"The essays which follow are an attempt to explore the questions as to whether reason might take different forms depending on subject matter. More specifically, the contributors to the series---which formed the Royal Institute of Philosophy's annual lecture series for 1995-6---were interested in examining whether in the human world forms of thought and knowledge exist which, while not conforming to the patterns of the natural sciences, can nevertheless be thought of as expressing and adumbratiing canons of rationality"--Page vii.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
This new collection of essays addresses topics that are of crucial importance to the lives of us all. Is there a mode of thinking peculiar to human life and its concerns, which is different from and irreducible to scientific rationality? Is historical understanding different from scientific understanding? Do psychology, religion and aesthetics have their own forms of rationality? Can you be rational about human life without being scientific? The contributors address these and related questions, some focusing on the history of the development of the notion of Verstehen, others examining particular areas of discourse and practice.