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Humanism, Antitheodicism, and the Critique of Meaning in Pragmatist
Philosophy of Religion develops a distinctive approach to
pragmatist philosophy of religion, and more generally to pragmatist
investigations of the human search for meaning, by emphasizing what
may be considered two closely interrelated main features of this
tradition: humanism and antitheodicism. Humanism here emphasizes
the need to focus on religion as a human practice within human
concerns of meaningfulness and significance, as distinguished from
any metaphysical search for cosmic meaning. Antitheodicism, in
turn, stands for the refusal to accept any justification, divine or
secular, for the experiences of meaninglessness that individuals
undergoing horrendous suffering may have. Developing a critical
form of pragmatism emphasizing these ideas, Sami Pihlstroem
explores the relations between pragmatism and analytic philosophy
in the philosophy of religion, especially regarding the question of
religious meaning, as well as the significance of literature for
philosophy of religion, with particular emphasis on William James's
pragmatism.
In Transcendental Guilt: Reflections on Ethical Finitude, Sami
Pihlsrom argues that the concept of guilt is fundamental to moral
philosophy and to our self-understanding as moral agents. As the
author emphasizes the constitutive role played by this concept, or
by our capacity to experience the corresponding moral emotion(s),
he labels the both ethically and metaphysically fundamental kind of
guilt to be discussed transcendental guilt. However, the book does
not merely illuminate this specific ethical concept. It also seeks
to intensify our understanding of the nature of moral thought
itself, especially of the seriousness of the moral point of view.
Thus, Transcendental Guilt poses a challenge to our ethical
self-conceptions, and also to our philosophical attempts to
understand them. This book does not attempt a new ethical theory.
Rather, it is critical of the very idea of ethical theory,
especially if by ethical theory we mean a systematically organized
structure setting us universal or absolute moral norms and
principles. Nor does Pihlstrom engage in metaethical theorizing
about the meaning of ethical concepts. Rather, the book engages in
moral reflection, which is something significantly broader than
(meta)ethical theorizing. In moral reflection, we are not
establishing theoretically justified normative principles or
constructing theories about the meaning of moral language; instead,
we are reflecting on our finite human lives our lives with other
human beings as presenting us with personal yet fundamental moral
demands. Moreover, the moral reflection practiced in the book is
both historically informed and philosophically systematic.
Scholars, graduate or advanced undergraduate students, and general
educated readers interested in fundamental issues in ethics will
appreciate the novel perspective presented, which challenges
mainstream ideas about moral theories and the foundations of
ethical thought.
Pragmatism and Objectivity illuminates the nature of contemporary
pragmatism against the background of Rescher's work, resulting in a
stronger grasp of the prospects and promises of this philosophical
movement. The central insight of pragmatism is that we must start
from where we find ourselves and deflate metaphysical theories of
truth in favor of an account that reflects our actual practices of
the concept. Pragmatism links truth and rationality to experience,
success, and action. While crude versions of pragmatism state that
truth is whatever works for a person or a community, Nicholas
Rescher has been at the forefront of arguing for a more
sophisticated pragmatist position. According to his position, we
can illuminate a robust concept of truth by considering its links
with inquiry, assertion, belief, and action. His brand of
pragmatism is objective and organized around truth and inquiry,
rather than other forms of pragmatism that are more subjective and
lenient. The contingency and fallibility of knowledge and belief
formation does not mean that our beliefs are simply what our
community decides, or that truth and objectivity are spurious
notions. Rescher offers the best chance of understanding how it is
that beliefs can be the products of human inquiry yet aim at the
truth nonetheless. The essays in this volume, written by
established and up-and-coming scholars of pragmatism, touch on
themes related to epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of
science, and ethics.
Death and Finitude offers an examination and defense of a pragmatic
transcendental anthropology applicable to the concepts of limit,
finitude, and mortality that are constitutive of human life as we
know it. Sami Pihlstroem develops a special kind of philosophical
anthropology-a pragmatic yet transcendental examination of the
human condition-that interprets what is worth preserving in the
tradition of transcendental philosophy in such a manner that this
unusual combination will crucially enrich our understanding of a
human problem we all share: mortality. In some sense, all serious
philosophy inevitably reflects on the human condition and is thus
philosophical anthropology, broadly conceived. There can hardly be
any more serious problem concerning the human condition than the
problem of death. Yet, mainstream analytic contributions to the
philosophy of death usually addresses death in general, and it is
far from obvious that such contributions are philosophically
relevant in the sense of addressing the agony of an individual
human being trying to understand their own mortal condition.
