Bøger af Nicholas Rescher

Metaphysics is the study of existence at the highest level of generality. It is traditionally characterized as the study of "being qua being"--of being in general rather than specifically of this or that sort. Accordingly, the salient task of the field is to achieve a clearer understanding of the concepts and principles of being, existence, and reality. As such, metaphysics has been an established sector of philosophy since the time of Aristotle's initial systematization of the subject in the fourth century B.C.E. In line with tradition, distinguished philosopher Nicholas Rescher presents key topics that have always figured on the agenda of metaphysics: the nature and rationale of existence, the differentiation of what is actual from the unreal and mere possibility, and the prospects and limits of our knowledge of the real.A central theme of Rescher's approach to metaphysics is the inherent complexity of actual existence and the consequent limitedness of our knowledge of the world. In the introduction, he states that the ideal of perfected knowledge--of a grasp on the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth--is just that, an inherently unrealizable ideal. Nonetheless, he emphasizes that partial understanding and approximate explanation are certainly better than no explanation at all. He thus rejects the nihilistic brand of skepticism, endorsing instead a fallibilism that is realistic in insisting that our efforts to understand reality will always remain imperfect and incomplete. It is in the spirit of being realistic in this sense of the term that his exploration of metaphysics is conducted.Though a work of philosophical sophistication and logical rigor, Metaphysics displays a clarity of exposition that makes it suitable for use as a text or supplementary reader in upper-class undergraduate and graduate philosophy courses.

Abu Nasur al-Farabi (ca. 872-950) was an Arabic polymath and philosopher, and the first Arabic logician credited with developing a non-Aristotelian logic. He discussed the topics of future contingents, the number and relation of the categories, the relation between logic and grammar, and non-Aristotelian forms of inference. He is also credited with categorizing logic into two separate groups, the first being "idea" and the second being "proof." Nicholas Rescher assembles this annotated bibliography, listing printed materials relating to al-Farabi, and summaries that provide further details of these works.

The book presents a detailed examination of many key aspects of philosophizing, ranging from the mission of philosophy, its method, its dialectic, and its epistemology. It conveys to the reader, student and scholar alike, a clear account of the aspirations and potential of the discipline. Readers will come away with a clearer understanding of the promise and challenges of philosophizing.

Much attention has been given to Arabic thought in the history of philosophy, however, Arabic contributions to logic have been greatly overlooked. In the ten essays of this book, Nicholas Rescher presents substantial material on the history, progression and major trends of Arabic logic from the eighth through the sixteenth century. Rescher finds that, like much of Western thought, Arabic logic had its basis in Greek philosophy, and specifically in Hellenistic Aristotelian logic.

The best and most instructive way to learn about philosophy is by examining the history of the field. For it is here that we come to see how its particulars are identified and addressed by some of humankind's sharpest intellects. Philosophy began hundreds of years BCE, and by now has grown to a scope and scale beyond acceptability by any single mind. But a sampling of episodes and issues can convey some idea of the nature of the field. And it is with this goal in view-clarifying the detail of some key philosophical issues-that these studies are being put into print. It is the aim of these forays into philosophical history to illustrate how contemporary perspectives, methods, and instruments of analysis can clarify some of the key philosophical teachings both by highlighting the difficulties they encounter and by providing instructive means for addressing them.

This book presents a retrospect of the author`s contacts and interactions with a wide array of philosophical contemporaries. The people of one¿s life come in a series of circles. One¿s identity comes to be shaped through interactive membership in all of them. Beginning at Princeton in 1950, Nicholas Rescher is still engaged in teaching philosophy continuing an active career extending to 68 years. During this time he has published well over 100 books and served as president of five major American philosophical societies. In the course of his unusually long career he has been in productive contact with scores of philosophers, scholars, and scientists, and the present book surveys his interactions with many of those who have left their mark on this work and thought. A book which, like this, deals with encounters between its author and others is bound to have a dual aspect. As far as its author goes, it is substantially autobiographic. But, as far as its subjects are concerned, in dealing with their impact upon others, it affords some raw material for the biographer who seeks to depict their subject¿s role in the larger scheme of things.

