Tulane Studies in Philosophy – serie

HE past does not change; it cannot, for what has happened T cannot be undone. Yet how are we to understand what has happened? Our perspective on it lies in the present, and is subject to continual change. These changes, made in the light of our new knowledge and new experience, call for fresh evaluations and constant reconsideration. It is now one hundred fifty years since the death of Immanuel Kant, and this, the third volume of Tulane Studies in Philosophy is dedicated to the commemoration of the event. The diversity of the contributions to the volume serve as one indication of Kant's persistent importance in philoso­ phy. His work marks one of the most enormous turns in the whole history of human thought, and there is still much to be done in estimating its achievement. His writings have not been easy to assimilate. The exposition is difficult and labored; it is replete with ambiguities, and even with what often appear to be contradictions. Such writings allow for great latitude in interpretation. Yet who would dare ·to omit Kant from the account? The force of a man's work is measured by his influence on other thinkers; and here, Kant has few superiors. Of no man whose impact upon the history of ideas has been as great as that of Kant can it be said with finality: this 5 6 TULANE STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY is his philosophy.

The year 1959 has been called The Centennial Year in view of the anniversary of the publication of The Origin of SPecies and the centenary of the births of many who later contributed much to the philosophy of the recent past, such as Samuel Alexander, Henri Bergson, John Dewey and Edmund Husser!' The essays in the present volume which are on subjects germane to any of the anniversaries celebrated this year have been placed first in the present volume. CENTENNIAL YEAR NUMBER DARWIN AND SCIENTIFIC METHOD JAMES K. FEIBLEMAN The knowledge of methodology, which is acquired by means of formal education in the various disciplines, is usually com­ municated in abstract form. Harmony and counterpoint in musical composition, the axiomatic method of mathematics, the established laws in physics or in chemistry, the principles of mathematics - all these are taught abstractly. It is only when we come to the method of discovery in experimental science that we find abstract communication failing. The most recent as well as the greatest successes of the experimental sciences have been those scored in modern times, but we know as yet of no abstract way to teach the scientific method. The astonishing pedagogical fact is that this method has never been abstracted and set forth in a fashion which would permit of its easy acquisition. Here is an astonishing oversight indeed, for which the very difficulty of the topic may itself be responsible.

With this issue we initiate the policy of expanding the scope of Tulane Studies in Philosophy to include, in addition to the work of members of the department, contributions from philosophers who have earned advanced degrees from Tulane and who are now teaching in other colleges and universities. The Editor THE LOGIC OF OUR LANGUAGE ROBERT L. ARRINGTON Wittgenstein wrote in the Tractatus that "logic is not a body of doctrine, but a mirror-image of the world. " 1 In line with his suggestion that a proposition is a 'picture', Wittgenstein argued that propositions 'show' the logical structure of the real. He was insistent, however, that "the apparent logical form of a proposition need not be its real one. " 2 As a result of this we can misunderstand the structure of fact. Philosophical problems arise just when "the logic of our language is mis­ understood. " 3 It is common knowledge that much of this view of logic was rejected by Wittgenstein himself in the Philosophical Investi­ gations. There we are told that language has no ideal or sublime 4 logic which mirrors the structure of the extra-linguistic world. Consequently, inferences from the structure of language to the structure of that extra-linguistic world are invalid. Reality can be 'cut up' in any of a number of ways by language. Wittgenstein adopted a view of philosophy which would render that discipline a non-explanatory, non-critical study of the multiple ways in which language can be used.

