Paolo Mancosu presents a series of innovative studies in the history and the philosophy of logic and mathematics in the first half of the twentieth century. The Adventure of Reason is divided into five main sections: history of logic (from Russell to Tarski); foundational issues (Hilbert's program, constructivity, Wittgenstein, Gödel); mathematics and phenomenology (Weyl, Becker, Mahnke); nominalism (Quine, Tarski); semantics (Tarski, Carnap, Neurath). Mancosu exploits extensive untapped archival sources to make available a wealth of new material that deepens in significant ways our understanding of these fascinating areas of modern intellectual history. At the same time, the book is a contribution to recent philosophical debates, in particular on the prospects for a successful nominalist reconstruction of mathematics, the nature of finitist intuition, the viability of alternative definitions of logical consequence, and the extent to which phenomenology can hope to account for the exact sciences.
Helping students think more critically, communicate ideas more effectively, and work more cooperatively with others are goals widely recognized as indispensable to a proper education. Adventures in Reasoning: Communal Inquiry Through Fantasy Role-Play provides middle school, high school, and even post-secondary teachers with a method to cultivate these crucial skill sets in a way that is engaging, academically rigorous, and also fun. The role-playing approach draws upon the pioneering notion of the community of inquiry as a vehicle for enhancing student learning and development through discussing philosophical concepts and issues. Students create characters that they then use to explore a rich fantasy world filled with practical and conceptual challenges specifically designed to enhance a wide range of cognitive and communication abilities. Drawing together the appeal of fantasy narratives with the rigor of communal inquiry, Adventures in Reasoning provides educators with a rich array of tools through which to engage students’ interests, capture their curiosity, and cultivate crucial cognitive and social skills. Some additional key features of this book include: step-by-step instructions on how to implement fantasy-gaming in the classroom tips on how to assess students’ critical and creative reasoning skills easy to understand rules for fantasy role-playing detailed adventure quests provided that target a wide array of skill sets overview of the pedagogical benefits of introducing philosophy and communal inquiry to middle and high school students lots of advice and suggestions on how to facilitate an effective community of inquiry and how to accommodate different class sizes and student abilities recommendations on how to use fantasy role-playing as a type of service learning in college classrooms
The Story of Civilization, Volume VII: A history of European civilization in the period of Shakespeare, Bacon, Montaigne, Rembrandt, Galileo, and Descartes: 1558-1648. This is the seventh volume of the classic, Pulitzer Prize-winning series.
"His book...supplant[s] all others, even the immensely successful History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell."—A. C. Grayling Already a classic, this landmark study of early Western thought now appears in a new edition with expanded coverage of the Middle Ages. This landmark study of Western thought takes a fresh look at the writings of the great thinkers of classic philosophy and questions many pieces of conventional wisdom. The book invites comparison with Bertrand Russell's monumental History of Western Philosophy, "but Gottlieb's book is less idiosyncratic and based on more recent scholarship" (Colin McGinn, Los Angeles Times). A New York Times Notable Book, a Los Angeles Times Best Book, and a Times Literary Supplement Best Book of 2001.
Wilhelm Halbfass, philosopher and Indologist, is a committed participant in the dialogue between India and Europe, whose reflections on the Indian tradition and its Western perception are accompanied by reflection on and critical examination of the Western tradition. In this innovative combination of Indological research and philosophical-hermeneutical research in the history of ideas, he demonstrates a purpose more ambitious and a scope wider than Edward Said's who constructed the Western study of the so-called Orient as an attempt to deprive it of its identity and sovereignty, and who perceived the pursuit of Oriental Studies in Western universities to be an extension of a fundamentally political will to power and domination. Without denying the domination of the dialogue between India and Europe by the West, Halbfass goes beyond that to show a different way of approaching Indian thought; he strives to establish the presuppositions and prerequisites that would make a true dialogue and mutual understanding between Indian and Western intellectual cultures possible. The papers in the present volume originate from twenty-three scholars of Indology, philosophy, religious studies, comparative theology, classics, folkloristics and political theory, working in eleven countries spread over three continents. They address central issues of Halbfass' work; his critical responses to them commence with an extensive essay in which he assesses in a masterly manner the state of Indian studies almost twenty years after the publication of Said's Orientalismz.
