Styles of Thought: Interpretation, Inquiry, and ImaginationEvery man and woman is located in two ways. One is stolidly physical: each human body has a unique address and trajectory. The other comes with beliefs that locate us by answering a salvo of questions: Who, what, and where am I? What are my relations to other people and things? Answers come with either of two emphases. Beliefs critical to practical life and science require that we engage familiar things or find our way in strange cities and streets. Such beliefs supply meaning and security. Ascribing significance to myself or my family, religion, or state, I tell a story that locates me within a world of purpose and value. Neighbors feel and valorize their lives as I do, so our story spreads to dominate a people or an era. One procedure inquiry favors reality testing and truth. The other interpretation uses meaning to appease vulnerability and glorify believers. Beliefs of these two kinds are sometimes joined, but they are often opposed and mutually hostile. Both philosophy and culture at large confuse these ways of thinking. Styles of Thought distinguishes and clarifies them. |
Contents
Two Styles of Explanation Interpretation and Inquiry | 7 |
INTERPRETATION | 8 |
INQUIRY | 14 |
DIFFERENT TASKS | 19 |
PERSPECTIVE | 22 |
AN EXAMPLE | 29 |
MIXED MODES | 31 |
APPLICATIONS | 32 |
TRUTH | 76 |
ANIMADVERSIONS | 80 |
ENGAGING OTHER PEOPLE AND THINGS | 91 |
AIMS | 94 |
IDEALS | 95 |
A CHOICE | 96 |
A Disputed Question | 97 |
THE DIALECTIC OF UNTESTABLE IDEAS | 107 |
VALUES | 35 |
MORALITY | 36 |
POLITICS | 38 |
Interpretation Self and Society | 45 |
DISTORTION | 50 |
EMOTION | 51 |
STORIES | 52 |
SOCIALIZED INTERPRETATIONS | 53 |
ELIDING FACT AND VALUE | 56 |
MAGIC MYTH AND METAPHOR | 57 |
FAITH AND FANTASY | 59 |
PHILOSOPHIC RATIONALES | 60 |
TOLERANCE | 64 |
Inquiry Practical Life and Science | 67 |
MEANING | 73 |
Other editions - View all
Styles of Thought: Interpretation, Inquiry, and Imagination David Weissman No preview available - 2008 |
Styles of Thought: Interpretation, Inquiry, and Imagination David Weissman No preview available - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
abduction abductive inference affairs affirms alternative ambient world apply appropriate Aristotle attitudes beliefs categorial causal cause character Charles Sanders Peirce circumstances claims coherence complex conceptual system confirmed construct construe correlation David Weissman Descartes determinate difference differentiate and organize distinguish effects empirical engage evidence example experience explain express extra-mental falsifiable formulated hence holism Hume Hume's Humean hypotheses ideas identity ignore imagination implies infer integrate interpretation and inquiry interpretation's justify Kant Kant's Kantian laws leading principles logical maps Margolis material mind Monadology motion motive myth nature object observation sentences observed one's ontological particles perceived phenomena philosophic plans Plato practical properties quantum quantum theory quarks Quine reality requires responses Rockmore Rudolf Carnap rules satisfy sensory data signify skepticism social sometimes spacetime specify story structure sufficient reason testable theory things thinkable thinking thoughts or sentences tion true truth valorizing values vulnerability W. V. O. Quine words