Historical Ontology by Ian Hacking
Hacking here offers his reflections on the philosophical uses of history. The focus of this volume, which collects both recent and now-classic essays, is the historical emergence of concepts and objects, through new uses of words and sentences in specific settings, and new patterns or styles of reasoning within those sentences.
What, asks Ian Hacking in Historical Ontology, do I mean by live skepticism? His answer is that it is desirable to be ‘genuinely in doubt and terrified that one’s doubt might be warranted’ It’s a healthy position for an enquirer into how new concepts and objects emerge in the province of philosophers and inventors, the novel uses of words and new ways of reasoning, and new interplays of power and knowledge. His essays demand attention and close reading. -- Maggie McDonald * New Scientist *
[Hacking] focuses on the interactions between what there is (or comes to be) and our concepts thereof. The kinds of objects he considers, both of which he regards as historical, are Aristotelian universals and their instances. He emphasizes that not only do ordinary physical objects and people and their institutions begin, develop, and end, but so do concepts, e.g., those language, knowledge, a child, (psychic) trauma, and scientific reasoning… Stimulating, incisive, and clear even in expounding theories of unclear writers. -- Robert Hoffman * Library Journal *
[Hacking] focuses on the interactions between what there is (or comes to be) and our concepts thereof. The kinds of objects he considers, both of which he regards as historical, are Aristotelian universals and their instances. He emphasizes that not only do ordinary physical objects and people and their institutions begin, develop, and end, but so do concepts, e.g., those language, knowledge, a child, (psychic) trauma, and scientific reasoning… Stimulating, incisive, and clear even in expounding theories of unclear writers. -- Robert Hoffman * Library Journal *
Ian Hacking was University Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto. He held the Chair of Philosophy and History of Concepts at the Collège de France.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780674016071 |
| ISBN 10 | 0674016076 |
| Title | Historical Ontology |
| Author | Ian Hacking |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Harvard University Press |
| Year published | 2004-09-15 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |