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From: mps@duke.cs.duke.edu (Michael P. Smith)
Newsgroups: sci.philosophy.tech
Subject: Logic and Coercion
Message-ID: <9962@duke.cs.duke.edu>
Date: Sun, 26-Jul-87 10:24:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: duke.9962
Posted: Sun Jul 26 10:24:09 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 26-Jul-87 21:20:09 EDT
References: <68@thirdi.UUCP>
Reply-To: mps@duke.UUCP (Michael P. Smith)
Distribution: world
Organization: Duke University, Durham NC
Lines: 27
Keywords: belief, proof, explanation, Nozick
Summary: Nozick's distinction between *proof* & *explanation*

In article <68@thirdi.UUCP> sarge@thirdi.UUCP (Sarge Gerbode) writes:
>The notion of what truly constitutes compulsion in the area of thought is
>somewhat unclear (to me).  Is logic a form of application of force?  Does
>demonstration enforce agreement?  Or should force be regarded as the
>application of pain and duress (or a threat of some kind)?  My inclination is
>to apply the term to the latter.  If anyone has views on the topic of what
>consititutes the use of force or coercion, I'd be interested to hear them.

You might be interested in the introduction to Robert Nozick's
PHILOSOPHICAL EXPLANATIONS (Harvard 1981).  He characterizes typical
philosophical argument as coercive, and adopts instead the mode of
"philosophical explanation" (hence the book's title).  The basic idea
is that instead of trying to *prove* philosophical position P true,
one should try to *explain* how P is possible.  Besides being nicer,
Nozick argues (explains?), the explanatory approach tends to produce
understanding, as opposed to mere conviction, and so fits better the
end of philosophy. 

Note that both *proof* and *explanation* employ logic, but in
different ways.

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"I do not take the skeptic seriously enough to want to teach him; I do take
 what he says seriously enough to want to learn from it."  R. Nozick

Michael P. Smith	ARPA:  mps@duke.cs.duke.edu
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