 |
|
|
Item Details
| Title:
|
AGAINST RELATIVISM
A PHILOSOPHICAL DEFENSE OF METHOD |
| By: |
James Harris |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| List price:
|
£14.99 |
| Our price: |
£12.37 |
| Discount: |
|
| You save:
|
£2.62 |
|
|
|
|
|
| ISBN 10: |
0812692020 |
| ISBN 13: |
9780812692020 |
| Availability: |
Reprinting. This item may be subject to delays or cancellation.
 Delivery
rates
|
| Stock: |
Currently 0 available |
| Publisher: |
OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO ,U.S. |
| Pub. date: |
31 October, 1992 |
| Pages: |
228 |
| Description: |
There has been a rise, within Western philosophy, of a wave of relativism, according to which Galileo was wrong and his persecutors were right. In this critique of relativism, the author turns the techniques of relativism against relativism, showing that it is self-refuting or ineffectual. |
| Synopsis: |
Recent decades have witnessed the extraordinary growth of radical relativism, a doctrine which now dominates the entire culture, from popular music to journalism and from religion to school curricula. According to the radical relativist creed, any proposition can be true or false in relation to a chosen framework, the evaluation of fundamental theories or 'paradigms' is beyond argument, there are no universal standards of rationality, and, methodologically, 'Anything goes!'. As James Harris explains in Against Relativism, the new relativism undoes the work of the Enlightenment and inevitably leads to the conclusion that Galileo was wrong to insist that the Earth indeed moves. Succor for relativism has come from many philosophical schools, both Analytic and 'Continental'. Among the sources of the new relativism are the collapse of Logical Positivism and the shift within anthropology from a linear evolutionary model to numerous models for understanding human culture. In this detailed critique, Professor Harris has selected the strongest and most plausible arguments for relativism within contemporary academic philosophy. He turns the techniques of relativism against relativism itself, showing that it is ultimately self-refuting or otherwise ineffectual. He demonstrates that Quine's rejection of the analytic-synthetic distinction appeals to the very analytic truths Quine tries to dispel; that Kuhn's celebrated account of paradigms must be either self-refuting or unintelligible; that Rorty cannot avoid presuppposing the epistemological principles he attacks; and that (although feminist criticisms of science exert a welcome corrective) attempts to develop a distinctively 'feminist science'are misconceived and unhelpful to feminism. In all these discussions, the author explains the arguments he is criticizing, for the benefit of the non-specialist reader, so that this work can serve as a partisan but fair introduction to some of the most important of present-day philosophy. |
| Publication: |
US |
| Imprint: |
Open Court Publishing Co ,U.S. |
| Returns: |
Returnable |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
No Cheese, Please!
A fun picture book for children with food allergies - full of friendship and super-cute characters!Little Mo the mouse is having a birthday party.
|
My Brother Is a Superhero
Luke is massively annoyed about this, but when Zack is kidnapped by his arch-nemesis, Luke and his friends have only five days to find him and save the world...
|
|
|
|
|