International Journal of Philosophy

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On Pragmatism, Life, and Evolution

Received: 29 November 2014    Accepted: 07 December 2014    Published: 17 December 2014
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Abstract

Positive epistemology represents processes as happenings, random as the case may be. Yet process proceeds rather than happens, which implies a drive (potentiation) under it. Potentiation cannot be random but is created by work (effort), either on the thing or by the thing on itself, making it a living thing. Life drive is an ectropic effort whereas death drive is entropic. Life carries with it a lot of dead mass, thereby the regularities of death drive are not entirely alien to it, but mitigated and eventually surmounted through evolution. ‘Pragmatic’ existential philosophy as well as ‘pragmatic’ epistemology confuses life drive with death drive which is scarcely pragmatic.

DOI 10.11648/j.ijp.20140206.11
Published in International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 2, Issue 6, December 2014)
Page(s) 72-79
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Evolution Theory, Pragmatic Philosophy, Existential Philosophy, Life Definition, Progress of Life Definition, Thermodynamics

References
[1] W. James, The meaning of truth, New York, Longmans, Green and Co., 1909, 297 pp.
[2] C. S. Peirce, “The essential Peirce: selected philosophical writings, Volume 1: 1867–1893,” N. Houser, and C. Kloesel, Eds., Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1992, 448 pp.
[3] G. Axtell, and P. Olson, “Three Independent Factors in epistemology,” Contemporary Pragmatism, vol. 6 (2), pp. 89–109, 2009.
[4] S. Freud, Beyond the pleasure principle, On Metapsychology Penguin Books Ltd, New edition, 1991, 496 pp.
[5] J. Campbell, “Bayesian Methods and Universal Darwinism,” AIP Conf. Proc., vol. 1193, pp. 40-47, 2009.
[6] Ch. Darwin, On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life [1st ed.], London, John Murray, 1859, 502 pp.
[7] T. R. Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population, London, F. J. Johnson, 1798, 126 pp.
[8] B. Russell, Human Society in Ethics and Politics, New York, Mentor Book, 1962, 264 pp.
[9] S. Hawking, The universe in a nutshell, London, Bantam Press, 2001, 224 pp.
[10] G. Frege, Begriffsschrift, eine der arithmetischen nachgebildete Formelsprache des reinen Denkens, Halle, Verlag von Louis Nebert, 1879, 88 pp.
[11] T. Kuhn, The structure of scientific revolutions, 3d ed., Chicago, London, University of Chicago Press, December 15, 1996, 226 pp.
[12] B. Spinoza, Ethics, 1667, Transl. E.M. Curley, Penguin Classics, July 26, 2005, 208 pp.
[13] I. Prigogine, From Being to Becoming, San Francisco, W.H. Freeman, 1980, 272 pp.
[14] V. A. Krassilov, Evolution: System Theory, Sofia, Pensoft, June 2014, 414 pp.
Author Information
  • Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel

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    Valentin Krassilov. (2014). On Pragmatism, Life, and Evolution. International Journal of Philosophy, 2(6), 72-79. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20140206.11

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    Valentin Krassilov. On Pragmatism, Life, and Evolution. Int. J. Philos. 2014, 2(6), 72-79. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20140206.11

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    Valentin Krassilov. On Pragmatism, Life, and Evolution. Int J Philos. 2014;2(6):72-79. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20140206.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijp.20140206.11,
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      title = {On Pragmatism, Life, and Evolution},
      journal = {International Journal of Philosophy},
      volume = {2},
      number = {6},
      pages = {72-79},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20140206.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20140206.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20140206.11},
      abstract = {Positive epistemology represents processes as happenings, random as the case may be. Yet process proceeds rather than happens, which implies a drive (potentiation) under it. Potentiation cannot be random but is created by work (effort), either on the thing or by the thing on itself, making it a living thing. Life drive is an ectropic effort whereas death drive is entropic. Life carries with it a lot of dead mass, thereby the regularities of death drive are not entirely alien to it, but mitigated and eventually surmounted through evolution. ‘Pragmatic’ existential philosophy as well as ‘pragmatic’ epistemology confuses life drive with death drive which is scarcely pragmatic.},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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