Natural Philosophy - Current Work in Natural Philosophy

Current Work in Natural Philosophy

Especially since the mid-20th-century European crisis, researchers have begun recognizing the importance of looking at nature from a broader, philosophical perspective rather than the narrow, positivist approach that relies implicitly on a hidden, unexamined philosophy. One line of thought grows from the thought of Edmund Husserl, especially as expressed in The Crisis of European Sciences. Students of his such as Jacob Klein and Hans Jonas pursued his ideas.

Brian David Ellis has categorized more recent efforts as the "New Essentialism." Nancy Cartwright, David Oderberg, and John Dupré are some of the more prominent thinkers who can arguably be classed as generally adopting this open approach to the natural world.

Read more about this topic:  Natural Philosophy

Famous quotes containing the words current, work, natural and/or philosophy:

    It is a quite remarkable fact that the great religions of the most civilized peoples are more deeply fraught with sadness than the simpler beliefs of earlier societies. This certainly does not mean that the current of pessimism is eventually to submerge the other, but it proves that it does not lose ground and that it does not seem destined to disappear.
    Emile Durkheim (1858–1917)

    The legend of Felix is ended, the toiling of Felix is done;
    The Master has paid him his wages, the goal of his journey is won;
    He rests, but he never is idle; a thousand years pass like a day,
    In the glad surprise of Paradise where work is sweeter than play.
    Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933)

    They had their fortunes to make, everything to gain and nothing to lose. They were schooled in and anxious for debates; forcible in argument; reckless and brilliant. For them it was but a short and natural step from swaying juries in courtroom battles over the ownership of land to swaying constituents in contests for office. For the lawyer, oratory was the escalator that could lift a political candidate to higher ground.
    —Federal Writers’ Project Of The Wor, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    The fact is, mental philosophy is very like Poverty, which, you know, begins at home; and indeed, when it goes abroad, it is poverty itself.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)