The Roots of Reason
Philosophical Essays on Rationality, Evolution, and Probability
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Product details:
- Publisher Oxford University Press
- Date of Publication 16 January 2003
- ISBN 9780199243846
- Binding Hardback
- No. of pages252 pages
- Size 203x135x19 mm
- Weight 386 g
- Language English 0
Categories
Short description:
David Papineau presents a controversial view of human reason, portraying it as a normal part of the natural world, and drawing on the empirical sciences to illuminate its workings. In these six interconnected essays he discusses both theoretical and practical rationality, and shows how evolutionary theory, decision theory, and quantum mechanics offer fresh approaches to some long-standing problems.
MoreLong description:
David Papineau presents a controversial view of human reason, portraying it as a normal part of the natural world, and drawing on the empirical sciences to illuminate its workings. In these six interconnected essays he offers a fresh approach to some long-standing problems.
Papineau rejects the contemporary orthodoxy that genuine thought hinges on some species of non-natural normativity. He explores the evolutionary histories of theoretical and practical rationality, indicating ways in which capacities underlying human reasoning have been selected for their biological advantages. He then looks at the connection between decision and probability, explaining how good decisions need to be informed by causal as well as probabilistic facts. Finally he defends the
radical view that a satisfactory understanding of decision-making is only possible within a specific interpretation of quantum mechanics.
By placing the subject in its scientific context, Papineau shows how human rationality plays an explicable role in the functioning of the natural world.
The book succeeds at presenting an articulated and coherent view in various areas of epistemology and philosophy of science, treating a series of issues ranging from the foundations of decision theory and probability to various interesting problems in the cognitive sciences. The first three chapters center on classical epistemological issues as well as on certain aspects of the evolution of cognition. Together they present a forceful and original naturalistic account, which, at
times, is directly at odds with widespread philosophical views on the nature of content, knowledge and the aims of inquiry. The last three chapters on probability, causation and quantum mechanics form another cohesive part of the book. Even when the topics discussed in these last three chapters are of a
more technical nature, they are presented in a very accessible and readable manner.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Introduction
Normativity and Judgement
The Evolution of Knowledge
The Evolution of Means-End Reasoning
Probability as a Guide to Life (co-authored with Helen Beebee)
Causation as a Guide to Life
Uncertainty Decisions and the Many-Minds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