How exactly does logic work? What makes some arguments valid and others not? What does a faithful use of logic look like? In this introduction to logic, philosopher Forrest Baird considers the basic building blocks of human reason, including types of arguments, fallacies, syllogisms, symbols, and proofs, all of which are demonstrated with exercises for students throughout.
This original and provocative work begins by examining the shift of scientific paradigms that took place in the late eighteenth century, a shift illustrated by the report of a French Royal Commission appointed in 1784 to investigate Mesmerism. The reactions to Mesmerism among the Commission members--in particular the chemist Lavoisier and the botanist Jussieu--crystallized conflicts about the notion of reason and its role as a scientific ideal, about how science ought to be done. The Commission's denunciation of Mesmerism as the work of the "imagination" then serves as the starting point for the authors' reconsideration of the history of psychoanalysis, notably its suppression and repression of phenomena associated with hypnosis--imagination, suggestion, and empathy--in its search to establish itself as a science in accord with the new ideal of scientific reason. Examining the new and often troubled relationship in psychoanalysis between therapeutic effectiveness and advances in theory, the authors highlight the challenge to Freudian ideals in the 1920's by Otto Rank and Sandor Ferenczi. The discrediting of Ferenczi--engineered to a large extent by Ernest Jones and Freud himself--was an attempt to "purify" psychoanalysis of the effects of suggestion. The authors discuss Freud's own therapeutic nihilism occasioned by his recognition that suggestion, by means of the transference relationship, played an uncontrollable role in psychoanalytic therapy. In assessing Freud's legacy, the authors examine evolving notions of psychoanalysis, especially the role played by the effects of suggestion in recent theoretical representations of the development of the subject. Asserting that hypnosis and the challenge it poses to our understanding of human motivation, reason, and the mind/body relationship constitutes the fourth narcissistic wound to the human ego (after those introduced by Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud), the authors analyze Lacan's rejection of hypnosis and explain current resistance to hypnosis through its challenge to the modern scientific notion of reason.
For almost two millennia religions have had a virtual monopoly on morality. No longer. Today, there is a philosophy of reason that provides a rational and objective validation of moral laws. The Fellowship of Reason exists to advocate, celebrate, and promulgate that morality based upon reality to a literate, thoughtful, reality-oriented, self-responsible general public worldwide. This book is divided into twelve chapters. Chapter 1 elaborates the reasons for the existence of our rational moral community. The objective human needs that until now have been served only by religion are explored. In chapter 2 I explain the details of our moral philosophy by identifying what we regard as the ultimate value. The choices of ultimate value include God, the state, the environment, and individual human life. Chapter 3 considers the meaning of life from three angles—the purpose or goal of life, the intention of life, and the actual definition of a particular human life as manifested in the actions taken by that individual. We work through an exercise to discover the meaning (definition) of the reader's life. Chapter 4 advocates that each individual discover and deliberately pursue his or her own major lifetime goals, that he or she give his or her life a meaning in the sense of purpose or goal. Happiness, we hold, requires a life purpose. Chapter 5 considers the contents of human consciousness. Five components of the human soul are explored—the other, your daemon, reason, emotions, and your parents' child. Chapter 6 presents techniques for working on your soul and explains the non-mystical, natural referents of the Holy Trinity. Chapter 7 concisely states our philosophy of reason. Chapter 8 introduces the new component to our philosophy of reason—benevolence. The relationship between the virtues of benevolence and the penultimate values of a loving family, good friends, and community is revealed. Chapter 9 details the elements of a regular meeting of the Fellowship of Reason. Chapter 10 describes our rational rituals. In order to be happy, one must selectively focus one's attention. These rituals are institutionally structured disciplines designed to focus our attention upon the good things in life. Chapter 11 reveals the mythology of our new moral community. And finally, in chapter 12 we provide reasons why you should create a Fellowship of Reason in your city. We show how reason, if utilized consistently as the means of living, will spread human freedom, prosperity, and happiness throughout the world. An appendix concludes, addressed to our theistic friends. The purpose of morality is to teach you to enjoy yourself and live well on earth. Reason makes human life possible. The Fellowship of Reason proposes to bring to you, in regular weekly celebrations and in daily spiritual exercises, tools that will enhance your life and the lives of everyone around you. Read the book to learn more about the Fellowship of Reason.
