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Ideas for 'Why coherence is not enough', 'Causal Powers' and 'Intellectual Autobiography'

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5 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / e. Philosophy as reason

15209	Like disastrous small errors in navigation, small misunderstandings can wreck intellectual life [Harré/Madden]
	Full Idea: Just as the tiniest error in navigation may lead to a landfall even on the wrong continent, so the acceptance of apparently innocuous principles can lead to doctrines which, if accepted, would render intellectual life impossible.
	From: Harré,R./Madden,E.H. (Causal Powers [1975], 1.I.A)
	A reaction: If one lived life by an axiom system, and one of the axioms was a bit off kilter, then this idea would be a powerful one. Note that it is only 'intellectual' life that is screwed up, but even there a plurality of ideas keep correcting one another.

1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 6. Metaphysics as Conceptual

15215	Philosophy devises and assesses conceptual schemes in the service of worldviews [Harré/Madden]
	Full Idea: In our view the task of a philosopher is to devise and critically assess conceptual schemes in the service of some overall vision of the world.
	From: Harré,R./Madden,E.H. (Causal Powers [1975], 1.I.B)
	A reaction: This makes theology just as genuinely a branch of philosophy as their scientific essentialism. Is there any sort of philosophy, then, which is not 'in the service' of some independent worldview? Interesting. Note 'devise', as well as 'assess'.

1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 4. Conceptual Analysis

15212	Analysis of concepts based neither on formalism nor psychology can arise from examining what we know [Harré/Madden]
	Full Idea: Adequate accounts of those concepts which are neither purely formal nor simply psychological can be achieved by attention to ....the content of our knowledge, content which goes beyond the reports of immediate experience.
	From: Harré,R./Madden,E.H. (Causal Powers [1975], 1.I.A)
	A reaction: I like this one. Most proponents of analysis are either bogged down in trying to reduce all of our talk to formal logic, or else they think that they are just analysing how we think. It's neither, because the concepts arise from the world.

1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 6. Logical Analysis

15210	Humeans see analysis in terms of formal logic, because necessities are fundamentally logical relations [Harré/Madden]
	Full Idea: The Humean view has led philosophers to suppose that their task is to provide an analysis of key concepts and relations wholly in terms drawn from formal logic, since relations of necessity are, in their view, fundamentally logical relations
	From: Harré,R./Madden,E.H. (Causal Powers [1975], 1.I.A)
	A reaction: A very sharp observation about why logic has become central to contemporary philosophy. As far as I can see, logic steadily increases its dominance, to the point where ordinary metaphysical thought is being squeezed out.

1. Philosophy / G. Scientific Philosophy / 2. Positivism

15236	Positivism says science only refers to immediate experiences [Harré/Madden]
	Full Idea: Positivism is the doctrine that the content of scientific propositions is exhausted by what can be immediately experienced.
	From: Harré,R./Madden,E.H. (Causal Powers [1975], 2.I)
	A reaction: The simple thing missing from positivism is inference to the best explanation. Also, if you actually rule out other propositions as 'meaningless', you rule out speculation, which would certainly cripple science.