The Synthetic a Priori
DOWNLOAD
FREE
|
Hybrid empiricist philosophies of mathematics
Equations are omitted for technical reasons - download the original pdf
Nonetheless, there are hybrid philosophies of mathematics that combine elements of both conventionalism and empiricism. One sophisticated variant is that proposed by W.V.O. Quine. This is an advanced topic. However, as an indicator of what he proposes, he firstly begins by denying the distinctions between the synthetic and the analytic and the a priori and the a posteriori (in his essay Two Dogmas of Empiricism). By this means he attempts to undermine the basis of Kant's attack on empiricism. Quine adopts a pragmatist theory of truth and also adopts ontological relativism. He maintains that abstract entities exist because they are postulates of a scientific theory. He thus attempts to circumvent the need to justify knowledge of abstract entities by means of references to a supra-sensible reality of Forms as in Plato's theory. The truth of the system is maintained by scientific observation of the real world, but within the system there are many statements that are merely postulates and conventions. owever, his theory is a mixture of conventionalism and empiricism. By mixing the two he provides a sophisticated defence of empiricism against Kant's criticism, since neither pure conventionalism nor pure empiricism seem sufficient to refute it.
|
Contents of
The Synthetic a Priori
1 Empiricism, Platonism, Innate Ideas and the A Priori
2 Analytic a priori
3 Kant and the synthetic a priori
4 Compound (molecular) and atomic sentences
5 Logically atomic sentences and the philosophy of logical atomism
6 Complex sentences and attitudes
7 Subject and predicate, individual and property
8 Synthetic and analytic, definitions offered by Kant
9 A priori and a posteriori
10 The synthetic a priori in Kant - the Critique of Pure Reason
11 Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason, the self and transcendental apperception
12 Empiricist philosophies of mathematics - conventionalism (formalism)
13 Empiricist philosophies of mathematics - the empiricism of J.S. Mill
14 Hybrid empiricist philosophies of mathematics
15 Empiricist philosophies of mathematics - Wittgenstein and non-cognitivism
16 A.J. Ayer and conventionalism - his reply to Kant
|
