Concepts and their role in knowledge : reflections on objectivist epistemology / Allan Gotthelf, editor, James G. Lennox, associate editor.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Gotthelf, Allan, 1942-2013, editor.

Lennox, James G., editor.

Series:

Ayn Rand Society philosophical studies.

Ayn Rand Society Philosophical Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Objectivism (Philosophy).

Knowledge, Theory of.

Rand, Ayn.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (313 pages).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Philosopher-novelist Ayn Rand (1905-1982) is a cultural phenomenon. Her books have sold more than twenty-eight million copies, and countless individuals speak of her writings as having significantly influenced their lives. Despite her popularity, Rand's philosophy of Objectivism has received little serious attention from academic philosophers. Concepts and Their Role in Knowledge offers scholarly analysis of key elements of Ayn Rand's radically new approach to epistemology. The four essays, by contributors intimately familiar with this area of her work, discuss Rand's theory of concepts-including its new account of abstraction and essence-and its central role in her epistemology; how that view leads to a distinctive conception of the justification of knowledge; her realist account of perceptual awareness and its role in the acquisition of knowledge; and finally, the implications of that theory for understanding the growth of scientific knowledge. The volume concludes with critical commentary on the essays by distinguished philosophers with differing philosophical viewpoints and the author's responses to those commentaries. This is the second book published in Ayn Rand Society Philosophical Studies, which was developed in conjunction with the Ayn Rand Society to offer a fuller scholarly understanding of this highly original and influential thinker. The Ayn Rand Society, an affiliated group of the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, seeks to foster scholarly study by philosophers of the philosophical thought and writings of Ayn Rand.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Preface

Part One: Essays

Ayn Rand's Theory of Concepts: Rethinking Abstraction and Essence / Allan Gotthelf

Conceptualization and Justification / Gregory Salmieri

Perceptual Awareness as Presentational / Onkar Ghate

Concepts, Context, and the Advance of Science / James G. Lennox

Part Two: Discussion

Concepts and Kinds

Rand on Concepts, Definitions, and the Advance of Science: Comments on Gotthelf and Lennox / Paul E. Griffiths

Natural Kinds and Rand's Theory of Concepts: Reflections on Griffiths / Onkar Ghate

Definitions

Rand on Definitions-One Size Fits All?: Comments on Gotthelf / Jim Bogen

Taking the Measure of a Definition: Response to Bogen / Allan Gotthelf

Concepts and Theory Change

On Concepts that Change with the Advance of Science: Comments on Lennox / Richard M. Burian

Conceptual Development versus Conceptual Change: Response to Burian / James G. Lennox

Perceptual Awareness

In Defense of the Theory of Appearing: Comments on Ghate and Salmieri / Pierre Le Morvan

Forms of Awareness and "Three-Factor" Theories / Gregory Salmieri

Direct Perception and Salmieri's "Forms of Awareness" / Bill Brewer

Keeping Up Appearances: Reflections on the Debate over Perceptual Infallibilism / Benjamin Bayer

Uniform Abbreviations of Works by Ayn Rand

References

Contributors

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780822978565

0822978563

OCLC:

867739259