Tag: History of Philosophy

Posted on

‘Dewey in 90 Minutes’ by Paul Strathern, Ivan R. Dee

‘Dewey in 90 Minutes’ by Paul Strathern is an very short and brief guide book to John Dewey and his pragmatism philosophy and thought. The main content ‘Dewey’s Life & Works’ is a biographical description of Dewey’s life along with his works and pragmatism thought. ‘Life & Works’ describes from Dewey’s childhood, teaching in high school, influenced by Neo-Hegelianism, Charles Sanders Peirce and discoveries of science (by Max Planck, Boltzmann, Madame Curie, Albert Einstein and Richard Feynman), through Dewey’s experimental psychology and instrumental type of logic, what is his pragmatism viewpoint, method of pragmatism and his educational philosophy, to his commitment to communists and U.S.S.R..
In pages 39 and 40, Strathern summarize Dewey’s viewpoint of pragmatism viewpoint, I’ll to quote it. ‘Essential to this view of knowledge was Dewey’s notion of “fallibilism” There was no certain knowledge, there were no eternal fixed principle or rules. Everything had to be tested to discover its fallibility. In this way knowledge progressed, in all fields. Here we come to the core of Dewey’s theory of knowledge which as we have seen reaches out into all realms of human endeavor.’ ‘Dewey himself admits “that my idea of experience and hence of empirical method is naturalistic.” That is, it insists that all our experience is derived from the world of nature and nothing else. His emphasis is on the biological. “For many years I have… maintained that the key to a philosophical theory of experience must proceed from initially linking it with the processes and functions of life as the latter are disclosed in biological science.” He goes on to explain: “The things of experience are produced… by interaction of organism and environing conditions.” He also maintains that “the self, the ‘subject’ of action, is a factor within experience.”’

This book is good and concise introduction to John Dewey and American pragmatism, and more difficult and detailed than other Strathern’s ‘Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series’. I recommend this book for beginners of pragmatism and who want to know doctrine of Dewey and pragmatism, and his thinking of science.

Dewey in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series)
Paul Strathern
Ivan R. Dee, Chicago, September 24 2002
90 pages $7.95
ISBN: 978-1-56663-475-5
Contents:
Dewey’s Life and Works
Afterword
From Dewey’s Writing
Chronology of Significant Philosophical Dates
Chronology of Dewey’s Life and Times
Recommended Reading
Index

Posted on

‘Kant in 90 Minutes’ by Paul Strathern, Ivan R. Dee

‘Kant in 90 Minutes’ by Paul Strathern is an very very short introduction to Kant. This book is a very short, brief and amusing guide book to Kant’s philosophy. The main content ‘Kant’s Life & Works’ is a biographical description of Kant’s life along with works and philosophy. Biographical description composes from Kant’s family roots, student day, his academic career (private teacher, lecturer of natural philosophy), his modest monotonous private life style and rigid routine, his stoic and abstinent characteristics, and Kant’s late in life. Philosophical description composes the philosophical and scientific state in Europa in Kant’s era, influences by Newton, Hume and Rousseau, how Kant created his critique philosophy and brief and to the point commentary to series of his ‘Critiques’, ‘Critique of Pure Reason’ (metaphysical part of Kantian system), ‘Critique of Practical Reason’ (ethical part of Kantian system), ‘Critique of Judgement’ (Kant’s consideration on aesthetic judgement and theology). Main account of this book is commentary on Kant’s three critiques, especially metaphysics of ‘Critique of Pure Reason’.
In ‘A Dialogue on Kant and Metaphysics’ Strathern comments mean of metaphysics, historical transition of metaphysics Aristotle, Hume to modern philosophy, how Kant think knowledge and judgement in his metaphysics. And author explains Kant’s peculiar ‘a priori concepts of our understanding’ like below. ‘The way Kant saw them, the “forms of our understanding” (space and time), as well as the “categories of our understanding” (including existence, necessity and so on), are undeniably metaphysical. We may consider space and existence to be “out there” in the physics of our experience, but Kant did not. So his argument against metaphysics applies equally to them. We can make no synthetic a priori statements about them. They are not scientific, they are not analytic, and they are not logically necessary: they are metaphysical. And if, on the other hand they are “out there” in our experience, they certainly cannot be a priori concepts of our understanding.’ Finally he added Kant’s link of metaphysical perception and moral.

The biological description of this book is clear and amusing. And the commentary to Kant’s critique philosophy is essential but brief and short. So I recommend this book as a first book to beginners in Kant and Philosophy.

Kant in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series)
Paul Strathern
Ivan R. Dee, Chicago, September 1 1996
95 pages $9.95
ISBN: 978-1-56663-123-5
Contents:
Introduction
Kant’s Life and Works
A Dialogue on Kant and Metaphysics
From Kant’s Writing
Chronology of Significant Philosophical Dates
Chronology of Kant’s Life
Chronology of Kant’s Era
Recommended Reading
Index

Posted on

‘Wittgenstein in 90 Minutes’ by Paul Strathern, Ivan R. Dee

‘Wittgenstein in 90 Minutes’ by Paul Strathern is an very very short introduction to Wittgenstein. This book is a very short, brief and amusing guide book to Wittgenstein’s philosophy. The main content ‘Wittgenstein’s Life & Works’ is a biographical description of Wittgenstein’s life along with works and philosophy. Biographical description composes from Wittgenstein’s family circumstances and his student days, through the encounter to mathematical logic and Bertrand Russell, his concentration on Philosophy at a hut in Norway, serving in the army during the World War Ⅰ and publishing ‘Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus’, to his roaming of way of life (became a teacher, designed Haus Wittgenstein and returned to Cambridge), later philosophy of ‘Philosophical Investigations’ and the rest of his life. The description includes historical and cultural contexts, his unique characteristics of isolation, insanity and holiness. Strathern emphasis influence of Christianity to Wittgenstein and his peculiar religious viewpoint and stance. Similarly, Strathern mentions unique standpoint and stance to philosophy of Wittgenstein. In Wittgenstein religion, way of life, logic and philosophy (how to use language) were connected by his peculiar ascetic manner of thinking. For example ‘Even Wittgenstein’s religion had to assume a logical force and clarity.’ ‘There was something problematic about the world, and this we called its meaning. But this meaning did not lie within the world, it lay outside it. “The meaning of Life, i.e., the meaning of the world we can call God.” According to Wittgenstein, to pray was to think about the meaning of life.’

In this book Strathern is successful in wrote Wittgenstein’s peculiar ascetic and ethical stance and manner of philosophy. And commentary of ‘Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus’ is essential and great. Wittgenstein thought ‘The limit of language are the limits of thought, because this too cannot be illogical. We cannot go beyond language, for do so would be to go beyond the limits of logical possibility’.
But I think it’s pity, philosophical commentaries of this book is not many. And description of Wittgenstein’s later philosophy in ‘Philosophical Investigations’ is very concise and describe almost only the comparison to philosophy of ‘Tractatus’. Because the author may not regard it as important.
This book is a brief interesting biography and just only a mere introduction to Wittgenstein.