Idealization I: General Problems

Idealization I: General Problems PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004457151
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description

Idealization I: General Problems

Idealization I: General Problems PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004457151
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

Book Description


As If

As If PDF Author: Kwame Anthony Appiah
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674982193
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
“Appiah is a writer and thinker of remarkable range... [He] has packed into this short book an impressive amount of original reflection... A rich and illuminating book.” —Thomas Nagel, New York Review of Books Idealization is a fundamental feature of human thought. We build simplified models to make sense of the world, and life is a constant adjustment between the models we make and the realities we encounter. Our beliefs, desires, and sense of justice are bound up with these ideals, and we proceed “as if” our representations were true, while knowing they are not. In this elegant and original meditation, Kwame Anthony Appiah suggests that this instinct to idealize is not dangerous or distracting so much as it is necessary. As If explores how strategic untruth plays a critical role in far-flung areas of inquiry: decision theory, psychology, natural science, and political philosophy. A polymath who writes with mainstream clarity, Appiah defends the centrality of the imagination not just in the arts but in science, morality, and everyday life. “Appiah is the rare public intellectual who is also a first-rate analytic philosopher, and the characteristic virtues associated with each of these identities are very much in evidence throughout the book.” —Thomas Kelly, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Idealization and the Aims of Science

Idealization and the Aims of Science PDF Author: Angela Potochnik
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022675944X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
Science is the study of our world, as it is in its messy reality. Nonetheless, science requires idealization to function—if we are to attempt to understand the world, we have to find ways to reduce its complexity. Idealization and the Aims of Science shows just how crucial idealization is to science and why it matters. Beginning with the acknowledgment of our status as limited human agents trying to make sense of an exceedingly complex world, Angela Potochnik moves on to explain how science aims to depict and make use of causal patterns—a project that makes essential use of idealization. She offers case studies from a number of branches of science to demonstrate the ubiquity of idealization, shows how causal patterns are used to develop scientific explanations, and describes how the necessarily imperfect connection between science and truth leads to researchers’ values influencing their findings. The resulting book is a tour de force, a synthesis of the study of idealization that also offers countless new insights and avenues for future exploration.

Idealization XII: Correcting the Model

Idealization XII: Correcting the Model PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9401202737
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
The principal task of the book series Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities is to promote those developments in philosophy that respect the tradition of great philosophical ideas, on the one hand, and the manner of philosophical thinking introduced by analytical philosophy, on the other. The aim is to contribute to practicing philosophy as deep as Marxism and as caring about justification as positivism.

Idealization XI: Historical Studies on Abstraction and Idealization

Idealization XI: Historical Studies on Abstraction and Idealization PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004333215
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Discussions about abstraction are so important and so profound that this topic can hardly be neglected. It has inevitably cropped up again in various periods of philosophical enquiry. Despite these ancient roots and after the great debate that characterised the empirical and rationalistic tradition, interest in the problem has unfortunately been absent in large measure from the mainstream of mathematical logic and analytic philosophy. It seems that there is a gap between the epistemological theorization, in which it is difficult to find new insights on the problem of abstraction, and the historical studies concerning the development of philosophical thought. Such studies, however, present a more fertile ground for such insights. Here the reader will find presented for the first time a collection of papers about the topic, considered from an historical point of view together with an awareness of the need for building a bridge between historical research and theoretical speculation. Accordingly the volume consists of both general overviews which sketch the signifcance and the fortunes of abstraction in science, philosophy and logic (the first part) and historical case studies which focus on abstraction in particular thinkers (the second part). This volume is of interest for both general philosophers and historians of philosophy.

Idealization VI: Idealization in Economics

Idealization VI: Idealization in Economics PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004457372
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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The Structure of Idealization

The Structure of Idealization PDF Author: Lesz Nowak
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401576513
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
Much is said in Marxist literature about Marxist methodology which is supposed to be entirely original - differing a great deal from all other trends in the modern philosophy of science. On the other hand, however, it is unfallacious to state that there are no people outside Marxism who would like to deny this statement. This has to put those who really believe that Marxism has something important to say in philosophy of science on guard: if someone says something important others usually are inclined to protest. But who is inclined to protest when it is stated that Marx em ployed both induction and deduction, a historical method and a logical one as well, synthesis, but also analysis, etc? Who is inclined to protest when it is not known what within this framework 'induction', 'deduction' 'history' or 'logic' mean? Who is inclined to protest when 'Marxist meth odology' is presented not with the aid of precise definitions and clear hypotheses but with the aid of a jungle of quotations? I think that the main malfeasance of the current 'Marxist methodology', is that of ecclecticism. The methodology of Marx is presented as a col lection of trivial and/or obscure ideas but not as a system of statements subordinated to any clear, definite viewpoint presenting a new grasp ofthe nature of scientific cognition. Search for reconstruction of Marxian meth odology as a system of the kind is the main aim of this book.

Idealization VI

Idealization VI PDF Author: Bert Hamminga
Publisher: Rodopi
ISBN: 9789051835519
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description


A Theory of Prudence

A Theory of Prudence PDF Author: Dale Dorsey
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192556991
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
Much of knowing what to do is knowing what to do for ourselves, but knowing how to act in our best interest is complex—-we must know what benefits us, what burdens us, and how these facts present and constitute considerations in favor of action. Additionally, we must know how we should weigh our interests at different times—-past, present, and future. Dale Dorsey argues that a theory of prudence is needed: a theory of how we ought to act when we are acting for ourselves. A Theory of Prudence provides a comprehensive account of prudence, including the metaethics of prudential value, the nature of the personal good, the reasons of prudence, and the structure of prudential normativity over time.

Non-Ideal Foundations of Language

Non-Ideal Foundations of Language PDF Author: Jessica Keiser
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000827321
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
This book argues that the major traditions in the philosophy of language have mistakenly focused on highly idealized linguistic contexts. Instead, it presents a non-ideal foundational theory of language that contends that the essential function of language is to direct attention for the purpose of achieving diverse social and political goals. Philosophers of language have focused primarily on highly idealized linguistic contexts in which cooperative agents are working toward the shared goal of gaining information about the world. This approach abstracts away from important issues like power, ideology, social position, and diversity of goals which are crucial to explaining linguistic phenomena both at the semantic and pragmatic levels. This book begins by examining the work of some of the pioneers of this tradition—primarily David Lewis, Paul Grice, and Robert Stalnaker. The author shows that various problems have their source in idealizations made at the foundational level of linguistic theory and proposes to rebuild from the ground-up. She presents a non-ideal foundational theory of language which retains the major insights of traditional frameworks while rejecting the social idealizations that guide them. Then, she explores the social and political applications of her account to issues such as dog whistling, propaganda, racist speech, silencing, and manipulation. Non-Ideal Foundations of Language will appeal to researchers and advanced students in philosophy of language who are interested in the social and political applications of language, as well as traditional metasemantic theory.