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Regression addresses what has come before; it is a matter of looking backward of retrospections? The motionless things of nature are generally forward-looking their problem is that of the question: Where do we go from here? It is primarily with intelligent beings that we ask: How did we get to where we now find ourselves? Regression and infinite regression in particular is thus a concept that has gained a greater prominence in the human sciences than in the sciences of nature. Argumentation to infinite regress has long been a favored instrument of philosophical dialectic. Philosophers have used it to disprove the positions they model to criticize. Infinite regresses, so they reason, are unrealizable: they cannot be completed so as to achieve some definitive result. And thereby anything that would engender an infinite regress is automatically made ineffective. Infinite Regress examines the theory of regression and includes information on the topics of vicious regress, innocuous regress, circularity regress, and propositional regress. Also discussed is the history of regression stemming from ancient times, to medieval times, to early modern history. Some of the other chapters in this book focus on world class philosophers including Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Bertrand Russell. The book will play a significant role in theoretical philosophy as well as in social philosophy and the philosophy of mind.
This book investigates the logical structure, historical development, and philosophical implications of infinite regress arguments. Nicholas Rescher, a prolific philosopher known for his work in systematic philosophy and logic, utilizes historical analysis and formal dialectic to categorize various forms of regression. He argues that while infinite regresses are often dismissed as inherently problematic or 'vicious,' they serve as essential tools for critical inquiry across the human sciences and theoretical philosophy.
What You Will Find
Experts recognize this work as a rigorous contribution to the study of philosophical dialectic and logical argumentation. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which serves as a foundational text for those interested in the mechanics of philosophical reasoning.
Page Count:
189
Publication Date:
2017-01-01
Publisher:
Taylor and Francis
ISBN-10:
0203788753
ISBN-13:
9780203788752
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