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An Enduring Philosophical Agenda. Worldview Construction as a Philosophical Method

Vidal, Clément (2007) An Enduring Philosophical Agenda. Worldview Construction as a Philosophical Method. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Is there such a thing as a philosophical method? It seems that there are as many philosophical methods as there are philosophies. A method is any procedure employed to achieve a certain aim. So, before proposing a method, we have to tackle the delicate question: “what is the aim of philosophy?”. At the origin of philosophy, there is a questioning about the world. The worldview approach developed by Leo Apostel elegantly explicit those fundamental questions. As we answer them, we come up with a worldview. Using this framework, this paper consider answering this enduring philosophical agenda as the primary aim of philosophy. We illustrate the approach by pointing out the limitations of both a strictly scientific worldview and a strictly religious worldview. We then argue that philosophical worldviews constitute a particular class of possible worldviews. With the help of three analogies, we give guidelines to construct such worldviews. The next step is to compare the relative strength of philosophical worldviews. Precise evaluation standards to compare and confront worldviews are proposed. Some problems for worldview diffusion are then expounded. We close with basic hypotheses to build a comprehensive philosophical worldview.

Item Type:Preprint
Additional Information:Comments welcome!
Keywords:coherent worldview; comprehensive worldview; metaphilosophy; philosophical agenda; philosophical method; science and religion; scientific worldview; speculative philosophy; systematic philosophy; task of philosophy; theological worldview; Weltanschauung; worldview.
Subjects:Philosophy > Metaphysics
ID Code:6048
Deposited By: Vidal, Clément
Deposited On:11 May 2008 02:40
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:57

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