As If: Idealization and Ideals PDF
Preview As If: Idealization and Ideals
As If As If Idealization and Ideals Kwame Anthony Appiah Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts London, England 2017 Copyright © 2017 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer i ca First printing Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Appiah, Anthony, author. Title: As if : idealization and ideals / Kwame Anthony Appiah. Description: Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts : Harvard University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017006995 | ISBN 9780674975002 (alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Idealism. | Pluralism. Classification: LCC B823 .A83 2017 | DDC 141— dc23 LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2017006995 Jacket design: Jill Breitbarth for my students, idealizers and idealists Contents Preface ix 1. Useful Untruths: Lessons from Hans Vaihinger 1 2. A Mea sure of Belief: Lessons from Frank Ramsey 57 3. Po liti cal Ideals: Lessons from John Rawls 112 Notes 175 Acknowl edgments 211 Index of Names 215 Preface Truth is the shattered mirror strown In myriad bits; while each believes his little bit the whole to own. Sir Richard Burton, The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El- Yezdî This book grew out of a series of lectures whose cen tral claim was that, as the German phi los o pher Hans Vaihinger argued about a century ago, ques tions about idealization are of central importance in all the major areas of philosophy. The lectures w ere meant to stimulate more p eople to consider these questions over a wider range— a wider range, in fact, than any one person could responsibly cover. But often in philosophy it is useful to stand back and take a broad view of a topic, knowing that real pro gress requires work with a narrower focus as well. ix
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