RESUMEN -/- En este ensayo propongo una interpretación de la relación entre la ciencia y el Ideal Ascético en La Genealogía de la Moral, que busca explicar la enigmática alianza entre ambos que Nietzsche establece al final del tercer tratado de la mencionada obra. Según Nietzsche, contrario a lo que se cree, la ciencia moderna no es realmente un antagonista del Ideal Ascético sino más bien su forma más reciente y más noble. Argüiré que, para Nietzsche, (...) el Ideal Ascético ha sido hasta el momento la única respuesta que el ser humano ha dado a su forma especial de existencia, que consiste en encontrarse en la situación de ser el único animal capacitado para la independencia y la soberanía. El Ideal Ascético expresa una huida de la responsabilidad y la carga (el sufrimiento) que esa capacidad para la soberanía comporta. Así pues, la ciencia, como expresión última de dicho ideal, representa al igual que éste una evasión de la independencia y una declaración de guerra contra la libertad de la voluntad, es decir, contra la autonomía. (shrink)

Ao lado das imagens já conhecidas de Nietzsche como “precursor do nazismo”, “racista”, “pós-moderno”, “pensador perigoso e irracionalista”, em tempos recentes acrescentou-se à imagem de “precursor do transhumanismo”. Ao apresentarmos aqui alguns elementos do transhumanismo, em especial aqueles ligados às mais recentes biotecnologias, bem como alguns conceitos do pensamento de Nietzsche, em especial o além-do-homem e a ontologia da imanência do vir-a-ser, visamos ampliar esse debate, enfatizando que, para Nietzsche, o ideal transhumanista não seria mais do que um sintoma (...) do ideal ascético, tão presente ainda na nossa contemporaneidade. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é articular o conceito de seriedade à crítica aos ideais ascéticos na filosofia madura de Nietzsche.

O objetivo do artigo é questionar o otimismo em relação aos anseios por transformação para algo melhor no contexto pós-pandemia. Por um lado, se é natural que desejemos alguma transformação depois da vivência do flagelo da pandemia – respostas ao sentido do sofrimento como mais um desdobramento dos ideais ascéticos, como escreveu Nietzsche –, por outro lado, o anseio por transformação encontra um limite tanto no sentido do desafio da transformação – um obstáculo para ela mesma –, quanto pelo otimismo (...) nas teses esclarecidas que superestimam os indivíduos e seus potenciais cognitivos e subestimam o potencial dos conflitos internos. Finalizo com uma breve indicação da urgência de um programa genealógico da cultura brasileira. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to point out five aspects of Nietzschean thought that may be relevant to debates in the philosophy of science around the nature and representation of scientific knowledge. To this end, a literature review is carried out with the aim of selecting excerpts from Nietzschean works such as The Birth of Tragedy, Genealogy of Morals, The Gay Science and others that allow us to interpret Nietzsche as a philosopher of science concerned with the construction of (...) scientific knowledge about the physical reality. As a result, it is possible to identify an epistemological proposal in the Nietzschean perspective, whose objective representation of the world should point to an aesthetics of life. (shrink)

"Siamo come lucciole che hanno disimparato a illuminare e che prima si sono messe a girare attorno alla lanterna magica dell'ideale ascetico e ora attorno alle insegne pubblicitarie al neon. Lucciole che hanno scordato d’avere una potenzialità di orientatività preziosa nel proprio sistema affettivo" (G. Cusinato, La totalità incompiuta, Milano 2008, 314). Che cos'è una persona? Come si costituisce concretamente l'identità personale? Che rapporto c'è fra identità personale e identità psichica? C'è coincidenza fra persona e homo sapiens? La persona è (...) ancora oggi, nonostante tutto, al centro del dibattito filosofico, sociologico, giuridico e bioetico, eppure la sua dimensione sembra sfuggire continuamente alle reti concettuali e alle categorie epistemologiche della scienza. In questo lavoro si propone una fenomenologia della persona a partire dal confronto con la teoria dei sistemi autopoietici di Maturana e Varela e dei sistemi sociali di Luhmann, mettendo in luce che la persona non può essere considerata un sistema autopoietico. La persona si delinea piuttosto come un sistema excentrico che si costituisce mediante l'esecuzione dell'atto. Questa prospettiva viene esplorata attraverso un dialogo serrato con l'antropologia filosofica tedesca, la stessa che all'inizio del Novecento mette in luce che l'uomo non ha un'essenza precostituita e proprio per questo necessita di un processo di Bildung. L'antropologia filosofica di Scheler e Plessner nasce nella Germania degli anni Venti in un periodo ancora fluido in cui l'eclissi delle tradizionali concezioni dell'uomo non aveva ancora lasciato il posto alla cristallizzazione totalitaria dell'uomo di massa che si sarebbe imposta negli anni Trenta. (shrink)

