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基本説明
New in paperback. Hardcover was published in 2001. Presents bold new philosophical theories that take account of scientific advances in physics, evolutionary biology, economics, and cognitive neuroscience, and casts current cultural controversies in a wholly new light.
Full Description
Recent scientific advances have placed many traditional philosophical concepts under great stress. In this pathbreaking book, the eminent philosopher Robert Nozick rethinks and transforms the concepts of truth, objectivity, necessity, contingency, consciousness, and ethics. Using an original method, he presents bold new philosophical theories that take account of scientific advances in physics, evolutionary biology, economics, and cognitive neuroscience, and casts current cultural controversies (such as whether all truth is relative and whether ethics is objective) in a wholly new light. Throughout, the book is open to, and engages in, the bold exploration of new philosophical possibilities.
Philosophy will never look the same. Truth is embedded in space-time and is relative to it. However, truth is not socially relative among human beings (extraterrestrials are another matter). Objective facts are invariant under specified transformations; objective beliefs are arrived at by a process in which biasing factors do not play a significant role. Necessity's domain is contracted (there are no important metaphysical necessities; water is not necessarily H2O) while the important and useful notion of degrees of contingency is elaborated. Gradations of consciousness (based upon "common registering") yield increasing capacity to fit actions to the world. The originating function of ethics is cooperation to mutual benefit, and evolution has instilled within humans a "normative module": the capacities to learn, internalize, follow norms, and make evaluations. Ethics has normative force because of the connection between ethics and conscious self-awareness. Nozick brings together the book's novel theories to show the extent to which there are objective ethical truths.
Contents
Introduction: On Philosophical Method I. THE STRUCTURE OF THE OBJECTIVE WORLD 1. Truth and Relativism Is Truth Relative? Who Wants Relativism? Truth in Space and Time The Truth Property Is a Theory of Truth Possible? Is Truth Socially Relative? Does Relativism Undercut Itself? The Correspondence Theory 2. Invariance and Objectivity Objective Facts Admissible Transformations Two Types of Philosophical Account The Ordering of Objectiveness Intersubjectivity Objective Beliefs and Biasing Factors Dimensions of Truth The Objectivity of Science The Functional View Underdetermination of Theory Rationality, Progress, Objectivity, and Veridicality 3. Necessity and Contingency Epistemology of Necessity Cross-Classifications On the Supposed Necessity of Water's Being H2O The Withering of Metaphysical Necessity Explaining Away Necessities Logical and Mathematical Necessity Degrees of Contingency The Nature of Actuality The Ultimate Theory of the World II. THE HUMAN WORLD AS PART OF THE OBJECTIVE WORLD 4. The Realm of Consciousness The Function of Consciousness Gradations of Awareness The Context of Consciousness The Zoom-Lens Theory Synthesizing and Filtering Data Common Knowledge The Functions of Phenomenology Mind-Body Relations 5. The Genealogy of Ethics The Theory of Ethics The Ubiquity of Ethics Coordination to Mutual Benefit Coordination via Ethical Norms The Evaluation of Systems of Coordination The Core Principle of Ethics Normative Force and the Normativity Module Evaluative Capacities Higher Layers of Ethics Ethical Truth and Ethical Objectivity The Unpredictability of Human Behavior Ethics and Conscious Self-Awareness Notes Index
