P. F. Strawson

Sir Peter Frederick Strawson ( born November 23, 1919 in London, † 13 February 2006 in Oxford ) was a British philosopher, who is assigned to analytic philosophy and much acclaimed contributions to the philosophy of language, metaphysics, logic, epistemology and classics and arguments of the History of Philosophy, has especially to Kant, submitted. For the development of analytic philosophy since the 1960s towards a resurgence of metaphysical theory approaches Strawson was to study individual things of 1959 prevail.

Biography

Strawson was Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at Oxford University Of 1968 until 1987.

Strawson 1977 was knighted. In 1960 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy and in 1971 Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Strawson's son, Galen Strawson, is also a philosopher.

Peter Strawson died on 13 February 2006 in Oxford.

Teaching

Strawson was known by his article On Referring (1950), a critique of Bertrand Russell's Theory of Descriptions, which shows that Russell's analysis can not account for all the relevant uses of the definite article, in particular cases, if the object in question does not exist - Russell must then review the sentence as false, which, as Strawson, in many cases, is counter-intuitive. In theory, the labeling Strawson indication of the influence of presuppositions to the importance of statements has contributed to the development. Strawson's proposal to start with rules that determine the correct reference under certain conditions, among other things, also converges with the basic ideas of Austin and other representatives of a speech act.

It assumes that philosophy has the task " to describe the actual structure of our thought about the world ," a methodological approach, which he calls " descriptive metaphysics " and which he distinguishes the approach, " a better structure to bring forth " which he referred to as " revisionists metaphysics." The system of concepts of common sense and the life-world is thus inescapable - we handle each already with terms such as " person ", but also with concepts like space, time, causality, truth, etc.. These terms are therefore, as Strawson, not reducible to more fundamental terms or conditions, such as empirical data or scientific terms. Contemporary philosophers such as Bertrand Russell criticized Strawson for a too strong orientation towards an ideal language. Strawson himself, therefore, with regard to his philosophy of language statements, the so-called philosophy of ordinary language assigned.

Strawson's distinction between descriptive metaphysics and metaphysics revisionärer is often assumed, but also criticized, among other things, in application to classic, and others, because it is not sufficiently clear-cut.

The main result of the book individuals is that persons and material bodies are the basic entities. According to popular opinion, the work marks the major turning point towards the revival of metaphysics in the analytic- philosophical traditions.

Strawson believes that Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, essentially pursuing the goal of a descriptive metaphysics. In his 1966 published work, The bounds of sense Strawson represents an interpretation of Kant, according to which Kant's numerous theses are untenable, including Kant's explanation of synthetic- a priori shear judgments, Kant's transcendental idealism and much more Other ideas of Kant tries to defend Strawson, however, among other things, by reconstructing Kant's arguments and argues that a somewhat weaker but plausible proof goal will provided. Could be shown that human consciousness is able to apply his experience relied on the classification of categories to objects which are themselves independent of experience. In particular, Strawson sees on this basis skeptical arguments refuted. Also Bounds of Sense was received immediately and wide and Strawson thus contributed not only to Kant renaissance in the Anglo-Saxon philosophy at, but also sparked a new debate in transcendental philosophy to the possibility of transcendental arguments.

Strawson has also written highly influential work on the concept of truth, to skepticism problem and the concept of the Analytic.

Bibliography

  • Introduction to Logical Theory. Methuen, London, 1952.
  • Individuals: An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics. Methuen, London 1959 Individual thing and logical subject. A contribution to the descriptive metaphysics. Translator's frankness v. Scholz. Reclam, Stuttgart 1972, ISBN 3-15-009410-0
  • The limits of meaning. A Commentary on Kant's " Critique of Pure Reason ". Übers v. Ernst Michael Lange. Hain, Königstein 1981, ISBN 3-445-12025-0; ibid 1992, ISBN 3-445-07018-0
  • Logic and linguistics. Essays on the philosophy of language. List, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-471-61429- X
  • Skepticism and naturalism. Übers v. M. & N. Istase Renata Soskey. Athenaeum, Frankfurt 1987, ISBN 3-610-09210-6; Philo, Berlin / Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8257-0118-2
  • Analysis and metaphysics. An Introduction to Philosophy. Übers v. Charlotte High Keppel. dtv, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-423-04615-5

Article

  • Truth. In: Analysis. In 1949.
  • On Referring. In: Mind. 59, 1950, pp. 320-344 About reference. In: Ursula Wolf ( ed.): proper names. Documentation of a controversy. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt 1985, ISBN 3-518-28657-9, pp. 49-126
Meaning (linguistics) Scottish Common Sense Realism Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Integrated Authority File
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