En el panorama actual de la filosofía ético-política, la ascesis ha sido una de las nociones más influyentes, tomando un lugar determinante a partir de la empresa de Nietzsche en su tratamiento sobre los ideales ascéticos. Ciertamente, con la herencia foucaultiana de este concepto como prácticas de sí, filosofías como la de Judith Butler, Peter Sloterdijk, Elettra Stimilli, entre otros, han admitido como supuesto ontológico central que el cómo los humanos se relacionan consigo mismos es clave para comprender las maneras (...) en que nuestras realidades son configuradas, y que dicha relación tiene lugar en las prácticas que realizamos día a día. No obstante, en diversas religiones y filosofías de la antigüedad, la ascesis ocupaba un rol aparejado con otras nociones, como la de gnosis (que se instaura como un conocimiento especial de la manera en que la realidad está organizada), con vistas a asegurar que los individuos pudiesen ascender a formas de vida que procurasen su salvación. Frente a esta diferencia tan radical en uno y otro momento de la historia de la filosofía, intentaremos trazar ciertas notas que nos permitirían comparar una y otra interpretación de la ascesis, sacando así a luz los aspectos que caracterizan la concepción contemporánea de la ascesis misma. _Palabras clave: _ascesis, vida, educación, filosofía contemporánea, práctica. (shrink)

O artigo tentar mostrar três coisas: primeiro que, embora Nietzsche rejeite alguns dos aspectos mais importantes da famosa metafísica da vontade que se encontra no centro de toda a filosofia de Schopenhauer, tal metafísica não deixa por isso de ser o ponto de partida da sua análise do “facto fundamental da vontade humana” na Genealogia da Moral ; depois, que o modo como Schopenhauer entende o ascetismo e a “negação da vontade” tem uma importância crucial para a compreensão da concepção (...) nietzschiana do “ideal ascético” e de uma “vontade do nada” como vontade ascética; por fim, que a interpretação daquilo a que Nietzsche chama “niilismo” na Genealogia e, em geral, na sua obra não pode dispensar a reflexão sobre o modo como Nietzsche e Schopenhauer pensam o ascetismo e a ideia de uma “vontade do nada”. Este último ponto implica a revisão crítica de importantes interpretações do niilismo em Nietzsche, como a de Stegmaier e a de van Tongeren. (shrink)

O artigo é uma reflexão sobre o modo como, na "Genealogia da Moral", Nietzsche repensa "o problema estético" a partir da oposição entre a concepção kantiana do belo como predicado de um juízo "desinteressado" e a concepção stendhaliana do belo como efeito de uma "cristalização" e uma "promessa de felicidade". A chave do pensamento de Nietzsche neste contexto está no conceito de "embriaguez" , por um lado, como termo-chave para designar a "pré-condição fisiológica" da arte, mas, por outro, como um (...) processo de espiritualização dos instintos ou das pulsões que as interioriza e intensifica. Esta espiritualização distingue-se da contemplação desinteressada porque não nos des-afecta e porque é, em grande medida, uma espiritualização da sexualidade, mas não deixa, por isso, de implicar uma reavaliação dos valores e uma ampliação do horizonte do humano. É por isso que a arte pode ser pensada como um "contra-movimento" que afirma a vida e combate o "ideal ascético" e o "niilismo europeu". The present article is a reflection on the way how, in "Genealogy of Morals", Nietzsche rethinks "the aesthetic issue" based on the opposition between Kant's conception of beauty as a predicate of a "disinterested" judgment and the stendhaliana conception of beauty as the effect of a "crystallization" and a "promise of happiness". The key to the thought of Nietzsche's in this context resides on the concept of "intoxication" on the one hand, as a key-term to designate the "pre-physiological condition" of art, but on the other hand, as a process of spiritualisation of the instincts or of the drives, which internalizes and intensifies them. This spiritualization is distinguished from disinterested contemplation for it does not dis-affects us, and because it is by large a spiritualization of sexuality, without renouncing to imply a revaluation of the values and a widening on the horizon of the human. That is why art can be thought of as a "counter-movement" that affirms life and fights the "ascetic ideal" and the "European nihilism". (shrink)

