Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Satisfying Reason: Studies in the Theory of Knowledge

Satisfying Reason: Studies in the Theory of Knowledge

Rescher, N.

Hardcover

Series: Episteme, Book 21

PhilosophyGeneral Reference

ISBN10: 0792331486
ISBN13: 9780792331483
Publisher: Springer Nature
Published: Mar 31 1995
Pages: 246
Weight: 1.20
Height: 0.63 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
Leibniz said with a mixture of admiration and inspiration that the Duchess Sophie of Hannover always wanted to know the reason why behind the reason why. And that is just how rationality works: it wants to leave no loose ends to understanding, seeking to enable us to understand things through to the bitter end.
In the twelve chapters that make up Satisfying Reason, Rescher develops and defends the following perspective:
  • That rationality is a cardinal virtue in cognitive matters.
  • That this is not something simple and cut-and-dried: in the pursuit of truth through the development of knowledge we face obstacles -- sometimes even insuperable ones.
  • All that we can do is the best we can, realizing that even our very best may still be imperfect.
  • Nevertheless, the venture is far from hopeless. While absolutes are unattainable in the cognitive venture, some solutions are situationally optimal, being comparatively the best that can be managed under the circumstances.
  • That reason itself enables us to come to terms with this state of affairs, urging us to accept the best we can do as good enough.
Satisfying Reason is an explanation of the presuppositions and methods of rational enquiry, an original exercise in metaknowledge, developing a systematic body of knowledge about the scope and limits of knowledge itself.

1 different editions

Also available

Also in

Philosophy

View All