Overview

Bartlett's Critique of Impure Reason is a tour de force of philosophical analysis. Historic in scale and far-reaching in scope, this important and massive treatise offers a penetrating critical appraisal of concepts that form the basic vocabulary of philosophical problems. This groundbreaking work focuses on reference as the most conceptually basic means in terms of which we may understand the limits beyond which our concepts cease to possess possible meaning. These inevitable and inescapable boundaries of human thought Bartlett calls 'horizons'. Step by logical step, the treatise seeks to show that a recognition of these conceptual horizons brings with it a new and revisionary understanding of a wide range of philosophical problems. The book is as fascinating as it is profound.

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9780578886466

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I admire its range of philosophical vision. - Nicholas Rescher, Distinguished University Professor, University of Pittsburgh, author of more than 100 books. Bartlett's Critique of Impure Reason is an impressive, bold, and ambitious work. Careful scholarship is balanced by original analyses that lead the reader to recognize the limits of meaning, knowledge, and conceptual possibility. The work addresses a host of traditional philosophical problems, among them the nature of space, time, causality, consciousness, the self, other minds, ontology, free will and determinism, and other problems. The book culminates in a fascinating and profound new understanding of relativity physics and quantum theory. - Gerhard Preyer, Professor, Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, author of many books on meaning, semantics, and contextualism in philosophy. [This work's] goal is of a unique and difficult species: Dr. Bartlett seeks to develop a formal logical calculus on the basis of transcendental philosophical arguments; in fact, he hopes that this calculus will be the formal expression of the transcendental foundation of knowledge.... I consider Dr. Bartlett's work soundly conceived and executed with great skill. - C. F. von Weizsacker, philosopher and physicist, Director, Max-Planck-Institute, Starnberg, Germany. Bartlett has written an American Prolegomena to All Future Metaphysics. He aims rigorously to eliminate meaningless assertions, reach bedrock, and place philosophy on a firm foundation that will enable it, like science and mathematics, to produce lasting results that generations to come can build on. This is a great book, the fruit of a lifetime of research and reflection, and it deserves serious attention. - Martin X. Moleski, former Professor, Casinius College, Buffalo, New York, studies of scien-tific method, the presuppositions of thought, and the self-referential nature of episte-mology. Bartlett has written a book on what might be called the underpinnings of philosophy. It has fascinating depth and breadth, and is all the more striking due to its unifying perspective based on the concepts of reference and self-reference. - Don Perlis, Professor, University of Maryland, author of numerous publications on self-adjusting autonomous systems and philosophical issues concerning self-reference, mind, and consciousness.

"""I admire its range of philosophical vision."" - Nicholas Rescher, Distinguished University Professor, University of Pittsburgh, author of more than 100 books. ""Bartlett's Critique of Impure Reason is an impressive, bold, and ambitious work. Careful scholarship is balanced by original analyses that lead the reader to recognize the limits of meaning, knowledge, and conceptual possibility. The work addresses a host of traditional philosophical problems, among them the nature of space, time, causality, consciousness, the self, other minds, ontology, free will and determinism, and other problems. The book culminates in a fascinating and profound new understanding of relativity physics and quantum theory."" - Gerhard Preyer, Professor, Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, author of many books on meaning, semantics, and contextualism in philosophy. ""[This work's] goal is of a unique and difficult species: Dr. Bartlett seeks to develop a formal logical calculus on the basis of transcendental philosophical arguments; in fact, he hopes that this calculus will be the formal expression of the transcendental foundation of knowledge.... I consider Dr. Bartlett's work soundly conceived and executed with great skill."" - C. F. von Weizs�cker, philosopher and physicist, Director, Max-Planck-Institute, Starnberg, Germany. ""Bartlett has written an American ""Prolegomena to All Future Metaphysics."" He aims rigorously to eliminate meaningless assertions, reach bedrock, and place philosophy on a firm foundation that will enable it, like science and mathematics, to produce lasting results that generations to come can build on. This is a great book, the fruit of a lifetime of research and reflection, and it deserves serious attention."" - Martin X. Moleski, former Professor, Casinius College, Buffalo, New York, studies of scien-tific method, the presuppositions of thought, and the self-referential nature of episte-mology. ""Bartlett has written a book on what might be called the underpinnings of philosophy. It has fascinating depth and breadth, and is all the more striking due to its unifying perspective based on the concepts of reference and self-reference."" - Don Perlis, Professor, University of Maryland, author of numerous publications on self-adjusting autonomous systems and philosophical issues concerning self-reference, mind, and consciousness."

Author Information

Steven James Bartlett was born in Mexico City, educated in Mexico, the U.S., and France. He is the son of American writer-artist Paul Alexander Bartlett and poet Elizabeth Bartlett. He is the author or editor of more than 20 books and research monographs, and numerous published papers in the fields of epistemology, philosophy of science, and psychology. Bartlett received degrees from Raymond College (an Oxford-style honors college of the University of the Pacific), the University of California in Santa Barbara, and the Université de Paris. His research has been supported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, the Lilly Endowment, the Alliance Française, the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, the National Science Foundation, the RAND Corporation, and others. He has served as Professor of Philosophy at Saint Louis University and the University of Florida, and as research fellow both at the Max-Planck-Institute in Starnberg, Germany, and at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara. He currently holds the honorary faculty research position of Affiliated Scholar at Willamette University. A more detailed biography and discussion of his publications are available from Wikipedia (https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_James_Bartlett).

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