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A Study of Brand Blanshard's Epistemology Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1961 A Study of Brand Blanshard's Epistemology Andrew Kelbley Charles Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Charles, Andrew Kelbley, "A Study of Brand Blanshard's Epistemology" (1961). Master's Theses. 1600. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/1600 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1961 Andrew Kelbley Charles A The.l. Submit.. ' to the Faa.tty of the Gr ....t. Schoel .f Lorela UDlTeratty in Partial fUlfillment of t,he RequlH_nta for the Degree .f Muter .f J.ri,a February 1961 Lite Charles Andre... Relhley ft8 born in Tiffin, Ohio, October 9, 1936. ne 1fa.8 graduated from Calvert High School, Tiffin, Ohio, and from lJohn CM'Toll University, University lleights, Ohio, in June of 1939, with the degree of Bachelor of Arf.s. From September, 1956. to Jul,., 195ft he studied classics at Xavier , ~niver.ity of Cincinnati. During the summer of 1959 he studied Philosophy and French at the Universite lAval, Quebec, Canada. He continued his grad­ uate studies in September of 1959 at Loyola University where he was a grad­ juate usistant in tbe Department of Philosophy until June of 1960. In the summer of 1960 ~le began teaching courses in philosophy at Loyola University ~ere he is an Instructor of Philosophy. ii The primary subjeot of this thesis is Brand Blansbard's two volume work, .!!!! Nature .!! ThoUibt. Professor Dlanshard is 8. !*St President of the American Philosophical Association and is ourrently on the faculty of Yale UniverSity. Uia t". volumes r'Gpr ••ent the result of Uerculean of­ forta--etforts to bridge the almost impassable chasm between the various paychological and philosophical account. of ideas and inference. Profes. s ... Dlanshard approaches the august topic of thought from a broad and capable background, demonstrating equal abf.U.ties in the psychological and philosophical disciplines. He also bringa 8. rare quality of superb philosophical style to his chapter. and is, if .... may say so, 8. philoso­ pher'. philosopher. The proble. of classifying or typing Dlanshard presents meny diffi­ culties. His theory of the idea reflects a. certain similarity to that of Josiah Royce. In many areas of bis writings, hOQver, one sees the stamp of British empiricism, alongside references to Aristotle as ~11 as Plato. It is not easy, then, to place him absolutely within a school of tbought, al thougb at times he hy been termed an Ideal ist. lflt.. tever the meaning of the term 'idealist' is, it seems to be based on quite subtle grounda wben applied to Dlanshard. !be author of this theses has proposed to concern himself, for the Moat part, with the exposition of Brand Blanshard's epistemology insofar as it bears upon Itis coherence theory of trutb. In attempting to accom­ ill iT pllsh this taak, the author haa telt constrained, for purpos.s ot eeon~, to aToid long digressions into the disjecta membra ot historical opiste­ mology. SOmG reterences, for purposes of contrast a.nd comparison, wUl be made. nut to attempt to c..-ry on any susta.ined polemic in rega.rd to Dlanshard's arguments, would ca.rry us tar beyond tbe limits of this theaia. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapwr I. THE ORIGINS OF THOOOrfT ....................................'. 1 A. Thought in Peroeption ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• I B. Interoace and Ueaning in Perception ••••••••••••••••••• T C. The Structure of Perceptual Meaning ••••••••••••••••••• 18 II. TIlE THEORY OF '1'RE IDEA ••••••••• ~ ••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1"1 A. The Free Idea. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 11 B,. Thought and Teleology ................................... 19 C. Teleology and the Na.ture of Mind •••••••••••••••••••••• 20 D. Teleolon and the Na.ture of KnOYing .................... 14 III. REFLECTION. THE .A..PPROACH TO TRUTH ••••••••••••••••••••••• A. UnderatandtQg ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 31 B. The Initia.tion of Retlection •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 40 C. Obaerva.tion and Invent.ion ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 45 D. Invention and Analogy ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 41 IV. TRUTH. THE VERIFICATION OF THoUGJn •••••••••••••••••••••• 51 A. Authority ................................... ,................ ' •• 53 B. 11,-.tlc ism ................................................. 55 C. Correapoudenoe with Fact .....................' ................. 58 D. Self-Evidence ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 61 E. Coher.nee as the Nat.ve ot Truth ••••••••••••••••••••• ~ 66 F. Obj,ctiona to the Coherence Thoory •••••••••••••••••••• 12 G. Degrees of Truth •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 81 B. Cone Ius ion .'