As If: Idealization and Ideals

Kwame Anthony Appiah

Published by Harvard University Press 2017

As If

Idealization and Ideals

Kwame Anthony Appiah

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674982178

Overview
Contents

About this book

Idealization is a basic feature of human thought. We proceed “as if” our representations were true, while knowing they are not. Kwame Anthony Appiah defends the centrality of the imagination in science, morality, and everyday life and shows that our best chance for accessing reality is to open our minds to a plurality of idealized depictions.

Reviews

Kwame Anthony Appiah is a writer and thinker of remarkable range… Appiah writes very clearly, and much of this original and absorbing book will be of interest to general readers… Appiah has packed into this short book an impressive amount of original reflection on a number of topics… [A] rich and illuminating book.
-- Thomas Nagel New York Review of Books

Appiah is the rare public intellectual who is also a first-rate analytic philosopher, and the characteristic virtues associated with each of these identities are very much in evidence throughout the book.
-- Thomas Kelly Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Following his practice of producing short, concise, well-written, thoughtful books of interest to a broad audience, Appiah again raises important questions.
-- J. Gough Choice

Appiah is absolutely right that the notion of idealization is both ripe and suitable for significant philosophical exploration. The subject has been central to political theory, epistemology, and philosophy of science. As If: Idealization and Ideals is the first book to explicitly combine and link all of the discussions in a very valuable—if controversial—contribution.
-- Jason Stanley, Yale University

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
1. Useful Untruths: Lessons from Hans Vaihinger Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. A Measure of Belief: Lessons from Frank Ramsey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
3. Political Ideals: Lessons from John Rawls Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	112
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
Index of Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Pages
- Main content: 240
Keywords: Hans Vaihinger; Frank Ramsey; John Rawls

eBook

Published: November 5, 2018
ISBN: 9780674982178