Philosophical Delusion and its Therapy: Outline of a Philosophical Revolution

321 Pages·2010·2.84 MB·English

by  Eugen Fischer

Potentially revolutionary. Well-written and clearly argued, this
book challenges some of our most basic assumptions about how
we ought to proceed philosophically and is sure to shake up our
tired self-confi dence in our philosophical intuitions. A truly
innovative book; I know of nothing like it.
Jeremy Wisnewski, Hartwick College, New York
Fischer develops the concept of philosophical therapy to new
heights and depths. His analysis is insightful, comprehensive,
and richly back-grounded in many episodes in the history of phi-
losophy, from the genesis of the modern mind-world dichotomy
to Wittgenstein’s later philosophy.
Dale Jacquette, University of Berne, Switzerland
The idea that some philosophical problems are due to ‘diseases
of the intellect’ and need to be treated—like an illness—has
been mooted before. But no one has developed this thought, nor
given it systematic elaboration. Nor has anyone demonstrated by
detailed historical analyses how fruitful this conception can be.
Fischer’s book undertakes these tasks, and executes them with
exemplary skill and conviction. His case studies of Locke, Berke-
ley, Ayer and Wittgenstein are enthralling, as are his methodical
examinations of the nature of the mind, the attributes of mate-
rial things, sense perception, and the phenomenon of sudden
understanding.
P. M. S. Hacker, St. John’s College, Oxford
By debunking long-entrenched myths, this deeply absorbing
book opens up a fresh approach: a therapeutic back-tracking
through the intellectual genealogies that led us into philosophi-
cal problems we too easily take as given but may thus come to see
through. An excellent, adventurous, provocative book.
Garry Hagberg, Bard College, New York
This lucid and fascinating book offers both penetrating diag-
nosis and effective cure of a crucial subset of philosophical
problems.
Louis A. Sass, Rutgers University
This clearly written, insightful and well-argued book makes an
important contribution to meta-philosophical discussion, both of
the status of philosophical methods of argument and of the under-
lying sources of philosophical conviction. Philosophers as well
as non-philosophers could learn much from this kind of detailed
methodological study. A helpful and original book.
Paul Livingston, University of New Mexico
Philosophical Delusion
and its Therapy
Routledge Studies in
Contemporary Philosophy
1. Email and Ethics 10. Aesthetic Experience
Style and Ethical Relations in Edited by Richard Shusterman
Computer-Mediated Communication and Adele Tomlin
Emma Rooksby
11. Real Essentialism
2. Causation and Laws of Nature David S. Oderberg
Max Kistler
12. Practical Identity and
3. Internalism and Epistemology Narrative Agency
The Architecture of Reason Edited by Catriona Mackenzie
Timothy McGrew and Lydia McGrew and Kim Atkins
4. Einstein, Relativity and 13. Metaphysics and the
Absolute Simultaneity Representational Fallacy
Edited by William Lane Craig Heather Dyke
and Quentin Smith
14. Narrative Identity and
5. Epistemology Modalized Moral Identity
Kelly Becker A Practical Perspective
Kim Atkins
6. Truth and Speech Acts
Studies in the Philosophy of Language 15. Intergenerational Justice
Dirk Greimann & Geo Siegwart Rights and Responsibilities in an
Intergenerational Polity
7. A Sense of the World Janna Thompson
Essays on Fiction, Narrative, and
Knowledge 16. Hillel Steiner and the
Edited by John Gibson, Wolfgang Anatomy of Justice
Huemer, and Luca Pocci Themes and Challenges
Edited by Stephen de Wijze,
8. A Pragmatist Philosophy Matthew H. Kramer, and Ian Carter
of Democracy
Robert B. Talisse 17. Philosophy of Personal Identity
and Multiple Personality
9. Aesthetics and Material Beauty Logi Gunnarsson
Aesthetics Naturalized
Jennifer A. McMahon
18. The Force of Argument
Essays in Honor of Timothy Smiley
Edited by Jonathan Lear and
Alex Oliver
19. Autonomy and Liberalism
Ben Colburn
20. Habermas and Literary
Rationality
David L. Colclasure
21. Rawls, Citizenship, and
Education
M. Victoria Costa
22. Objectivity and the Language-
Dependence of Thought
A Transcendental Defence of
Universal Lingualism
Christian Barth
23. Habermas and Rawls
Disputing the Political
Edited by James Gordon Finlayson
and Fabian Freyenhagen
24. Philosophical Delusion and
its Therapy
Outline of a Philosophical Revolution
Eugen Fischer

Philosophical Delusion
and its Therapy
Outline of a Philosophical Revolution
Eugen Fischer
New York London
First published 2011
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
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© 2011 Eugen Fischer
The right of Eugen Fischer to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by
him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fischer, Eugen, 1970–
Philosophical delusion and its therapy : outline of a philosophical revolution / by
Eugen Fischer.
p. cm. — (Routledge studies in contemporary philosophy ; 24)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-0-415-33179-1
1. Philosophy. 2. Methodology. 3. Delusions. I. Title.
BD241.F495 2011
100—dc22
2010026803
ISBN 0-203-39789-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN13: 978-0-415-33179-1 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-39789-3 (ebk)
To my parents
Erika and Bernd