In this Book
- Aporetics: Rational Deliberation in the Face of Inconsistency
- Book
- 2009
- Published by: University of Pittsburgh Press
summary
The word apory stems from the Greek aporia, meaning impasse or perplexing difficulty. In Aporetics, Nicholas Rescher defines an apory as a group of individually plausible but collectively incompatible theses. Rescher examines historic, formulaic, and systematic apories and couples these with aporetic theory from other authors to form this original and comprehensive survey. Citing thinkers from the pre-Socratics through Spinoza, Hegel, and Nicolai Hartmann, he builds a framework for coping with the complexities of divergent theses, and shows in detail how aporetic analysis can be applied to a variety of fields including philosophy, mathematics, linguistics, logic, and intellectual history.
Rescher's in-depth examination reveals how aporetic inconsistency can be managed through a plausibility analysis that breaks the chain of inconsistency at its weakest link by deploying right-of-way precedence based on considerations of cognitive centrality. Thus while involvement with cognitive conflicts and inconsistencies are pervasive in human thought, aporetic analysis can provide an effective means of damage control.
Rescher's in-depth examination reveals how aporetic inconsistency can be managed through a plausibility analysis that breaks the chain of inconsistency at its weakest link by deploying right-of-way precedence based on considerations of cognitive centrality. Thus while involvement with cognitive conflicts and inconsistencies are pervasive in human thought, aporetic analysis can provide an effective means of damage control.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- 1. The Nature of Apories
- pp. 1-8
- 3. Counterfactual Conditionals
- pp. 29-48
- 6. Paradoxes
- pp. 84-101
- 7. Philosophical Aporetics
- pp. 102-119
- 9. The Rationale of Aporetic Variation
- pp. 133-139
- Bibliography
- pp. 153-157
- Index of Names
- pp. 159-161
Additional Information
ISBN
9780822973683
Related ISBN(s)
9780822943631, 9780822960577
MARC Record
OCLC
610576843
Pages
173
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No