Metaphilosophy Philosophy in Philosophical Perspective [Hardcover]

This book collects and adds to work by Nicholas Rescher that variously puts philosophy itself in philosophical perspective. It displays the vast, deep, multidimensional knowledge of the field gained in his seventy years at work in it. Like contemporary philosophy itself, the book approaches its subject matter from many angles, always with revealing insight.In his new book, Nicholas Rescher, the Pittsburgh polymath, provides an exhaustive normative survey of the many dimensions of metaphilosophy. Very well informed and very useful for anyone interested in this field.Rescher brings the history of metaphilosophy alive, not only by making some of its greatest recent figures understandable as traditional or eccentric thinkers, but by introducing the philosophy of philosophy as something in which the reader can participate.?He provides the tools and the motivation to grasp the essential features that have distinguished philosophical inquiry from all other branches of higher learning, and demonstrates what thinking in all cultures can gain from its study. ?This book is profoundly recommended for those seeking a careful, plain-spoken, but positively well-informed discussion of what philosophy can and should do for anyone hoping to understand its complicated progress and contemporary preoccupations.Nicholas Rescher unites two facets of metaphilosophy to show that the historical perspective and forward-thinking normative, or systematic, approach are, together, an integral component of philosophy itself.The definitive mission of metaphilosophy is to facilitate an understanding of how philosophy worksthe aim of the enterprise, the instrumental and procedural resources for its work, and the prospect of its success. Nicholas Rescher unites two facets of metaphilosophy to show that historical perspective and forward-thinking normative, or systematic, metaphilosophy cannot be independent of one another. The descriptive, or historical, metaphilosophy provides an account of what haslï