Return to Reason
Title | Return to Reason PDF eBook |
Author | Stephen Edelston Toulmin |
Publisher | Harvard University Press |
Pages | 256 |
Release | 2009-06-30 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 0674044428 |
Stephen Toulmin argues that the potential for reason to improve our lives has been hampered by a serious imbalance in our pursuit of knowledge. The centuries-old dominance of rationality has diminished the value of reasonableness. Toulmin issues a powerful call to redress the balance between rationality and reasonableness.
Return to Reason
Title | Return to Reason PDF eBook |
Author | Kelly James Clark |
Publisher | Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |
Pages | 172 |
Release | 1990-03-22 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 9780802804563 |
Clark provides a penetrating critique of the Enlightenment assumption of evidentialism--that belief in God requires the support of evidence or arguments to be rational. His assertion is that this demand for evidence is itself both irrelevant and irrational. His work bridges the gap between technical philosopher and educated layperson.
Space to Reason
Title | Space to Reason PDF eBook |
Author | Markus Knauff |
Publisher | MIT Press |
Pages | 309 |
Release | 2013 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 0262018659 |
An argument against the role of visual imagination in reasoning that proposes a spatial theory of human thought, supported by empirical and computational evidence. Many scholars believe that visual mental imagery plays a key role in reasoning. In Space to Reason, Markus Knauff argues against this view, proposing that visual images are not relevant for reasoning and can even impede the process. He also argues against the claim that human thinking is solely based on abstract symbols and is completely embedded in language. Knauff proposes a third way to think about human reasoning that relies on supramodal spatial layout models, which are more abstract than pictorial images and more concrete than linguistic representations. He argues that these spatial layout models are at the heart of human thought, even thought about nonspatial relations in the world. For Knauff the visual images that we so often associate with reasoning are only in the foreground of conscious experience. Behind the images, the actual logical work is carried out by reasoning-specific operations on these spatial layout models. Knauff also offers a solution to the problem of indeterminacy in human reasoning, introducing the notion of a preferred layout model, which is one layout model among others that has the best chance of being mentally constructed and thus guides the further process of thought. Knauff's "space to reason" theory covers the functional, the algorithmic, and the implementational level of analysis and is corroborated by psychological experiments, functional brain imaging, and computational modeling.
Open to Reason
Title | Open to Reason PDF eBook |
Author | Souleymane Bachir Diagne |
Publisher | Columbia University Press |
Pages | 108 |
Release | 2018-08-21 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 0231546173 |
What does it mean to be a Muslim philosopher, or to philosophize in Islam? In Open to Reason, Souleymane Bachir Diagne traces Muslims’ intellectual and spiritual history of examining and questioning beliefs and arguments to show how Islamic philosophy has always engaged critically with texts and ideas both inside and outside its tradition. Through a rich reading of classical and modern Muslim philosophers, Diagne explains the long history of philosophy in the Islamic world and its relevance to crucial issues of our own time. From classical figures such as Avicenna to the twentieth-century Sufi master and teacher of tolerance Tierno Bokar Salif Tall, Diagne explores how Islamic thinkers have asked and answered such questions as Does religion need philosophy? How can religion coexist with rationalism? What does it mean to interpret a religious narrative philosophically? What does it mean to be human, and what are human beings’ responsibilities to nature? Is there such a thing as an “Islamic” state, or should Muslims reinvent political institutions that suit their own times? Diagne shows that philosophizing in Islam in its many forms throughout the centuries has meant a commitment to forward and open thinking. A remarkable history of philosophy in the Islamic world as well as a work of philosophy in its own right, this book seeks to contribute to the revival of a spirit of pluralism rooted in Muslim intellectual and spiritual traditions.
Farewell to Reason
Title | Farewell to Reason PDF eBook |
Author | Paul Feyerabend |
Publisher | Verso Books |
Pages | 430 |
Release | 2020-05-05 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 1789607434 |
Farewell to Reason offers a vigorous challenge to the scientific rationalism that underlies Western ideals of "progress" and "development," whose damaging social and ecological consequences are now widely recognized. For all their variety in theme and occasion, the essays in this book share a consistent philosophical purpose. Whether discussing Greek art and thought, vindicating the church's battle with Galileo, exploring the development of quantum physics or exposing the dogmatism of Karl Popper, Feyerabend defends a relativist and historicist notion of the sciences. The appeal to reason, he insists, is empty, and must be replaced by a notion of science that subordinates it to the needs of citizens and communities. Provocative, polemical and rigorously argued, Farewell to Reason will infuriate Feyerabend's critics and delight his many admirers.
From Rage to Reason
Title | From Rage to Reason PDF eBook |
Author | Emily Horowitz |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing USA |
Pages | 228 |
Release | 2023-06-30 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN |
Analyzing sex-offense laws and false claims, this book shows that laws based on vengeance rather than justice or evidence create new forms of harm while failing to address the real and pervasive problem of sexual violence. In this timely and extensively researched book, sociologist Emily Horowitz shows how current sex-offense policies in the United States create new forms of harm and prevent those who have caused harm from the process of constructive repentance or contributing to society after punishment. Horowitz also illustrates the failure of criminal justice responses to social problems. Sharing detailed narratives from the experiences of those on registries and their loved ones, Horowitz reveals the social impact and cycle of violence that results from dehumanizing and banishing those who have already been held accountable. From Rage to Reason offers a new perspective on how and why false claims about sex offenses became so pervasive and how these myths fostered ineffective policies that have little to do with the reality of most sexual abuse. It argues that to truly prevent sexual abuse, we must unearth the sources of these misunderstandings, debunk these claims in a systematic way, and have frank and genuine discussions about the limits of legal responses to complex social problems.
To Reason Why
Title | To Reason Why PDF eBook |
Author | Amy Lecouteur |
Publisher | AuthorHouse |
Pages | 213 |
Release | 2013 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 1481780654 |
To Reason Why is a complete fictitious story . It is based in Yorkshire and Australia. Archibald and Margaret Benson-Smythe inherited an Estate of over a thousand acres which had been in the family for over four hundred years. This they intended that their three sons. Benjamin, James and Charles should carry on after their deaths. Benjamin called Ben inherited as the eldest son but was a bully and a hypocrite and had no intention of having his two brothers to work with him, consequently they made their own way in life James emigrated to Australia with his new wife . Charles started a wool mill and as the two of them became more and more successful Ben became more and more jealous of them He schemes up a plan to have James murdered. But does his scheme back fire. Ben's long suffering wife Jane of twelve years and produced six children turns the tables on him.