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PRAGMATISM and ITS IMPLICATIONS: Pragmatism Is A
PRAGMATISM AND ITS IMPLICATIONS: Pragmatism is a philosophy that has had its chief development in the United States, and it bears many of the characteristics of life on the American continent.. It is connected chiefly with the names of William James (1842-1910) and John Dewey. It has appeared under various names, the most prominent being pragmatism, instrumentalism, and experimentalism. While it has had its main development in America, similar ideas have been set forth in England by Arthur Balfour and by F. C. S. Schiller, and in Germany by Hans Vaihingen. WHAT PRAGMATISM IS Pragmatism is an attitude, a method, and a philosophy which places emphasis upon the practical and the useful or upon that which has satisfactory consequences. The term pragmatism comes from a Greek word pragma, meaning "a thing done," a fact, that which is practical or matter-of-fact. Pragmatism uses the practical consequences of ideas and beliefs as a standard for determining their value and truth. William James defined pragmatism as "the attitude of looking away from first things, principles, 'categories,' supposed necessities; and of looking towards last things, fruits, consequences, facts." Pragmatism places greater emphasis upon method and attitude than upon a system of philosophical doctrine. It is the method of experimental inquiry carried into all realms of human experience. Pragmatism is the modern scientific method taken as the basis of a philosophy. Its affinity is with the biological and social sciences, however, rather than with the mathematical and physical sciences. The pragmatists are critical of the systems of philosophy as set forth in the past. -
JACOBI and FICHTE on PHILOSOPHY and LIFE Rolf Ahlers
VITALISM AND SYSTEM: JACOBI AND FICHTE ON PHILOSOPHY AND LIFE Rolf Ahlers Abstract: This paper thematizes the crucial agreement and point of depar- ture between Jacobi and Fichte at the height of the “atheism controversy.” The argument on the proper relationship between philosophy and existence or speculation and life had far-reaching consequences in the history of thought after Jacobi and Fichte in German Idealism on the one hand, primarly advo- cated by Schelling and Hegel, and on the other hand by existentialism and vitalism. The essay focuses first on Jacobi’s philosophy of life, which cen- trally influenced and attracted Fichte to Jacobi. Jacobi’s dualism between speculation, of which he was skeptical, and life, became Fichte’s dualism. Fichte’s transcendentalism, however, prioritized, contrary to Jacobi, both speculation and systematicity. Both of these elements became central for later forms of German Idealism. In the last part of the essay Hegel’s absolute idealism becomes the platform affording a critical perspective on Fichte’s transcendental philosophy. The immediacy of life could for Fichte in 1799 not have any reality without the abstraction from life accomplished by speculative philosophy. Both “speculation” and “life” do not really have any common ground between them—a position which Reinhold attempted to find—because both oppose each other but are also dependent upon another. As “life” could not be had without speculation, so “speculation” is impossible without life, for it needs life to be able to abstract from it. Fichte made this very clear at the height of the “atheism-controversy,” in a letter to Jacobi of April 22, 1799,1 in which he says this (1799:61):2 The original duality, which traverses through the whole system of reason, and which is grounded in the duality of the subject-object is here on its highest plateau. -
Pragmatic Theory of Truth” by William James
“Pragmatic Theory of Truth” by William James William James, NIH About the author. William James (1842-1910) is perhaps the most widely known of the founders of pragmatism. Historically, his Principles of Psychology was the first unification of psychology as a philosophical science. As a teacher of philosophy, he was a colleague of both Josiah Royce and George Santayana. Once Royce was asked to substitute teach for James in James’ Harvard philosophy class which, at the time, happened to be studying Royce’s text. Supposedly, as Royce picked up James’ copy of his text in the lecture hall, he hesitated briefly, and then noted to the class that James had written in the margin of the day’s reading, “ Damn fool!” About the work. In his Pragmatism,1 William James characterizes truth in terms of usefulness and acceptance. In general, on his view, truth is found by attending to the practical consequences of ideas. To say that truth is mere agreement of ideas with matters of fact, according to James, is incomplete, and to say that truth is captured by coherence is not to dis- tinguish it from a consistent falsity. In a genuine sense, James believes we construct truth in the process of successful living in the world: truth is in 1. William James. Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking. New York: Longman Green and Co., 1907. 1 “Pragmatic Theory of Truth” by William James no sense absolute. Beliefs are considered to be true if and only if they are useful and can be practically applied. -
