Philosophical Dialectics: An Essay on Metaphilosophy

by Nicholas Rescher

Overview

A study in philosophical methodology aimed at providing a clear view of the scope and limits of philosophical inquiry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780791467459
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	03/09/2006
Edition description:	ANN
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Nicholas Rescher is University Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of more than one hundred books, including Epistemology: An Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge; Realistic Pragmatism: An Introduction to Pragmatic Philosophy; Predicting the Future: An Introduction to the Theory of Forecasting; Process Metaphysics: An Introduction to Process Philosophy; and Dialectics: A Controversy-Oriented Approach to the Theory of Knowledge; all published by SUNY Press. Among his many achievements, he is former president of the American Philosophical Association and recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Prize for Humanistic Scholarship.

Table of Contents

Preface     vii
Philosophical Principles     1
Philosophical Principles     1
Principles of Informative Adequacy     3
Probative Principles of Rational Cogency     5
Principles of Rational Economy     7
Issues of Validation     10
Dealing with Objections     14
Aporetic Method in Philosophy     17
Consistency and Apories     17
Some Sample Apories     19
On Appraising Apories     21
Enter Distinctions     23
Apory Resolution as Cost-Benefit Analysis     24
On Distinctions in Philosophy     27
What Distinctions Are     27
How Distinctions Fail     29
Misassimilation     31
Historical Background     35
The Role of Distinctions in Philosophy     36
Philosophical Apories Tie Issues Together     41
Respect Neglect and Misassimilation as Fallacies of Philosophical Distinctions     45
Respect Neglect     45
Simplicity     46
Fallacy     47
Systemic Interconnectedness and Explanatory Holism in Philosophy     51
The Problem     51
Summative Features     52
Fallacies of Composition and Division     53
Is Existence Mereologically Summative? No-A Whole is More Than Its Parts     53
The Analytical/Constructionist Program     54
Instances of the Implementation of the Constructionist Program     55
Problem Number One: The Fallacy of Termination Presumption     60
Problem Number Two: The Disintegration of Simplicity and the Fallacy of Respect Neglect     61
Perspectival Dissonance and Nonamalgamation     62
Cognition Is Not Summative     63
Review     65
Externalities and Negative Side Effects     66
Systematic Interconnectedness as a Consequence of Aporetic Complexity     71
The Structure of Philosophical Dialectic     75
Philosophical Aporetics     75
The Role of Distinctions     78
The Structure of Dialectic     81
Developmental Dialectics     84
The Burden of History     89
The Structure of Philosophical History     92
Ignorance and Cognitive Horizons     95
Ignorance     95
Intractable Questions about the Cognitive Future and Surd Generalties     97
Insolubilia Then and Now     100
Cognitive Limits      102
Identifying Insolubilia     104
Relating Knowledge to Ignorance     106
Notes     109
Bibliography     115
Index     119

Editorial Reviews

"Disgruntlement with the endemic disagreements among philosophers down through the centuries has led to intermittent hope that some gifted metaphilosopher might create a 'perennial' philosophy. Nicholas Rescher has a more modest, but still worthwhile, goal in mind--to trace the development of certain perennial issues in the history of philosophy and examine the principles and methods that have led to progress on these issues. Short of final solutions, he shows that many refinements have been successful and the insolubilia of old have become less vexing."

From the Publisher