Apologia pro simplicio

Galileo and the limits of knowledge

Joseph C. Pitt

pp. 1-22

in: James BROWN, Jürgen Mittelstrass (eds), An intimate relation, Berlin, Springer, 1989

Abstract

The limits of knowledge are determined by the world, by the apparatus the investigator brings to bear on his problems, and the cognitive values and methods that govern the objectives of the process of inquiry. Kant was right, there is little we can say about the world per se. What is of epistomological interest is not the way the world is, but (a) the character of the inquiry as determined by the goals, values and methods of the inquirers, and (b) the way the world is believed to be.

Cited authors

Kant Immanuel

Galilei Galileo