Critical Rationalism, Metaphysics and Science: Essays for Joseph Agassi, Volume I

280 Pages·1995·6.292 MB·English

by  I. C. Jarvie, Nathaniel Laor (eds.)

CRITICAL RATIONALISM, METAPHYSICS AND SCIENCE
BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Editor
ROBERT S. COHEN, Boston University
Editorial Advisory Board
THOMAS F. GLICK, Boston University
ADOLF GRUNBAUM, University of Pittsburgh
SAHOTRA SARKAR, McGill University
SYLVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University
JOHN J. STACHEL, Boston University
MARX W. WARTOFSKY, Baruch College of
the City University of New York
VOLUME 161
CRITICAL RATIONALISM,
MET APHYSICS AND SCIENCE
Essays for Joseph Agassi
VOLUMEI
Edited by
1. C. JARVIE
York University, Toronto
and
NATHANIEL LAOR
Tel-Aviv University
and
Child Study Center, Yale University
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PubUcation Data
Crltlcal ratlonallsN essays for Joseph Agassl I edlted by I.C.
Jarvie and Nathanlel Laor.
p. cm. -- (Boston studles In the phllosophy of sclence : v.
v. 161-162>
Includes lndexes.
Contents: v. 1. Metaphyslcs and sclence -- v. 2. The social
sclences and the hUNanltles.
ISBN 978-94-010-4211-6 ISBN 978-94-011-0471-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-0471-5
1. Phliosophy. 2. Metaphyslcs. 3. Sclence--Phllosophy.
4. Social sclences--Phllosophy. 5. HUNanltles--Phllosophy.
I. Agassl. Joseph. II. Jarvle. I. C. (Ian Charles>. 1937-
III. Laor. Nathanle1. IV. Ser Ies.
B73.C76 1994
100--dc20 94-19889
ISBN 978-94-010-4211-6
Printed on acid-free paper
AU Rights Reserved
© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1995
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover Ist edition 1995
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
(Courtesy of Charles M. Sawyer)
JOSEPH AGASSI
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL PREFACE / Robert S. Cohen ix
I. C. JARVIE and NATHANIEL LAOR / The Philosopher as
All-Rounder - Introduction to Volume I xi
METAPHYSICS
PAUL K. FEYERABEND / Universals as Tyrants and Mediators 3
BEN-AMI SCHARFSTEIN / Our Difficulties in Finding the
Right Words 15
ABNER SHIMONY / The Confrontation and Monadology 29
JOHN WATKINS / Epiphenomenalism and Human Freedom 33
HANS ALBERT / Religion, Science, and the Myth of the
Framework 41
TOM SETTLE / You Can't Have Science as Your Religion! 59
NATHANIEL LAOR / Religion and Rational Philosophy:
Coming of Age 91
LOGIC, REASONING, AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
MICHAEL SEGRE / Peano, Logicism, and Formalism 133
DAVID MILLER / How Little Uniformity Need an Inductive
Inference Presuppose? 143
MARIO BUNGE / The Poverty of Rational Choice Theory 149
MAURICE A. FINOCCHIARO / Criticism, Reasoning and
Judgment in Science 169
NORETTA KOERTGE / Towards a Popperian Philosophy of
Science: The Problem of Credit 193
I. J. GOOD / The Mathematics of Philosophy: A Brief Review
of My Work 211
NOTES ON CONTRffiUTORS 239
NAME INDEX / SUBJECT INDEX 243
Vll
CRITICAL RATIONALISM, THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
AND THE HUMANITIES
Essays for Joseph Agassi, VOLUME II
CONTENTS
I. C. JARVIE and NATHANIEL LAOR I Introduction to Volume II
THE SOCIAL SCIENCES AND THE HUMANITIES
ERNEST GELLNER I Prometheus Perplexed
JEREMY SHEARMUR I Philosophical Method, Modified Essentialism
and the Open Society
GERSHON WEILER I Reason and Myth in Politics
JAGDISH HATTIANGADII The First World War and 1991
RAPHAEL SASSOWER I Pedagogy as Psychology: A View
From Within
MICHAEL BANTON I All Forms of Racial Discrimination
LAWRENCE A. BOLAND I Style vs. Substance in Economic
Methodology
JOHN WETTERSTEN I Preliminary Report on Efforts of
Psychologism to Gain Influences in Proper Epistemological,
Methodological and Psychological Societies
JUDITH BUBER AGASSI I Epistemological and Methodological
Concerns of Feminist Social Scientists
MENACHEM FISCH I Ecclesiastes (Qohelet) in Context
A Study of Wisdom as Constructive Scepticism
ALASTAIR HANNAY I Commitment and Paradox
I. C. JARVIE I The Place of the Sciences and of the Fine Arts
in the Intellectual Scheme of Things
WILLIAM BERKSON I Two Commandments for the Humanities
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH AGASSI TO 1993
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
NAME INDEX I SUBJECT INDEX
viii
EDITORIAL PREFACE
I suppose Joseph Agassi's best and dearest self-description, his cher
ished wish, is to practice what his 1988 book promises: The Gentle Art
of Philosophical Polemics. But for me, and for so many who know him,
our Agassi is tough-minded, not tender, not so gentle. True to his beloved
critical thinking, he is ever the falsificationist, testing himself of course
as much as everyone else. How, he asks himself, can he engage others in
their own self-critical exploration? Irritate? Question their logic, their
facts, their presuppositions, their rationales? Subvert their reasoning,
uncover their motives? Help them to lose their balance, but always help
them, make them do it to, and for, themselves. Out of their own mouths,
and minds, and imagination. A unique teacher, in classroom and out;
not for everyone.
Agassi is not quite a tight textual Talmudist disputant, not quite
the competitor in the marketplace of ideas offered for persuasive sale,
not quite the clever cross-examining lawyer advocate, not quite a
