Big Business in Russia: The Putilov Company in Late Imperial Russia, 1868-1917

Abstract

Perfected is but an idealization that provides a useful contrast to highlight the limited character of what we do and can attain. This lies at the core of various debates in the philosophy of and Rescher s discussion focuses on the question: how far could go in principle what are the theoretical limits on science? He concentrates on what can discover, not what it should discover. He explores in detail the existence of limits or limitations on scientific inquiry, especially those that, in principle, preclude the full realization of the aims of science, as opposed to those that relate to economic obstacles to scientific progress. Rescher also places his argument within the politics of the day, where strident calls of ideological extremes surround us, ranging from the exaggeration that science can do anything to the antiscientism that views as a costly diversion we would be well advised to abandon. Rescher offers a middle path between these two extremes and provides an appreciation of the actual powers and limitations of science, not only to philosophers of but also to a larger, less specialized audience.