The many faces of realism / Hilary Putnam.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Putnam, Hilary.

Series:

Paul Carus lectures ; 16th ser.

The Paul Carus lectures ; 16th ser. (Dec. 1985)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy.

Physical Description:

98 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

La Salle, Ill. : Open Court, [1987]

Summary:

"The first two lectures place the alternative I defend -- a kind of pragmatic realism -- in a historical and metaphysical context. Part of that context is provided by Husserl's remark that the history of modern philosophy begins with Galileo -- that is, modern philosophy has been hypnotized by the idea that scientific facts are all the facts there are. Another part is provided by the analysis of a very simple example of what I call 'contextual relativity'. The position I defend holds that truth depends on conceptual scheme and it is nonetheless 'real truth'.

"In my third lecture I turn to the Kantian antecedents of this view, explaining what I think should be retained of the Kantian idea of autonomy as the central theme of morality, and extracting from Kant's work a 'moral image of the world' that connects the ideals of equality and intellectual liberty. In this lecture I defend the idea that moral images are an indispensible part of our moral and cultural heritage.

"In the final lecture I defend the idea of moral objectivity. I compare our epistemological positions in ethics, history, analysis of human character, and science, and I argue that in no area can we hope for a 'foundation' which is more ultimate than the beliefs that actually, at a given time, function as foundational in the area, the beliefs concerning which one has to say 'this is where my spade is turned'. In ethics such beliefs are represented in moral images of the world."

Contents:

Lecture I Is There Still Anything to Say about Reality and Truth? 3

Intrinsic Properties: Dispositions 8

Intrinsic Properties: Intentionality 11

Why Intentionality is so Intractable 13

"The Trail of the Human Serpent is Over All" 16

Lecture II Realism and Reasonableness 23

Reality without the Dichotomies 32

Lecture III Equality and Our Moral Image of the World 41

The Frankfurt School's Attempt to Justify Equality 53

Democracy without a Moral Image 57

Lecture IV Reasonableness as a Fact and as a Value 63

Scientific Method 71

The 'Epistemological Problem' 76

The Importance of Peirce's Puzzle 80.

Notes:

Includes index.

Bibliography: pages [87]-91.

ISBN:

0812690435

0812690427

OCLC:

15489109