Author NarrativeAuthor Synonyms (15)Author Citations (45)Author's Books (9)Author's Papers (120)

David Lewis

[Lewis (David)]

This Page provides links to the Books and Papers (including Book Chapters, where I have itemised these) by this Author contained in my collection. Clearly, there may be many more works in the Author's oeuvre that I don't possess. An introductory note on the Author appears first. In case of misclassification, or ambiguous classification, authors of the same surname as this Author are listed for easy access. If any (other) Authors, Books, Papers or Notes in my collection cite this Author, a table of links is provided before the list of the Author's works. Scroll down or follow the links above.

Author Narrative:
Valedictory Notice (Taken from "Jackson (Frank) & Priest (Graham) - Lewisian Themes: The Philosophy of David K. Lewis: Introduction")
  1. David Lewis was born in Oberlin, Ohio, 28 September 1941. His PhD at Harvard, supervised by W. V. Quine, became his first book "Lewis (David) - Convention". It is an important application of ideas in game theory to understanding1 the conventional side of language. Ironically, given Quine's standing as the great denier of the analytic-synthetic distinction, Lewis saw it as in part a vindication of that distinction. His first appointment in philosophy was at the University of California at Los Angeles 1966-70. He then moved to Princeton where, at the time of his death, he was Class of 1943 Professor of Philosophy.
  2. Why was Lewis so influential and important? In the conversations among his colleagues, friends and students (often during the more informal parts of philosophy conferences) that followed his death, a number of themes came up again and again.
  3. One was his range and fertility. In a subject as worked-over as philosophy it is hard to say something new and important about philosophy's 'standards'. Lewis managed to say new and important things on a whole range of standards (and also to tell us about new problems); witness the topics covered in this volume and the two mentioned above that are not covered. Lewis loved problems and arguments; he loved taking a problem, telling the reader or listener what it is, and then developing a line of argument that takes you to his solution to the problem. And philosophy is full of problems. Lewis became a major system builder, and inter alia a major figure in metaphysics, not because that was his primary intention, but by virtue of offering solutions to a whole range of problems that caught his attention and then seeing how these solutions fitted together as parts of a wider picture.
  4. Another recurring theme was his ability in discussion, both of papers he presented and from the audience. It is sometimes suggested that ability in discussion is rated too highly by philosophers. Isn't it more important to get something right than to impress with quickness or rhetoric? But Lewis in discussion, while not wanting in quickness (after the famous pause to assemble his thoughts and paragraphs) and ability to turn the right phrase, was unusually effective in isolating the key points at issue in ways that advance understanding2. It is no news that the discussion period is often the place where one learns the most in philosophy seminars but Lewis's rare ability to grasp essentials and put them clearly, often on the fly, 'made' many seminars.
  5. Also, there was his attitude to objections to his views. The official position for philosophers is that argument is all. Our doctrines stand or fall by the arguments we advance for them and the replies we make to objections to them. The practice is inevitably rather different. No-one can answer every objection; there is not enough time and it is too hard. Moreover, it can be perfectly rational and legitimate to hold that although you do not know how to reply to some interesting objection, there is, all the same, a good reply to it, and to hope that you, or maybe someone else, will come up with it one day. Nevertheless, philosophers ought ideally to try and offer replies to those objections to their views that look like good objections. And if they cannot find a good reply, they should amend or retract — or confess to being unsure how to reply while arguing that this is one of the cases where you can properly believe that there is a reply despite your inability to come up with it. Lewis was an unusually effective responder3 to objections, both in seminars and in print, and he took the obligation to respond very seriously. This shows in the postscripts in the various collections of his papers. Typically he was not content merely to reprint his papers; he added in postscripts how he would reply to this, that, or the other interesting objection. And when he thought an objection succeeded, he was not afraid to say so and to indicate what repair to his view he favoured, or what he would now say instead.
  6. Finally, there was his philosophical generosity. Lewis was very careful to acknowledge debts to the ideas of others. In addition, he had an unusual ability to see how to develop interesting points into a worked out position on some philosophical problem or other. Many 'work in progress' presentations with Lewis in the audience lead to a conversation with him following the presentation or perhaps a day or so later, which in turn laid the foundation for a full-scale paper.
Text Colour Conventions
  1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2020
  2. Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)

Links to other Authors with Surnames Lewis

Lewis (C.I.) Lewis (C.S.) Lewis (David X.) Lewis (Delmas) Lewis (Gordon)
Lewis (Gregory) Lewis (Harry A.) Lewis (Hywel David) Lewis (Hywel) Lewis (John S.)
Lewis (M.M.) Lewis (Marc) Lewis (Peter) Lewis (Stephanie) Lewis (W.R.)


