Knowledge of the External World (Problems of Philosophy Their Past and Present)

Contemporary philosophy is marked by a setting aside or dissolution of the traditional problems of modern philosophy. Thus the problem of our knowledge of the external world is widely believed to have been disposed of or dissolved by Wittgenstein and others. In Knowledge of the External World Bruce Aune challenges this assumption. In the first half of the book, Aune considers the history of the problem in the work of the great modern philosophers: Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Kant, and Mill. Then turning to current debates, he argues that the problem has re-emerged and that an entirely new approach is needed. By examining the attempted dissolutions, Aune shows that the fundamental problem remains as a serious intellectual issue, one concerning the nature of permissible experimental or ``inductive'' inference. To resolve this issue, he undertakes a revision of empiricist epistemology and the development of the required theory of inference. Contemporary philosophy is marked by a setting aside or dissolution of the traditional problems of modern philosophy. Thus the problem of our knowledge of the external world is widely believed to have been disposed of or dissolved by Wittgenstein and others. In this book, Bruce Aune challenges this assumption. In the first half of Knowledge of the External World, Aune considers the history of the problem in the work of the great modern philosophers, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Kant, and Mill. Then turning to current debates, he argues that the problem has re-emerged and that an entirely new approach is needed. By examining the attempted dissolutions, Aune shows that the fundamental problem remains as a serious intellectual issue: one concerning the nature of permissible experimental or `inductive' inference. To resolve this issue, he undertakes a revision of empiricist epistemology and the development of the required theory of inference. Knowledge of the External World is an excellent historical systematic analysis of a central problem of philosophy and a fine introduction to the theory of knowledge. It will be essential reading for students of epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy -- Publisher's description

Many philosophers believe that the traditional problem of our knowledge of the external world was dissolved by Wittgestein and others. They argue that it was not really a problem - just a linguistic 'confusion' that did not actually require a solution. Bruce Aune argues that they are wrong. He casts doubt on the generally accepted reasons for putting the problem aside and proposes an entirely new approach. By considering the history of the problem from Descartes to Kant, Aune shows that analogous arguments create difficulties for the contemporary philosophical consensus. He makes it clear that the problem remains acute, particualarly for our understanding of scientific evidence. The solution he proposes draws upon contemporary philosophy of science and probability theory.

Book Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Series Title 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Dedication 7 Contents 10 Preface and Acknowledgments 11 Chapter 1 Descartes 13 CHAPTER II Locke and Berkeley 32 CHAPTER III Hume and Solipsism 53 CHAPTER IV Kant and Phenomenalism 72 CHAPTER V A New Start 93 CHAPTER VI Reforming Empiricism 113 CHAPTER VII The External World 136 Appendix 157 Notes 161 Bibliography 179 Index 182