No FP 1888, 14 [89], Nietzsche distingue um sentido trágico e um sentido cristão para o sofrimento. Com esse par conceitual, o filósofo designa o conflito entre duas justificações antagônicas da vida, contrapondo dois tipos de sofredores com anseios contrários. O presente artigo defende a hipótese de que a mencionada distinção ilustra um modo de pensar o sofrimento, característico do período de 1886-1888 da filosofia nietzschiana. Partindo da Genealogia da Moral, ver-se-á como a discussão metodológica envolvida na fluidez de sentido (...) implica uma contraposição à pretensão do ideal ascético de estabelecer um sentido fixo e universal para o sofrimento. Em seguida, será considerado o §370 da Gaia Ciência, no qual a heurística da necessidade fornece a Nietzsche a distinção entre dois tipos de sofredores, bem como a configuração das artes e filosofias em correspondência com seus anseios. Por fim, os prefácios de 1886 serão interpretados como o marco teórico que estabelece o modo de pensar o sofrimento por pares antagônicos, na medida em que, nesse conjunto de textos, Nietzsche narra como aprendeu a ver a distinção entre dois tipos de filosofar: um oriundo da fraqueza e outro, da força. Conclusivamente, serão traçadas considerações para estabelecer a contraposição tipológica de sofredores antagônicos como uma chave de leitura legítima para analisar o sofrimento no período final da filosofia de Nietzsche. (shrink)

En el tratado "¿Qué significan los ideales ascéticos?" hace Nietzsche la genealogía del "sistema de interpretación más pensado hasta el final" (Genealogía de la moral, III, 23). El ensayo se presenta como una descripción de la interpretación genealógica en su articulación inmanente, tiene que vérselas en el fondo con la cuestión de por qué los modernos representantes de aquel sistema de interpretación son sus pretendidos antagonistas en tanto renuncian a interpretar. El planteo del problema no se alcanza por vía descriptiva. (...) El trasfondo del ensayo es la pregunta por la posibilidad de una descripción no interpretativa. (shrink)

O texto tem o objetivo de apresentar como o filósofo francês Gilles Deleuze, a partir da obra Nietzsche e a Filosofia, interpreta a Genealogia da Moral, obra escrita pelo filósofo alemão Friedrich Nietzsche, levando em consideração as formas mais gerais do niilismo: ressentimento, má consciência e ideal ascético.

Resumo: O artigo aborda o tema “Revolução”, analisado por Holanda em Raízes do Brasil. A leitura foi mediada pela filosofia de Nietzsche, onde exploramos as noções de má consciência, ideal ascético e as críticas à modernidade. Além de duas referências explícitas ao filósofo, as abrangentes noções nietzschianas subsidiam as avaliações de Holanda sobre os “novos tempos” no Brasil. No entanto, a crítica do brasileiro foi direcionada àquelas “superfetações liberais”, dado o seu caráter exógeno às tradições brasileiras. Em contrapartida, (...) considerou positivos os valores do personalismo, subjacentes ao nosso modo de vida, favoráveis à criação de forma política concernente à sociedade.: The article presents an approach to the theme “Revolução”, debated by Holanda on his book “Raízes do Brasil”. The analysis was based on Nietzsche’s philosophy, by exploring concepts concerning bad consciousness, ascetic ideal and criticism of the modernity. Besides two explicit references to the philosopher, the embracing Nietzschian notions support Holanda’s assessment of the “new times” in Brazil. Nonetheless, the Brazilian’s criticism was targeted at those “liberal superfetation”, owing to its exogenous feature to the Brazilian traditions. In contrast, he considered positively the values of personalism, implicit in our way of life, favorable to the invention of a politic shape as far as the society is concerned. (shrink)

Robin McKenna argues that we need to make space for an approach to epistemology that avoids the idealizations typical of the field. He applies this approach to topics in applied and social epistemology, such as what to do about science denial, whether we should try to be intellectually autonomous, and what our obligations are to other inquirers.

