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A Comprehensible UniverseIs the World Rational?

A Comprehensible Universe: Is the World Rational? [Sooner or later, science becomes a problem for itself, the problem that has to be solved. One of the greatest problems that arises on this level is the problem of the rationality of science. It assumes several forms, for instance: how is one to distinguish rational forms of human activity from its irrational forms? In what sense is science rational? Why should we be rational in doing science and in other areas of our lives as well? Is the evolution of science rational, i.e. has this evolution some inherent “internal” logic or is it subject to purely contingent “external” factors such as the psychology of scientists or the social and economic conditions in which they live and work? Finally, one could ask about the conditions the universe must satisfy in order to be the subject matter of rational inquiry. In what follows this last problem will be called the problem of the rationality of the world. It constitutes the main topic of the present chapter, if not of the entire book. Our preliminary hypothesis asserts that the world has a certain property owing to which it can be successfully investigated by us. We call it the hypothesis of the rationality of the world (or simply the rationality of the world). It is a starting point for our further analyses.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Comprehensible UniverseIs the World Rational?

A Comprehensible Universe — Jan 1, 2008
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Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Copyright
© Springer-Verlag 2008
ISBN
978-3-540-77624-6
Pages
27 –31
DOI
10.1007/978-3-540-77626-0_5
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[Sooner or later, science becomes a problem for itself, the problem that has to be solved. One of the greatest problems that arises on this level is the problem of the rationality of science. It assumes several forms, for instance: how is one to distinguish rational forms of human activity from its irrational forms? In what sense is science rational? Why should we be rational in doing science and in other areas of our lives as well? Is the evolution of science rational, i.e. has this evolution some inherent “internal” logic or is it subject to purely contingent “external” factors such as the psychology of scientists or the social and economic conditions in which they live and work? Finally, one could ask about the conditions the universe must satisfy in order to be the subject matter of rational inquiry. In what follows this last problem will be called the problem of the rationality of the world. It constitutes the main topic of the present chapter, if not of the entire book. Our preliminary hypothesis asserts that the world has a certain property owing to which it can be successfully investigated by us. We call it the hypothesis of the rationality of the world (or simply the rationality of the world). It is a starting point for our further analyses.]

Published: Jan 1, 2008

Keywords: Sense Experience; Human Rationality; Irrational Form; Cosmic Evolution; Entire Book

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