Understanding Reality: Metaphysics in Epistemological Perspective PDF
Preview Understanding Reality: Metaphysics in Epistemological Perspective
Understanding Reality Understanding Reality Metaphysics in Epistemological Perspective Nicholas Rescher LEXINGTON BOOKS Lanham • Boulder • New York • London Published by Lexington Books An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowman.com Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB Copyright © 2018 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. All figures created by author. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available LCCN 2018947264 | ISBN 978-1-4985-8510-1 (cloth: alk. paper) | ISBN 978-1-4985-8511-8 (electronic) ∞ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America Contents Preface vii Introduction ix 1 Reality 1 2 Consciousness 19 3 Control Issues 37 4 Reality’s Intelligible Order 69 5 The Role of Technology in Natural Science 75 6 Oversimplification 89 7 Overcomplication 107 8 Quantitative Epistemology 113 9 Information Iniquities 117 10 Managing Uncertainty 127 11 The Paradox of Inquiry 139 12 Prediction, Fashion, and Futurity in the Philosophy of Science 151 13 Probative Homogeneity in Rational Substantiation 163 14 Teleology and Chance 169 15 Explaining Existence 177 v vi Contents References 199 Index 205 About the Author 209 Preface The present book is a metaphysical investigation. It affords a novel philo- sophical perspective upon our knowledge of Reality. For while natural sci- ences tells us (or seeks to tell us) what the world is like and how its processes work, the present study seeks to explain how we deal with the obstacles that confront our endeavors to realize this objective. I am grateful to Estelle Burris for her ever-competent work in helping to put this paper into a form suitable for publication. vii Introduction Metaphysics is the study of existence at the highest level of generality. It is traditionally characterized as the study of “being qua being”—of being in general rather than specifically of this or that sort, annual or manual or what- ever. Accordingly, the salient task of the field is to clarify what is at issue with existence and its contrasts are to spell out the concepts and principles by whose means a clearer understanding of the ideas of being, existence, and reality can be achieved. As such, metaphysics has been an established sector of philosophy since the time of Aristotle’s initial systematization of the sub- ject in the fourth century BC. And down to the present day it continues to be a lively area of investigation and deliberation. Understanding the framework of the Reality of which we ourselves are part is a prime mission for us humans as self-supposed rational beings. Now it is, of course, the aim of science to investigate Reality and determine its compo- sition, structure, and modus operandi. But this leaves open the preliminary question of how we are to go about cultivating this project—what are the assumptions and presumptions we have to adopt in order to make this project practicable? How are we to conceive of our interactions with Reality in this endeavor to construct a plausibility formed scientific picture of its ways? Approaching the matter from this angle is the task of metaphysics. Its pur- suit is based on the presupposition that the world we live in is a rationally intelligible system; and that coherent lawful order is of its essence. How this presupposition works its way out in epistemology and natural philosophy is the theme of the present deliberations. In line with the philosophical tradition the present book deals with the key topics that have always figured on the agenda of metaphysics: the nature and rationale of existence, the differentiation of what is actual from irreality and mere possibility, the prospects and limits of our knowledge of the real. ix
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