"Continental" philosophy of death may be frustrating in a different
sense, as it often fails to be conceptually as clear and
argumentatively as rigorous as the analytic literature. Claiming to
address my "being-toward-death", such contributions may also fail
to speak to the mortal individual if they end up in endless
pseudo-philosophical jargon. It is against this background of
frustration that Death and Finitude contributes to humanity's
on-going reflections on death, dying, and mortality-from a
pragmatist yet transcendental perspective, seeking to accommodate
these topics within a broader philosophical anthropology. The book
is primarily intended for academic philosophers, but the potential
readership includes not only scholars but also both graduate
students and advanced undergraduates, as well as general educated
readers. It is relevant to the concerns of philosophers
specializing in transcendental philosophy, philosophical
anthropology, pragmatism, Wittgenstein, and the philosophy of
religion. As the book may be said to be an attempt to "philosophize
historically," it is in principle of interest to both
systematically and historically oriented philosophers and students.
Pragmatism and Objectivity illuminates the nature of contemporary
pragmatism against the background of Rescher's work, resulting in a
stronger grasp of the prospects and promises of this philosophical
movement. The central insight of pragmatism is that we must start
from where we find ourselves and deflate metaphysical theories of
truth in favor of an account that reflects our actual practices of
the concept. Pragmatism links truth and rationality to experience,
success, and action. While crude versions of pragmatism state that
truth is whatever works for a person or a community, Nicholas
Rescher has been at the forefront of arguing for a more
sophisticated pragmatist position. According to his position, we
can illuminate a robust concept of truth by considering its links
with inquiry, assertion, belief, and action. His brand of
pragmatism is objective and organized around truth and inquiry,
rather than other forms of pragmatism that are more subjective and
lenient. The contingency and fallibility of knowledge and belief
formation does not mean that our beliefs are simply what our
community decides, or that truth and objectivity are spurious
notions. Rescher offers the best chance of understanding how it is
that beliefs can be the products of human inquiry yet aim at the
truth nonetheless. The essays in this volume, written by
established and up-and-coming scholars of pragmatism, touch on
themes related to epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of
science, and ethics.
This book takes a fresh look at how William James' (1842 1910)
conceptions of the human mind, death (mortality and immortality),
and religion provide us with a viable alternative to many
contemporary philosophical approaches. The distinctive Jamesian
perspective is illuminated through critical discussions of several
different theories and conjectures. The overall argument of this
volume is that pragmatist metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and
philosophy of religion must be subordinated to ethics. To provide
an historical and philosophical context for this revolutionary
conception of the pragmatic method, an introductory discussion of
James' views on pragmatism, realism, and truth is also included.
Instead of focusing on the general issues of realism and
pragmatism, however, the volume examines the applications of these
issues to topics such as death, evil, and other minds. The book is
vital reading not only for James scholars and pragmatists, but for
anyone thinking seriously about human mortality and the endless
ethical challenges our life with other human beings that confront
us.
Solipsism is one of the philosophical thesis or ideas that has
generally been regarded as highly implausible, or even crazy. The
view that the world is "my world" in the sense that nothing exists
independently of my mind, thought, and/or experience is,
understandably, frowned up as a genuine philosophical position. For
this reason, solipsism might be regarded as an example of a
philosophical position that does not "matter" at all. It does not
seem to play any role in our serious attempts to understand the
world and ourselves. However, by arguing that solipsism does
matter, after all, Why Solipsism Matters more generally
demonstrates that philosophy, even when dealing with highly
counterintuitive and "crazy" ideas, may matter in surprising,
unexpected ways. It will be shown that the challenge of solipsism
should make us rethink fundamental assumptions concerning
subjectivity, objectivity, realism vs. idealism, relativism, as
well as key topics such as ethical responsibility - that is, our
ethical relations to other human beings - and death and mortality.
Why Solipsism Matters is not only an historical review of the
origins and development of the concept of solipsism and a
exploration of some of its key philosophers (Kant and Wittgenstein
to name but a few) but it develops an entirely new account of the
idea. One which takes seriously the global, socially networked
world in which we live in which the very real ramifications of
solipsism - including narcissism - can be felt.
