TItis book is the joint project of a philosopher, Lehrer, and a mathematician, Wagner. The
book is, therefore, divided into a first part written by Lehrer, which is primarily philosophical …

A person may reasonably accept some experimental report, hypothesis or theory because
there is a consensus among an appropriate reference group of experts. It may be …

HE IDEA THAT CONSENSUS On fundamental principles is essential to democracy is a
recurrent proposition in political theory. Perhaps, because of its general acceptance, the …

Reasonable individuals often share a rationale for a decision but, in other cases, they make
the same decision based on disparate and often incompat ible rationales. The social …

There can be good reasons to doubt the authority of a group of scientists. But those reasons
do not include lack of unanimity among them. Indeed, holding science to a unanimity or near …

This essay criticizes the ideal of consensual decision as it appears in liberal political theory.
A historical survey begins with Locke's view of consent, its criticism and extension by 19th …

Scientific pluralism is an issue at the forefront of philosophy of science. This landmark work
addresses the question, Can pluralism be advanced as a general, philosophical …

tn a recent exchange withJohn Rawls, Jurgen Habermas1 objects| that Rawls's goal of an
overlapping consensus is too weak a foun-Sdation for a theory of justice. We know that for …

* An earlier version of this paper was presented at a Tufts University philosophy of science
colloquium in April 1976. I am indebted to Hartry Field and Hilary Putnam for helpful …

THE LIMITS OF PUBLIC REASON M any philosophers now argue that grounding political
principles in public justifications is a fundamental feature of v liberalism. Yet the basis for …