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

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 I

Idealization I PDF Author: Jerzy Brzeziński
Publisher: Rodopi
ISBN: 9789051831535
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description


Idealization VII: Structuralism, Idealization and Approximation

Idealization VII: Structuralism, Idealization and Approximation PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004457410
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description


Idealization V: The Dynamics of Idealizations

Idealization V: The Dynamics of Idealizations PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900445733X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 141

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Book Description


Idealization XIV: Models in Science

Idealization XIV: Models in Science PDF Author: Giacomo Borbone
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004318844
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Idealization XIV: Models in Science offers a detailed ontological, epistemological and historical account of the role of models in scientific practice. The volume contains contributions of different international scholars who developed many aspects of the use of idealizations and models both in the natural and the social sciences. This volume is particularly relevant because it offers original contributions concerning one of the main topic in philosophy of science: the role of models in such branches of the sciences and the humanities like comparative historical sociology, economics, history, linguistics and political philosophy. Contributors are: Giacomo Borbone, Krzysztof Brzechczyn, Mieszko Ciesielski, Adam Czerniak, Xavier de Donato Rodríguez, José L. Falguera, Adolfo García de la Sienra, Lidia Godek, Igor Hanzel, Łukasz Hardt, Krzysztof Kiedrowski, Barbara Konat, Zenonas Norkus, Piotr Przybysz, Piotr Szwochert

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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Book Description


Idealization X: The Richness of Idealization

Idealization X: The Richness of Idealization PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004457690
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 541

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Book Description
Contents: Preface. - Introduction. - Science as a caricature of reality. - Three methodological revolutions. - The method of idealization. - Explanations and applications. - Truth and idealization. - A generalization of idealization. - References.

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 III: Approximation and Truth

Idealization III: Approximation and Truth PDF Author: Leszek Nowak
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004457240
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description


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.