Authors, Books, Papers & Notes Citing this Author

Author Title Medium Extra Links Read?
Adams (Ernest) A Primer of Probability Logic Book Medium Quality Abstract    
Adams (Ernest) On the Logic of High Probability Paper Medium Quality Abstract    
Arntzenius (Frank) & Hall (Ned) On What We Know About Chance Paper Medium Quality Abstract    
Bailey (Andrew M.) N/A Author Medium Quality Abstract    
Baillie (James) Problems in Personal Identity Book Medium Quality Abstract    
Baker (Lynne Rudder) Does Naturalism Rest on a Mistake? Paper Medium Quality Abstract    
Baker (Lynne Rudder) Eliminative Approaches to the First-Person Perspective Paper Low Quality Abstract    
Baker (Lynne Rudder) Reductive Approaches to the First-Person Perspective Paper Low Quality Abstract    
Belzer (Marvin) Self-Conception and Personal Identity: Revisiting Parfit and Lewis with an Eye on the Grip of the Unity Reaction Paper Medium Quality Abstract    
Byrne (Alex) Truth In Fiction: The Story Continued Paper Medium Quality Abstract    
Carter (William) Once and Future Persons Paper Medium Quality Abstract    
Gasser (Georg) Personal Identity and Resurrection: Bibliography Paper High Quality Abstract   Yes
Hajek (Alan) & Pettit (Philip) Desire Beyond Belief Paper Medium Quality Abstract    
Hanley (Richard) As Good As It Gets: Lewis on Truth in Fiction Paper Medium Quality Abstract    
Hirsch (Eli) Dividing Reality: Preface Paper High Quality Abstract   Yes
Horgan (Terence) Functionalism, Qualia, and the Inverted Spectrum Paper Low Quality Abstract    
Jackson (Frank) & Priest (Graham) Lewisian Themes: The Philosophy of David K. Lewis: Introduction Paper High Quality Abstract   Yes
Jackson (Frank) & Priest (Graham), Eds. Lewisian Themes: The Philosophy of David K. Lewis Book Low Quality Abstract    
Johnston (Mark) Human Beings Paper High Quality Abstract   Yes
Koslicki (Kathrin) Mereological Sums and Singular Terms Paper Medium Quality Abstract 2  
Lillehammer (Hallvard) & Rodriguez-Pereyra (Gonzalo) Real Metaphysics: Essays in honour of D. H. Mellor Book Medium Quality Abstract 2  
Mellor (D.H.) Real Time II: Preface Paper High Quality Abstract   Yes
Mellor (D.H.) Real Time: Introduction and Summary Paper High Quality Abstract   Yes
Moyer (Mark) A Survival Guide to Fission Paper Medium Quality Abstract    
Ney (Alyssa) Are There Fundamental Intrinsic Properties? Paper Medium Quality Abstract    
Noonan (Harold) The Possibility of Reincarnation Paper Medium Quality Abstract    
Phillips (John F.) Truth and Inference in Fiction Paper Medium Quality Abstract 2  
Price (Huw) Review - 'The Fabric of Reality' by David Deutsch Paper Medium Quality Abstract   Yes
Proudfoot (Diane) Possible Worlds Semantics and Fiction Paper Low Quality Abstract    
Ramachandran (Murali) An Alternative Translation Scheme For Counterpart Theory Paper Low Quality Abstract    
Sorensen (Roy) The Cheated God: Death and Personal Time Paper Medium Quality Abstract    
Todman (Theo) Counting Persons Note Medium Quality Abstract    
Todman (Theo) Johnston - Human Beings Note Medium Quality Abstract    
Todman (Theo) Lewis Note Medium Quality Abstract    
Todman (Theo) Perdurantism Note Medium Quality Abstract    
Todman (Theo) Thesis - Counting Persons Paper Medium Quality Abstract   Yes
Todman (Theo) Thesis - Lewis Paper Medium Quality Abstract   Yes
Todman (Theo) Thesis - Perdurantism Paper Medium Quality Abstract   Yes
Unger (Peter) Identity, Consciousness and Value Book Medium Quality Abstract   Yes
Van Cleve (James) The Moon and Sixpence: a Defense of Mereological Universalism Paper Medium Quality Abstract    
Wiggins (David) Continuants: Their Activity, Their Being, and Their Identity Book Medium Quality Abstract    
Williams (J. Robbie G.) An Argument for the Many Paper Low Quality Abstract    