The Rescher family emerged from the fog of historical obscurity in the area of the Lake of Constance in the middle of the 17th Century. They were founders of the Israelite community that thrived in Hochberg from 1750 to 1850 and their fate typified that of their Swabian corrrelegionsts in a rise to prosperity and Germanification. However, as of the 1850s most persons bearing the family name crossed the Atlantic and by the time of Nazi Germany all living members had become part of American Christendom, with the unlikely exception of the eminent orientalist Oskar Rescher, but subsequently Osman Re¿er, living in Istanbul as a convert to Islam.

The book provides a view of the extraordinary people¿philosophers, scientists, and scholars¿whom the author encountered in Princeton in the years 1949-1952. It gives some account of who they were, what they did, and how they provided the author with incentive and inspiration. The 1950s were of another era, and the Princeton of the day was another world. As a young scholar in those days, the author came into contact with many interesting people, including Einstein, Gödel, and von Neumann. The book describes how these encounters occurred and what impression they left.

The book sees to show that the present discussion so unfolds as to show that ultimately Reality's inherent impetus to lawful order serves also to account for its existence. The ultimate explanation of its order is as something that also provides for its reason for being. Step by step, a train of thought unfolds to indicate that Reality both exists and has the nature it does for good reason, and specifically because this is somehow for the best. Such an approach goes back to the Platonism of classical antiquity. Many difficulties lie in the way of its acceptance. But is it, in the final analysis, the theory that works here takes the form of a Neo-Platonism of sorts. Or if reality has any rational explanation at all, it is one that will have to proceed along these lines, based upon rationality itself.An underlying theme that runs throughout the present elaboration of metaphysics is the dialectic of interaction between descriptive facts on the one hand and normative ideals on the other. On such a view, it is a salient factor in metaphysics that reality as such is descriptively constituted as a potentially perfect system of knowledge even though we imperfect beings cannot get a more than an imperfectly secure cognitive grip on it. Accordingly, we can never hope to surmount the contrast between:*;The metaphysical ideal of a perfected system of knowledge.*;The imperfect realization of actuality that we can ever hope to achieve in practice.

More than two centuries after his death, the influence of Immanuel Kant continues to loom large on the philosophical scene. The essays collected in the book consider various key aspects of his many-sided philosophical work. Addressing issues on metaphysics, epistemology, and metaphilosophy, they represent their authors multi-decade preoccupation with the thought and influence of this monumental philosopher.

It has been said, and may well be true, that Leibniz is the smartest person who ever lived. And there is no question but that he ranks high among mankind's small number of universal geniuses who made strikingly original contributions in every then-existing field of learning. The studies that are brought together here are new and heretofore unpublished investigations of various prominent and characteristic ideas in Leibniz's philosophy. They contribute new pieces to the virtually unending panorama that constitutes our understanding of Leibniz's multifaceted thought.

Develops a general theory of prediction that encompasses its fundamental principles, methodology, and practice and gives an overview of its promises and problems.

This book examines the nature, sources, and implications of fallacies in philosophical reasoning. There is widespread interest in the practice and products of philosophizing, yet the important issue of fallacious reasoning in these matters has been effectively untouched.

The nine original essays collected in this volume explore the themes of philosophical progress, ultimate explanation, the metaphysics of free will, and the relation of sciences and religion. These essays exemplify Nicholas Rescher's characteristic mode of combining historical perspectives with analytical elucidation on philosophically contested issues and utilize this methodology to address some of the salient problems of the field.

Logic is of course a general resource for reasoning at large. But in the first half of the twentieth century, it developed particularity with a view to mathematical applications, and the field of mathematical logic came into being and flourished. In the second half of the century, much the same happened with regard to philosophical applications. Hence philosophical logic. Thedeliberations of this book cover a varied but interrelated array of key issues in the field. They address the representation of information in linguistic formulation, and modes of cogent demonstration in logic, mathematics, and empirical investigation, as well as the role of logic in philosophical deliberations. Overall, the book seeks to demonstrate and illustrate the utility of logic as a productive resource for rational inquiry at large.

This book covers a varied spectrum of ethical topics, ranging from the fundamental considerations regarding ethical values, to the rationale of obligation, and the ethical management of societal and personal affairs.