OVERVALUATION: AN OBSTACLE TO DIALOGUE
OVERVALUATION: AN OBSTACLE TO DIALOGUE
Author(s): Lloyd SteffenSubject(s): History of Philosophy, Philosophical Traditions, Special Branches of Philosophy
Published by: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk i Fundacja Filozofia na Rzecz Dialogu
Keywords: Values; dialogue; love; passion; overvaluation; fanaticism; Immanuel Kant; John Locke; Santayana; R. M. Hare; mysticism; religious extremism; terrorism; passive illumination
Summary/Abstract: This paper offers a critical analysis of an obstacle to dialogue—“overvaluation.” Drawing on Immanuel Kant’s analysis of religious fanaticism as a contradictory and irrational attempt to access the supersensible by sensible means, this paper argues that overvaluation can, at its extreme, suppress prudential reasoning and other-regardingness and render dialogue impossible. Dialogue is an ideal of philosophical discourse that counters the negative prospects of extreme overvaluation. Dialogue is sustained by respect for others; it affirms self-regard in human relationships; and it resists absolutist thought, which is finally overvaluation detached from reasonableness, by being open to change and to the possibility of new understanding.
Journal: Dialogue and Universalism
- Issue Year: 2017
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 7-21
- Page Count: 15
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF