explanation If and Only If It Yields Scientific Understanding.- Some Revisionary Proposals About Belief and Believing.- Quantification, Modality, and Semantic Ascent.- Temporal Necessity, Time and Ability: a philosophical commentary on Diodorus Cronus' Master Argument as given in the interpretation of Jules Vuillemin.- Replies.- List of the Publications of Jules Vuillemin, 19471989.