Reconstruction of Thinking

Description

This book begins a systematic philosophic examination and reconstruction of conceptions of thinking. As the first chapter explains, the extraordinary success of the European Renaissance in combining qualitative and quantitative modes of cognition in a unified model of thinking in mathematical science unfortunately obscured the roles of valuation in thinking. The aim here is to construct new conceptions of thinking that distinguish and bring into perspective some of those roles for valuation. Indeed, the thesis of this book is that elemental processes of human behavior, those of imagination, seize upon natural stimuli and thereby establish human experience within natural, causal interactions; these processes are synthesizing activities that value diverse influences according to norms. Reconstruction of Thinking Contents Preface Part 1: Foundations 1 Foundational Issues of Thinking An Historical Crisis in Thinking Valuation A Foundational Hypothesis Structure of the Argument 2 Cosmology and Its Sources The Nature of Cosmology Critique of Cosmology Plato and the Cosmology of Thinking Aristotle and the Task of Cosmology 3 Axiological Cosmology Cosmological Categories Body, Nature, and Society A Metaphysics of Value Cosmology: Norms and Good Thinking 4 Responsibility, Norms, and the Social Reality of Thinking Epistemology of Value Critique of Axiology General Norms for Thinking Responsibility Part 2: Imagination A Beginning 5 Imagination as Synthesis: Religion Phenomenology of Synthesis Critical Interpretation Cosmology of Imagination as Synthesis Religion and the Commonality of the World 6 Imagination in Perception: Beauty Phenomenology of Imagination in Perception Critical Interpretation Cosmology of Imagination in Perception Responsibility in Imagination in Perception 7 Imagination as Appearance: Form Phenomenology of Appearance Critical Interpretation Cosmology of Appearance The Public Character of Image-Formation 8 Imagination as Engagement: Art Phenomenology of Engagement The Criticism of Images Cosmology of Imagination as Art Responsibilities of Imagination Notes Bibliography of Works Cited Index