Objectivity / Guy Axtell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Axtell, Guy, 1957- author.

Series:

Key concepts in philosophy series (Polity Press)

Key concepts in philosophy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Objectivity.

Physical Description:

vi, 255 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; Malden, MA : Polity Press, 2016.

Summary:

What do you find more trustworthy-experts or numbers, personal "know-how" or "objective facts"? Can science claim special authority based on the objectivity of its methods? Are our ethical decisions always better when we strive to be impartial and unbiased? Why should we value objectivity, and is it achievable anyway? These are a few of the thought-provoking questions Guy Axtell asks in this comprehensive new textbook, employing examples from the natural and social sciences as well as philosophy. This unique introduction surveys the key issues in a clear and concise way, assessing the nature of objectivity and value of the demand to be impartial decision-makers. Moving beyond the fundamentals, Axtell details contemporary feminist and social epistemological attempts to "reconstruct" the concept of objectivity, while exploring the practical and ethical consequences of these debates. Objectivity is an excellent introduction to one of the most exciting areas of study in philosophy and science today. Students and scholars alike will value this balanced guide to a hotly contested, and vitally important, topic. Book jacket.

Contents:

A valuable but contested concept

The intelligible world

Objectivity and first philosophies

Objectivism, relativism, and the Cartesian anxiety

Beyond the science wars

Objectivity in the natural sciences

Objectivity in the human and behavioral sciences

Critical reconstructions of objectivity

Objectivity rehabilitated

Ethics and objectivity.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780745662206

074566220X

9780745662213

0745662218

OCLC:

929539925