The Failures of Philosophy : : A Historical Essay / / Stephen Gaukroger.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2020 English
• VerfasserIn: Gaukroger, Stephen,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2020]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (320 p.)

The first book to address the historical failures of philosophy—and what we can learn from themPhilosophers are generally unaware of the failures of philosophy, recognizing only the failures of particular theories, which are then remedied with other theories. But, taking the long view, philosophy has actually collapsed several times, been abandoned, sometimes for centuries, and been replaced by something quite different. When it has been revived it has been with new aims that are often accompanied by implausible attempts to establish continuity with a perennial philosophical tradition. What do these failures tell us?The Failures of Philosophy presents a historical investigation of philosophy in the West, from the perspective of its most significant failures: attempts to provide an account of the good life, to establish philosophy as a discipline that can stand in judgment over other forms of thought, to set up philosophy as a theory of everything, and to construe it as a discipline that rationalizes the empirical and mathematical sciences. Stephen Gaukroger argues that these failures reveal more about philosophical enquiry and its ultimate point than its successes ever could. These failures show how and why philosophical inquiry has been conceived and reconceived, why philosophy has been thought to bring distinctive skills to certain questions, and much more.An important and original account of philosophy’s serial breakdowns, The Failures of Philosophy ultimately shows how these shortcomings paradoxically reveal what matters most about the field.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Preface -- Introduction -- PART I THE RISE AND FALL OF PHILOSOPHY IN ANTIQUITY -- CHAPTER 1 The Emergence of Philosophy -- CHAPTER 2 Metaphysics as a Form of Understanding -- CHAPTER 3 Philosophy’s Loss of Autonomy -- PART II PHILOSOPHY RE-PURPOSED AS THE ULTIMATE ARBITER -- CHAPTER 4 The Creation of an Autonomous Role for Philosophy -- CHAPTER 5 From Natural Philosophy to Epistemology -- CHAPTER 6 Reason versus Sensibility -- PART III THE DECLINE OF PHILOSOPHY AND ITS RE-PURPOSING AS METASCIENCE -- CHAPTER 7 The Retreat from Philosophy -- CHAPTER 8 The Search for a Theory of Everything -- CHAPTER 9 Science Assimilates Philosophy -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index