Metaphilosophical Pluralism and Paraconsistency: From Orientative To Mu

Philosophical Methodology Metaphilosophical Pluralism and Paraconsistency: From Orientative To Multi-level Pluralism M.E. Orellana Benado, Andrà ©s Bobenrieth, Carlos Verdugo Universidad de Valparaà ­so ABSTRACT: In a famous passage, Kant claimed that controversy and the lack of agreement in metaphysics — here understood as philosophy as a whole — was a ‘scandal.’ Attempting to motivate his critique of pure reason, a project aimed at both ending the scandal and setting philosophy on the ‘secure path of science,’ Kant endorsed the view that for as long as disagreement reigned sovereign in philosophy, there would be little to be learned from it as a science. The success of philosophy begins when controversy ends and culminates when the discipline itself as it has been known disappears. On the other hand, particularly in the second half of the twentieth century, many have despaired of the very possibility of philosophy constituting the search for truth, that is to say, a cognitive human activity, and constituting thus a source of knowledge. This paper seeks to sketch a research program that is motivated by an intuition that opposes both of these views. Section 0.0 Introduction In the West, human beings have been doing philosophy for roughly 2,500 years. Eastern traditions are, perhaps, even older. What can we learn about philosophy itself through this experience and practice? This is the initial question of metaphilosophy, the body of discourse that collects and articulates our observations and reflections about philosophy as a human activity. Answers to it are essential in order to address the further issue of what contribution, if any, philosophy has made, or can be hoped to make, toward the education of humanity. For, to be sure... ...its set of well-formed formulas. (15) Wang, Hao: Beyond Analytic Philosophy (Cambridge M.A., London: MIT Press, 1988) p. 10. (16) For another view that, together with those of Rescher and Wang, restricts the scope of metaphilosophy to philosophy see Double, Richard: Metaphilosophy and Free Will (Oxford : Oxford University Press 1995). For an example of a discussion that falls within the institutions of philosophy component see Mandt, A.J.: "The inevitability of pluralism: philosophical practice and philosophical excellence" in Cohen, A./ Dascal, M. (eds): The institution of philosophy (La Salle: Open Court, 1991), pp 77-101. (17) The authors acknowledge with gratitude the generous support provided by Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Cientà ­fico y Tecnolà ³gico (Chile) to the research project here outlined as well as the confidence and comments of two anonymous referees.