Can We Make Sense of the World by Edward Feser - Book Report/Review Example

Can We Make Sense of the World by Edward FeserThe intelligibility of the world remains an unexplored area (Feser). This is because it remains limited to the knowledge of man. In his article, “can we make sense of the world?” Edward Feser explores the levels of intelligibility that man has over the world. This is in the light that, there has been numerous attempts to understand the nature, and construct a meaning towards the natural phenomenon, as well as develop an understanding of how much of the world does man understand.

Feser understood that the human limit is the ultimate goal set, and hence, science and innovation has been the limit to which man has been able to understand the world. For this essay, we shall summarize the work of Professor Edward Feser on intelligibility. The article proposes various phrases that are used to understand the world. It also develops an argument based on the world’s ability to be intelligible to us, or the world being intelligible in itself. He discusses that, if the latter was possible, then we can declare it as reasonable to think that our minds are too limited to discover it.

He also develops the notion that perhaps the knowledge that we have limits us to the understanding of this phenomenon. The thought that the world might be intelligible in itself is opposed by the fact that; if it is not intelligible to itself, then it cannot be intelligible to us. The argument deepens with the development of the asymmetry that indicates that the world, plainly speaking, could be intelligible to itself and yet unintelligible to us, and if the world was intelligible to us, then it must be intelligible to itself.

Another school of thought is developed by the notion that the world could be partially intelligible but not very intelligible or completely intelligible in itself. The thoughts of Bertrand and Mackie are echoed in the article, where the author notes that, the article might be intelligible through science, but the rules that are developed in empirical science cannot be explained in themselves therefore they are brutal facts (Feser). The question of world intelligibility is thus developed from the following schools of thought; that the world is intelligible in itself and thus, thoroughly intelligible to us.

This is the strong rationalist perspective and does not attract support from philosophers. The scope of thought holds that, the world is thoroughly intelligible in itself and partially intelligible to us. This is the moderate perspective supported by many philosophers. The third holds that the world is intelligible in itself and completely unintelligible to us. This means that, the world has never been understood by any man (Feser). This is the mysterian perspective that holds that the world is more of a mystery and there is too much to discover yet.

Another proponent argues that the world is partially intelligible in itself and partially intelligible to us. Thus, we have the perspective held by the naturalistic philosophers who think that science offers us more knowledge on the world. The fifth proponent is that the world is intelligible in itself and completely unintelligible to us. The sixth gives the argument that, the world is unintelligible in itself and completely unintelligible to us (Feser). In conclusion, this perspectives offer us a broad school of thought on the intelligibility of the world.

From the various perspectives, we learn that, this is an important step into the understanding of the phenomenon as a whole, but also develop a supporting perspective to the ideologies of the likes of Plato that, the world is intelligible in itself, but can only be said to be partially intelligible to us. Works citedFeser, Edward. " Can we make sense of the world?"Web. 02/13/2014. (http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2011/02/canwemakesenseofworld. html).