World Hypotheses: A Study in Evidence [Paperback]

Stephen C. Pepper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1961

"World hypotheses" correspond to metaphysical systems, and they may be systematically judged by the canons of evidence and corroboration.
In setting forth his root-metaphor theory and examining six such hypotheses--animism, mysticism, formism, mechanism, contextualism, and organicism--Pepper surveys the whole field of metaphysics. Because this book is an analytical study, it stresses issues rather than men. It seeks to exhibit the sources of these issues and to show that some are unnecessary; that the rest gather into clusters and are interconnected in systems corresponding closely to the traditional schools of philosophy. The virtue of the root-metaphor method is that it puts metaphysics on a purely factual basis and pushes philosophical issues back to the interpretation of evidence.
This book was written primarily as a contribution to the field, but its plan excellently suits it for use as a text in courses in metaphysics, types of philosophical theory, or present tendencies in philosophy.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stephen C. Pepper, well known for this and his many other contributions to the field of philosophy, was at the time of his death Mills Professor Emeritus of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy and Civil Polity at the University of California, Berkeley campus.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (June 1961)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520009940
• ISBN-13: 978-0520009943
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 4.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #241,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sophisticated but very readable primer in epistemology., July 27, 1998

By 

[e-mail] Val Larsen (Kirksville, Missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: World Hypotheses: A Study in Evidence (Paperback)

At the core of most any deep inquiry, one finds epistemology, questions about how one knows and what one can know. Pepper deeply penetrates the mysteries of epistemology. Having taken an undergraduate degree in philosophy, I can certify that he has successfully distilled the essence of such a degree in 348 very readable pages. If you don't have time to read Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hegel, and William James (all of whom I highly recommend), read World Hypotheses. Pepper lucidly communicates the basic world view of these and many other important philosophers.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I feared the worst, but..., January 9, 2009

By 

Linda Suriyakham (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: World Hypotheses: A Study in Evidence (Paperback)

It was actually interesting, and helped me organize the major world (or at least Western) philosophies into four categories. Certainly helped my scattered mind make sense of the world.

I think this book is useful for a university student studying the history of science, or Western Philosophy. It's not the kind of content that will keep you turning pages, but the ideas were so well-presented that I didn't feel the need to keep turning back and saying "huh?" Coherent

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BIG PICTURE, January 18, 2007

By 

Louis D. O'brien "David O'Brien" (Austin, Tx) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: World Hypotheses: A Study in Evidence (Paperback)

I first read Pepper's most excellent "World Hypotheses" as a philosophy student many years ago. I lost it, checked it out from libraries, and am now purchasing it for my brother and father. And myself. I confess that part of this is quite selfish - my neice is quite philosophically bent, and while two years away from university, she might nevertheless get her hands on this book and get "a leg up" on her colleagues.

So much one can say about a book that segments the different "world pictures" into discriminable types. What a gift Pepper has given us. Finished D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover last month and was amazed how much more intelligible reading Pepper's book made Lawrence's. And not just the literati will have augmented understanding, but scientists as well. What physicist can fail to glean Pepper's wisdom in attempting to unify discrete with consolidated mechanism? Or mechanism with organicism? Don't know if it will improve their home lives, but what a jewel this work is!