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AUSTRIAN RATIONALISM IN THE AGE OF THE DECLINE OF POSITIVISM

AUSTRIAN RATIONALISM IN THE AGE OF THE DECLINE OF POSITIVISM Hans-Hermann Hoppe0 1. Rationalism and Relativism in the Natural and Social Sciences Philosophical rationalism claims that man is capable of recognizing ultimate foundations and principles of knowledge; that all such knowledge is ultimately justified, or apriori valid, which must be presupposed insofar as one argues about any knowledge claim whatsoever -- such as the law of contradiction -- and which thus cannot be meaningfully disputed, because it is the precondition of meaningful doubt; and that man, based on the recognition of such ultimate truths, is capable of systematic scientific progress. Relativism denies the existence of absolute foundations of knowledge and the possibility of scientific progress. There appears to be no or little evidence in support of relativism in the natural sciences. It seems undeniable that the history of the natural sciences has been a history of continuous progress, and that man has achieved mastery over nature far surpassing that of bygone ages. Moreover, disciplines such as prepositional logic, arithmetic, Euclidean geometry, rational mechanics (classical mechanics without gravitation), and chronometry, all of which have been termed "protophysics", seem to provide perfect examples of the rationalist idea of ultimately founded knowledge: Logic and protophysics must be presupposed if one is http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal des Économistes et des Études Humaines de Gruyter

AUSTRIAN RATIONALISM IN THE AGE OF THE DECLINE OF POSITIVISM

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Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 by the
ISSN
2194-5799
eISSN
2153-1552
DOI
10.1515/jeeh-1991-2-303
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Hans-Hermann Hoppe0 1. Rationalism and Relativism in the Natural and Social Sciences Philosophical rationalism claims that man is capable of recognizing ultimate foundations and principles of knowledge; that all such knowledge is ultimately justified, or apriori valid, which must be presupposed insofar as one argues about any knowledge claim whatsoever -- such as the law of contradiction -- and which thus cannot be meaningfully disputed, because it is the precondition of meaningful doubt; and that man, based on the recognition of such ultimate truths, is capable of systematic scientific progress. Relativism denies the existence of absolute foundations of knowledge and the possibility of scientific progress. There appears to be no or little evidence in support of relativism in the natural sciences. It seems undeniable that the history of the natural sciences has been a history of continuous progress, and that man has achieved mastery over nature far surpassing that of bygone ages. Moreover, disciplines such as prepositional logic, arithmetic, Euclidean geometry, rational mechanics (classical mechanics without gravitation), and chronometry, all of which have been termed "protophysics", seem to provide perfect examples of the rationalist idea of ultimately founded knowledge: Logic and protophysics must be presupposed if one is

Journal

Journal des Économistes et des Études Humaines – de Gruyter

Published: Jun 1, 1991

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