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An accessible introduction to the question of human knowing, offering a map of the cognitive activities that lead us towards truth and value.
The problem of human knowing has been foundational for the enterprise of philosophy since the time of Descartes. The great philosophers have offered different accounts of the power and limits of human knowing but no generally acceptable system has emerged. Contemporary writers have almost given up on this most intractable issue.
In this book, Brian Cronin suggests using the method of introspective description to identify the characteristics of the act of human understanding and knowing. Introspection--far from being private and unverifiable--can be public, communal, and verifiable. If we can describe our dreams and our feelings, then, we can describe our acts of understanding. Using concrete examples, one can identify the activities involved--namely, questioning, researching, getting an idea, expressing a concept, reflecting on the evidence and inferring a conclusion. Each of these activities can be described clearly and in great detail. If we perform these activities well, we can understand and know both truth and value. The text invites readers to verify each and every statement in their own experience of understanding. This is a detailed and verifiable account of human knowing: an extremely valuable contribution to philosophy and a solution to the foundational problem of knowing.
The problem of human knowing has been foundational for the enterprise of philosophy since the time of Descartes. The great philosophers have offered different accounts of the power and limits of human knowing but no generally acceptable system has emerged. Contemporary writers have almost given up on this most intractable issue.
In this book, Brian Cronin suggests using the method of introspective description to identify the characteristics of the act of human understanding and knowing. Introspection--far from being private and unverifiable--can be public, communal, and verifiable. If we can describe our dreams and our feelings, then, we can describe our acts of understanding. Using concrete examples, one can identify the activities involved--namely, questioning, researching, getting an idea, expressing a concept, reflecting on the evidence and inferring a conclusion. Each of these activities can be described clearly and in great detail. If we perform these activities well, we can understand and know both truth and value. The text invites readers to verify each and every statement in their own experience of understanding. This is a detailed and verifiable account of human knowing: an extremely valuable contribution to philosophy and a solution to the foundational problem of knowing.
Price: $36.95
Pages: 299
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: Lutterworth Press
Publication Date:
27 September 2018
Trim Size: 9.02 X 6.02 in
ISBN: 9780718895358
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
PHILOSOPHY / Movements / Phenomenology, Phenomenology and Existentialism
Nothing is more important for the cultural life of our age than accurate self-knowledge. This book by Brian Cronin addresses that challenge--and delivers. Written in a direct and simple style, the book leads the reader on a profound journey of transformation--to themselves and to the world. I have used Cronin's previous works with both faculty and students to their great benefit. I could not recommend this book more highly.
— Richard M. Liddy, Seton Hall University
a learned and thoughtful book, recommended to anyone thinking critically about perennial philosophical topics as understanding, knowledge and truth
— Esgrid Sikahall, Univrsity of Edinburgh, Expository Times vol 131, no.8, May 2020
— Richard M. Liddy, Seton Hall University
a learned and thoughtful book, recommended to anyone thinking critically about perennial philosophical topics as understanding, knowledge and truth
— Esgrid Sikahall, Univrsity of Edinburgh, Expository Times vol 131, no.8, May 2020
Preface
Introduction
Turn to the Subject
Completing the Turn to the Subject
Advantages and Contributions of this Approach
Sources
What Kind of a Book Is This?
Book Summary
1 From Introspection to Self-Appropriation
The Need for a Method
Difficulties in Studying Human Understanding
Introspection: Uses and Abuses
From Introspection to Self-Appropriation
Self-Appropriation that is Communal and Verifiable
Conclusion: an Empirical Method for Philosophy
2 Consciousness as an Experience
What is Consciousness?
