Unity And Plurality

This volume brings together new work on the logic and ontology of plurality and on the semantics of plurals in natural language. A team of leading experts explore the traditions of plural reference and a singularist approach to plurals; investigate non-standard mereology; and explore novel applications to natural language phenomena.

First published in 1986. Nations have a unity often described as 'cultural'; and within them there are divergences some of which are termed 'political'. But culture and politics do not, therefore, comprise two wholly distinct zones or orders of experience, the one marked by unity, the other by plurality. Unity and plurality interpenetrate. These insights, which derive from the thinking of Herder, have been fundamental to the work of F. M. Barnard. In this volume a number of scholars contribute, in Barnardian vein, reflections on the tensions between unity and plurality in the history of ideas. The central underlying question is, in essence, ’what is the context of political life?’ The question remains of more importance than any single answer.

Can we expect our scientific theories to make up a unified structure, or do they form a kind of “patchwork” whose pieces remain independent from each other? Does the proliferation of sometimes-incompatible representations of the same phenomenon compromise the ability of science to deliver reliable knowledge? Is there a single correct way to classify things that science should try to discover, or is taxonomic pluralism here to stay? These questions are at the heart of philosophical debate on the unity or plurality of science, one of the most central issues in philosophy of science today. This book offers a critical overview and a new structure of this debate. It focuses on the methodological, epistemic, and metaphysical commitments of various philosophical attitudes surrounding monism and pluralism, and offers novel perspectives and pluralist theses on scientific methods and objects, reductionism, plurality of representations, natural kinds, and scientific classifications.

A major challenge for the future of psychoanalysis as a science and as a profession, both in theory and in practice, is the ongoing development of conceptual, clinical and empirical research. This volume brings together some of the foremost contributors to this complex issue and should be of interest to all who are interested in the fundamental nature of the discipline of psychoanalysis and its continued growth and health.

The proliferation of international courts and the extension of international regulation to new areas have been considered to be threatening for the unity of Public International Law as a legal system. These developments are the consequence of the increasing formation of legal subsystems (material international regimes) which continue to grow in complexity. How these trends affect the unity of the international legal system requires theoretical scrutiny of its fundamental bases. This work considers that the unity of the international legal system depends upon its normative structure, and on the social medium in which it is applied: the evolving international community. A unified international legal system has as its ultimate goal the protection of human dignity through the international regulation of human rights. The question of the unifying stability of the international legal system and the development of legal subsystems within it encourages a review of the major issues of current Public International Law, considering the evolution from traditional doctrines to recent approaches. This review is done from an analytical frame that provides a deeper understanding of the current situation of Public International Law as a legal system.

Burkett offers a new viewpoint on the much-debated Synoptic Problem. He contends that each theory regarding the Synoptic Problem is problematic. Each presents a case for the mutual dependence of one source upon another - for example, Matthew and Luke depend primarily on Mark, but use each other where they report the same story not contained already in Mark. Neither Mark nor Matthew nor Luke served as the source for the other two, but all depended on a set of earlier sources now lost. The relations between the Synoptic Gospels are more complex than the simpler theories have assumed.

Continuing his exploration of the philosophical questions and doubts plaguing civilization today, Dr. Mortimer J. Adler explores where the truth lies in religion and the effects of diversity among religions. Truth in Religion is the product of Dr. Mortimer J. Adler’s search for a resolution to the age-old conflict between logic and faith. Aiming to discover where the truth lies among the plurality of the world’s organized religion, Dr. Adler explores the philosophy of religion and its true meanings among civilization as dictated by the principle of the unity of truth.