Satisfying Reason Studies in the Theory of Knowledge
Leibniz said with a mixture of admiration and inspiration that the Duchess Sophie of Hannover always wanted to know the reason why behind the reason why. And that is just how rationality works: it wants to leave no loose ends to understanding, seeking to
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Episteme A SERIES IN THE FOUNDATIONAL, METHODOLOGICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIOLOGICAL, AND POLITICAL ASPECTS OF THE SCIENCES, PURE AND APPLIED
VOLUME 21 Editor: Mario Bunge Foundations and Philosophy ofScience Unit, McGill University Advisory Editorial Board:
Raymond Boudon, Sociology, Maison des Sciences de I'Homme, Paris George Bugliarello, Engineering, Polytechnic Institute ofNew York Bruno Fritsch, Professor emeritus ofthe Swiss Federal Insitute of Technology, ZUrich Ivan T. Frolov, Philosophy and Social Sciences, USSR Academy ofScience, Moscow Erwin Hiebert, History ofScience, Harvard University Philip Kitcher, Philosophy, University ofCalifornia, Davis Nicholas Rescher, Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh Michael Ruse, Philosophy and Zoology, University ofGuelph Raimo Tuomela, Philosophy, University ofHelsinki Hao Wang, Mathematics, Rockefeller University, New York Paul Weingartner, Philosophy, Salzburg University
The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.
NICOLAS RESCHER University of Pittsburgh
SATISFYING REASON Studies in the Theory of Knowledge
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reseher, Nleholas. Satlsfylng reason : studles In the theory of knowledge Nleholas Reseher. p. en. -- (Eplsteme : v. 21) Ine 1udes 1ndex.
I
by
ISBN 978-94-010-4216-1 ISBN 978-94-011-0483-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-0483-8
1. Ratlonallsm. I. Tltle. Netherlands) : v. 21. BD181.R45 1995 121--de20
II. Serles: Eplsteme (Dordreeht, 94-33491
Printed on acid-free paper
AU Rights Reserved © 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1995 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1995 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, inc1uding photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
vii
INTRODUCTION
ix
CHAPTER 1: Satisfying Reason
1
CHAPTER 2: Why Be Rational?
24
CHAPTER 3: Reason and Reality
32
CHAPTER 4: Metaknowledge
54
CHAPTER 5: Fallibilism and the Pursuit of Truth
72
CHAPTER 6: Methodological Optimism
87
CHAPTER 7: Meaningless Numbers
103
CHAPTER 8: Conceptual Idealism Revisited
122
CHAPTER 9: The Contrast Between Explanatory and Experiential Understanding
155
CHAPTER 10: The Limits of Cognitive Relativism
176
CHAPTER 11: The Deficits of Deconstructionism
212
CHAPTER 12: Exits from Paradox
226
NAME INDEX
241
v
PREFACE
The dozen essays on issues in the philosophy of knowledge that are collected together were written during the 1991-93 triennium. Two of them (numbers 2 and 8) have previously appeared in print in professional journals and I am grateful to the publishers involved for permission to reprint. I am also grateful to Marian Kowatch and Annamarie Morrow for preparing a typescript of this material serviceable
