The structure of rationality and the ideal of aesthetic harmony in Whitehead's pragmatic philosophical theology
Whiteheadd's metaphysics provides resources for understanding a world in value-realist terms. Central to this value realism is an aesthetic conception of rationality that sees a hope implicit in our practices - the hope that our linguistic tools are suited to the task of getting things right in...
| Published in: | Process studies |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Process Studies
[2016]
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| In: |
Process studies
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Whitehead, Alfred North 1861-1947
/ Philosophical theology
/ Rationality
/ Aesthetics
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| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism TK Recent history |
| Further subjects: | B
Pragmatism
B Whitehead, Alfred North, 1861-1947 B Aesthetics B analytic philosophy B Philosophical Theology B Reason |
| Summary: | Whiteheadd's metaphysics provides resources for understanding a world in value-realist terms. Central to this value realism is an aesthetic conception of rationality that sees a hope implicit in our practices - the hope that our linguistic tools are suited to the task of getting things right in our fields of inquiry. This pragmatic hope entails an understanding of individual freedom and responsibility to participate in a patient restructuring of the world toward the highest retention of value. It also enables an understanding of individual freedom as obstructive to this restructuring. One task of this article is to show that attunement in theory to the hope implicit in practice can ameliorate this obstructiveness. A subsequent task is to show that, insofar as this preliminary hope is not a metaphysical premise, but a regulative ideal seeking satisfaction, it can serve as a warranty for an implicit theology in linguistic pragmatism. In this way, I argue that we can come to see pragmatism as a method lending itself to a philosophical theology of the Whiteheadian variety. We can do this precisely insofar as rationalism is seen as predicated on an aesthetic ideal of harmony - a harmony between what is and what ought to be our matters of concern. We can come to see the structure of rationality in terms of an aestheticism corrective of analytic conceptions of meaning and truth. |
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| ISSN: | 0360-6503 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Process studies
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