Lexington Books
Pages: 194
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-4985-4039-1 • Hardback • August 2016 • $117.00 • (£90.00)
978-1-4985-4041-4 • Paperback • September 2018 • $53.99 • (£42.00)
978-1-4985-4040-7 • eBook • August 2016 • $51.00 • (£39.00)
Nicholas Rescher is professor of philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh.
PREFACE
I.METHODOLOGY
1.Introduction: The Concept Auditing Process
II.SOME HISTORICAL APPLICATIONS
2. The Socratic Method as an Illustration
3.Neo-Platonic Wholes
4.Descartes and Generalization
5.Spinoza on Things and Ideas
6.Kantian Absolutism in Moral Theory
7.Mill on Desirability
8.Ordinary Language Philosophy on the Nature of Knowing
9.Russell-Gettier on the Analysis of Knowledge
10.Concept Dialectics in Historical Perspective
11.Metaphysical Illusions
III.FURTHER ILLUSTRATIVE APPLICATIONS
12.Who Dun It?
13.Existence: To Be or Not to Be
14.Explanatory Regression
15.The Fallacy of Respect Neglect
16.Appearance and Reality
17.On the Truth about Reality
18.Sameness and Change
19.Origination Issues
20.Shaping Ideas
21.Construing Necessitation
22.Conceptual Horizons
23.Language Limits
24.On Certainty
25.Timeless Truth
26.Assessing Acceptability
27.Value Neutrality in Science
28.Personhood and Obligation
29.Control Issues
30.Fairness Problems
31.The Ethics of Delegation
32.Doing unto Others
33.Faux Quantities
34.Luck vs. Fortune
35.The Problem of Progress
36.Issues of Excellence
37.Problems of Perfection
IV.CONCLUSION
38.Concluding Observations
In Concept Audits, Rescher (Univ. of Pittsburgh) turns his attention to ordinary language, advocating for a simple method for ensuring that philosophical concepts such as “truth,” “knowledge,” and “beauty” hew to their pre-philosophical meanings. Echoing Ludwig Wittgenstein, Rescher makes the case that when philosophy moves away from ordinary language, philosophy suffers, not merely in its ability to solve conceptual problems but also in its ability to resonate with non-philosophers. Rescher’s method—to examine the ordinary-language terms used in philosophical deliberation—takes just ten pages to elaborate; in the 36 brief chapters that follow, he demonstrates concept auditing in practice. Rescher subjects classic problems, among them the Cartesian demon and the ship of Theseus, to conceptual audit, turning up all manner of equivocations, category mistakes, and logical fallacies... [H]e is a titan of the field, and Concept Audits offers a methodologically sound glimpse into contemporary ordinary language philosophy in action. Summing Up:Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.
— Choice Reviews
[T]here are things to be gained by reading his book.
— Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
As one of the world's strongest philosophers, Nicholas Rescher has written books on topics going far beyond analysis of Ordinary Language. In Concept Audits, however, his theme is how disastrous it is to forget what words ordinarily mean, using a host of intriguing examples.
— John Leslie, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Nicholas Rescher’s admirable Concept Audits: A Philosophical Method systematizes a three-step natural language strategy for auditing the pretheoretical meanings of concept terms vital to philosophical expression. Rescher reveals the method successfully applied in many chapters in the history of philosophy, starting with Socrates’ elenchus as a prototype concept audit. He then considers the method’s value thematically in approaching a wide range of contemporary philosophical inquiries. Rescher’s book is highly recommended to students and professionals. It will be appreciated as much for what it teaches about the underlying assumptions of some of the past most productive practice of philosophy, as for its clearly articulated and lavishly illustrated program for charting future methodologically self-conscious philosophical advances.
— Dale Jacquette, Universität Bern
Nicholas Rescher successively shows that Ordinary Language Philosophy is viable today by applying its methodology to a wide variety of philosophical issues within logic and metaphysics and areas in between. I highly recommend the book for anyone who recognizes the important role language plays in philosophical methodology.
— Mark Roberts, Franciscan University of Steubenville