............................................... 83 BmLIOGRA.PHY ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• THE ORIGINS OF 'fHOUGH'l' "From the lonst level to the highest ••• .... find f,eleology, not the kind that i. found in e%plieit thought, but something more generic."1 , Thi. introductory chapter, along with'th. second, proposes a diffi- cult, although nec ••sary, task. It propo••• to set out, in rather broad, general "1"118, the main line of t,he &rg\1lHnt, yhiob precedes Blan.llard'. coherence theory of truth. ~ great deal of Blanahard'. lucid explica­ tion. and example., theretore, rill ne•••• arily ha.,.e to be skirted, how­ ever desirable their incluaion yould be. The danger presents itself then, ot rendering incomple"" expre•• ion to Dlan.harel's theory, and substitut­ ing in ita .tead, infinite sugg.stion--a desirable de.,.lee for poets per­ hapa, but bardly plauible In philosophy, where the .upreme duty of a writer, according to many, i. to present a literal mea.nin{h It is the intention of the author that this chapter, and the succeeding one, yill eontribute, eventually, to t,he digestion of what tollOW's it" rather tban IDrand Dlanshard, "The Nature of lUnd," !!!!. Jottrna:l .2! Philosopq, 38, (April 1941), 110. 1 I Dlan.hard-. The Ntt.ture !! Thou.st!t2 contains, in all. four booke, en­ titled respectively "Thought in Perception," "The Theory of the Idea," "The Movement of aerle.tion," and "The Goal of Thought." lie approaches hta .ubjeet on a grand 80ale J attempting to hridge the .eemingly imp688"" hIe chum that .eparates payeholegy and philoaophy. 'l'lumght i. not reduc­ ible to image., act., refle.a, or psychioal eventa, nor is it aUlloeptlble .f explanation out..ide of the psychi... l context. In other nrd8, t.hought cwmot. be i80lated in .. cozy vacu_, for it i. aln.,.. maa who thinb and W'bo Jau'.... Ta'bn out of ita oonten, ... t. otten done in logic, psycho­ logy, or epiatemology, the nature of thoug~t. i8 done a di•• orvice • .A.. Tllough't in Perception In order, then, to achieve a.me unity coneerning the na.ture of our topic, one mut, clearly, explain the ground or origin of thought. Ini­ tially. Blansha.rd delimita tbougbt 0)" de,cribing it u .. • •• that activi­ ty of mind which aima direotly at tl'1lth"hlat.ure I. 51). Any activity which doe. not. have this atm, or ~ pro•••• that could not yield truth, can be ruled out. Th. question then aris.s concerning the activi'tiea tha't haTe such an aim. The mo.t elementary form of thought i. fOU11d in per- ception, which ia the lowe.t type of J~nt. Truth, it ia general I)" admitted, ia attained in ~ judgmental act, and the .~plest type of judg­ ment is on a perceptual level-aimplelJt, becaWIJe the aftirme.tion or neg&- - 2nnmd Dlanshard, The Nature of ThoUS'ht, in tw volumes, (London, 1939). ~lose volumes Yill1bencelort~e ftnown as Nature. t.ion on the perceptual level :Ut indeed a. very indetermina.te act. Perception, admittedly, is one of the {(Dottieat problema of metaphy­ sics and epistemology, but Blanahard •• atudy ia not ao much of perception u it is of the emergence ·of t.hought in and through it.. We are interested, then, not ao much in the aigns along the road, u ". are in the cl•• tination to ..thieh they le84. One of thea. aigna is perception, cODCIenling wich tbere are tour maiD questions I Boy doea perceptual thought COtle int.o be- lng' What is the ordinary struct.lU"e of perception? What are the 1 imita­ tions of perception? How i. the traasition trom perception to tree ideas ma.4.,a '10 diacWila the origin and mechanica ot P8nept.ion, we may initiall,. define pGrception as .. ••• that espert.nee in whioht on tbe warrant of somethiag given in sensa.tion a.t the time, we unreflectingl,. take aome ob­ ject to be before us" (Katv,,!. I. 61) 'fhia ia beyond mere .ensa.tion, but ne".rthele.. still in the lUlrefle.ting stage. It ia the roa.cl bet_en mere "ruta"'on and 'spli.it judge.nt.. But to S&7 jut. preoisely when ~reep­ toiOB.· ..... on the •••n. 'a quit.e cliffieult. Perception, one thinka, in­ TOl".. experie.e, and ft muat. not confuse tirs" reactiolUl with firat ex­ perienoe.. A personta tirat reactiona are not neoe.sarily fir.t experl- en.... Nor must, we oonfua. what, 18 analyt.io.. l1,. simplest wi til 'What is hiat.ori... lly firat. fhe product. of aDal,..!s are otten oont.ed with what 1M gift. initiall,._ This _ana that what ts ginn initially riIt1 not, a.ud probably ia not, recognifled for what it is. Rt.ther. it ia only a.fter an 4- accumula.tion of' int.ervening eXperience t.hat one recognises tbe 1Ile&Bing of one'a first rea.et.ions, but 1:nactvert.ent.ly predicl'ites the a.oquirecl meaning of one 'a first. reaction. Aa Bloaahu-d stateAl 11,. "We lDlUit &v-oid re84ing acquired meaning. into 'Lhe esperiences ". start Yith"(Ne.t.uro I. :sa). Through p81Ohological es.perimenkt.lon, we can easily ahow that p0reeiving vari•• greatl,.
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