Due to the unprecedented interest which the announcement of the topic of epistemology evoked from contributors, two annual volumes will be devoted to it. This volume accordingly is entitled Epistemology I, and the next volume will be entitled Epistemology II. The Editor KNOWING IN THE STRONG SENSE PETER M. BURKHOLDER Professor Norman Malcolm has defended what he calls "the strong sense" of "know." 1 It is one of the propositional senses; i.e. what is said to be known, in this sense, is an item of information rather than a person, a poem, a physical object, or a skill. According to· Malcolm, this sense of "know" is important and useful.' Philosophers have had it "in mind when they have spoken of 'perfect,' 'metaphysical,' or 'strict' cer­ tainty" (Ke, 70). Moreover, laymen use it when they profess to know such obvious truths as "2 + 2 = 4" or "This is an ink-bottle" (said while peering at and poking an ink-bottle). Nevertheless, in spite of his opinion that it is important, Malcolm has not given a detailed analysis of the strong sense of "know." Thus we may be justified in studying it, first to determine exactly what it is, and then to evaluate it. I do not, of course, wish to suggest that Malcolm necessarily WQuid accept my account of the strong sense as an accurate expli­ cation of his opinions. However, in its descriptive aspects my analysis seems compatible with his written statements.

Harold N. Lee retired from Tulane University in June 1970. At first the event was too incredible for us to react. Harold N. Lee is a "character" in the best sense of the term. Surely he would never leave us. He was too much an institution for our institution to proceed without him. But he had attained the mandatory retirement age of seventy, as he himself informed us, and we could not refute the calendar. When at last we came to acknowledge the event, we - his colleagues, profession­ al friends, and former students - realized that we wanted to honor him in a manner more permanent than dinners and parties. So the idea of the present collection of essays dawned. Harold N. Lee taught philosophy at Tulane University for forty-five years. As professor of philosophy at Newcomb College, the undergraduate women's division of Tulane, and head of the Newcomb philosophy department, he carried a heavy burden of teaching and administration. He introduced many of the courses that are now a basic part of the curriculum, such as the courses in aesthetics and symbolic logic. Shortly after World War II he became chairman of the then newly­ formed university department of philosophy and played a major role in the establishment of the doctoral program in philosophy. Throughout the decades he also continued his philosophical researches, and he has published and continues to publish important articles and books at regular intervals.

To those of us who have been privileged to call him col­ league, Georges Estes Barton is perhaps best and most fondly remembered as the man with a camera. At the beginning of every semester he could be observed carefully photographing each of his arriving students, and while we used to chaff him about this practice, all of us respected the motive behind it. For George Barton was and is a dedicated teacher and in his courses no student ever would be suffered to remain simply a face in the crowd. His favorite teaching technique has always been Socratic discourse, and he is, as Professors Roberts and DuBose remind us in their essays for this volume, a master of the method. In his chosen field of philosophy of education he has long been recognized as a leader, serving several terms on the Executive Committee of the Philosophy of Education Society and in I963 as its President. In I966 St. Edwards University conferred upon him the honorary degree LL.D in recognition of his significant contributions to curriculum development. Following a distinguished career in general education and educational research at the Rochester Institute of Technology and at the University of Chicago, Professor Barton was ap­ pointed in I956 to direct Tulane's Inter-Disciplinary Program for the Preparation of Liberally Educated Teachers. In Fe­ bruary I962, having seen the program through to a successful conclusion, he joined the Department of Philosophy at Newcomb College as Associate Professor of Philosophy.

James Kern Feibleman, born in New Orleans in 1904 of Jewish parents, had an early career as poet, short story writer and novelist, and assistant manager of a department store and partner in an investment company. His formal higher educa­ tion did not extend beyond a semester of study at the Uni­ versity of Virginia. In 1942 he joined the faculty of the Tulane College of Arts and Sciences as a lecturer in English, and soon thereafter transferred to Philosophy. Appointed full professor of philoso­ phy in 1945, he became head of the Arts and Sciences depart­ ment in 1951, and university chairman in 1957. He has also served as special lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Louisiana State University Medical School from 1958 to 6 19 7. In 1969, upon his retirement from the department chairman­ ship, Professor Feibleman was appointed in the W.R. Irby Chair in Philosophy. In 1974 he was appointed Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, having the honor of being not only the first occupant of this newly established chair but also perhaps the only person ever selected from the university faculty for this honor. In 1975, upon his final retirement from the university, the faculty approved his appointment as Emer­ itus Professor of Philosophy.