McKenna’s critique (rather than criticisms) of idealized approaches to epistemology is an important contribution to the literature. In this brief discussion, I set out his main concerns about more idealized approaches, within and beyond social epistemology, before turning to some issues I think he neglects. I suggest that it’s important to pay attention to the prestige hierarchy in philosophy, and to how that hierarchy can serve ideological purposes. The greater prestige of more abstract approaches plays a role in determining what (...) issues and what voices we attend to. (shrink)

This article provides a conceptual map of the debate on ideal and non‐ideal theory. It argues that this debate encompasses a number of different questions, which have not been kept sufficiently separate in the literature. In particular, the article distinguishes between the following three interpretations of the ‘ideal vs. non‐ideal theory’ contrast: (i) full compliance vs. partial compliance theory; (ii) utopian vs. realistic theory; (iii) end‐state vs. transitional theory. The article advances critical reflections on each of (...) these sub‐debates, and highlights areas for future research in the field. (shrink)

Neste artigo, utilizaremos os conceitos nietzschianos de ideais ascéticos, ressentimento e moral de rebanho visando mostrar o entrelaçamento apontado por Nietzsche entre humanidade e doença a partir de uma leitura do filme Dogville de Lars Von Trier.

Science is the study of our world, as it is in its messy reality. Nonetheless, science requires idealization to function—if we are to attempt to understand the world, we have to find ways to reduce its complexity. Idealization and the Aims of Science shows just how crucial idealization is to science and why it matters. Beginning with the acknowledgment of our status as limited human agents trying to make sense of an exceedingly complex world, Angela Potochnik moves on to explain (...) how science aims to depict and make use of causal patterns—a project that makes essential use of idealization. She offers case studies from a number of branches of science to demonstrate the ubiquity of idealization, shows how causal patterns are used to develop scientific explanations, and describes how the necessarily imperfect connection between science and truth leads to researchers’ values influencing their findings. The resulting book is a tour de force, a synthesis of the study of idealization that also offers countless new insights and avenues for future exploration. (shrink)

In empirical modeling, mathematics has an important utility in transforming descriptive representations of target system into calculation devices, thus creating useful scientific models. The transformation may be considered as the action of tools. In this paper, I assume that model idealizations could be such tools. I then examine whether these idealizations have characteristic properties of tools, i.e., whether they are being adapted to the objects to which they are applied, and whether they are to some extent generic.

In common treatments of deontic logic, the obligatory is what is true in all deontically ideal possible worlds. In this article, I offer a new semantics for Standard Deontic Logic with Leibnizian intensions rather than possible worlds. Even though the new semantics furnishes models that resemble Venn diagrams, the semantics captures the strong soundness and completeness of Standard Deontic Logic. Since, unlike possible worlds, many Leibnizian intensions are not maximally consistent entities, we can amend the semantics to invalidate the (...) inference rule which ensures that all tautologies are obligatory. I sketch this amended semantics to show how it invalidates the rule in a new way. (shrink)

When Derrida translated and commented on Husserl’s manuscript The Origin of Geometry in 1962, he gave a central place to what Husserl called the Idea “in the Kantian sense”. This article reflects on the use and function of this Idea in Derrida’s reading of Husserl. It critically interrogates the relationship between the Idea in the Kantian sense and mathematical ideality, as well as the use of this Idea in the interpretation of the Thing (Ding) and the stream of experience (Erlebnisstrom). (...) In the centre of the discussion stands what Derrida calls “pure thinking”, on which he tries to ground the Idea in the Kantian sense. (shrink)

Ideal utilitarianism states that the only fundamental requirement of morality is to promote a plurality of intrinsic goods. This paper critically evaluates Hastings Rashdall’s arguments for ideal utilitarianism, while comparing them with G. E. Moore’s arguments. Section I outlines Rashdall’s ethical outlook. Section II considers two different arguments that he provides for its theory of rightness. Section III discusses his defence of a pluralist theory of value. Section IV argues that Rashdall makes a lasting contribution to the defence (...) of ideal utilitarianism. (shrink)

