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New Idols of the Cave
On the Limits of Anti-Realism
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by Christopher Norris
Manchester University Press
Due/Published
October 1997, 253 pages,
paper
ISBN
0719050936
New Idols of the Cave offers a broad-based critical survey of recent anti-realist arguments in philosophy of science, cultural theory, hermeneurics, the sociology of knowledge, and the interpretation of quantum-mechanics. It traces their emergence to a range of otherwise diverse sources and influences, among them Heideggerian depth-ontology, the "linguistic turn" across various disciplines, and the widespread retreat from realist positions under pressure from "post-analytical" developments inspired by the work of philosophers such as Quine, Kuhn, Putnam, Rorty, and (arguably) Donald Davidson. Norris's position will be welcome for its vigorous critique of these ideas and also, more constructively, for presenting strong counter-arguments in support of the realist case. Of particular interest is his heterodox reading of texts by Jacques Derrida, especially the essays "White Mythology" and "The Supplement of Copula". For we get Derrida wrong, Norris argues, if we think of deconstruction as just another variant on the postmodern-textualist turn against truth and reason.. Rather he stands in a clearly marked line of descent from critical philosophers of science like Bachelard and Canguilhem, thinkers who sought to clarify the process of scientific theory-formulation through a detailed analysis of the role played in it by metaphor, image and analogy. This book will be widely discussed for its cogent defense of critical realism in the natural and human sciences. It will also provoke debate through its revisionist reading of Derrida, its engagement with postmodernist theory, and its detailed reconstruction of crucial episodes in the recent history of Anglo-American and Continental philosophy. |
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