Plausibility

Plausibilities (and routines) are what orientation relies on. Something is plausible if one agrees immediately without the need of further questions or justifications. Plausibilities are self-evident, go unnoticed, and thus are usually not made explicit. Once they are articulated, they become questionable. If plausibilities are called into question, new plausibilities for questioning plausibilities come to the fore. These implicit plausibility standards allow for a self-evident orientation to another individual orientation in a group or society. Groups and societies protect their respective plausibilities in their ways of life against further questions and maintain their implicit legitimacy.

Also all scientific argumentations end in plausibilities and proceed from them. In philosophy, this has mostly gone unnoticed while it strived for last justifications (chap. 1.3).

XIV, XVII, 9-14, 64-65, 84, 104, 129, 160, 187, 198, 216, 269-272

 

Glossary

Reinhard Mueller