philosopher-scientist, not a sceptic more than necessary, not quite embat
tled in the bloody world but not ever above the battle either. .. but a good
deal of all of these, and steeped in intelligence and good will. And yet,
who needs this Agassi, this irritant, one who can corrupt the course of
argument, even corrupt the young? (Who needed Socrates?)
These two volumes are an impressive salute to Joseph Agassi, for
his achievements in his life of scholarship, for the substance of his
work certainly, and for the spark, spirit and candor in his efforts to
reach us, to teach us. I was gently confronted by him again and again
during his 18 years as a colleague at Boston University, confronted
across boundaries and disagreements, with a precious accompaniment
of affectionate friendship, independence of mind and style. How sweet it
is to read what Professor Jarvie and Dr. Laor have assembled to celebrate
the phenomenon of Joseph Agassi.
September 1994 ROBERT S. COHEN
ix
I. C. JARVIE AND N. LAOR
THE PHILOSOPHER AS ALL-ROUNDER
INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME I
This Introduction to Essays for Joseph Agassi is in two parts, corre
sponding to the division of the contents of the volumes between studies
of the rationality of natural science (Critical Rationalism, Metaphysics
and Science) and studies of the rationality of the social sciences and
humanities (Critical Rationalism, the Social Sciences and the Humani
ties).
It is hard to credit that Joseph Agassi, seemingly ever-youthful and
energetic, has reached Festschrift age. It is also hard to see how even
a two-volume Festschrift in his honour, containing papers which treat
his work as a critical starting point, can do the range of it anything like
justice. Consider this list of some of the arenas of intellectual endeavour
where he has made substantial contributions (publications are identified
by date and letter as assigned in the "Bibliography of Joseph Agassi",
located at the end of Critical Rationalism, the Social Sciences and the
Humanities):
- AI, systems analysis, information theory (19761; 1981e; 1990a)
- history and historiography of science (1956; 1958b; 1961a; 1963a;
1966d; 1970f; 1971a; 1975b; 1977b; 1978c)
- history of philosophy (196ge; 1971b; 19750; 19781; 1981d; 1985b;
1985d; 1988k; 1991c; 1993b)
- Jewish studies (1959d; 1974a; 1977e)
-logic (1964d; 1974e; 1978h; 1982d; 1985D
- medicine, psychiatry, psychology (1976a; 1976b; 1976p; 1978a;
1980e; 1983b; 1984e; 1986z; 1987g; 1990a; 1990j; 1990k).
- methodology of economics (1959j; 1971d; 1988b)
- methodology of sociology (1960a; 1975d)
- philosophical anthropology (1977a)
- philosophy of art and literature (1970a; 1973f; 1978k; 1979d; 1982f;
1983c; 1985j)
- philosophy of education (1970g; 1971c; 1971g; 1972c; 1976q;
1980f; 1983m; 1984g; 1987d)
- philosophy of physics (1963b; 1993a)
xi
I.e. Jarvie and N. Laor (eds.), Critical Rationalism, Metaphysics and Science.
Essays for Joseph Agassi, Vol. I, xi-xxii.
© 1995 Kluwer Academic Publishers.
xii I. C. JARVIE AND N. LAOR
- philosophy of psychology (l983f; 1986p; 1988g; 1990h)
- philosophy of religion (1969b; 1974g)
- philosophy of science (1975a; 1981a)
- philosophy of technology (1966c; 1968f; 1976c; 1978d; 1978e;
1980b; 1982g; 1983n; 1984d; 1985a; 1987e)
- politics, political science, political philosophy (l984a; 1984c;
1984j; 1984k; 1984m; 1986c; 1986e; 1986f; 1986r; 1986s; 1989b;
1990m)
- sociology and anthropology (1967f; 19691; 1973g; 1979k; 1984b;
1988b)
This list constitutes as it were a selective index to the daunting (and
still rapidly growing) publication list to be found at the end of Critical
Rationalism, the Social Sciences and the Humanities. Yet, despite all
these contributions, Agassi considers himself a perpetual outsider, one
who has never been embraced by the philosophical establishment. His
remarkable publication record might seem to be an indication that he is
less of an outsider than he imagines, of course. More on this below and
in Introduction (II).
Two editors, Jarvie and Laor, whose combined intellectual skills
cover only a fraction of Agassi's range, cannot in this Introduction hope
to write with confidence about all of Agassi's life and work. Instead they
offer a brief pen-portrait of the philosopher, an overall guide to the high
points of his work and a summary of the contributions to this volume.
****
Jarvie's first encounter with Agassi took place at the London School
of Economics in 1955 or 1956. Seeking notes for a missed lecture of
Popper's course "Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method", a mutual
friend, Paul Morpurgo, suggested to Jarvie that he should approach
Popper's assistant, a Mr. Agassi. Agassi had been a noticeable presence,
for he accompanied Popper to all his classes and sometimes took part in
the discussions. He was of medium height, dark-haired and somewhat
intense. When approached he was brusque and businesslike. Yes, he
allowed, there were transcribed notes of the lecture in question; but they
could be out of his possession for only a very short period indeed.
Not long after this, the intense man in a dark suit from the corner of
the room was to become a notable figure in the small intellectual world
of the London School of Economics. Not so visible outside, Agassi
began to make an impression in that social interstice inhabited by junior