Beyond Scepticism And Realism

This interdisciplinary conversation discusses the nature of language.

According to conventional wisdom in American legal culture, the 1870s to 1920s was the age of legal formalism, when judges believed that the law was autonomous and logically ordered, and that they mechanically deduced right answers in cases. In the 1920s and 1930s, the story continues, the legal realists discredited this view by demonstrating that the law is marked by gaps and contradictions, arguing that judges construct legal justifications to support desired outcomes. This often-repeated historical account is virtually taken for granted today, and continues to shape understandings about judging. In this groundbreaking book, esteemed legal theorist Brian Tamanaha thoroughly debunks the formalist-realist divide. Drawing from extensive research into the writings of judges and scholars, Tamanaha shows how, over the past century and a half, jurists have regularly expressed a balanced view of judging that acknowledges the limitations of law and of judges, yet recognizes that judges can and do render rule-bound decisions. He reveals how the story about the formalist age was an invention of politically motivated critics of the courts, and how it has led to significant misunderstandings about legal realism. Beyond the Formalist-Realist Divide traces how this false tale has distorted studies of judging by political scientists and debates among legal theorists. Recovering a balanced realism about judging, this book fundamentally rewrites legal history and offers a fresh perspective for theorists, judges, and practitioners of law.

Boylan and O'Gorman inject a fresh empiricist voice into the debate on economic methodology. They strike a reasonable middle ground between the extremes of scientific realism and the rhetoric of economics.

Tim Button explores the relationship between minds, words, and world. He argues that the two main strands of scepticism are deeply related and can be overcome, but that there is a limit to how much we can show. We must position ourselves somewhere between internal realism and external realism, and we cannot hope to say exactly where.

This thoughtful book argues that skepticism -- the view that reliable knowledge is beyond our grasp -- is unavoidable unless knowledge is thought of not as merely an intellectual matter but as crucial to practical activity and emotional life. Author Anthony Rudd ties this idea to the work of Wittgenstein and Heidegger, exploring important similarities between the former's reminders of the "expressive" character of human experience and the latter's account of ways to experience the physical world "expressively."

An autobiography usually recounts the life of a person who has achieved wide acclaim in one field. But this extraordinary book describes the life of someone who has achieved international acclaim in three fields! Ervin Laszlo was a child prodigy on the piano and grew up to become an internationally celebrated virtuoso. By the time he reached his 40s, however, he had become a famous scientist and philosopher, and had written a dozen books and more than a hundred articles. He also taught at major universities in Europe, the U.S., and the Far East. Shortly thereafter, he gained world renown as a global visionary, heading research programs at the United Nations and founding an international think tank (the Club of Budapest). But this book is not an autobiography in the traditional sense. In Laszlo’s own words: "I don’t like talking about myself, about what makes me tick and why. Writing about all the things that have happened to me is different. This is storytelling—the telling of a real, lived story: my story, as it unfolded over the years." Join the author on his remarkable journey from his days as an internationally acclaimed concert pianist . . . to his profoundly personal quest to effect positive global transformation!