Popular conceptions and the communication of philosophical views of reality
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Date
2009
Authors
Strauss, Danie
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State
Abstract
The aim of this article is to show that the issue is not whether there is a mutual
communication between philosophy, the special sciences (scholarly disciplines or
scientific disciplines) and popular conceptions, but rather whether these
communications acknowledge what are actually communicated, namely philosophical
views of reality. Unless this basic and inevitable mutual communication is recognised
the ultimate philosophical roots of much that is floating around will not be
acknowledged as such. The philosophical problem of the coherence of irreducibles
receives a negative answer in monistic -isms – such as physicalism or biologism – that
attempt to elevate some or other aspect of reality to be the exclusive and decisive
principle of explanation of whatever there is. One may designate the underlying
philosophical issue here also as that of unity and diversity. In our discussion below
another issue will surface, namely the relation between continuity and discontinuity
(constancy and change). These examples will serve to show that the special sciences
cannot operate except upon the basis of implicit or explicit (perennial) philosophical
problems explicitly or implicitly communicated from philosophy to the various
academic disciplines and popular conceptions of reality. In the course of the exposition
the impasse of special scientific stances (such as physicalism and neo-Darwinism) will
be subjected to immanent criticism from the perspective of a non-reductionist ontology,
in particular also questioning positivism as a philosophical orientation, the
philosophical stance known for its denial that it is a philosophical orientation.
Description
Keywords
Mutual communication, Philosophy, Popular conceptions, Scholarly communication
Citation
Strauss, D. (2009). Popular conceptions and the communication of philosophical views of reality. Communitas, 14(1 ), 57-70.