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Philosophy of Nature

Philosophy of Nature PDF Author: Paul K. Feyerabend
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745694764
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 406

Book Description
Philosopher, physicist, and anarchist Paul Feyerabend was one of the most unconventional scholars of his time. His book Against Method has become a modern classic. Yet it is not well known that Feyerabend spent many years working on a philosophy of nature that was intended to comprise three volumes covering the period from the earliest traces of stone age cave paintings to the atomic physics of the 20th century – a project that, as he conveyed in a letter to Imre Lakatos, almost drove him nuts: “Damn the ,Naturphilosophie.” The book’s manuscript was long believed to have been lost. Recently, however, a typescript constituting the first volume of the project was unexpectedly discovered at the University of Konstanz. In this volume Feyerabend explores the significance of myths for the early period of natural philosophy, as well as the transition from Homer’s “aggregate universe” to Parmenides’ uniform ontology. He focuses on the rise of rationalism in Greek antiquity, which he considers a disastrous development, and the associated separation of man from nature. Thus Feyerabend explores the prehistory of science in his familiar polemical and extraordinarily learned manner. The volume contains numerous pictures and drawings by Feyerabend himself. It also contains hitherto unpublished biographical material that will help to round up our overall image of one of the most influential radical philosophers of the twentieth century.

Philosophy of Nature

Philosophy of Nature PDF Author: Paul K. Feyerabend
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745694764
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 406

Book Description
Philosopher, physicist, and anarchist Paul Feyerabend was one of the most unconventional scholars of his time. His book Against Method has become a modern classic. Yet it is not well known that Feyerabend spent many years working on a philosophy of nature that was intended to comprise three volumes covering the period from the earliest traces of stone age cave paintings to the atomic physics of the 20th century – a project that, as he conveyed in a letter to Imre Lakatos, almost drove him nuts: “Damn the ,Naturphilosophie.” The book’s manuscript was long believed to have been lost. Recently, however, a typescript constituting the first volume of the project was unexpectedly discovered at the University of Konstanz. In this volume Feyerabend explores the significance of myths for the early period of natural philosophy, as well as the transition from Homer’s “aggregate universe” to Parmenides’ uniform ontology. He focuses on the rise of rationalism in Greek antiquity, which he considers a disastrous development, and the associated separation of man from nature. Thus Feyerabend explores the prehistory of science in his familiar polemical and extraordinarily learned manner. The volume contains numerous pictures and drawings by Feyerabend himself. It also contains hitherto unpublished biographical material that will help to round up our overall image of one of the most influential radical philosophers of the twentieth century.

The Philosophy of Nature

The Philosophy of Nature PDF Author: Dennis Q. McInerny
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780976037026
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 281

Book Description


Plato's Natural Philosophy

Plato's Natural Philosophy PDF Author: Thomas Kjeller Johansen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107320119
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 229

Book Description
Plato's dialogue the Timaeus-Critias presents two connected accounts, that of the story of Atlantis and its defeat by ancient Athens and that of the creation of the cosmos by a divine craftsman. This book offers a unified reading of the dialogue. It tackles a wide range of interpretative and philosophical issues. Topics discussed include the function of the famous Atlantis story, the notion of cosmology as 'myth' and as 'likely', and the role of God in Platonic cosmology. Other areas commented upon are Plato's concepts of 'necessity' and 'teleology', the nature of the 'receptacle', the relationship between the soul and the body, the use of perception in cosmology, and the work's peculiar monologue form. The unifying theme is teleology: Plato's attempt to show the cosmos to be organised for the good. A central lesson which emerges is that the Timaeus is closer to Aristotle's physics than previously thought.

A History of Natural Philosophy

A History of Natural Philosophy PDF Author: Edward Grant
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521869315
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 376

Book Description
This book describes how natural philosophy and exact mathematical sciences joined together to make the Scientific Revolution possible.

The Nature of Natural Philosophy in the Late Middle Ages (Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy, Volume 52)

The Nature of Natural Philosophy in the Late Middle Ages (Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy, Volume 52) PDF Author: Edward Grant
Publisher: CUA Press
ISBN: 0813217385
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 377

Book Description
In this volume, distinguished scholar Edward Grant identifies the vital elements that contributed to the creation of a widespread interest in natural philosophy, which has been characterized as the "Great Mother of the Sciences."

