Rational choice is not between science and common sense; it is a choice of both, of science to master the universal, and of common sense to deal with the particular. -Bernard Lonergan
I am going to continue to record long, important passages from Michael H. McCarthy's The Crisis of Philosophy until I no longer need to do so. So there. Towards the beginning of his book, McCarthy introduces what he calls "The Matrix of Cognitive Meaning - An Orienting Map". This is meant to provide a series … Continue reading Matrix of cognitive meaning
I've been posting long passages from Michael H. McCarthy's excellent analysis of 20th century epistemology, The Crisis of Philosophy. The following, guiding question has been in my mind as I read McCarthy's work: can one account for the dynamic nature of modern science through logical, systematic analysis alone? I believe the answer to this question is 'No'. I … Continue reading Locating theoretical invariance
Let's continue with McCarthy's (and Lonergan's) distinction between classical and historical consciousness. In my last post, I quoted McCarthy at length on Aristotle's conception of science and how elements of that conception linger in the background of contemporary philosophy of science debates. Here, I'll quote McCarthy at length on the modern shift from Aristotle's classical … Continue reading Aristotle subverted
Michael H. McCarthy's The Crisis of Philosophy has been an invaluable resource for me. I feel all-too-lucky to have obtained a discarded library copy from Amazon. McCarthy's book details philosophy's aimlessness and lack of purpose in the modern era as empirical science gathered to itself more and more of the territory traditionally held by the discipline of philosophy. … Continue reading Aristotle’s conception of science
Dissertating Outloud 