Based on three recently published books on climate justice, this article reviews the field of climate ethics in light of developments of international climate politics. The central problem addressed is how idealised normative theories can be relevant to the political process of negotiating a just distribution of the costs and benefits of mitigating climate change. I distinguish three possible responses, that is, three kinds of non-ideal theories of climate justice: focused on (1) the injustice of some agents not doing (...) their part; (2) the policy process and aiming to be realistic; and (3) grievances related to the transition to a clean-energy economy. The methodological discussion underpinning each response is innovative and should be of interest more generally, even though it is still underdeveloped. The practical upshot, however, is unclear: even non-ideal climate justice may be too disconnected from the fast-moving and messy climate circus. (shrink)

We define in precise terms the basic properties that an ‘ideal propositional paraconsistent logic’ is expected to have, and investigate the relations between them. This leads to a precise characterization of ideal propositional paraconsistent logics. We show that every three-valued paraconsistent logic which is contained in classical logic, and has a proper implication connective, is ideal. Then we show that for every n > 2 there exists an extensive family of ideal n -valued logics, each one (...) of which is not equivalent to any k -valued logic with k < n. (shrink)

Orthodox Bayesianism is a highly idealized theory of how we ought to live our epistemic lives. One of the most widely discussed idealizations is that of logical omniscience: the assumption that an agent’s degrees of belief must be probabilistically coherent to be rational. It is widely agreed that this assumption is problematic if we want to reason about bounded rationality, logical learning, or other aspects of non-ideal epistemic agency. Yet, we still lack a satisfying way to avoid logical omniscience (...) within a Bayesian framework. Some proposals merely replace logical omniscience with a different logical idealization; others sacrifice all traits of logical competence on the altar of logical non-omniscience. We think a better strategy is available: by enriching the Bayesian framework with tools that allow us to capture what agents can and cannot infer given their limited cognitive resources, we can avoid logical omniscience while retaining the idea that rational degrees of belief are in an important way constrained by the laws of probability. In this paper, we offer a formal implementation of this strategy, show how the resulting framework solves the problem of logical omniscience, and compare it to orthodox Bayesianism as we know it. (shrink)

In 2005, Charles Mills published “‘Ideal Theory’ as Ideology” in Hypatia: a withering critique of much of contemporary political philosophy and ethics. For Mills such work in philosophy failed to attend to the realities of social life and politics, and in remaining silent on actual issues of domination and oppression served an ideological role in supporting the interests of white bourgeois men. Around the time that Charles Mills launched his broadside against ideal theory, trans theorists had been fighting (...) their own battle against the abstraction of theory from the realities of trans lives and oppression. Vivian Namaste (2000) and Jay Prosser (1998) argued that contemporary gender theory failed to justice to the actuality of trans life, retreating instead to understanding trans life through literary archetypes and idealized radical figures. In this chapter I’ll compare Mills’ critique of ideal theory with the transfeminist critique of 1990s gender theory, arguing that they share much in common. Centrally, both critiques share an underlying commitment to theory needing to be grounded in the actuality of oppression and power relations. This common thread, I suggest, must continue to guide transfeminist thought and action: contra Marquis Bey (2022) transfeminist thought and praxis must continue to be about trans lives, about the oppression of trans women, and about ways of actually achieving liberation from our current dire position. (shrink)

This paper examines the role of mathematical idealization in describing and explaining various features of the world. It examines two cases: first, briefly, the modeling of shock formation using the idealization of the continuum. Second, and in more detail, the breaking of droplets from the points of view of both analytic fluid mechanics and molecular dynamical simulations at the nano-level. It argues that the continuum idealizations are explanatorily ineliminable and that a full understanding of certain physical phenomena cannot be obtained (...) through completely detailed, non-idealized representations. (shrink)

In this paper, I first outline the view developed in my recent book on the role of idealization in scientific understanding. I discuss how this view leads to the recognition of a number of kinds of variability among scientific representations, including variability introduced by the many different aims of scientific projects. I then argue that the role of idealization in securing understanding distances understanding from truth, but that this understanding nonetheless gives rise to scientific knowledge. This discussion will clarify how (...) my view relates to three other recent books on understanding by Henk de Regt, Catherine Elgin, and Kareem Khalifa. (shrink)

Because idealizations frequently advance scientific understanding, many claim that falsehoods play an epistemic role. In this paper, we argue that these positions greatly overstate idealiza...

