Saturday, November 10, 2007
"overcoming epistemology"by Charles Taylor
OVERCOMING EPISTEMOLOGY " BY CHARLES TAYLOR
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The ideal of self-responsibilty is foundational to modern culture. It emeres not only in our picture of the growth of modern science through the heroism of the great sceitist, standing against the opinion of his age on the basis of his own self responsibilte certainty - Copernicus, Galileo ( he wobbled a bit before the Holy Office, but who can blame him ? ), Darwin, Freud. It is also closedly linked to the modern ideal of freedom as self-autonomy. To be free in the modern sense is to be self-responsble, to rely on your own judgement, to find your purpose in yourself. And so the espistemological tradition is also intricateed in a certain notion of freedom, and the dignity attaching to us in virtue of this.
The theory of knowledge partly draws its strength from this connection. But, reciprocally, the ideal of freedom has also drawn strength from its sensed connection with the construal of knowledge seemily favoured by modern sceience. From this point of view, it is fateful that this notion of freedom has been interpreted as involving certain key theses about the nature of the human agent ; we might call them anthropological beliefs. Whether these are in fact insepreable from the modern aspiration to autonomy is an open question, and a very important one.
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The ideal of self-responsibilty is foundational to modern culture. It emeres not only in our picture of the growth of modern science through the heroism of the great sceitist, standing against the opinion of his age on the basis of his own self responsibilte certainty - Copernicus, Galileo ( he wobbled a bit before the Holy Office, but who can blame him ? ), Darwin, Freud. It is also closedly linked to the modern ideal of freedom as self-autonomy. To be free in the modern sense is to be self-responsble, to rely on your own judgement, to find your purpose in yourself. And so the espistemological tradition is also intricateed in a certain notion of freedom, and the dignity attaching to us in virtue of this.
The theory of knowledge partly draws its strength from this connection. But, reciprocally, the ideal of freedom has also drawn strength from its sensed connection with the construal of knowledge seemily favoured by modern sceience. From this point of view, it is fateful that this notion of freedom has been interpreted as involving certain key theses about the nature of the human agent ; we might call them anthropological beliefs. Whether these are in fact insepreable from the modern aspiration to autonomy is an open question, and a very important one.
Seems to be great writer on philosophy, human anthropology etc. Wrote on Self, Hegel, Multiculturalism, Society,and there is his biography Mr.Nicolas H.Smith which received a 5 point rating.
Read on .
