[lit-ideas] Re: What is a transcendental claim?
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 11:00:15 +0900
First, a word of thanks to Eric and Walter for a very enlightening
discussion. Second, Happy Holidays to all.
On Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 6:13 AM, <wokshevs@xxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
>
> Quoting Eric Dean <ecdean99@xxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
>
> > I've been going back and forth with Walter and, to some extent, others
> about
> > whether various assertions are or are not transcendental claims. I
> thought I
> > understood what that term meant, but perhaps I don't.
> >
> > As I understand it, a transcendental claim is a claim that asserts
> conditions
> > for the possibility of experience in general. If a successful claim, it
> > 'transcends' experience in the sense that its assertion is independent of
> all
> > experience because it establishes conditions for all experience.
>
> ----> No, this would be to assimilate T arguments/analyses to Kant's highly
> peculiar conception in the First Critique. As I have laboured to make
> clear,
> plausible T analyses/arguments posit as their object of inquiry
> (reconstruction) a competence, discourse, or some other dimension of human
> understanding (meaning, language, etc). This object of analysis is
> carefully
> delineated and the analysis pursues *that* comprehension of the phenomenon
> and
> no other. Only as such can T analyses yield univocal results. Kant believed
> he
> could identify "apriori" conditions for the possibility of experience
> itself
> (ueberhaupt!)- which is to say that it is the entire
> possible network of *objects* of experience that is being delineated for T
> inquiry. As we all know, Kant's project failed. I don't use the term
> "apriori"
> for that reason. ()At this juncture, it may be said that Robin George
> Collingwoood had something important to say on this topic. As did the
> philosopher of education Richard S. Peters. I'll postpone commentary on
> these
> authors until requested.)
>
A particular thanks to Walter, coupled with a withdrawal of some of my more
odious remarks about transcendental reasoning and religious belief. Had I
known that Walter would say, "As we all know, Kant's project failed," and
that he was pursuing more modest objectives, I would have been more
temperate.
>
> ED:
> > Either way, there seem to be perfectly mundane, well-established terms
> that
> > do the work 'transcendental' would be doing, which is why I think
> construing
> > the term this way renders it otiose.
>
> -------> I don't think there is any other word in English with the same
> meaning. It is a philosophical construct. As such, no other natural
> language
> would have equivocal expressions for it either. (Philosophy is not
> semantics;
> we're not playing word games. Philosophy is concerned with concepts -
> usually
> with concepts that construct the phenomenon of investigation. Then the
> empirical sciences take over and all our philosophical work goes under like
> water under the bridge. But that's OK, nobody goes into philosophy in order
> to
> feel the heat of the limelight.
>
Here, now, is a substantive problem: How does one sustain the assertion that
"Philosophy is not semantics: we are not playing word games"? Is not
philosophy an entirely verbal activity? It is easy to see a distinction
between specialized languages, like those of logic and mathematics, in which
the semantics are artificially and rigorously defined, as opposed to natural
languages, which are sloppier in this regard. But surely, as philosophers'
continuing arguments over what they say means clearly demonstrates, rigorous
definition is, outside of fully formalized logic and mathematics, more an
ideal than reality. And even in the case of what are intended to be fully
formalized systems, lacunae appear, stimulating further debate. When push
comes to shove, we have no access to concepts but language and talk about
concepts is inevitably talk about the semantics of the terms used to
describe them.
Or, am I missing something here?
P.S. I look forward to seeing the answer. Please note, however, that I leave
Japan today to spend a white Christmas with geysers and in-laws in
Yellowstone National Park, where there is no Internet, no cell phone
coverage, not even TV. For the first time in a decade, Ruth and I will be
completely offlne.
P.P.S. Once again, Happy Holidays and best wishes for the New Year to
everyone.
John
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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