PRAGMATISM AS a PHILOSOPHY of ACTION (Paper Presented at the First Nordic Pragmatism Conference, Helsinki, Finland, June 2008)
1 PRAGMATISM AS A PHILOSOPHY OF ACTION (Paper presented at the First Nordic Pragmatism Conference, Helsinki, Finland, June 2008) Erkki Kilpinen University of Helsinki When I gave the doctrine of pragmatism the name it bears, – and a doctrine of vital significance it is, – I derived the name by which I christened it from pragma, – behaviour – in order that it should be understood that the doctrine is that the only real significance of a general term lies in the general behaviour which it implies. Charles S. Peirce, May 1912 cited by Eisele (1987:95).1 Introduction: Action ahead of knowledge on pragmatism’s philosophical agenda Although the very founder of the pragmatic movement is adamant that this philosophy is inherently related to action – or behaviour as Peirce laconically says here – philosophers have been curiously reluctant to recognize this. Of course one finds in the literature comments about how pragmatists often talk about action, and some commentators feel that they talk about it too often, at the expense of traditional philosophical problems. To see this is not yet, however, to see the essential pragmatist point; in what sense they talk about action. Their usage of this term and the underlying idea differ from what is customary in other philosophical approaches. Pragmatism namely approaches all theoretical and philosophical problems as problems that in final analysis are related to action. In mainstream philosophy, both in its positivist-analytic and phenomenological versions, action is a contingent empirical phenomenon demanding an explanation. In pragmatism, action is a universal phenomenon which in itself begs no explanation but rather makes the starting point for explanations. -
Peirce, Pragmatism, and the Right Way of Thinking
SANDIA REPORT SAND2011-5583 Unlimited Release Printed August 2011 Peirce, Pragmatism, and The Right Way of Thinking Philip L. Campbell Prepared by Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185 and Livermore, California 94550 Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.. Approved for public release; further dissemination unlimited. Issued by Sandia National Laboratories, operated for the United States Department of Energy by Sandia Corporation. NOTICE: This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government, nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, make any warranty, express or implied, or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represent that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily con- stitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government, any agency thereof, or any of their contractors or subcontractors. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government, any agency thereof, or any of their contractors. Printed in the United States of America. This report has been reproduced directly from the best available copy. -
Analytic Philosophy and the Hegelian Turn Author(S): Tom Rockmore Source: the Review of Metaphysics, Vol
Analytic Philosophy and the Hegelian Turn Author(s): Tom Rockmore Source: The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Dec., 2001), pp. 339-370 Published by: Philosophy Education Society Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20131711 Accessed: 13-11-2016 14:01 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms Philosophy Education Society Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Review of Metaphysics This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 13 Nov 2016 14:01:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY AND THE HEGELIAN TURN TOM ROCKMORE I. HE BEGINNING OF THE NEW CENTURY provides a good time to reflect on the most influential philosophers of this period, or those most likely to survive, or again whom we should be reading in a hundred years. The answer one gives to this type of question obviously de pends on what one thinks philosophy is about. I would like to suggest that at the beginning of the new century, at the start of the new millen nium, the philosopher we will and should still be reading at the end of the new century is not one of the obvious candidates, like Russell, Wit tgenstein, Quine, Heidegger, Peirce, or Dewey, Rorty's favorite, but the nineteenth century German thinker, G. -
Is Hume Attempting to Introduce a New, Pragmatic
