Abstract

The author is a writer of startling productivity: his publisher reminds us that he has written fifty-nine books and two hundred thirteen journal articles. It is not surprising that, as Rescher observes, reviewers of his individual works have generally failed to understand that a systematic whole is at issue. In the projected trilogy of which the present work is the first volume, he intends to present his philosophical ideas "in a sufficiently comprehensive and coordinated form that their systematic interrelatedness becomes clearly manifest". This volume is devoted to epistemology, philosophy of science, and philosophy of nature. It will be followed by a volume dealing with value theory, ethics, and practical philosophy; and a volume dealing with the nature of philosophical inquiry itself. It is thus not easy to give a satisfactory account of the present book in a short space.