This book honours Professor Stelios Virvidakis, whose work ranges over a variety of epistemological, moral and metaethical issues, and has more recently focused on debates in the areas of philosophy of religion, philosophy of literature and comparative philosophy. The papers put forth original research by prominent scholars from Europe, Asia and the U.S., engaging in a critical analysis of publications by Virvidakis. The authors deal with topics such as the epistemological credentials of religious faith, versions of moral realism, the nature of literary knowledge pertaining to ethics, the connection between free will and criminal responsibility, the philosophy of dialogue, and phenomenological approaches to self-experience. They also offer novel accounts of minimalist ethics in political philosophy; the relatively unexplored topic of Molina’s influence on Kant’s philosophy of history; Kant’s transcendental philosophy in light of naturalistic epistemology; aesthetic ideals of a good life; the nature of sexuality; Thomas Kuhn’s impact on the development of literary theory; and similarities in the metaethical foundations of Greek and Chinese ethics. Taken together, the chapters shed light on issues that interest Virvidakis and testify to the vitality of his style of philosophizing, which combines insights from both analytic and continental philosophy.

Dr Michalis Filippou was a graduate student in philosophy at King’s College, London, where his dissertation was supervised by Mark Sainsbury. In 2017, he joined the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Athens, where he has taught ever since. He has published articles in the areas of philosophy of language, philosophical logic, philosophy of religion and medieval philosophy.

Stathis Psillos is Professor of Philosophy of Science and Metaphysics at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Athens, Greece, Adjunct Research Professor of Philosophy, Dept of Philosophy, University of Western Ontario (UWO), Canada, Member of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy-Engaging Science, University of Western Ontario (UWO), Canada and Research Associate of the Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences, London School of Economics (LSE). He is the author or editor of twelve books and of more than 170 papers and reviews in learned journals and edited collections, mainly on scientific realism, causation, explanation and the history of philosophy of science. He has given more than 215 talks in conferences and seminars since 1992. His book Causation and Explanation, Acumen (2002) & McGill-Queens University Press (2003) was awarded the Prize of the Presidents of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science for the best textbook in the Philosophy of Science. His edited collection The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Science (with Martin Curd) Routledge 2008 was named one of Choice Outstanding Academic Titles for 2008. His book Scientific Realism: How Science Tracks Truth, 1999, London & New York: Routledge has more than 3000 citations in Google Scholar. His most recent books include Karl Marx: the Metaphysics of Method (in Greek), Ekkremes, 2022, Mechanisms in science: method or metaphysics? (With Stavros Ioannidis) (2022) Cambridge University Press, Reconsidering Causal Powers: Historical and Conceptual Perspectives (edited with Henrik Lagerlund and Benjamin Hill), Oxford University Press, 2021. He is currently Principal Investigator of the Research Project Laws and Powers in the Metaphysics of Science, funded by Elidek. He is member of the Academy of Europe and of the International Academy of Philosophy of Science. He is a former president of the European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA) and former editor of Metascience (2009-2014).