Creatively Undecided

Deeply informed by the history of science and argued with philosophical rigor, this tour de force demonstrates the surprising yet essential role played in scientific revolutions by dithering. --Paul Franks, Yale University Scientific thought always takes place in the context of framework assumptions that determine what constitutes rationality. But if reason itself is local to a framework, how can such frameworks evolve and change in a rational way? Drawing on recent work in the theory of action, Menachem Fisch shows how external criticism can lead to an internal destabilization of a scientist's deepest convictions, and eventually to reasoned change. This book will destabilize the way we have thought about this problem for the last half century and more, and lead us to a new understanding of scientific rationality. --Daniel Garber, Princeton University Creatively Undecided, as all great philosophical works, is both theoretically impeccable and meaningful for critically facing present-day ethical and political dilemmas. Fisch answers apparently abstract and cold questions pertaining to the philosophy of science and the history of mathematics, but-as a matter of fact-has something crucially important to say about one of the most pressing issues in our globalized and politically-torn world: how to self-criticize 'from within' our normative frameworks when challenged by competing cultures who confront us 'from without.' Fisch ends the book by testing his philosophical theses concerning agency and rational deliberation with a historical case: a masterful narrative of the contested reception of George Peacock's symbolical algebra in early ninteeth century England. --Niccolo Guicciardini, University of Bergamo