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Rule-Following - ebook
Rule-Following - ebook
In this book, Bartosz Brożek attempts to decipher the practice of rule-following with the use of the tools offered both by contemporary philosophy and neuroscience. The Author claims – in the Wittgensteinian spirit – that rule-following cannot be thought of in terms of individual mental states only: in order to explain what rules are, one needs to consider rule-following to be a communal practice. This stance is supported by a number of evolutionary scenarios and neuroscientific theories. The monograph culminates in an explication of rule-following in language, morality and mathematics.
Kategoria: | Filozofia |
Język: | Angielski |
Zabezpieczenie: |
Watermark
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ISBN: | 978-83-7886-041-9 |
Rozmiar pliku: | 1,1 MB |
FRAGMENT KSIĄŻKI
The problem of rule-following has been present in philosophical literature at least since Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations. The number of contributions to the topic has been enormous, and their proper analysis would require several thick volumes. In face of this fact, an apologia seems in place: why have I decided to write yet another work on the subject? My defence is twofold. First, I believe that much of the existing literature pertaining to rule-following is centred around the problem of language rules, while other kinds of rule-following are ignored. This is quite understandable given the focus of Wittgenstein’s analysis, as well as the popularity of Kripke’s influential book, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language. However, I would suggest that the prevailing reading of Wittgenstein is too limiting: his insights are relevant for all types of rule-following. Second, there exists a cluster of ideas that have originated in various disciplines and which seem surprisingly coherent: Wittgenstein’s analysis of rule-following; the mirror neuron hypothesis in neuroscience; the importance of imitation in recently proposed evolutionary scenarios; the ‘embodied mind’ paradigm as developed by Lakoff and his collaborators; and finally some aspects of Popper’s long-neglected ontology of three worlds. It has been difficult to resist the temptation to describe the relationships between those ideas and it is my hope that the result of this attempt – the theory of rules developed in this book – offers some fresh insights regarding the nature of rule-following.
This book has benefited greatly from discussions with, and comments from, many people. I express my gratitude to Michael Heller and Jerzy Stelmach, who not only created the intellectually stimulating environment that I have the privilege to work in, but also shared their ideas pertaining to the problems I discuss in the study. I thank Robert Audi, Mateusz Hohol and Łukasz Kurek, who read the entire manuscript and provided me with insightful comments. My gratitude also goes to (in alphabetical order) Anna Brożek, Yadin Dudai, Marcin Gorazda, Jaap Hage, Maria Karolczak, Bartłomiej Kucharzyk, Nino Rotolo, Corrado Roversi, Magdalena Senderecka, Aeddan Shaw, Piotr Urbańczyk, Wojciech Załuski, and Radosław Zyzik, who read and commented upon parts of the text or discussed the ideas I deal with in the book. Finally, this book was written within The Limits of Scientific Explanation research project, carried out at the Copernicus Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Kraków and sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation. I kindly thank both institutions for their support.
As usually, my deepest gratitude goes to Atka, for making my world richer than ever expected, and for showing me that whether you break rules or follow them, it is always better to do it together.
Bartosz Brożek
Kraków, July 2012