The Philosophy of Living Nature

The Philosophy of Living Nature PDF Author: Zdeněk Kratochvíl
Publisher: Charles University in Prague, Karolinum Press
ISBN: 8024631318
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 162

Book Description
Zdenek Kratochvil's publication focuses on the approach of the Western philosophical tradition to physis, or nature. The scholar reveals, on a philosophical level, the roots of today's environmental crisis, calling his text "an attempt to descend to the uncertain and rich lands of nature's experience, to the lands of natural experience." The introduction presents an etymological explanation of the notion of "nature," analyzing its aspects. The scholar points out that neglecting the appreciation of nature results in harm to the world. It is therefore necessary to focus on the world and its plurality - as the background for phenomena and the context of things, as a unity of horizons, as a paradigm for understanding nature. However, the natural world exists not merely as a philosophical problem, but also one concerning real life. Kratochvil also explains the categories related to the perception of the world: matter, space and time. Other chapters deal with living nature (he ask about the identity of a living organism, about the relation of life and being), evolution (he attempts to provide "a description of evolutionary events based on experience, analyzes Darwin and neo-Darwinian evolutionism) and the epistemological issues (of the ability to know the living). He discusses the paradigms of the reality, while focusing on modern paradigms.

Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature

Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature PDF Author: F. W. J. von Schelling
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521357333
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 326

Book Description
This is an English translation of Schelling's Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature (first published in 1797 and revised in 1803), one of the most significant works in the German tradition of philosophy of nature and early nineteenth-century philosophy of science. It stands in opposition to the Newtonian picture of matter as constituted by inert, impenetrable particles, and argues instead for matter as an equilibrium of active forces that engage in dynamic polar opposition to one another. In the revisions of 1803 Schelling incorporated this dialectical view into a neo-Platonic conception of an original unity divided upon itself. The text is of more than simply historical interest: its daring and original vision of nature, philosophy, and empirical science will prove absorbing reading for all philosophers concerned with post-Kantian German idealism, for scholars of German Romanticism, and for historians of science.

The Nature of Life

The Nature of Life PDF Author: Mark A. Bedau
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139488651
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
Bringing together the latest scientific advances and some of the most enduring subtle philosophical puzzles and problems, this book collects original historical and contemporary sources to explore the wide range of issues surrounding the nature of life. Selections ranging from Aristotle and Descartes to Sagan and Dawkins are organised around four broad themes covering classical discussions of life, the origins and extent of natural life, contemporary artificial life creations and the definition and meaning of 'life' in its most general form. Each section is preceded by an extensive introduction connecting the various ideas discussed in individual chapters and providing helpful background material for understanding them. With its interdisciplinary perspective, this fascinating collection is essential reading for scientists and philosophers interested in astrobiology, synthetic biology and the philosophy of life.

Merleau-Ponty’s Philosophy of Nature

Merleau-Ponty’s Philosophy of Nature PDF Author: Ted Toadvine
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 0810125986
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 188

Book Description
In our time, Ted Toadvine observes, the philosophical question of nature is almost entirely forgotten—obscured in part by a myopic focus on solving "environmental problems" without asking how these problems are framed. But an "environmental crisis," existing as it does in the human world of value and significance, is at heart a philosophical crisis. In this book, Toadvine demonstrates how Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology has a special power to address such a crisis—a philosophical power far better suited to the questions than other modern approaches, with their over-reliance on assumptions drawn from the natural sciences. The book examines key moments in the development of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of nature while roughly following the historical sequence of his major works. Toadvine begins by setting out an ontology of nature proposed in Merleau-Ponty’s first book, The Structure of Behavior. He takes up the theme of the expressive role of reflection in Phenomenology of Perception, as it negotiates the area between nature’s own "self-unfolding" and human subjectivity. Merleau-Ponty’s notion of "intertwining" and his account of space provide a transition to Toadvine’s study of the philosopher’s later work—in which the concept of "chiasm," the crossing or intertwining of sense and the sensible, forms the key to Merleau-Ponty’s mature ontology—and ultimately to the relationship between humans and nature.

Pragmatism, Pluralism, and the Nature of Philosophy

Pragmatism, Pluralism, and the Nature of Philosophy PDF Author: Scott F. Aikin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351811312
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Book Description
For the past fifteen years, Aikin and Talisse have been working collaboratively on a new vision of American pragmatism, one which sees pragmatism as a living and developing philosophical idiom that originates in the work of the "classical" pragmatisms of Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey, uninterruptedly develops through the later 20th Century pragmatists (C. I. Lewis, Wilfrid Sellars, Nelson Goodman, W. V. O. Quine), and continues through the present day. According to Aikin and Talisse, pragmatism is fundamentally a metaphilosophical proposal – a methodological suggestion for carrying inquiry forward amidst ongoing deep disagreement over the aims, limitations, and possibilities of philosophy. This conception of pragmatism not only runs contrary to the dominant self-understanding among cotemporary philosophers who identify with the classical pragmatists, it also holds important implications for pragmatist philosophy. In particular, Aikin and Talisse show that their version of pragmatism involves distinctive claims about epistemic justification, moral disagreement, democratic citizenship, and the conduct of inquiry. The chapters combine detailed engagements with the history and development of pragmatism with original argumentation aimed at a philosophical audience beyond pragmatism.