1605.If The

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If the activity of philosophy itself has necessary presuppositions-as it clearly does--exactly what are they? Whitehead answers that they are "the premises implicit in all reasoning," my answer is that they are our rock-bottom, basic beliefs. I mean such beliefs as that: con~tuting a domain of validity, distinct but inseparable from all the others. If life is meaningful or has a rational aim; the world is so ordered as to make pursuing this aim possible, including basing our expectations of the future on our experiences of the past; andthere is something properly called "validity," in the several forms of truth, goodness, and beauty, as well as sincerity or authenticity, and, possibly, holiness or eternity, each

1 October 2005