| 2004 Summer Seminar |
—Tibor Machan, Ph.D.
Course Description:
Ever since Plato promulgated the idea of perfect, timeless forms as the basis for firm standards of knowledge, there has been understandable skepticism about such standards. After all, to know one had perfect knowledge one would have to achieve the impossible, namely, omniscience. Contextualism offers a non-skeptical alternative to platonic idealism. It is the view that stable standards may be known based on the most up to date understanding of what things are. One need not aim for the impossible, then, but only for the best possible, which leaves it open that eventual revisions may need to be made — provided reasons are found to make them. Human nature, for example, could provide us with standards of the human good. These would be standards that could be known to be stable and lasting within the context of humanity’s existence. And that, Tibor Machan will argue, is stable and lasting enough, while avoiding both skepticism and idealism.
Tibor R. Machan is a professor at Chapman University, and is a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution. A prolific writer and editor, his latest book is Putting Humans First, Why We Are Nature’s Favorite (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004). He lectures widely on business ethics and political philosophy.
Schedule: Monday, 9:45 - 11:00 AM
Track: Philosophy