Whewell’s Fundamental Antithesis: A Lineage of Influence

South African Journal of Philosophy (forthcoming)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

William Whewell’s 19th-century views are seldom given a prominent place in the history of the philosophy of science. There is, however, a key feature of his account that is, upon historical analysis, prescient of later developments, notably in pragmatism. Whewell calls this the “fundamental antithesis of philosophy”, which centres around the idea that there is no clear demarcation between subject and object (between mind and world or theory and fact). In this paper, I trace this notion’s genealogy. It originated with Kant, who influenced Whewell. Whewell then developed it into a detailed thesis, one that influenced Peirce. It is identifiable in Quine, then (middle) Putnam, and now Cheryl Misak and Steven Levine (aka the new pragmatists). The purpose is to identify a previously overlooked lineage of influence running through the history of philosophy. Whewell’s antithesis might also offer a way to resist both the relativism that tends to accompany post-modern styles of pragmatism and the pretensions to a God’s-eye view latent in analytic metaphysics.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Whewell’s hylomorphism as a metaphorical explanation for how mind and world merge.Ragnar van der Merwe - 2023 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 54 (1):19-38.
Whewell’s tidal researches: scientific practice and philosophical methodology.Steffen Ducheyne - 2010 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 41 (1):26-40.
William Whewell’s philosophy of architecture and the historicization of biology.Aleta Quinn - 2016 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 1 (59):11-19.
Professor Marcucci on Whewell's idealism.Robert E. Butts - 1967 - Philosophy of Science 34 (2):175-183.
‘Lord only of the ruffians and fiends’? William Whewell and the plurality of worlds debate.Laura J. Snyder - 2007 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 38 (3):584-592.

Analytics

Added to PP
2025-03-02

Downloads
64 (#353,818)

6 months
64 (#93,694)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Ragnar Van Der Merwe
University of Johannesburg

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Inquiries Into Truth And Interpretation.Donald Davidson - 1984 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.
Reason, Truth and History.Hilary Putnam - 1981 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
The aim and structure of physical theory.Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem - 1954 - Princeton,: Princeton University Press.
Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity.Richard Rorty - 1989 - New York: Cambridge University Press.

View all 59 references / Add more references