Exposing the Roots of Constructivism: Nominalism and the Ontology of Knowledge

R. Scott Smith

doi:10.5771/9781666912470

Summary

Constructivism dominates over other theories of knowledge in much of western academia, especially the humanities and social sciences. In Exposing the Roots of Constructivism: Nominalism and the Ontology of Knowledge, R. Scott Smith argues that constructivism is linked to the embrace of nominalism, the theory that everything is particular and located in space and time. Indeed, nominalism is sufficient for a view to be constructivist.

However, the natural sciences still enjoy great prestige from the “fact-value split.” They are often perceived as giving us knowledge of the facts of reality, and not merely our constructs. In contrast, ethics and religion, which also have been greatly influenced by nominalism, usually are perceived as giving us just our constructs and opinions.

Yet, even the natural sciences have embraced nominalism, and Smith shows that this will undermine knowledge in those disciplines as well. Indeed, the author demonstrates that, at best, nominalism leaves us with only interpretations, but at worst, it undermines all knowledge whatsoever. However, there are many clear examples of knowledge we do have in the many different disciplines, and therefore those must be due to a different ontology of properties. Thus, nominalism should be rejected. In its place, the author defends a kind of Platonic realism about properties.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2022
Copyright Year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-6669-1246-3
ISBN-Online: 978-1-6669-1247-0
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 170
Product Type: Monograph

1. Dedication No access
2. Contents No access
3. Preface No access
1. Notes No access
1. Introduction No access
2. An Overview of Tropes No access
3. Some Ontological Prerequisites for Knowledge No access
4. Tropes and the Ontological Prerequisites for Knowledge No access
5. Rebuttals No access
6. Conclusion No access
7. Notes No access
1. Introduction No access
2. Options within AN No access
3. Resemblance AN No access
4. Carnap, Sellars, and MLN No access
5. More Objections No access
6. Conclusion No access
7. Notes No access
1. Introduction No access
2. A History of Philosophical Constructivism in the West No access
3. Tying the Threads Together No access
4. The Next Steps No access
5. Notes No access
1. Introduction No access
2. An Overview of the History of Western Science No access
3. Some Principled Implications of Nominalism for Scientific Practice No access
4. A Practical Implication: Paying Closer Attention to What Is before Us in Scientific Observation No access
5. Conclusion No access
6. Notes No access
1. Introduction No access
2. Nominalism in the History of Western Ethics No access
3. Nominalism and Moral Knowledge No access
4. Two More Implications of Nominalism in Ethics No access
5. Concluding Remarks No access
6. Notes No access
1. Introduction No access
2. Nominalism in Academic Religious Studies No access
3. Nominalism in Philosophy of Religion No access
4. The Next Steps No access
5. Notes No access
1. Introduction No access
2. Nominalism and Its Various Impacts on the Social Sciences and Humanities No access
3. Assessing Nominalism’s Impact on These Subjects No access
4. Conclusion and the Next Step No access
5. Notes No access
1. Introduction No access
2. Conceptualism No access
3. Realism No access
4. The Needed Ontology to Know Reality No access
5. Conclusions No access
6. Notes No access
Bibliography No access Pages 155 - 166
Index No access Pages 167 - 168
About the Author No access Pages 169 - 170