In his essay on Hilary and Ruth Anna Putnam in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Tom Bartlett writes of the ‘famous’ Putnam-Rorty debate as follows: The crux of their dispute centered on how far to take pragmatism. [Richard] Rorty thought that the things we believe to be true aren’t actually connected to reality: There isContinue reading “Getting The ‘Rorty’ In The ‘Putnam-Rorty Debate’ Wrong”
Tag Archives: metaphysics
Nietzsche As Pragmatist
Nietzsche is a pragmatist with strong resonances with the American pragmatists; this is not a new claim. Renè Berthelot, for instance, termed Nietzsche “a German pragmatist” and emphasized the resemblance between Nietzsche’s perspectivism and the pragmatist theory of truth.[1][2] The resemblance between Nietzsche and the American pragmatists [3] is made especial note of in Arthur Danto‘s NietzscheContinue reading “Nietzsche As Pragmatist”
Durkheim On Social Facts As Things: Methodology As Metaphysics
In The Rules of Sociological Method (The Free Press, 1982, pp. 35-36) Émile Durkheim writes: The proposition which states that social facts must be treated as things…stirred up the most opposition. It was deemed paradoxical and scandalous for us to assimilate to the realities of the external world those of the social world. This was singularly toContinue reading “Durkheim On Social Facts As Things: Methodology As Metaphysics”
Richard Feynman on Philosophy of Science and Ornithology
Richard Feynman is supposed to have said, in his usual inimitable style, that “Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds.” Cue chuckles from scientists and grumbles from philosophers. Science is useful! Philosophy is useless! Go back to counting angels. Or something like that. The persistent disdain that distinguished scientists–likeContinue reading “Richard Feynman on Philosophy of Science and Ornithology”
A Puzzle about Karmic Doctrine – Contd.
Reader theendlessknot3d writes in with an interesting comment to yesterday’s post on the doctrine of karma as explicated by Daya Krishna: You say that karma is working, in the case of B, to bring retribution for a past action, Y, which B had previously inflicted on another, and that A is therefore potentially free of guilt/responsibilityContinue reading “A Puzzle about Karmic Doctrine – Contd.”
Susan Sontag on Truth’s ‘Value’
Susan Sontag, in reviewing Simone Weil’s Selected Essays, offers some remarks on the nature and function of truth, and its placement in our schema of intellectual and emotional endeavor. In doing so, she strikes a slightly Nietzschean note: Perhaps there are certain ages which do not need truth as much as they need a deepening ofContinue reading “Susan Sontag on Truth’s ‘Value’”
Samir Chopra 