International Library of Psychology Philosophy and Scientific
Method Possibility Possibility By SCOTT BUCHANAN LONDON KEGAN PAUL,
TRENCH, TRUBNER Co., LTD. NEW YORK HARCOURT, BRACE COMPANY, INC.
1927 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 9 INTRODUCTION i I.
INTELLECTUAL IMAGINATION . 17 II. SCIENTIFIC POSSIBILITY . . 33
III. ABSOLUTE POSSIBILITY . . 67 IV. DEFINITION OF POSSIBILITY . 81
V. POSSIBILITY AND ACTUALITY . 97 APOLOGY FOR HISTORICAL PIRACY . .
. . in VI. KANT .... 115 VII. ARISTOTLE . . . .141 VIII. DYNAMISM
.... 161 IX. CONCLUSION . . . .177 INDEX 197 POSSIBILITY
INTRODUCTION THE life of man might be portrayed as a series of
rebirths, each of which consists in a passage from one world into
another. The state of affairs at any given instant is an unstable
equilibrium between opposing forces and values. One lives in one
world and believes in another, suffering this and at the same time
expecting or desiring that. It would seem highly important to know
which world this is, and to be able to describe that. But most of
us are hard-pressed when we are compelled to do so. Even poets and
prophets, whose business it is to speak of such matters, admit the
difficulty. Some years ago Walter De la Mare wrote an essay on the
Intellectual Imagination. It was originally an address at Eton on
the occasion of a memorial service to Rupert Brooke. It was an
attempt to capture the spirit of a young man who died before his
poetry had disclosed the height and depth of the world in which he
lived. What he had expressed was enough to place him among those
artists, who instead of taking permanent flight from this world,
are content to see the commonplace in the shifting crosslights
POSSIBILITY of the ideal.The result was an intellectual insight
which only philosophers are supposed to achieve in rare moments of
clarity. The majority of persons achieve something less. The other
world is for them a heaven, sometimes distant and unreal, at other
times just round the corner. If it is near, they are bold, shrewd,
obstinate, fanatic. If it is far away, they are timid, diffident,
uncertain, apologetic. They are at the extremes of the Aristotelian
measures of virtue. Most of us vary along this scale. In moments of
naive enthusiasm heaven is around us, the child believes in
fairies, the middle-aged man sees himself as saviour of the world,
the old man dreams dreams. In moments of sophisticated review of
our adventures, our persistent disposition to seize the unseen
heaven takes on the sinister guise of a fatal credulity, rendering
us subject to the whims of a malevolent and deceitful Cartesian
demon. The belief in a heaven easy to attain is the cause of a hell
on earth. At such times faith often turns into rage at a world that
does not allow the prophets vision to come true, or into
self-condemnation for our childish fancies. We appear in the true
colours of a citizen of an otherworldly kingdom. Such is the
dialectic of mans knowledge and faith. One may as well submit and
resolve to make the best of two worlds, heaven and earth, illusion
and certainty, INTRODUCTION imagined happiness and real
disappointment, possibility and actuality. Unfortunately, our
present culture is not so simply black and white. It is rather a
scene of many possible worlds with all degrees and kinds of value
claiming our consideration. This aspect of things causes certain
temperaments to hasten transmigra tion and tomultiply rebirths in
the hope that breadth of experience will teach stability in the
end. To other temperaments this is dissipation of mind, and
recourse is sought by another route to a place of vantage from
which all may be seen in perspective. This latter, I take it, is
the philosophers temperament and mood. It is his duty to be the
good shepherd of his thoughts and let wool-gathering take care of
itself. This essay takes this task seriously, yet, I hope, lightly.
It takes the position of the bewildered individual seeking an
intellectual way of life...
General
Imprint: |
Routledge
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Series: |
International Library of Philosophy |
Release date: |
November 2010 |
First published: |
1927 |
Authors: |
Scott Buchanan
|
Dimensions: |
216 x 138mm (L x W) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
204 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-415-61398-9 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
Philosophy >
General
Books >
Philosophy >
General
|
LSN: |
0-415-61398-1 |
Barcode: |
9780415613989 |
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