Analysis and Definition
Clarification by Contrast
Defining Basic Terms
Understanding as an Activity
Conclusion
3 The Basic Act of Understanding (Part 1)
Introduction
Where to Look
Questioning: The Desire to Know
Active Element: Strategies for Thinking
Passive Element: It Comes Suddenly and Unexpectedly
Conclusion
4 The Basic Act of Understanding (Part 2)
Ideas Emerge from Images
Contrasting Images and Ideas
Relating Images and Ideas
Conception and Perception
The Notion of Emergence
Ideas Become Habitual
Conclusion
5 Developing Understanding
Introduction
Generalizing
Description to Explanation
Higher Viewpoints
Probabilities and Chance
Conclusion
6 How Understanding Becomes Knowledge
From Thinking to Knowing
The Critical Question Arises
Reflective Insight into Truth
Characteristics of a Judgment of Truth
The Criterion of Truth
7 Understanding and Knowing Values
Judging Moral Values
The Question of Value Arises
Scale of Values
Structure of Deliberative Insight
Deliberative Insights into Moral Values
The Affective Component of the Judgment of Value
Judgments of Value
Conscience as Criterion
Conclusion and Summary
8 Cognitional Structure
A Synthesis and Summary Thus Far
The Sequence of Activities that Constitutes One Knowing
Cognitional Structure - Explaining the Table
Immanent and Operative Norms
A Verifiable Cognitional Theory
Performance and Content
9 Understanding Misunderstanding
Conflict and Disagreement
Minor Sources of Misunderstanding
Dialectic at the Heart of Human Knowing
Imagination and Intelligence
Naïve Realism or Critical Realism
Intuition: From 'Looking' to Knowing
Startling Strangeness
10 Establishing Critical Realism
Psychology of Knowledge
Transitioning to Philosophy
First Strategic Judgment: Self-Affirmation
Contrast with Descartes
Second Strategic Judgment: the Notion of Being
Third Strategic Judgment: Subjectivity and Objectivity
Conclusion
11 From Subjectivity to Objectivity
Subjectivity and Objectivity as Commonly Conceived
The Principal Notion of Objectivity
Immanence and Transcendence
Absolute Objectivity
Normative Objectivity
Experiential Objectivity
Conclusion
12 Mind Recovered
Being at Home in a Philosophy of Interiority
Method and Methods
Dialectic Remains to be Overcome
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Introduction
Turn to the Subject
Completing the Turn to the Subject
Advantages and Contributions of this Approach
Sources
What Kind of a Book Is This?
Book Summary
1 From Introspection to Self-Appropriation
The Need for a Method
Difficulties in Studying Human Understanding
Introspection: Uses and Abuses
From Introspection to Self-Appropriation
Self-Appropriation that is Communal and Verifiable
Conclusion: an Empirical Method for Philosophy
2 Consciousness as an Experience
What is Consciousness?
Analysis and Definition
Clarification by Contrast
Defining Basic Terms
Understanding as an Activity
Conclusion
3 The Basic Act of Understanding (Part 1)
Introduction
Where to Look
Questioning: The Desire to Know
Active Element: Strategies for Thinking
Passive Element: It Comes Suddenly and Unexpectedly
Conclusion
4 The Basic Act of Understanding (Part 2)
Ideas Emerge from Images
Contrasting Images and Ideas
Relating Images and Ideas
Conception and Perception
The Notion of Emergence
Ideas Become Habitual
Conclusion
5 Developing Understanding
Introduction
Generalizing
Description to Explanation
Higher Viewpoints
Probabilities and Chance
Conclusion
6 How Understanding Becomes Knowledge
From Thinking to Knowing
The Critical Question Arises
Reflective Insight into Truth
Characteristics of a Judgment of Truth
The Criterion of Truth
7 Understanding and Knowing Values
Judging Moral Values
The Question of Value Arises
Scale of Values
Structure of Deliberative Insight
Deliberative Insights into Moral Values
The Affective Component of the Judgment of Value
Judgments of Value
Conscience as Criterion
Conclusion and Summary
8 Cognitional Structure
A Synthesis and Summary Thus Far
The Sequence of Activities that Constitutes One Knowing
Cognitional Structure - Explaining the Table
Immanent and Operative Norms
A Verifiable Cognitional Theory
Performance and Content
9 Understanding Misunderstanding
Conflict and Disagreement
Minor Sources of Misunderstanding
Dialectic at the Heart of Human Knowing
Imagination and Intelligence
Naïve Realism or Critical Realism
Intuition: From 'Looking' to Knowing
Startling Strangeness
10 Establishing Critical Realism
Psychology of Knowledge
Transitioning to Philosophy
First Strategic Judgment: Self-Affirmation
Contrast with Descartes
Second Strategic Judgment: the Notion of Being
Third Strategic Judgment: Subjectivity and Objectivity
Conclusion
11 From Subjectivity to Objectivity
Subjectivity and Objectivity as Commonly Conceived
The Principal Notion of Objectivity
Immanence and Transcendence
Absolute Objectivity
Normative Objectivity
Experiential Objectivity
Conclusion
12 Mind Recovered
Being at Home in a Philosophy of Interiority
Method and Methods
Dialectic Remains to be Overcome
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index