{"product_id":"the-idea-of-determinism-alexandre-kojve-9781587313929","title":"The Idea of Determinism","description":"The previous volume of Alexandre Koj ve's (1902-1968) work published by St. Augustine's Press, \u003ci\u003eThe Concept, Time and Discourse \u003c\/i\u003e(2019), was the introduction to an unfinished magnum opus through which Koj ve intended to effectively update Hegelian philosophy. For Koj ve, Hegel provides the completion of philosophy's historical development, with the exception of what Koj ve deems an inadequate philosophy of nature. The translation of \u003ci\u003eThe Idea of Determinism \u003c\/i\u003eoffers insight into what shape Koj ve's \"update\" to Hegelian philosophy of nature may have taken. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The notion of determinism plays heavily in the philosophy of nature. In the classical age of physics (Newton through Maxwell) it was a commonly held assumption that everything can be predicted, and chance is nonexistent. There was also the belief in the perpetual progress toward absolute precision in scientific measurement. Then in 1814 Laplace set the groundwork for this idea in the modern era: \" If there were] an Intelligence who could know, for a given instant, all the forces with which nature is animated and the relative position of all the beings that compose it--if, moreover, it were vast enough to submit all its data to analysis  in accordance with the laws of nature--it] would embrace in the same formula the motions of the greatest bodies in the universe and those of the slightest atom: nothing would be uncertain for it, and the future, like the past, would be present to its eyes.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e With dialectical mastery, Koj ve examines the implications of these assumptions and finds them wanting, even from within the classical perspective. He then turns to the \"modern (quantum) physics\" of Planck, Heisenberg and Dirac, which he sees as supporting an epistemological understanding of physical science free of any deterministic assumptions. Koj ve also finds it to be rooted in the concrete understanding of physical measurement as an interaction between an observing subject and an observed object, about which statistically accurate predictions can legitimately be made. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Koj ve was a contemporary and friend to political philosopher Leo Strauss, and influential in the intellectual formation of Allan Bloom and Stanley Rosen. His political career cannot be ignored when attempting to assess the intentions of his philosophical work, which renders it a brand of political philosophy even when making presentations in the field of natural sciences.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Alexandre Koj钁e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1587313928\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781587313929\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e St. Augustine's Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/21\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 280\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Alexandre Koj钁e","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44043872338175,"sku":"9781587313929","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_55d247da-16c3-48a8-bbcc-40afdad31fb1.jpg?v=1684969606","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-idea-of-determinism-alexandre-kojve-9781587313929","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}