Review by Choice Review
It would be difficult to find a more adequate account of the impact of analytic philosophy on the interpretation of scientific theory than this dissertation written by a parish priest. As a theologian critical of the role that the analystic critique of scientific theory has played in shaping certain interpretations of religious language, Stanesby opts for a Popperian media between the scientific positivism of the ``received view on theories'' on the one hand, and sociological relativism on the other. Especially well articulated is the influence of Wittgenstein's earlier and later views on the formation of positivism and relativism, respectively. Despite the problematic nature of Popper's Tarskian theory of truth, Stanesby maintains that scientific activity and religious praxis would suffer if ``objectivity, truth and realism'' should be dismissed as meaningless terms. Whatever the merits of such a claim, it must be said that his interpretation of religious language as ``referential'' fails to take into account modern developments in the hermeneutics of religious texts. The consequence of this deficiency is that possibilities for resolving issues of truth are defined by those whom Stanesby regards as the opposition. For graduate students, upper-division undergraduates, and general readers.-H.H. Oliver, Boston University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
