1 / 11

Functional Contextualism

Delve into the essence of philosophy to uncover assumptions, detect inconsistencies, and explore implications. Learn why contextualism matters and how assumptions provide coherent measures of progress in science. Explore the concept of multiple language games and the importance of functional contextualism in grounding knowledge in experience.

lfaulkner
Download Presentation

Functional Contextualism

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Functional Contextualism Steven C. Hayes University of Nevada

  2. What is Philosophy of Science? • Philosophy is a process of specifying your assumptions, detecting inconsistencies among them, and acknowledging their implications

  3. Why Does it Matter? • Concepts unplugged from their orienting assumptions lose vitality • Incoherence can lead to dead ends • Assumptions provide coherent measures of progress

  4. Stephen C. Pepper • We are not so cognitively advanced that we can deal with complexity without the guidance of underlying root metaphors, drawn from common sense

  5. Why Contextualism? • The unit: The situated, historical, purposive act • Truth criterion: successful working • Why? This is when behaviorism became “radical”

  6. Types • Descriptive: a personal experience of the participants in the whole • Functional: prediction and influence with precision, scope, and depth

  7. The Weirdest Feature • A-ontological: multiple language games are possible • It is an essential part of contextualism and of radical behaviorism • Necessary to the truth criterion

  8. The Weirdest Feature • Descriptive contextualists have used it to tear down science • But that is a kind of ontology

  9. How Do You Know? • The mind demands an answer • But there is more to us that the answer why • Consider values

  10. Where it Goes in Functional Contextualism • Keeps us focused on what works, not who is right • Keeps us flexible • Grounds knowledge in experience • But most of all …

  11. Helps Us Shut Up • When we have nothing useful to say beyond experience itself

More Related