C. B. Macpherson: Philosopher or Radical Educator?

Phillip Hansen’s Reconsidering C. B. Macpherson: From Possessive Individualism to Democratic Theory and Beyond has many virtues, principal among them the fact that it casts Macpherson’s thought in what to many will be the unfamiliar light of Continental critical theory. Doing so could broaden Macpherson’s audience to include those working within this tradition. What is less clear is whether casting Macpherson’s thought in this light will yield any new insights into his historical interpretations or his democratic theory. I argue that there may be reasons to doubt that it will.     

答复B.拉图尔

布鲁尔认为,拉图尔的回应没有直接面对他提出的两项批评,却把问题与哲学史纠缠在一起。布鲁尔指出,他们争论的焦点是在建构知识的过程中物质世界所起的作用,而布鲁尔曲解了爱丁堡学派的观点,对不确定性论点做了错误的解释。布鲁尔认为,自然界是丰富的,科学家与自然界的接合也是复杂的,这是不确定性的核心内容,只有正确理解它,才能正确理解强纲领。他最后断言,布鲁尔放弃经过其扩展的对称原则,不是进步,而是后退。