A Philosophy of Comparisons: Theory, Practice and the Limits of Ethics

Description

Comparing is one of the most essential practices, in our everyday life as well as in science and humanities. In this in-depth philosophical analysis of the structure, practice and ethics of comparative procedures, Hartmut von Sass expands on the significance of comparison. Elucidating the ramified structure of comparing, von Sass suggests a typology of comparisons before introducing the notion of comparative injustice and the limits of comparisons. He elaborates on comparing as practice by relating comparing to three relative practices – orienting, describing, and expressing oneself – to unfold some of the most important chapters of what might be called comparativism. This approach allows von Sass to clarify the idea of the incomparable, distinguish between different versions of incomparability and shed light on important ethical aspects of comparisons today. Confronting the claim that we are living in an age of comparisons, his book is an important contribution to ideas surrounding all-encompassing measurements and scalability and their critique. Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents Preface Introduction: Comparisons – A Marginalized Classic 1 To begin with: a telling imbalance 2 Comparisons/comparing: state of the field 3 Comparisons: a historical remainder 4 Comparisons: Structure/Grammar/Limits 5 On what follows: an overview Part I Comparison as Structure and Comparing as Practice 1 Comparisons. A General Account 1 Introduction: how to approach the topic? 2 On the architecture of reasonable comparisons 2.1 Conditions and preconditions 2.2 Comparisons as complex relations 2.3 Who C(omp)ares? 2.4 Comparative relata 2.5 The tertium comparationis 2.6 Comparative contextualism 2.7 On reasonable comparisons. An annotation 3 On the differences of similarity 4 Two demarcations 4.1 Comparisons and analogies 4.2 Comparisons and metaphors 5 Comparisons and their functions 6 Comparative limits 2 Comparisons. A Typology 1 Introduction: different types – one structure 2 A typology 2.1 Simple/complex 2.2 Result- oriented/experimental or explorative 2.3 Stable/emergent 2.4 Contrastive/analogical or similar 2.5 Diachronic/synchronic 2.6 Genetic/typological 2.7 Impartial or pure/asymmetrical 3 Coda: on pointed comparisons 3 On Comparative Injustice 1 Introduction 2 Injustice, comparatively 2.1 Comparative injustice – typologically considered 2.2 The will to compare. On comparative philosophy 2.3 Peter Winch on understanding an alien culture Part II Three Studies in Comparativism 4 Orientation, Indexicality and Comparisons: A Theme from Kant 1 Introduction: a philosophy of orientation? 2 Orienting oneself: a Kantian theme 3 Orientation’s architecture: an extended analysis 3.1 Defining orientation 3.2 Orientation in its element 3.3 Orientation, subjectivity and indexicality 3.4 Orientation as twofold comparison 3.5 On being already oriented 4 Coda: the perils and treasures of disorientation 5 Comparatively/Descriptively: Wittgenstein and the Search for ‘Objects of Comparison’ 1 Introduction: after dogmatism 2 The assets of description 3 Language-games as ‘objects of comparison 4 Comparing as a mode of description 4.1 ‘Objects of comparison’: external and internal comparisons 4.2 Pure and intentional comparisons 4.2 Pure and intentional comparisons 4.3 Incompleteness: on the dynamics of comparing 5 Comparatively/descriptively: a concluding note 6 Comparative Ironism: Richard Rorty on Plural Vocabularies and the Comparisons Between Th em 1 Introduction: theories or examples? 2 Irony and the plurality of our vocabularies 2.1 A farewell to truth? 2.2 Irony and the plurality of descriptions 2.3 Between vocabularies, or philosophy as comparativism 3 Nearing the end: irony, comparatively Part III On Relocating Incomparability 7 Against Structural Incomparability 1 Introduction: incomparability as a marginalized classic 2 Choices and comparisons 3 Incomparability: a first sketch 4 A traditional and a less traditional view: Raz and Broome 5 Ruth Chang on being on a par 6 On explaining structural incomparability away 6.1 Three forms of non-comparability 6.2 Vagueness: predicates and comparatives 6.3 Multidimensionality 6.4 Choices, comparisons and beyond 8 On Indexical Incomparability 9 The Case of Normative Incomparability: Comparisons, Animals, and the Quest for Adequacy 1 Introduction: ‘for all is vanity’ 2 Meeting Elizabeth Costello 3 A delicate comparison and its aftermath 3.1 Costello, Kafka’s Red Peter and the Holocaust 3.2 Three objections 3.3 Costello’s (un)belief 4 On extending our sense of possibilities 5 Finally: the curious case of normative incomparability Epilogue: Living in an ‘Age of Comparison’? An Interpretation with Diagnostic Intent 1 In the ‘age of comparison’ 2 On Nietzsche’s assumption 3 The dangers of levelling down 4 And today: a ‘society of singularities’? 5 A hybrid ending: on the future of comparison(s)/comparing Notes Bibliography Index