doi: 10.5007/1808-1711.2016v20n3p315 IS HUME ATTEMPTING TO INTRODUCE A NEW,PRAGMATIC CONCEPTION OF A CONTRADICTION IN HIS TREATISE? ALAN SCHWERIN Abstract. Hume’s Treatise, with its celebrated bundle theory of the self, is a significant con- tribution to the embryonic Newtonian experimental philosophy of the enlightenment. But the theory is inadequate as it stands, as the appendix to the Treatise makes clear. For this account of the self, apparently, rests on contradictory principles — propositions, fortunately, that can be reconciled, according to Hume. My paper is a critical exploration of Hume’s argument for this intriguing suggestion. Keywords: Contradiction; Aristotle; law of non-contradiction; bundle theory; labyrinth; pragmatism; self; Treatise; experimental philosophy; appendix. In general, this work is full of original thoughts that have all the merit of singularity. Bibliothèque Raisonnée 1740 The bundle theory of the self that David Hume develops in section VI of his Treatise of Human Nature in 1739 is a bold, and provocative account of a person. As might be expected, the suggestion that an individual is, “nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions” (Hume 1978, p.252) has elicited a wide range of vigorous critical responses from many concerned thinkers, philosophers and non-philosophers alike.1 Ironically enough, the charge against the theory began immediately after its formulation — by its own author! Hume is the first to point out that his innovative account of a person, that is central to his conception of personal identity, has to contend with a number of serious problems. Most importantly, as far as Hume is concerned, his Treatise view of a person is incomplete as it stands: what is required is a more robust foundation with additional, unfortunately elusive principles. -
Philosophy Department
PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT 3 0 3 DUQUESNE GRADUATE PHILOSOPHY NEWS Spring 2011 • Volume 4, Issue 1 DEPARTMENT NEWS The Philosophy Department welcomes the Rev. Brian Cronin, C.S.Sp., as a visiting associate professor. Fr. Cronin received a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston College and has taught for numerous years at the Spiritan Mission Seminary in Arusha, Tanzania. His primary scholarly work has involved the philosophy of Bernard Lonergan. In addition to teaching classes in the Philosophy Department, he will also serve as our liaison to the Spiritan Mission Seminary in Arusha. The department continues its Fulbright Scholar Louis Butler (left) and Dr. Patrick Miller, the teacher who inspired him to collaboration major in philosophy, sharing a lighter moment with a stuffed toy raccoon, an animal that with the Spiritan Dr. Miller says serves as a reminder of Aristotelian philosophy’s roots in biology. Missionary Seminary in Arusha, Tanzania. Louis Butler, who earned his bachelor’s degree in 2011, received a Fulbright Kathy Weber, a Scholarship to study in Munich. He will use the scholarship to follow a program graduate teaching of study he designed with a professor at the University of Munich, which focuses assistant, will be teaching full time in its on the thinking of the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus and the 19th-century undergraduate program this upcoming German philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and G.W.F. Hegel. Since his freshman academic year. year he has worked closely with Dr. Patrick Miller. In conjunction with the initiative for teaching in Tanzania and Kenya, we are continuing our African Book Project, for which we will accept We welcome any news from alumni. -
Fichte's Contribution to Higher Education in Germany and the Foundation of the University of Berlin, 1810
Seeking Originality: Fichte’s Contribution to Higher Education in Germany and the Foundation of the University of Berlin, 1810 By Laura Eakes Utrecht University Department of History W.W. Mijnhardt, Ph.D. Adviser Leen Dorsman, Ph.D. Second Reader 2015 Abstract Seeking Originality: Fichte’s Contribution to Higher Education in Germany and the Foundation of the University of Berlin, 1810 By Laura Eakes Under the crisis of the failing university system and subsequent Napoleonic war, a number of German thinkers formulated a new idea of the university that spawned the modern concept of the research university. Among these thinkers, one man distinguished himself as a pedagogical giant in his own right due to the complexity and thoroughness of his plan. Yet, in history, his contributions are widely overlooked, in large part because his ideas were not implemented by his contemporary, Wilhelm von Humboldt. That man’s name was J.G. Fichte—a thinker perhaps best known for his extremist tendencies and his overwhelming desire to unite all existence under his philosophical system, the Wissenschaftlehre. This thesis is devoted to uncovering Fichte’s originality as an educational thinker, utilizing a methodology inspired by Quentin Skinner, so as to locate Fichte’s intentions within the intellectual matrix in which he found himself in 1807-1808. 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………….…………..……………4 2. Problems and Solutions……………………………………………………….…………...……………22 3. Fichte’s Contribution……………………………………………………...….………………………….48 4. Seeking Fichte’s Originality…………………………………………………………..………………..71 5. Epilogue……………………………………………………………………………………………………….90 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………96 3 Introduction Around the turn of the nineteenth century, a number of civic-minded members of the German professoriate took it upon themselves to find a solution to the problems posed by a failing German education system, against the backdrop of the disappearance of the university as an institution all across Europe. -
