David Roochnik
David Roochnik (born 1951) is an American philosopher and the Maria Stata professor of philosophy at Boston University. Prior to completing his doctorate degree at Pennsylvania State University in 1995, Professor Roochnik taught at Iowa State University and Williams College. He joined the philosophy department at Boston University in 1995. Work. In his 1991 book, "The Tragedy of Reason", Professor Roochnik presents an interpretation of the historical evolution of reason, or "logos", as an ongoing quarrel. One camp, represented by Cleitophon, is impatient with reason's failure to culminate in a teachable "techne". A second camp, represented by  Socrates, insists on protrepticizing young minds to know and care for themselves despite the lack of a clearly articulated "techne" of self-knowledge and self-care. Descartes, argues Roochnik, is a modern representative of Cleitophon's position. Admiring the certainty achieved by the "techne" of mathematics, and hoping to place all knowledge on this same firm footing, Descartes places everything he can't establish with mathematical certainty into doubt. To order his life while he pursues his project, however, Descartes must adopt what he calls a "provisional morality," in which he obeys all the laws and customs of his local  society. Descartes, says Roochnik, tries to make "logos" into a "techne" and, finding that "techne" is insufficient to order his life, "fills the void created by the absence of "logos" with his provisional morality." The hyper-rational realm of mathematical certainty has, as its "flipside," a realm of credulous and unquestioning acceptance of the laws and customs of society.