Author's Books In My Possession

Author Title Pages Read? Further Information
Lewis (David) Convention 228 3% Book AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Counterfactuals 156 7% Book AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) On the Plurality of Worlds 276 4% Book AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Papers in Ethics and Social Philosophy 255 1% Book
Lewis (David) Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology 453 5% Book AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Papers in Philosophical Logic 234 3% Book
Lewis (David) Parts of Classes 155 4% Book AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Philosophical Papers Volume I 285 Yes Book AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Philosophical Papers Volume II 366 23% Book AbstractLow Quality Abstract

Author's Papers In My Possession

Author Title Pages Read? Further Information
Lewis (David) A Comment on Armstrong and Forrest 3   Paper
Lewis (David) A Philosopher's Paradise 96   Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) A Problem About Permission 14   Paper
Lewis (David) A Subjectivist's Guide to Objective Chance 50 4% Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) A World of Truthmakers? 6   Paper
Lewis (David) Academic Appointments: Why Ignore the Advantage of Being Right? 14   Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Adverbs of Quantification 16   Paper
Lewis (David) Against Structural Universals 30   Paper
Lewis (David) An Argument for the Identity Theory 9 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Analog and Digital 7   Paper
Lewis (David) Anselm and Actuality 16 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Are We Free to Break the Laws 8 Yes Paper
Lewis (David) Armstrong on Combinatorial Possibility 19   Paper
Lewis (David) Attitudes De Dicto and De Se 28 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Ayer's First Empiricist Criterion of Meaning: Why Does It Fail? 3   Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Buy like a MADman, Use Like a NUT 8   Paper
Lewis (David) & Lewis (Stephanie) Casati and Varzi on Holes 4   Paper
Lewis (David) Causal Decision Theory 35   Paper
Lewis (David) Causal Explanation 27   Paper
Lewis (David) Causation 13 Yes Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Causation as Influence 16   Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Composition As Identity 7 Yes Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Convention: Reply to Jamieson 9   Paper
Lewis (David) Counterfactual Dependence and Time's Arrow 35 Yes Paper
Lewis (David) Counterfactuals and Comparative Possibility 29   Paper
Lewis (David) Counterfactuals: Analogies 22   Paper
Lewis (David) Counterfactuals: Comparisons 19   Paper
Lewis (David) Counterfactuals: Foundations 12   Paper
Lewis (David) Counterfactuals: Introduction - An Analysis of Counterfactuals 43 38% Paper
Lewis (David) Counterfactuals: Logics 25   Paper
Lewis (David) Counterfactuals: Reformulations 21   Paper
Lewis (David) Counterfactuals: Related Writings of David Lewis 6   Paper
Lewis (David) Counterpart Theory and Quantified Modal Logic 18 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Counterparts of Persons and Their Bodies 8 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Counterparts or Double Lives 74   Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Counterparts or Double Lives (Selections) 22 25% Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) David Lewis: Reduction of Mind 19   Paper
Lewis (David) & Langton Defining 'Intrinsic' 17   Paper
Lewis (David) Desire As Belief 13   Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Desire As Belief II 13   Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Devil's Bargains and the Real World 18   Paper
Lewis (David) Dispositional Theories of Value 27 4% Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Divine Evil 12 Yes Paper
Lewis (David) Do We Believe In Penal Substitution? 8 Yes Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Elusive Knowledge 29 Yes Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Events 30   Paper
Lewis (David) Evil For Freedom's Sake? 27   Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Extrinsic Properties 5   Paper
Lewis (David) & Hodges Finitude and Infinitude in the Atomic Calculus of Individuals 6   Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Finkish Dispositions 19   Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) General Semantics 44 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) & Lewis (Stephanie) Holes 7 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) How Many Lives Has Schrodinger's Cat? 20   Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) How to Define Theoretical Terms 19 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Humean Supervenience Debugged 24   Paper
Lewis (David) Illusory Innocence? 7   Paper
