Nicholas Rescher

Nicholas Rescher ( born July 15, 1928 in Hagen) is an American philosopher of German descent. His main points represent the theoretical philosophy, moral and social philosophy dar. Rescher is also the most prominent representatives of the coherence theory of truth and the process philosophy.

Life

Rescher's father practiced as a lawyer since 1922 in Hagen. After he had publicly opposed the system of National Socialism, closed in the early 30 's, the Nazis considered his office, followed by the family in 1938 emigrated to the United States.

After graduation Rescher studied from 1946 to 1951, first mathematics and philosophy at Queens College in Flushing, New York and at Princeton University. In 1949, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, 1951, he received the Doctor of Philosophy degree at Princeton ( Ph.D. ). From 1954 to 1956 he worked in the Mathematics Department of the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica.

Rescher 1957 was appointed professor of philosophy at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Since 1961 he teaches at the University of Pittsburgh, where he developed the world-famous " Center for Philosophy of Science " conducted many years. At the same time, the former president of the American Philosophical Association is a regular guest professor at Oxford and teaches regularly at other universities. In 1977, Rescher was appointed permanent member of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

In Germany Rescher 1984 with the Alexander von Humboldt Award and an honorary doctorate from the University of Konstanz (philosophy) and 2011 with the Federal Cross of Merit 1st class excellent.

Work

The starting point Rescher presents a discussion of the logical positivism dar. Its aim is to combine the methodology of analytic philosophy with traditional philosophical problems. Rescher's work is characterized by large systematic and historical breadth. Its philosophy unites in itself coherence theoretical, pragmatic and idealistic components. Pulse, due mainly to his work on the coherence theory of truth.

Coherence theory of truth

Rescher's coherence theory is a theory to determine the criteria of truth. In the definition of truth, he joins the correspondence theory of Truth mean the agreement of a proposition with a fact: " To say that P is true ', it means to say that P is the case. "

Rescher distinguishes between two kinds of truth criteria: guaranteeing ( Guaranteeing ) and legitimizing ( Authorizing ) criteria. The former give complete assurance with regard to the existence of truth, while the latter have only a supporting character. According to Rescher's view it is sufficient if such a criterion makes the existence of truth likely. Rescher then restricts the validity of the concept of coherence on the explication of factual statements - Rescher speaks of " data " - a while for the truth of logical-mathematical statements in his view, pragmatic criteria shall be applied. Data are designed from the outset as linguistic entities and not as mere facts. The acceptability of data is used also justified by pragmatic criteria. A theory or system of statements can be described as coherent by Rescher if it meets the following three aspects:

  • Comprehensiveness ( comprehensiveness ): all relevant sentences are taken into account; the theory is logically closed.
  • Consistency ( consistency ): the theory does not logically contradictory sentences.
  • Merged unit ( cohesiveness ): the sentences of the theory are explicated in their relationships or contexts to the other sets; relations between sentences are logically impeccable.

Selected Works

  • The Coherence Theory of Truth, Oxford 1973.
  • Scientific Progress: A Philosophical Essay on the Economics of Research in Natural Science, Oxford, 1978 ( German Berlin 1981)
  • The Limits of Science, Berkeley, 1984 ( German Stuttgart 1985)
  • The Strife of Systems, Pittsburgh 1985
  • Rationality. A Philosophical Inquiry into the Nature and Rationale of Reason, Oxford 1988 ( German Würzburg 1993)
  • Luck: The Brilliant Randomness of Everyday Life, New York 1995 ( German Berlin 1996 )
  • Process Metaphysics. An Introduction to Process Philosophy, Albany 1996
  • Process Philosophy: A Survey of Basic Issues, Pittsburg 2000
Queens College, City University of New York Flushing, Queens Santa Monica, California Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) Corpus Christi College (Oxford) Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Integrated Authority File
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