Comparing is one of the most essential practices, in our everyday life as well as in science and humanities. In this in-depth philosophical analysis of the structure, practice and ethics of comparative procedures, Hartmut von Sass expands on the significance of comparison.
Elucidating the ramified structure of comparing, von Sass suggests a typology of comparisons before introducing the notion of comparative injustice and the limits of comparisons. He elaborates on comparing as practice by relating comparing to three relative practices – orienting, describing, and expressing oneself – to unfold some of the most important chapters of what might be called comparativism.
This approach allows von Sass to clarify the idea of the incomparable, distinguish between different versions of incomparability and shed light on important ethical aspects of comparisons today. Confronting the claim that we are living in an age of comparisons, his book is an important contribution to ideas surrounding all-encompassing measurements and scalability and their critique.
By:
Dr Hartmut von Sass
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781350185517
ISBN 10: 1350185515
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 20 April 2023
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface Introduction: Comparisons—A Marginalised Classic Part I: Comparison as Structure and Comparing as Practice 1. Comparisons. A General Account 2. Comparisons: A Typology 3. On Comparative Injustice Part II: Three Studies in Comparativism 4. Orientation, Indexicality, and Comparisons: A Theme from Kant 5. Comparative / Descriptive: Wittgenstein and the Search for “Objects of Comparison” 6. Comparative Ironism: Richard Rorty on Plural Vocabularies and the Comparisons Between Them Part III: On Relocating Incomparability 7. Against Structural Incomparability 8. On Indexical Incomparability 9. The Curious Case of Normative Incomparability: Comparisons, Animals and the Quest for Adequacy Epilogue: Living in an “Age of Comparison”?: An Interpretation with Diagnostic Intent Notes Bibliography Index
Hartmut von Sass is Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy of Religion and Heisenberg Scholar at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.
Reviews for A Philosophy of Comparisons: Theory, Practice and the Limits of Ethics
This carefully argued and clearly written book is the most thorough study of the meaning and practice of comparing that I am aware of. It draws impressively in a wide range of philosophical literature and traditions as it explains the many roles of making comparisons in our thought and in our culture.’ * Douglas MacLean, Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, USA *
