Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-fv566 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-23T16:29:21.267Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

XIII - Dialectical softening

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Henry S. Richardson
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Get access

Summary

Where people differ radically over what they take to be axiomatic, it is likely that they also arrived at these beliefs through strikingly different tacit exemplars. The example of disagreement concerning the treatment of rape victims in Pakistan presented in §37 illustrated how both of these aspects of deep disagreement arise together. Their coincidence might be thought to exacerbate the difficulties of a rational bridge across deep disagreement. To the contrary, I will argue in this chapter: The dependence of hardened propositions upon tacit exemplars actually provides a way to soften the former. In other words, the importance of tacit learning undercuts the supposed rigidity of hardened propositions. In thus playing one barrier off against the other, I will leave tacit exemplars as the last remaining one to be reckoned with. Their importance will be assessed in the final chapter. While my imperative, defensive purpose for discussing interpersonal deliberation requires only that I deal with the case of the single person of mixed upbringing, it is simpler for purposes of exposition to stick with an interpersonal example. Although a single person of mixed upbringing can have absorbed radically divergent hardened propositions and cognitive ends from concrete experiences offering contrasting tacit exemplars, it is difficult to keep the tacit aspect of his or her internal division in view. In the case of different people from different cultures, by contrast, it is quite obvious.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Dialectical softening
  • Henry S. Richardson, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: Practical Reasoning about Final Ends
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139174275.014
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Dialectical softening
  • Henry S. Richardson, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: Practical Reasoning about Final Ends
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139174275.014
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Dialectical softening
  • Henry S. Richardson, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: Practical Reasoning about Final Ends
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139174275.014
Available formats
×