Political philosophers frequently claim that political ideals can provide normative guidance for unjust and otherwise nonideal circumstances. This is mistaken. This paper demonstrates that political ideals contribute nothing to our understanding of the normative principles we should satisfy amidst unjust or otherwise nonideal circumstances.

Many AI systems that make important decisions are black boxes: how they function is opaque even to their developers. This is due to their high complexity and to the fact that they are trained rather than programmed. Efforts to alleviate the opacity of black box systems are typically discussed in terms of transparency, interpretability, and explainability. However, there is little agreement about what these key concepts mean, which makes it difficult to adjudicate the success or promise of opacity alleviation methods. (...) I argue for a unified account of these key concepts that treats the concept of understanding as fundamental. This allows resources from the philosophy of science and the epistemology of understanding to help guide opacity alleviation efforts. A first significant benefit of this understanding account is that it defuses one of the primary, in-principle objections to post hoc explainable AI (XAI) methods. This “rationalization objection” argues that XAI methods provide mere rationalizations rather than genuine explanations. This is because XAI methods involve using a separate “explanation” system to approximate the original black box system. These explanation systems function in a completely different way than the original system, yet XAI methods make inferences about the original system based on the behavior of the explanation system. I argue that, if we conceive of XAI methods as idealized scientific models, this rationalization worry is dissolved. Idealized scientific models misrepresent their target phenomena, yet are capable of providing significant and genuine understanding of their targets. (shrink)

Recent methodological debates regarding the place of feasibility considerations in normative political theory are hindered for want of a rigorous model of the feasibility frontier. To address this shortfall, I present an analysis of feasibility that generalizes the economic concept of a production possibility frontier and then develop a rigorous model of the feasibility frontier using the familiar possible worlds technology. I then show that this model has significant methodological implications for political philosophy. On the Target View, a political (...) class='Hi'>ideal presents a long-term goal for morally progressive reform efforts and, thus, serves as an important reference point for our specification of normative political principles. I use the model to show that we can- not reasonably expect that adopting political ideals as long-term reform objectives will guide us toward the realization of morally optimal feasible states of affairs. I conclude by proposing that political philosophers turn their attention to the analysis of actual social failures rather than political ideals. (shrink)

아리스토텔레스의 민주주의 이론을 세가지 원리의 측면에서 고찰하였다. 그것의 기본원리에서는 먼저 민주정에서의 권력주체인 ‘民’이 누구인지 고찰해 보았다. 아테네의 정치현실을 고려하던 그는 민주정의 주체는 가난한 다수라고 하였다. 이에 아리스토텔레스에게서의 민주정이란 본래 신분적으로 경제적으로 소외된 다수에 의한 정치요, 그러한 소외를 극복하려는 정치적 행위로 간주될 수 있는 여지가 있다. 말하자면 그에게서 민주정이란 빈자의, 빈자에 의한, 빈자를 위한 정치인 셈이다(of the poor, by the poor, and for the poor). 이러한 민주정에 대한 그의 이념은 후대에 마르크스주의자들에 의해 주목을 받았다. 민주정의 구현원리에서는 아리스토텔레스는 민주정에서 평등(ἰσότητα)의 원리가 중요하다고 (...) 보았는데, 그의 기본적인 생각은 이러한 평등의 구현은 다른 중요원리인 정의(正義)와 합치되어야 한다는 것이다. 평등과 정의의 문제에 있어 사람의 수로 접근하는 것이 아니라, 재산의 양으로 접근하고 있는 그는 부자들의 책임을 강조하므로 균형을 잡고 중용을 이루려는 노력을 한다. 민주정의 이상원리에서는 이상적인 국가는 구성원 상호간에 좋은 교제와 우애가 있어야 하므로 가능한 동등하거나 유사한 사람들로 이뤄지는 것이 좋다고 보고 이런 집단은 부자층과 빈곤층의 중간층으로 이들이야말로 절제와 중용의 덕목을 따르는 최선의 국가구성원이라고 할 수 있다. 따라서 아리스토텔레스에게서는 주로 중산층(中産層)으로 이뤄진 나라가 현실적으로 이상적인 국가라고 보는데, 이는 오늘날의 일반적인 국가이상과 유사한 점이라고 할 수 있다. 빈자층이 많으면 민주주의가, 부유층이 많으면 과두정치로 기울기 쉬운데, 중산층이 많으면 민주정과 과두정이 혼합된 혼합정이 들어설 수 있다는 것이다. (shrink)