This book explores the complexity of two philosophical traditions,
extending from their origins to the current developments in
neopragmatism. Chapters deal with the first encounters of these
traditions and beyond, looking at metaphysics and the Vienna circle
as well as semantics and the principle of tolerance. There is a
general consensus that North-American (neo-)pragmatism and European
Logical Empiricism were converging philosophical traditions,
especially after the forced migration of the European Philosophers.
But readers will discover a pluralist image of this relation and
interaction with an obvious family resemblance. This work clarifies
and specifies the common features and differences of these currents
since the beginning of their mutual scientific communication in the
19th century. The book draws on collaboration between authors and
philosophers from Vienna, Tubingen, and Helsinki, and their
networks. It will appeal to philosophers, scholars in the history
of philosophy, philosophers of science, pragmatists and beyond.
This book defends antitheodicism, arguing that theodicies, seeking
to excuse God for evil and suffering in the world, fail to
ethically acknowledge the victims of suffering. The authors argue
for this view using literary and philosophical resources,
commencing with Immanuel Kant's 1791 "Theodicy Essay" and its
reading of the Book of Job. Three important twentieth century
antitheodicist positions are explored, including "Jewish"
post-Holocaust ethical antitheodicism, Wittgensteinian
antitheodicism exemplified by D.Z. Phillips and pragmatist
antitheodicism defended by William James. The authors argue that
these approaches to evil and suffering are fundamentally Kantian.
Literary works such as Franz Kafka's The Trial, Samuel Beckett's
Waiting for Godot, and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, are
examined in order to crucially advance the philosophical case for
antitheodicism.
This book explores the complexity of two philosophical traditions,
extending from their origins to the current developments in
neopragmatism. Chapters deal with the first encounters of these
traditions and beyond, looking at metaphysics and the Vienna circle
as well as semantics and the principle of tolerance. There is a
general consensus that North-American (neo-)pragmatism and European
Logical Empiricism were converging philosophical traditions,
especially after the forced migration of the European Philosophers.
But readers will discover a pluralist image of this relation and
interaction with an obvious family resemblance. This work clarifies
and specifies the common features and differences of these currents
since the beginning of their mutual scientific communication in the
19th century. The book draws on collaboration between authors and
philosophers from Vienna, Tubingen, and Helsinki, and their
networks. It will appeal to philosophers, scholars in the history
of philosophy, philosophers of science, pragmatists and beyond.
This book defends antitheodicism, arguing that theodicies, seeking
to excuse God for evil and suffering in the world, fail to
ethically acknowledge the victims of suffering. The authors argue
for this view using literary and philosophical resources,
commencing with Immanuel Kant's 1791 "Theodicy Essay" and its
reading of the Book of Job. Three important twentieth century
antitheodicist positions are explored, including "Jewish"
post-Holocaust ethical antitheodicism, Wittgensteinian
antitheodicism exemplified by D.Z. Phillips and pragmatist
antitheodicism defended by William James. The authors argue that
these approaches to evil and suffering are fundamentally Kantian.
Literary works such as Franz Kafka's The Trial, Samuel Beckett's
Waiting for Godot, and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, are
examined in order to crucially advance the philosophical case for
antitheodicism.
Solipsism is one of the philosophical thesis or ideas that has
generally been regarded as highly implausible, or even crazy. The
view that the world is "my world" in the sense that nothing exists
independently of my mind, thought, and/or experience is,
understandably, frowned up as a genuine philosophical position. For
this reason, solipsism might be regarded as an example of a
philosophical position that does not "matter" at all. It does not
seem to play any role in our serious attempts to understand the
world and ourselves. However, by arguing that solipsism does
matter, after all, Why Solipsism Matters more generally
demonstrates that philosophy, even when dealing with highly
counterintuitive and "crazy" ideas, may matter in surprising,
unexpected ways. It will be shown that the challenge of solipsism
should make us rethink fundamental assumptions concerning
subjectivity, objectivity, realism vs. idealism, relativism, as
well as key topics such as ethical responsibility - that is, our
ethical relations to other human beings - and death and mortality.
Why Solipsism Matters is not only an historical review of the
origins and development of the concept of solipsism and a
exploration of some of its key philosophers (Kant and Wittgenstein
to name but a few) but it develops an entirely new account of the
idea. One which takes seriously the global, socially networked
world in which we live in which the very real ramifications of
solipsism - including narcissism - can be felt.
This volume features thirteen all-new, cutting-edge essays that
explore the relationship between politics and metaphysics in Kant
and Kantian political philosophy. The contributors engage closely
with contemporary theories that derive from Kant and ultimately
revisit the question of the very role of metaphysics and moral and
political philosophy.
