I have a copy of Susan Haack's Philosophy of Logics on my shelf and its very existence gives me all the backing I need to push back against a world view that admits of only one way of reasoning or one conception of truth. Reading this paper (16 page PDF) I find I have much more affinity with her than I thought, both from the perspective of an overall approach to epistemology, which "depends on experience; not, however, the recherché experience needed by the sciences, but close attention to aspects of everyday experience so familiar we don't usually notice them," and also style of writing, "which, unlike the stilted, impersonal 'social science' style adopted by so many philosophers today, is direct, plain-spoken, and yet informal, conversational, idiomatic, sometimes even humorous." And yes, there's a price to be paid for such a stance: "isolation, a sense of alienation, and sometimes real resentment and hostility on the part of some who are unwilling, or not in a position, to pay the price such freedom requires." But I for one think that the world is better off for having people like Susan Haack willing to pay the price, and that it is they, not the popular philosophers of the day, who will have the lasting and meaningful influence.
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