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Can we prove the necessity of our best physical theories by rational means, without appeal to experience? This book recounts a few ingenious attempts to derive physical theories by reason only, beginning with Descartes' geometric construction of the world, and finishing with recent derivations of quantum mechanics from natural axioms. Deductions based on theological, metaphysical, or transcendental arguments are worth remembering for the ways they motivated and structured physical theory, even though we would now criticize their excessive confidence in the power of the mind. Other deductions more modestly relied on criteria for the comprehensibility of nature, including forms of measurability, causality, homogeneity, and correspondence. The central thesis of this book is that such criteria, when properly applied to idealized systems, effectively determine some of our most important theories as well as the mathematical character of the laws of physics. The relevant arguments are not purely rational, because only experience can tell us to which extent nature is comprehensible in a given way. Nor do they block the possibility of ever more varied forms of comprehensibility. They nonetheless suggest the inevitability of much of our theoretical physics.

Physics --- Practical reason --- Practical rationality --- Practical reasoning --- Rationality, Practical --- Reasoning, Practical --- Reason --- Philosophy --- History --- History. --- Methodology.

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Having its seeds in the 2nd International Lauener Symposium held in honour of Dagfinn Føllesdal, the present collection contains a rich, kaleidoscopic ensemble of previously unpublished contributions by leading authors, representing diverse approaches to a variety of philosophical themes on which Føllesdal has had a longstanding, formative impact. Føllesdal himself contributes an orientating essay -continuing to develop his pioneering theory of reference -as well as in-depth commentaries on each of the other authors' elaborated papers plus candid answers in the added interview. The volume assembles a wealth of original articles containing in part direct discussions of Føllesdal's work and covering a broad range of topics like subjectivity, intersubjectivity, objectivity, rationality, logics and mathematics, choice theory, values, modalities, intentionality, individuation, perception, communication, meaning, reference, the slingshot, one- and two-sorted semantics, evidence, neuropsychology, space and time, science and society, methodology, fallibilism, the relative a priori, justification, holism, the life-world, reflective equilibrium, empathy, and ethics. Moreover the book includes an incisive memoir of Føllesdal the philosopher as well as a spanning interview with him, which are both critically directing toward Føllesdal's subtly differentiated understanding of the dynamic philosophical horizon he shares in. With contributions from Dagfinn Føllesdal, Charles Parsons, Patrick Suppes, Jon Elster, John Perry, Michael Friedman, Dag Prawitz, Wilhelm K. Essler, David Woodruff Smith, Olav Gjelsvik, Graciela De Pierris, Nils Roll-Hansen, Christian Beyer, Øystein Linnebo, Michael Frauchiger.

Practical reason. --- Practical rationality --- Practical reasoning --- Rationality, Practical --- Reasoning, Practical --- Reason

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Resistance used to mean irrational and reactionary behaviour, assuming that rationality resides on the side of progress and its parties. The end of the Cold War allows us to drop ideological and prejudicial analysis. Indeed, we recognise that resistance is a historical constant, and its relation to rationality or irrationality is not predetermined. This volume asks: to what extent are social scientific conceptions of 'resistances' sui generis, or borrowed from natural sciences by metaphor an...

Practical reason. --- Practical rationality --- Practical reasoning --- Rationality, Practical --- Reasoning, Practical --- Reason

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In Beyond Rationality: Contemporary Issues, scholars from a variety of disciplines explore the concept of ""irrationality"" in today's increasingly complex world. Combining both theory and practice, this is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand such diverse puzzles as why citizens often readily support dictatorships, how terrorists ""reason,"" and why seemingly rational people often make irrational choices.

Irrationalism (Philosophy) --- Practical reason --- Practical rationality --- Practical reasoning --- Rationality, Practical --- Reasoning, Practical --- Reason --- Absurd (Philosophy) --- Belief and doubt --- Philosophy --- Rationalism

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The idea that there is a distinctively practical use of reason, and correspondingly a distinctively practical form of knowledge, unites many otherwise diverse voices in the history of practical philosophy: from Aristotle to Kant, from Rousseau to Marx, from Hegel to G.E.M. Anscombe, and many others. This volume gathers works by scholars who take inspiration from these and many other historical figures in order to deepen our systematic understanding of questions raised by their work that still are, or ought to be, at the center of contemporary philosophical debate: the form and nature of practical reasoning, agential self-consciousness or practical knowledge, how knowledge of the good relates to our motivational capacity, and the shape of philosophical thinking about sound forms of living together. Accordingly, the volume is divided into three parts: action theory, meta-ethics, and political philosophy. This fusion of perspectives delivers novel possibilities not only for answering the systematic questions outlined above, but also for understanding both what unifies and distinguishes those historical voices that have sought to articulate the concept of practical reason. “This fascinating volume brings out the richness and profundity of an oft-neglected approach to understanding human agency, one that foregrounds action as itself an exercise of reason. Essays on ethics, mind, action, and political philosophy explore the history, substance, and implications of this idea, cutting across while also revealing the unity underlying various parts of philosophy that are typically treated separately.” – Eric Marcus, Auburn University

Free will and determinism. --- Liberty. --- moral motivation. --- practical knowledge. --- practical reasoning. --- practical wisdom. --- Free will and determinism --- Liberty