Lewis (David) Index, Context, and Content 24   Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Individuation By Acquaintance and By Stipulation 30   Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Intensional Logics Without Iterative Axioms 11   Paper
Lewis (David) Languages and Language 26 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Logic For Equivocators 14   Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Lucas Against Mechanism 4 33% Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Lucas Against Mechanism II 4 33% Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Mad Pain and Martian Pain 11 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Many, But Almost One 19 8% Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Mathematics in Megethology 28   Paper
Lewis (David) Maudlin and Modal Mystery 3   Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Meaning Without Use: Reply to Hawthorne 7   Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Mill and Milquetoast 28   Paper
Lewis (David) Modal Realism at Work: Properties 15   Paper
Lewis (David) Naming the Colours 27   Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) New Work for a Theory of Universals 48 35% Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Nominalistic Set Theory 17   Paper
Lewis (David) Noneism or Allism? 12   Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) On the Plurality of Worlds (Selections) 3 Yes Paper AbstractHigh Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) On the Plurality of Worlds: Preface 2 Yes Paper AbstractHigh Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Ordering Semantics and Premise Semantics for Counterfactuals 20   Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology: Introduction 7   Paper
Lewis (David) Paradise on the Cheap? 56   Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Paradox or Paradise? 39   Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Parts of Classes 155   Paper AbstractHigh Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Percepts and Colour Mosaics in Visual Experience 14   Paper
Lewis (David) Philosophical Papers Volume I: Introduction 3 Yes Paper AbstractHigh Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Philosophical Papers Volume II: Introduction 9 Yes Paper AbstractHigh Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Policing the Aufbau 6   Paper
Lewis (David) Possible Worlds 7   Paper
Lewis (David) Prisoners' Dilemma is a Newcomb Problem 6   Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Probabilities of Conditionals and Conditional Probabilities 24 7% Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Probabilities of Conditionals and Conditional Probabilities II 9 17% Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Psychophysical and Theoretical Identifications 14   Paper
Lewis (David) Putnam's Paradox 22   Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Radical Interpretation 14 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Rearrangement of Particles: Reply to Lowe 9 17% Paper AbstractHigh Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Reduction Of Mind 34   Paper
Lewis (David) Relevant Implication 14   Paper
Lewis (David) Reply to McMichael 3   Paper
Lewis (David) Review of Putnam (The Nature of Mental States) 2   Paper
Lewis (David) Scorekeeping in a Language Game 17 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) & Richardson Scriven on Human Unpredictability 7   Paper
Lewis (David) Semantic Analyses for Dyadic Deontic Logic 15   Paper
Lewis (David) Should a Materialist Believe In Qualia? 7   Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Statements Partly About Observation 31   Paper
Lewis (David) Survival and Identity 23 Yes Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Tensed Quantifiers 12   Paper
Lewis (David) Tensing the Copula 14 25% Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) 'Tensions 11 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) The Paradoxes of Time Travel 15 25% Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) The Problem of Temporary Intrinsics 2 Yes Paper AbstractHigh Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) The Punishment That Leaves Something to Chance 17   Paper
Lewis (David) The Trap's Dilemma 6   Paper
Lewis (David) Truth in Fiction 20 Yes Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Utilitarianism and Truthfulness 3   Paper
Lewis (David) Vague Identity: Evans Misunderstood 3   Paper
Lewis (David) Veridical Hallucination and Prosthetic Vision 18   Paper
Lewis (David) What Experience Teaches 18   Paper
Lewis (David) What Puzzling Pierre Does Not Believe 10   Paper
Lewis (David) 'Whether' Report 12   Paper
Lewis (David) Why Ain'cha Rich? 5   Paper AbstractLow Quality Abstract
Lewis (David) Why Conditionalise? 5   Paper
Lewis (David) Zimmerman and the Spinning Sphere 4   Paper AbstractMedium Quality Abstract


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