Cover 1
Frontmatter 2
Contents 6
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 8
INTRODUCTION 12
One. The Limits of Metaphysics and the Limits of Certainty 24
Two. Foundationalism in Plato? 52
Three. Foundationalism and Temporal Paradox: The Case of Augustine's Confessions 68
Four. Hierarchy and Early Empiricism 96
Five. Hegel, German Idealism, and Antifoundationalism 116
Six. Nietzsche and the Problem of Ground 138
Seven. Like Bridges without Piers: Beyond the Foundationalist Metaphor 154
Eight. Pragmatism and the Reconstruction of Metaphysics: Toward a New Understanding of Foundations 176
Nine. Metaphysics without Mirrors 200
Ten. Metaphysics and Validation 220
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS 250
INDEX OF NAMES 254
INDEX OF TITLES 258
Publisher:Temple University Press,Published:1991,ISBN:9781439900932,Language:English,OCLC:316066727
"[The book] illuminate[s] the philosophical urge to attain certainty and system, and especially system that is based on certain and indubitable ground. The historical approach works well.... This collection makes no pretensions, yet manages to deliver important contributions to the continuing inquiry." —John Lachs, Vanderbilt University The debate over foundationalism, the viewpoint that there exists some secure foundation upon which to build a system of knowledge, appears to have been resolved and the antifoundationalists have at least temporarily prevailed. From a firmly historical approach, the book traces the foundationalism/antifoundationalism controversy in the work of many important figures—Animaxander, Aristotle and Plato, Augustine, Descartes, Hegel and Nietzsche, Habermas and Chisholm, and others—throughout the history of philosophy. The contributors, Joseph Margolis, Ronald Polansky, Gary Calore, Fred and Emily Michael, William Wurzer, Charlene Haddock Siegfried, Sandra B. Rosenthal, Kathleen Wallace, and the editors present well the diversity, interest, and roots of antifoundationalism.
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