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After Philosophy: Introduction

Ron ChrisleyCOGS/Informatics, University of Sussex

Consciousness Studies ProgrammeUniversity of Skövde

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The Crisis In Philosophy:The pre and post collide in Kant

PlatoDescartes Locke

Mill BerkeleyHumeHegel

IMMANUEL KANT: Critique of Pure Reason

Darwin Marx Nietzsche Frege??? Freud

Heidegger & Wittgenstein

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Dispute 1: Reason

PRE: Necessity Universality A priori Certainty Invariance Unity Totality Self-evident given Unconditional

POST: Contingency,Convention Plurality, Relativism Empirical Fallibility Historical/cultural variability Heterogeneity Fragmentary Interpreted signs Rejection of absolute

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Dispute 2: The Subject

Sovereign Rational Atomistic Autonomous Dis- Dis- Self-transparent Conceptual Conscious Mind vs. Body

Non-authoritative Irrational Holistic Historical, cultural Engaged

Embodied

Self-ignorant Non-, pre- Un-, Sub- Mind/body

PRE: POST:

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Dispute 3: Knowledge

Representational

Independent world

Conceptualised given

Independent subject

Ding an sich

Articulable

Full grasp

Full self-control

Non-

No sharp S/O divide

Pre-interpreted

Part of world

Hermeneutic circle

Un-articulable back/ground

None or partial

None or partial

PRE: POST:

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Dispute 4: Method

Logic Literal Logos Argument

Rhetoric Figurative Mythos Narrative

PRE: POST:

•Post- claim is that you won't understand philosophy or its insights until you recognise the rhetorical strategies, etc., involved

•(But on the post view, can't we understand without understanding why we understand?)

•On some post- views, progress on the other disputes (e.g., the subject) can be made by applying literary analysis to philosophical texts.

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Post- Responses The end of philosophy (Rorty, Derrida) Philosophy continues, transformed into:

A theory of meaning (Davidson, Dummett) Social inquiry (Habermas) Hermeneutics (Gadamer, Ricoeur) Historiography (MacIntyre, Blumenberg)

Not mentioned: Philosophy continues, not transformed, but responding to the crisis nonetheless (not considered, since only looking at those who have made "the linguistic turn").

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Issues which divide the responses Truth and conceptual schemes The fate of the subject and the

role of interpretation Politics of language Rhetoric and poetics of

language The role of theory in philosophy

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Truth Putnam agrees that reason is

always culture- and language- dependent

But there is still an ideal of rationality which can be used to critique our own traditions

Truth is then understood as what is accepted under such ideally rational conditions

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Conceptual schemes It might be that language and

meaning are context-bound to cultures, forms of life: language games

But this need not imply incommensurabilty (Gadamer, MacIntyre, Habermas)

In fact, incommensurability may be impossible (Davidson): The "post" view limits itself!

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The fate of the subject One view: we need to re-cast our

idea of the subject, so that it is seen as limited, situated, engaged, etc. (Ricoeur, Blumenberg, Gadamer)

Another view: There is nothing there to be better understood: No subject, no ”true meaning” (Foucault? Derrida?)