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Styles of Thought , livre ebook

State University of New York Press - David Weissman

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200 pages

English

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Description

Every man and woman is located in two ways. One is stolidly physical: each human body has a unique address and trajectory. The other comes with beliefs that locate us by answering a salvo of questions: Who, what, and where am I? What are my relations to other people and things? Answers come with either of two emphases. Beliefs critical to practical life and science require that we engage familiar things or find our way in strange cities and streets. Such beliefs supply meaning and security. Ascribing significance to myself or my family, religion, or state, I tell a story that locates me within a world of purpose and value. Neighbors feel and valorize their lives as I do, so our story spreads to dominate a people or an era. One procedure—inquiry—favors reality testing and truth. The other—interpretation—uses meaning to appease vulnerability and glorify believers. Beliefs of these two kinds are sometimes joined, but they are often opposed and mutually hostile. Both philosophy and culture at large confuse these ways of thinking. Styles of Thought distinguishes and clarifies them.

Introduction

1. Two Styles of Explanation: Interpretation and Inquiry

Interpretation
Inquiry
Different Tasks
Perspective
Contrary Responses: An Example
Mixed Modes
Applications
Values
Morality
Politics

2. Interpretation: Self and Society

Origin and Context
Distortion
Emotion
Assumptions for a Taxonomy
Stories
Socialized Interpretations
Eliding Fact and Value
Magic, Myth, and Metaphor
Faith and Fantasy
Philosophic Rationales
Tolerance

3. Inquiry: Practical Life and Science

Context and Objectives
Meaning
Truth
Animadversions
Engaging Other People and Things
Aims
Ideals
A Choice

4. A Disputed Question

Ontological Alternatives
The Dialectic of Untestable Ideas
Reconciliation

5. Imagination

Construction
Construction Rules
Variation
Discipline

6. Leading Principles

Priority
Precedents
Use
An Inventory of Leading Principles
Values
When Practical Life and Science Disagree
Categorial Form

Afterword
Notes
Index

Sujets

Philosophie

Épistémologie

Éthique et morale

Ethique et morale

Epistémologie

Philosophy

Informations

Publié par	State University of New York Press
Date de parution	08 janvier 2009
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780791479261
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1598€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Styles of Thought

Interpretation, Inquiry, and Imagination

D A V I D W E I S S M A N

Styles of Thought

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Styles Styles ofofThought Thought Interpretation, Inquiry, and Imagination

D W AVID EISSMAN

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production by Marilyn P. Semerad Marketing by Fran Keneston

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Weissman, David, 1936– Styles of thought : interpretation, inquiry, and imagination / David Weissman. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN13: 9780791472613 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Interpretation (Philosophy) 2. Inquiry (Theory of knowledge) 3. Imagination (Philosophy) I. Title.

B824.17.W45 2007 121'.68—dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2007001917

In memory of Paul Weiss

This page intentionally left blank.

Introduction

Contents

Chapter One. Two Styles of Explanation: Interpretation and Inquiry Interpretation / 8 Inquiry / 14 Different Tasks / 19 Perspective / 22 Contrary Responses: An Example / 29 Mixed Modes / 31 Applications / 32 Values / 35 Morality / 36 Politics / 38

Chapter Two. Interpretation: Self and Society Origin and Context / 45 Distortion / 50 Emotion / 51 Assumptions for a Taxonomy / 51 Stories / 52 Socialized Interpretations / 53 Eliding Fact and Value / 56 Magic, Myth, and Metaphor / 57 Faith and Fantasy / 59 Philosophic Rationales / 60 Tolerance / 64

viii

Contents

Chapter Three. Inquiry: Practical Life and Science Context and Objectives / 67 Meaning / 73 Truth / 76 Animadversions / 80 Engaging Other People and Things / 91 Aims / 94 Ideals / 95 A Choice / 96

Chapter Four. A Disputed Question Ontological Alternatives / 97 The Dialectic of Untestable Ideas / 107 Reconciliation / 111

Chapter Five. Imagination Construction / 115 Construction Rules / 117 Variation / 119 Discipline / 120

Chapter Six. Leading Principles Priority / 123 Precedents / 124 Use / 126 An Inventory of Leading Principles / 130 Values / 164 When Practical Life and Science Disagree / 164 Categorial Form / 169

Afterword

Notes

Index

115

123

173

175

183

Introduction

Every man and woman is located in two ways. One is stolidly physical: each human body has a unique address and trajectory. Clifford Geertz credits Max Weber with this précis of the alternative: “Man is an ani 1 mal suspended in webs of significance he himself spun.” These are opposed responses to a salvo of questions: Who, what, and where am I? What are my relations to other people and things? Some answers locate us in contexts where pertinent information and practices make us efficient and safe. Others ascribe significance to me, my family, religion, or state; they tell a story that locates me within a world of purpose and 2 value. Neighbors feel and valorize their lives as I do, so our story spreads to dominate a people or an era. One procedure favors reality testing and truth. The other bestows meanings that appease vulnerabil ity or glorify believers. These ways of construing one’s self and circumstances may be distinguished as interpretation and inquiry. Ignoring the precedent of 3 writers who usehypothesisand interpretation interchangeably, I use the words to distinguish these different styles of thought. Interpretation construes the world in ways prescribed by the interests and values of the interpreter: we project significance into things thought or perceived. Inquiry is sometimes urgent, but more detached. It formulates and tests hypotheses: are they accurate; do things stand as they say? Construing matters in either way, I know what or where I am. Butknowis ambigu ous: things are known as interpreted, or known as inquiry tests its claims about them. Which has priority? Provoked by danger or need, we look for means to secure or satisfy us. Or interpretation overrides inquiry when a story endows me and my context with overriding sig nificance. Hunger seems less urgent if religious belief prescribes a fast. Both styles of thought resolve uncertainties that are constants of human experience. Inquiry is obligatory, because practical life is unsus tainable without encounters that require hypothesis and experiment. Interpretation is pervasive, because interests and values shape the more or less explicit, selfjustifying story that each person formulates as he

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