Dialogues on Fundamental Questions of Science and Philosophy
The Commonwealth and International Library: Dialogues on Fundamental Questions of Science and Philosophy
- 1st Edition - January 1, 1967
- Author: A. Pfeiffer
- Language: English
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 1 - 9 1 1 6 - 4
Dialogues on Fundamental Questions of Science and Philosophy presents a compilation of dialogues concerning the basic questions of science and philosophy. This book discusses the… Read more
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Request a sales quoteDialogues on Fundamental Questions of Science and Philosophy presents a compilation of dialogues concerning the basic questions of science and philosophy. This book discusses the relationship between philosophy and science. Organized into two parts encompassing 10 chapters, this book begins with an argument that reality can be recognized objectively, but not that there is a conflict between science and faith. This text then examines the invalidity of the causality principle in the microworld of the elementary particle and by the lack of individual identity of the particles. Other chapters consider the argument that philosophy should also make use of scientific methods. This book discusses as well the extended version of the biogenetical law of Haeckel, which is also valid for the progress of the human perceptive faculty. The final chapter deals with the argument that the idea of good as a tenet for practical actions is religious in character. This book is a valuable resource for readers who are interested in the fields of science and philosophy.
A Foreword by Kurt Mendelssohn, F.R.S.
Introduction
First dialogue (Introducing the Range of Problems to be Dealt with):
Science and philosophy — Ideal values — Scepticism and Mysticism — Biology and Ethics — does an Objective Reality Exist? — from Quantum Physics to Religion — Nature Religions — Science and Superstition — Religion and Politics — Science and Art in Place of Religion.
First Part Science and Theory of Cognition
Second Dialogue (The Philosophical Problems of Quantum Physics):
Do elementary Particles Exist Objectively? — Kant and the Positivists — The Philosopher as Guardian of the Physicist — The Correspondence Principle — Individuality and Objective Existence — The Wave of Probability — Uncertainty Relation and Errors in Measurement — Experimental Conditions and Results — The Causality Principle as a Criterion of Reality — Two versions of the Causality Principle — Chance and Determinacy — The Islands of Interactions — Free will and the Causality Principle.
Third Dialogue (The Theory of Cognition of Philosophic Idealism and the Starting Point of Philosophy):
Kant's Circle Syllogism — The Positivistic Fundamental Conceptions — Fichte and Hegel — Solipsism — Philosophy and Practice — The "Physical" Positivism — Philosophy without Assumptions? — Descartes' Circle Syllogism — Deductive and Inductive Methods in Natural Science and Philosophy — Mathematics as Science of Experience — Philosophy and Individual Sciences.
Fourth Dialogue (The Model Theory of Cognition):
Theory of Cognition and Psychology — Theory of Cognition and History of the Development of Species — Learning as Fundamental Phenomenon of Life — Pavlov's Conditioned Reflexes and Perception — Haeckel's Fundamental Biogenetic Law and the Development of the Ability of Cognition — The Mate- Rialistic Theory of Cognition — Incessorial and Excessorial Creatures — of the Infantilism of the "Critical" Philosophy — "Matter" and "Mind" or "Spirit" — the Natural "Law" — Materialism and Pantheism — Metaphysics of the will?
Second Part The Ethical Problem — Nature and Culture
Fifth Dialogue (Ethical Fundamental Questions):
Ethics and Natural Science — Ethics and Practice — The Urge for "Good" and the Categorical Imperative — Reason and Inclination — Moral and Religion — Culture and Ethics — The Decline of Ethics — is Religion Necessary for the Foundation of Ethics? — Kant's Religious Postulates — The Reward Motive — The Urge for Self-Preservation and Reproduction — Culture and Biological Viability — is Culture Inherently Irrational? — The Ethical Conflict.
Sixth Dialogue (On Natural Structures):
Destruction, Annihilation, The Struggle for Existence — The Concept of Tension in Inorganic and Organic Nature — Internal Tensions — Reversible and Irreversible Processes — The Inner Harmony of Natural Structures — Species Concept and the Individual — Species Concept as "Idea" — Animate Beings as Complex Regulator — Species Concept as Control Programme — The Concept of "Good" and the Concept of "Species Homo Sapiens" — do Ideas of the Mind Only Exist?
Seventh Dialogue (Of the Individual Development and of the Behaviour of Animals):
Species Concept of the Structure of the Body and Species Concept of the Mode of Life — Structure of Conduct of Life — Species Concept and Prototype of the Individual Development — Prototype and Environment — Reflexes and Instincts — Learning and Consciousness — goal-Orientated Instincts — Complexes of Characteristics as Impulse Release — The Conflict of Instincts — The Influence of the Animal on his Environment — The Prototype of the Herd — Obedience and Disobedience of the Domesticated Animal — The Mixed Herd.
Eighth Dialogue (Ethics and Culture):
Behaviour According to Maximes — Instinct and Reason — Love and Sexuality — Motherlove — The Exploratory Drive — Ambition — The Roots of Culture — Language — Culture as Result of a "Feed-Back" — The Inner Logic of the Development of Culture — Structure of Production, Structure of Society and System of Values — Individuality and Egoism — The Ethical Primacy of Society — The Reasons for the Decay of Ethics — Social Consciousness and Tradition of Concepts.
Ninth Dialogue (On the Evaluation of Single Impulses and the Relation Between the Individual and Society):
"Eternal" Virtues — Sexual Instinct and Religion — Biological Standards of Value? — The Conscience — Moral Personal Responsibility — Concept of Honour — Professional or Class-Bound Honour — The Exploiting Class as Upholders of Civilisation — on the Moral Reaction of the Individual on Society — The Genius — The Humanitarian Ideal — Ethics and Negation of Life — "Inwardness" — The Reasons for the Social Impotence of Christianity and the Historical Limitation of Christian Ethics — Active Christianity — Does Progress Exist? — Politics, Economy and Ethics.
Tenth dialogue (On the Total Conception of the Ethical Ideals):
Again the Conflict of Ethics — The Jesuitic Casuistry — "Optimum" and "Least Evil" — The Integral Assessment of the Moral Personality — Esoteric Solution of the Ethical Problem? — Mundus Vult Decipi" — Theoretical Insight and Practical Decision — The Complex Character of Ethical Ideas — The Good and Bad Example for Others — Man is Good — The Fear of Death — The Philosopher as Comforter — Man as Tool."
- No. of pages: 142
- Language: English
- Edition: 1
- Published: January 1, 1967
- Imprint: Pergamon
- eBook ISBN: 9781483191164
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