Thinking through Error: The Moving Target of Knowledge

by Brunella Antomarini

Overview

The aim of Thinking through Error: The Moving Target of Knowledge is to describe knowledge as it works in our everyday attitude and behavior. Often in life, when making decisions and choices, we do not need to test the truth of our beliefs, so there must be another way to guide ourselves. With this in mind, Antomarini presents ‘thinking through error’ instead of ‘excluding error’. That is, we act through a slow process of guess-work, followed by quick gestures. By using our own uncertainty and our exploratory abilities, we face unpredictable situations and at the same time we acknowledge the constant presence of error in our thinking. Every decision we make continuously determines and replaces an entire universe within which that decision is plausible. Our everyday knowledge is a balance between a feeling of the truth and its negation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739176238
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	06/15/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	142
File size:	894 KB

About the Author

Brunella Antomarini teaches contemporary philosophy and aesthetics at John Cabot University, Rome. Among her latest books are: L’errore del Maestro (Derive Approdi, Roma 2006) and Pensare con L’errore (Codice Edizioni, Torino 2007).
Brunella Antomarini, Berenice Cocciolillo, and Rosa Filardi.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Forms and Their Errors
Chapter 2: The Non-Linear Adventures of the Theories of Color
Chapter 3: The Uselessness of Totality or a Short Survey in a Parallel Philosophical Tradition
Chapter 4: How We Guess
Interlude: The Wrong Decision
Chapter 5: A Defense of Insecurity
Chapter 6: Parallel Universes
Conclusion

What People are Saying About This

Alan Singer

In Thinking Through Error, Professor Antomarini seeks to free our thought from self-pre-empting truths: truths that depend upon our making invidious comparisons with error. Antomarini redefines error as a mental act that is pre-requisite to our engaging experience as a compelling voyage of discovery. She makes a convincing case for claiming that the knowledge we gain by risking knowledge of the truth re-invigorates philosophical inquiry in general. Her 'risky' speculations enhance the prospects for human creativity both within and without the realm of the aesthetic. This is a book with broad interdisciplinary appeal for anyone who has contemplated the possibility that error might be a pathway to knowledge rather than an impediment to knowledge.

Susan Stewart

Thinking Through Error is a vital and original work. Studying our gestures of knowing, and exploring how we can observe patterns emergent in irregular phenomena, Brunella Antomarini reveals the many ways error is a stimulus to thought. Her case studies range from Catherine of Siena's theological politics to recent developments in chaos theory. Error is central, Antomarini shows, to "the enormous wealth of information," both visible and invisible, observable and intuited, that we bring to the everyday world. In the end she indicates how that world is "made for us and not in spite of us.

Editorial Reviews

In Thinking Through Error, Professor Antomarini seeks to free our thought from self-pre-empting truths: truths that depend upon our making invidious comparisons with error. Antomarini redefines error as a mental act that is pre-requisite to our engaging experience as a compelling voyage of discovery. She makes a convincing case for claiming that the knowledge we gain by risking knowledge of the truth re-invigorates philosophical inquiry in general. Her 'risky' speculations enhance the prospects for human creativity both within and without the realm of the aesthetic. This is a book with broad interdisciplinary appeal for anyone who has contemplated the possibility that error might be a pathway to knowledge rather than an impediment to knowledge.” —Alan Singer, professor of secondary education and director of social studies education, Hofstra University; author of "Education Flashpoints, Fighting for America's Schools"

“Thinking Through Error is a vital and original work. Studying our gestures of knowing, and exploring how we can observe patterns emergent in irregular phenomena, Brunella Antomarini reveals the many ways error is a stimulus to thought. Her case studies range from Catherine of Siena's theological politics to recent developments in chaos theory. Error is central, Antomarini shows, to "the enormous wealth of information," both visible and invisible, observable and intuited, that we bring to the everyday world. In the end she indicates how that world is "made for us and not in spite of us."” —Susan Stewart, Princeton University

From the Publisher

In Thinking Through Error, Professor Antomarini seeks to free our thought from self-pre-empting truths: truths that depend upon our making invidious comparisons with error. Antomarini redefines error as a mental act that is pre-requisite to our engaging experience as a compelling voyage of discovery. She makes a convincing case for claiming that the knowledge we gain by risking knowledge of the truth re-invigorates philosophical inquiry in general. Her 'risky' speculations enhance the prospects for human creativity both within and without the realm of the aesthetic. This is a book with broad interdisciplinary appeal for anyone who has contemplated the possibility that error might be a pathway to knowledge rather than an impediment to knowledge.

Alan Singer

Thinking Through Error is a vital and original work. Studying our gestures of knowing, and exploring how we can observe patterns emergent in irregular phenomena, Brunella Antomarini reveals the many ways error is a stimulus to thought. Her case studies range from Catherine of Siena's theological politics to recent developments in chaos theory. Error is central, Antomarini shows, to "the enormous wealth of information," both visible and invisible, observable and intuited, that we bring to the everyday world. In the end she indicates how that world is "made for us and not in spite of us."

Susan Stewart