This book provides novel reading of the relations between two
central philosophical disciplines - metaphysics and ethics.
"Pragmatist Metaphysics" proposes a pragmatist re-articulation of
the nature, aims and methods of metaphysics. Rather than regarding
metaphysics as a 'first philosophy', an inquiry into the world
independent of human perspectives, the pragmatist views metaphysics
as an inquiry into categorizations of reality laden with human
practices. Insofar as our categorizations of reality are
practice-laden, they are also, inevitably, value-laden.Sami
Pihlstrom argues that metaphysics does not, then, study the world's
'own' categorical structure, but a structure we, through our
conceptual and practical activities, impose on the reality we
experience and interact with. Engaging with the classical American
pragmatists, in particular William James, and neopragmatists,
including Hilary Putnam, the author seeks to correct long-held
misconceptions regarding the nature of the relationship between
metaphysics and pragmatism. He argues that a coherent metaphysical
alternative to the currently fashionable realist metaphysics
emerges from pragmatism and that pragmatism itself should be
reinterpreted in a metaphysically serious manner. Moreover, the
book argues that, from a pragmatist perspective, metaphysics must
be inextricably linked with ethics.
Pragmatism mediates rival extremes, and religion is no exception:
the problems of realism versus antirealism, evidentialism versus
fideism, and science versus religion, along with other key issues
in the philosophy of religion, receive new interpretations when
examined from a pragmatist point of view. Religion is then
understood as a human practice with certain inherent aims and
goals, responding to specific human needs and interests, serving
certain important human values, and seeking to resolve problematic
situations that naturally arise from our practices themselves,
especially our need to live with our vulnerability, finitude,
guilt, and mortality.
It is commonly believed that populist politics and social media
pose a serious threat to our concept of truth. Philosophical
pragmatists, who are typically thought to regard truth as merely
that which is 'helpful' for us to believe, are sometimes blamed for
providing the theoretical basis for the phenomenon of 'post-truth'.
In this book, Sami Pihlstroem develops a pragmatist account of
truth and truth-seeking based on the ideas of William James, and
defends a thoroughly pragmatist view of humanism which gives space
for a sincere search for truth. By elaborating on James's
pragmatism and the 'will to believe' strategy in the philosophy of
religion, Pihlstroem argues for a Kantian-inspired transcendental
articulation of pragmatism that recognizes irreducible normativity
as a constitutive feature of our practices of pursuing the truth.
James himself thereby emerges as a deeply Kantian thinker.
The Continuum Companion to Pragmatism offers the definitive guide
to a key area of contemporary philosophy. The book covers all the
fundamental questions asked by pragmatism - areas that have
continued to attract interest historically as well as topics that
have emerged more recently as active areas of research. Fifteen
specially commissioned essays from an international team of experts
reveal where important work continues to be done in the area and,
most valuably, the exciting new directions the field is taking. The
Companion explores issues pertaining to aesthetics, economics,
education, the environment, epistemology, ethics, history, law,
metaphysics, politics, race, religion, science and technology,
language, and social theory. Featuring a series of indispensable
research tools, including an A to Z of key terms and concepts, a
chronology, a detailed list of resources and a fully annotated
bibliography, this is the essential reference tool for anyone
working in contemporary pragmatism or modern American philosophy
more generally.
Pragmatism provides not just a theoretical perspective on science
and inquiry, but ways of being in the world, of knowing the reality
we inhabit. Approaching this philosophical tradition as a diverse
set of philosophies that it is, The Bloomsbury Companion to
Pragmatism introduces many of the ideas and debates at the centre
of the field today. Focusing on issues in 12 different subject
areas, this up-to-date companion covers current research in
aesthetics, economics, education, ethics, history, law,
metaphysics, politics, race, religion, science and technology,
language, and social theory. Supported by an introduction to
research methods and problems, as well as a guide to past and
future directions in the field, the chapters are also enhanced by a
glossary, research guide and an annotated bibliography. For anyone
working in contemporary pragmatism or modern American philosophy
more generally, this companion provides a practical means of
navigating what can sometimes feel like a disparate field. Showing
where important work continues to be done, the tensions that exist,
and, most valuably, the exciting new directions the field is
taking, The Bloomsbury Companion to Pragmatism expands our
understanding of the role of pragmatism in 21st century philosophy.
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