Arguably the most famous and recognized detective in history, Sherlock Holmes is considered by many to be the first pop icon of the modern age. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective has stood as a unique figure for more than a century with his reliance on logical rigor, his analytic precision, and his disregard of social mores. A true classic, the Sherlock Holmes character continues to entertain twenty-first-century audiences on the page, stage, and screen. In The Philosophy of Sherlock Holmes, a team of leading scholars use the beloved character as a window into the quandaries of existence, from questions of reality to the search for knowledge. The essays explore the sleuth’s role in revealing some of the world’s most fundamental philosophical issues, discussing subjects such as the nature of deception, the lessons enemies can teach us, Holmes’s own potential for criminality, and the detective’s unique but effective style of inductive reasoning. Emphasizing the philosophical debates raised by generations of devoted fans, this intriguing volume will be of interest to philosophers and Holmes enthusiasts alike.
Daftar Isi
Sherlock Holmes as Epistemologist
Not the Crime, But the Man: Sherlock Holmes and Charles Augustus Milverton
The Industrious Sherlock Holmes
A Case of Insincerity: What Does it Mean to Deceive Someone
Sherlock’s Reasoning Toolbox
Watsons, Adlers, Lestrades, and Moriarties: On the Nature of Friends and Enemies
Eliminating the Impossible: Sherlock Holmes and the Supernatural
Was it Morally Wrong to Kill Off Sherlock Holmes?
Sherlock Holmes: Artist of Reason
Sherlock Holmes and the Ethics of Hyper-Specialization
Passionate Objectivity in Sherlock Holmes
The Dog that Did Not Bark: Understanding and Evaluating Arguments from Silence
Aristotle on Detective Fiction
The Grim Reaper on Baker Street
Tentang Penulis
David Baggett, professor of philosophy at Liberty University, is coeditor of Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts and Hitchcock and Philosophy: Dial M for Metaphysics. He lives in Lynchburg, Virginia.