Reason and Commitment

Dr Trigg demonstrates the importance of subjecting our most ingrained views to philosophical analysis and criticizes the tendency to sacrifice truth and reason for convention.

Roger Trigg (Author)

9780521097840, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 May 1973

180 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.46 kg

Can we justify our most basic beliefs about morality, religion and the nature of the world? Can there be a rational and objective way of choosing between alternative societies, modes of life or world-views? Dr Trigg shows how philosophical analysis is relevant to these questions and criticizes the tendency to emphasize notions of commitment and convention at the expense of truth and reason. He draws parallels between issues that are often too isolated from each other and identifies a cluster of related ideas, all of which stress the notion of self-contained conceptual systems that define their own standards of rationality. First published in 1973, this book will interest professional philosophers as a vigorous and distinctive exposition of several fundamental philosophical problems and more especially it can be used as an introduction for students to a wide range of philosophical problems.

1. Conceptual relativism
2. Wittgenstein and religious concepts
3. Commitment
4. Forms of life
5. The rationality of commitments
6. Relativism and disagreement
7. Rationality
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Philosophy [HP]