Idealization is a fundamental feature of human thought. We build simplified models in our scientific research and utopias in our political imaginations. Concepts like belief, desire, reason, and justice are bound up with idealizations and ideals. Life is a constant adjustment between the models we make and the realities we encounter. In idealizing, we proceed “as if” our representations were true, while knowing they are not. This is not a dangerous or distracting occupation, Kwame Anthony Appiah shows. Our best chance (...) of understanding nature, society, and ourselves is to open our minds to a plurality of imperfect depictions that together allow us to manage and interpret our world. -/- The philosopher Hans Vaihinger first delineated the “as if” impulse at the turn of the twentieth century, drawing on Kant, who argued that rational agency required us to act as if we were free. Appiah extends this strategy to examples across philosophy and the human and natural sciences. In a broad range of activities, we have some notion of the truth yet continue with theories that we recognize are, strictly speaking, false. From this vantage point, Appiah demonstrates that a picture one knows to be unreal can be a vehicle for accessing reality. -/- As If explores how strategic untruth plays a critical role in far-flung areas of inquiry: decision theory, psychology, natural science, and political philosophy. A polymath who writes with mainstream clarity, Appiah defends the centrality of the imagination not just in the arts but in science, morality, and everyday life. (shrink)

In this paper, I propose that the debate in epistemology concerning the nature and value of understanding can shed light on the role of scientific idealizations in producing scientific understanding. In philosophy of science, the received view seems to be that understanding is a species of knowledge. On this view, understanding is factive just as knowledge is, i.e., if S knows that p, then p is true. Epistemologists, however, distinguish between different kinds of understanding. Among epistemologists, there are those who (...) think that a certain kind of understanding—objectual understanding—is not factive, and those who think that objectual understanding is quasi-factive. Those who think that understanding is not factive argue that scientific idealizations constitute cognitive success, which we then consider as instances of understanding, and yet they are not true. This paper is an attempt to draw lessons from this debate as they pertain to the role of idealizations in producing scientific understanding. I argue that scientific understanding is quasi-factive. (shrink)

_ Ideals and Ideologies: A Reader_, 9/e, is a comprehensive compilation of original readings representing all of the major 'isms'.It offers students a generous sampling of key thinkers in different ideological traditions and places them in their historical and political contexts. Used on its own or with _Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal_, the title accounts for the different ways people use ideology and conveys the ongoing importance of ideas in politics.

Made popular by John Rawls, ideal theory in political philosophy is concerned with putting preferences and interests to one side to achieve an impartial consensus and to arrive at a just society for all. In recent years, ideal theory has drawn increasing criticism for its idealised picture of political philosophy and its inability to account for the challenges posed by inequalities of, for example, race, gender, and class and by structural injustices stemming from colonialism and imperialism. The Routledge (...) Handbook of Non-Ideal Theory is the first handbook or reference source on this important and fast-growing debate. -/- Comprised of 34 chapters by an international team of contributors, the Handbook is divided into three clear parts: -/- Methodological Challenges Intersections Applied Issues and Contemporary Challenges. Within these sections key topics are addressed including: the question of whether non-ideal theory is methodologically linked to ideal theory; its intersection with feminist philosophy, critical race theory, decolonial theory, and critical theory; its characteristic features; the role of the non-ideal theorist; its relation to activism; and its application in the context of disability and health studies, climate justice, global injustices, colonialism and many more. As well as a comprehensive introduction which provides important background to the debate between ideal and non-ideal theory, the handbook also features a contribution by the late philosopher Charles Mills on non-ideal theory as ideology. -/- The Routledge Handbook of Non-Ideal Theory is essential reading for students and scholars of political philosophy, ethics and political theory and will also be of interest to those studying and researching related subjects such as gender, race and social justice. (shrink)