Routledge Responses to Naturalism: Critical Perspectives from Idealism and Pragmatism (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy)

This volume offers critical responses to philosophical naturalism from the perspectives of four different yet fundamentally interconnected philosophical traditions: Kantian idealism, Hegelian idealism, British idealism, and American pragmatism. In bringing these rich perspectives into conversation with each other, the book illuminates the distinctive set of metaphilosophical assumptions underpinning each tradition’s conception of the relationship between the human and natural sciences. The individual essays investigate the affinities and the divergences between Kant, Hegel, Collingwood, and the American pragmatists in their responses to philosophical naturalism. The ultimate aim of Responses to Naturalism is to help us understand how human beings can be committed to the idea of scientific progress without renouncing their humanistic explanations of the world. It will appeal to scholars interested in the role idealist and pragmatist perspectives play in contemporary debates about naturalism. Review "The book contains some very well-mastered interpretive returns to classical philosophical texts … one great accomplishment of this volume is that it brings philosophical idealism back into the discussion in a… vigorous way, and in a form that makes it capable of an intriguing confrontation with various versions of contemporary philosophical naturalism." ―Róbert Maco, Comenius University, Slovakia "The contributors are scholars at the forefront of the idealist and pragmatist resurgence, and the book thus has a lively contemporary spirit … a collection of excellent work. It is the perfect prolegomenon, I think, to the next phase of the response to naturalism: uniting the best insights of pragmatism and idealism against scientific naturalism and its placement problems. For those, like me, who are committed to finding a way to do that―or, indeed, those who think that only the right version of either pragmatism or idealism alone can do the trick―this volume will prove indispensable." ―Brandon Beasley, University of Calgary, Canada "The endeavour is definitely original. Traditionally, responses to naturalism have tried to broaden the concept of ‘nature’, while the attempt here pursued is to enrich the very idea of ‘reason’―namely, to articulate a (meta)philosophical proposal that, starting from the multi-dimensionality of discourse about the natural world and normativity, is eventually able to remove the most persistent theoretical as well as historiographical totems of naturalism … many of [the essays] contained in Responses to Naturalism [are] extremely rich, articulate and [are] perfectly framed within the general objectives of the volume edited by Giladi." ―Antonio M. Nunziante, University of Padova, Italy About the Author Paul Giladi is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University, and an honorary research fellow at the University of Sheffield. He has published articles in leading philosophy journals and edited collections on Hegel, pragmatism, critical social theory, feminism, and contemporary Anglo-American philosophy. Dr. Giladi is also the editor of Hegel and the Frankfurt School (Routledge, 2021), as well as the co-editor (with Nicola McMillan) of the forthcoming Routledge collection Epistemic Injustice and the Philosophy of Recognition.