Bøger af Nicholas Rescher

This book is a survey of key issues in the theory of evaluation aimed at exhibiting and clarifying the rational nature of the thought-procedures involved. By means of theoretical analysis and explanatory case studies, this volume shows how evaluation is-or should be-a rational procedure directed at appropriate objectives.

This book showcases the history and theory of pragmatism and its alignment to the sensibilities of contemporary analytic philosophy.

Concept auditing is based on an innovative premise for philosophers: when they address an everyday life conception on the order of knowledge, truth, justice, fairness, beauty, or the like and purport to be dealing with what it involves, then they must honor the existing meanings of these terms. And insofar as the prevailing meaning is being contravened, they must explain how and justify why this is being done. They must, in sum, explain how their treatment of a topic relates to our established pre-systematic understanding of the issues involved and relate their deliberations to the prevailing conception of the matter they are proposing to discuss. The aim of a concept audit is to consider to what extent a given philosophical discussion honors this communicative obligation. Concept Audits sets out not only to explain and defend this procedure, but also to consider a host of applications and exemplifications of these ideas. Nicholas Rescher shows how this method of conceptual auditing can function to elucidate and evaluate philosophical theses and doctrine across a wide spectrum of issues, ranging from logic to ethics and metaphysics. Accordingly, he explains and illustrates an instructive innovation in philosophical method. This new study of philosophical methodology presents its method in a clear and convincing way and shows the method at work with respect to a wide spectrum of important philosophical issues.

Cognitive Complications examines fundamental issues in the theory of knowledge from the perspective of philosophical pragmatism. Rescher seeks to show how a pragmatic, user-oriented approach to knowledge can elucidate key issues of the field.

The first comprehensive chronology of philosophical anecdotes, from antiquity to the current era.

Cognitive Harmony is part of an exciting new trilogy exploring the theory of knowledge by one of the world's foremost philosophers. Together the books provide an integrated approach to the subject, but each also stands alone, and they can be read in any order.

The definitive mission of metaphilosophy is to facilitate an understanding of how philosophy worksthe aim of the enterprise, the instrumental and procedural resources for its work, and the prospect of its success. Nicholas Rescher unites two facets of metaphilosophy to show that historical perspective and forward-thinking normative, or systematic, metaphilosophy cannot be independent of one another. The descriptive, or historical, metaphilosophy provides an account of what has been thought regarding the conduct of philosophical inquiry, and the prescriptive, or normative, metaphilosophy which deliberates about what is to be thought regarding the conduct of philosophizing. Rescher argues that metaphilosophy forms a part of philosophy itself. This is a unique feature of the discipline since the philosophy of biology is not a part of biology and the philosophy of mathematics is not a part of mathematics. Ultimately, the salient features of philosophizing in generalincluding the inherently controversial and discordant nature of philosophical doctrinesare also bound to afflict metaphilosophy. Thus, only by a careful analysis of the central issues can a plausible view of the enterprise be developed.Metaphilosophy: Philosophy in Philosophical Perspective challenges the static, compartmentalized view of metaphilosophy, providing insight for scholars and students of all areas of philosophy.

This book examines how pragmatism's central idea can be applied and implemented across the entire range of philosophical deliberations, ranging from theory of knowledge and the value theory to the explanation of human action and even to matters of ethics and religion.

Presents a reassessment of free will and, as such, seeks to answer the question: Do humans ever act under the guidance of the will? To determine if humans have free will, this book first examines what exactly free will is and how it should function. It also examines the role of nature, nurture, and free choice.

No descriptive material is available for this title.

This work focuses on the phenomena and theory of rational inquiry, looking in particular at questions and their management, and setting the whole in an epistemological context, and with reference to the methods of Kant and Descartes.

Epistemic Logic is part of an exciting new trilogy exploring the theory of knowledge by one of the world's foremost philosophers. Together the books provide an integrated approach to the subject, but each also stands alone, and they can be read in any order.

Offers Nicholas Rescher's perspectives on many of the foundational concerns of philosophy. He argues that the need to inquire is an evolutionary tool for adapting to a hostile environment and shows how philosophy has developed in an evolutionary fashion,

The word apory stems from the Greek aporia, meaning impasse or perplexing difficulty. This title defines an apory as a group of individually plausible but collectively incompatible theses. It provides an instructive perspective on the many diverse issues that can arise from imperfect information and cognitive dissonance.

Realism and Pragmatic Epistemology is part of an exciting new trilogy exploring the theory of knowledge by one of the world's foremost philosophers. Together the books provide an integrated approach to the subject, but each also stands alone, and they can be read in any order.

In this unique work Nicholas Rescher tackles the major questions of philosophical inquiry, pondering the nature of truth and existence.

Expounds a pragmatic metaphysics that offers an approach to this subject's traditional objective of providing us with a secure cognitive grip on the nature of reality. The characteristic nature of this metaphysical approach lies in its commitment to the idea that the requisite security is best.

Nicholas Rescher's book Axiogenesis: An Essay in Metaphysical Optimalism is a detailed exposition of axiogenerts: the philosophical theory seeking to explain the world's facts on the basis of evaluative considerations. In classical antiquity, this theory was espoused by Plato (in the Timaeus) and neo-Platonic tradition; in early modern times, it was revived by Leibniz and continued to find favor in the development of rational mechanics from Maupertuis to William Hamilton. However, since then the principles behind axiogenesis and similar theories have fallen out of fashion. This book is therefore unique in that it argues in detail that this metaphysical approach still has traction and endeavors to formulate the theory in a manner that makes it available as a live option for contemporary thinkers. Advanced students of philosophy and professionals in this field, as well as anyone interested in the issue of speculative metaphysics, will find Rescher's contemporary refashioning of axiogenesis a distinctly compelling read.

This expanded edition adds new chapters that explore Leibniz's revolutionary deciphering machine.

The studies collected here are united both by a common methodology of probative investigation and by their common purpose of providing instructive insight into a varied spectrum of important philosophical issues.

Nicholas Rescher undertakes a systematic survey of the role and utility of thought experiments in philosophy. After surveying the historical issues, Rescher examines the principles involved, and explains the conditions under which thought experimentation can validly yield instructive results in philosophy.

Nicholas Rescher presents the first translation of medieval Arabic philosopher al-Farabi's "Short Commentary on Prior Analytics" in English, and supplements this with an informative introduction and numerous explanatory footnotes.

In this highly accesible work, Rescher offers a realistic view of the nature and operation of luck to help us come to terms with life in a chaotic world.

Philosophical anthropology is the study of the conditions of human existence and the issues that confront everyday life. This text surveys, from a contemplative, philosophical point of view, a wide variety of human-interest issues, including happiness, luck, ageing and the meaning of life.

Paradoxes are sets of propositions that are individually plausible, but collectively inconsitent. This book introduces the subject of paradoxes, it surveys the range of types of paradoxes, and introduces an integrated theory of paradoxes. It explains and analyzes over 130 paradoxes.