Deciding Staged Battles of the Past: On the Rhetorics of Olaf Müller’s Historical Philosophy of Science

Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 49 (4):569-580 (2018)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Since Plato’s massive critique of the Sophists rhetoric’s ill repute runs through the history of western philosophy denunciating methods of rhetoric as in large part dishonest persuasion strategies which are at most marginally interested in dealing with truths. This judgement falls way too short insofar as it distorts the historically grown stock labeled “rhetoric” not only in the Aristotelian work. With reference to Olaf Müller’s philosophical book addressing the “controversy” between Goethe and Newton about the nature of light, I will study the different rhetorical models and methods used by Newton and Goethe and also Müller himself. It becomes apparent that even works attempting to decide who was right in the long run do far more than trying to evoke true “representations” of facts or truths in the reader. The specific use of language patterns provides deeper insight into an author’s mindset towards the subject area discussed in his work and generally speaking the investigation of the rhetoric of science and philosophy leads to a better understanding of different epistemic cultures both in philosophy and science.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 99,596

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Müller, Olaf L.: Mehr Licht Goethe mit Newton im Streit um die Farben.Rudolf Kötter - 2017 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 48 (1):155-160.
Hernán pringe: Critique of the quantum power of judgement. A transcendental foundation of quantum objectivity. [REVIEW]Peter Mittelstaedt - 2009 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 40 (1):149-154.
Nature, Science and Life in a Silent Universe: Bernulf Kanitscheider.Andreas Bartels & Manfred Stöckler - 2018 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 49 (3):243-259.
KongreßBerichte und Serien zur Wissenschaftstheorie I.[author unknown] - 1972 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 3 (2):392-400.
Geleitwort.[author unknown] - 1970 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 1 (1):1-1.
Bibliographie.[author unknown] - 1984 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 15 (2):372-395.
Introduction.Rodolfo Gaeta, Nélida Gentile & Susana Lucero - 2024 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 55 (2):177-179.
Intersystemarer dialog in wissenschaftstheorie und -geschichte.Bardo Diehl - 1985 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 16 (2):213-228.
Bibliographie.[author unknown] - 1978 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 9 (1):193-205.

Analytics

Added to PP
2018-04-25

Downloads
27 (#790,629)

6 months
4 (#1,209,293)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Michael Hampe
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich

Citations of this work

Goethe’s Polarity of Light and Darkness.Olaf L. Müller - 2018 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 49 (4):581-598.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Models and Analogies in Science.Mary B. Hesse - 1963 - [Notre Dame, Ind.]: University of Notre Dame Press.
Conjectures and Refutations.K. Popper - 1963 - Les Etudes Philosophiques 21 (3):431-434.
Sein und Zeit.Martin Heidegger - 1927 - Annalen der Philosophie Und Philosophischen Kritik 7:161-161.

View all 27 references / Add more references