Tom Rockmore (Duquesne) Philip Grier (Dickinson Coli.) Andries Sarlemij N (Eindhoven) Felix P
LUKACS TODAY SOVIETICA PUBLICATIONS AND MONOGRAPHS OF THE INSTITUTE OF EAST-EUROPEAN STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FRIBOURG I SWITZERLAND AND THE CENTER FOR EAST EUROPE, RUSSIA AND ASIA AT BOSTON COLLEGE AND THE SEMINAR FOR POLITICAL THEORY AND PHILOSOPHY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH Founded by J. M. BocHENSKI (Fribourg) Edited by T. J. BLAKELEY (Boston), Gumo KONG (Fribourg) and NIKOLAUS LOBKOWICZ (Munich) Editorial Board Karl G. Ballestrem (Eichstatt) Bernard Jeu (Lille) Helmut Dahm (Cologne) George L. Kline (Bryn Mawr) Richard T. DeGeorge (Univ. of Kansas) James J. O'Rourke (St. Anselm's) Peter Ehlen (Munich) Friedrich Rapp (Dortmund) Michael Gagern (Munich) Tom Rockmore (Duquesne) Philip Grier (Dickinson Coli.) Andries Sarlemij n (Eindhoven) Felix P. Ingold (ETH St. Gall) James Scanlan (Ohio State) Edward M. Swiderski (Fribourg) VOLUME 51 , LUKACS TODAY Essays in Marxist Philosophy Edited by TOM ROCKMORE Department of Philosophy, Duquesne University, U.S.A. D. REIDEL PUBLISHING COMPANY A MEMBER OF THE KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS GROUP DORDRECHT I BOSTON i LANCASTER I TOKYO Library of Congress Catalogingin Publication Data Lukacs today. (Sovietica; 51) Includes index. 1. Lukacs, Gyorgy, 1885-1971. I. Rockmore, Tom, 1942- . II. Series: Sovietica (Universite de Fribourg. Ost-Europa Institut); v. 51. B4815.L84L885 1987 199' .439 87-32339 ISBN-13: 978-94-010-7805-4 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-2897-8 DOl:10.1007 I 978-94-009-2897-8 Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, Holland. Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Academic Publishers, 101 Philip Drive, Norwell, MA 02061, U.S.A. -
Pragmatism, Kant, and Transcendental Philosophy
Pragmatism, Kant, and Transcendental Philosophy Edited by Gabriele Gava and Robert Stern 6244-678-1pass-0FM-r02.indd 3 8/21/2015 4:17:40 AM First published 2016 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2016 Taylor & Francis The right of the editor to be identiied as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identiication and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data [CIP data] ISBN: 978-1-138-79191-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-76244-9 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC 6244-678-1pass-0FM-r02.indd 4 8/21/2015 4:17:40 AM To Mario 6244-678-1pass-0FM-r02.indd 5 8/21/2015 4:17:40 AM Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 GABRIELE GAVA AND ROBERT STERN 1 German Idealism, Classical Pragmatism, and Kant’s Third Critique 22 SEBASTIAN GARDNER 2 The Fallibilism of Kant’s -
Table of Contents Part I. in the Wake of Kant Part II. Wissenschaftslehre
Table of Contents Daniel Breazeale Introduction ι Part I. In the Wake of Kant Tom Rockmore Fichte, German Idealism and the Thing in Itself 9 Nectarios Limnatis Fichte and the Problem of Logic: Positioning the Wissenschaftslehre in the Development of German Idealism 21 Daniel Breazeale Doing Philosophy: Fichte vs. Kant on Transcendental Method 41 Giorgia Cecchinato Form and Colour in Kant's and Fichtes Theory of Beauty 63 Part II. Wissenschaftslehre in Context Steven Hoeltzel Critical Epistemology and Idealist Metaphysics in Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre (1794-1800) 83 Ulrich Schlösser Presuppositions of Knowledge versus Immediate Certainty of Being: Fichte's 1804 Wissenschaftslehre as a Critique of Knowledge and a Program of Philosophical Foundation 103 F. Scott Scribner Falsification: On the Role of the Empirical in J. G. Fichte's Transcendental Method .. 117 VI Table of Contents Marina Bykova The Self as the World Into Itself. Towards Fichtes Conception of Subjectivity 131 Part III. Fichte and Schelling Richard Fincham Schelling's Subversion of Fichtean Monism, 1794-1796 149 Yolanda Estes Intellectual Intuition: Reconsidering Continuity in Kant, Fichte, and Schelling 165 George Seidel From Idealism to Romanticism and Leibniz' Logic 179 Part IV. Fichte and Hegel Angelica Nuzzo Fichte's Transcendental Logic of 1812 - Between Kant and Hegel 189 C. Jeffery Kinlaw Practical Rationality and Natural Right: Fichte and Hegel on Self-Conception within a Relation of Natural Right 207 Virginia López-Domínguez Political Realism in Idealism: Fichte versus Hegel and their Different Versions of the Foundation of Right 227 Arnold Farr Fichte's Master/Slave Dialectic: The Untold Story 243 Anthony N.