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9780521597456

In Defense of Pure Reason: A Rationalist Account of A Priori Justification

by
  • ISBN13:

    9780521597456

  • ISBN10:

    0521597455

  • Format: Paperback
  • Copyright: 1997-11-28
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press
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Summary

This book is concerned with the alleged capacity of the human mind to arrive at beliefs and knowledge about the world on the basis of pure reason without any dependence on sensory experience. Most recent philosophers reject the view and argue that all substantive knowledge must be sensory in origin. Laurence BonJour provocatively reopens the debate by presenting the most comprehensive exposition and defense of the rationalist view that a priori insight is a genuine basis for knowledge.

Table of Contents

Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiv
Introduction: the problem of a priori justification
1(27)
The need for the a priori
1(5)
The concept of a priori justification
6(5)
The a priori and the necessary
11(4)
Rationalism and empiricism
15(5)
Kant and the synthetic a priori
20(8)
A note on terminology
26(2)
In search of moderate empiricism
28(34)
Introduction
28(4)
Reductive conceptions of analyticity
32(4)
Obfuscating conceptions of analyticity
36(10)
Lewis's appeal to sense meaning
46(3)
The idea of implicit definition
49(2)
The appeal to linguistic convention
51(7)
A final problem for the moderate empiricist
58(4)
Quine and radical empiricism
62(36)
Radical empiricism and skepticism
62(2)
``Two Dogmas of Empiricism'': Quine's target
64(3)
``Two Dogmas of Empiricism'': the argument against analyticity
67(6)
``Two Dogmas of Empiricism'': Quine's arguments against a priori justification
73(4)
The argument from indeterminacy of translation
77(5)
Quine's ``naturalized epistemology''
82(7)
Can radical empiricism avoid skepticism?
89(9)
A moderate rationalism
98(32)
Introduction
98(2)
A priori justification: some intuitive examples
100(6)
Rationalism: an initial formulation
106(4)
The fallibility of rational insight
110(5)
The corrigibility of rational insight
115(5)
Can a priori justification be refuted by experience?
120(4)
Demonstration and memory
124(6)
Epistemological objections to rationalism
130(23)
Introduction
130(1)
The very idea of rational insight
131(2)
Dogmatism and bias
133(5)
Disparities of insight
138(4)
The demand for metajustification
142(5)
The epistemological case for rationalism: overview and summary
147(2)
Concepts and reality
149(4)
Metaphysical objections to rationalism
153(34)
Introduction
153(3)
The causal objection
156(6)
The nature of thought
162(2)
A basic problem for the symbolic conception of thought
164(6)
The appeal to direct reference
170(4)
Conceptual role semantics
174(6)
Toward a theory of mental content
180(7)
The justification of induction
187(30)
Introduction
187(1)
The shape of the problem
188(4)
The pragmatic justification of induction
192(4)
The ordinary language justification of induction
196(4)
The inductive justification of induction
200(3)
Is it possible to justify induction a priori?
203(3)
Toward an a priori justification induction
206(11)
Appendix: Non-Euclidean geometry and relativity 217(8)
A.1 Introduction
217(1)
A.2 The mathematical and scientific background
218(3)
A.3 Some alternatives
221(2)
A.4 Geometry and rational insight
223(2)
References 225(4)
Index 229

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