In Defence of Wonder and Other Philosophical Reflections.
Title:
In Defence of Wonder and Other Philosophical Reflections.
Author:
Tallis, Raymond.
ISBN:
9781317547419
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (257 pages)
Contents:
Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Overture: In Defence of Wonder -- 1. George Moore's Hands: Scepticism about Philosophy -- 2. Zhuangzi and that Bloody Butterfly -- 3. Rescuing Truth -- 4. Just a Little Tune I Found in my Mouth -- 5. A Smile at Waterloo Station: On the True Mystery of Memory -- 6. The Myth of Time Travel -- 7. Time, Tense and Physics: The Theory of Everything but … -- 8. Seeing Time -- 9. Call No Event Future Until it is Past -- 10. On (Almost) Nothing: Concerning Spatial Points -- 11. An Introduction to Incontinental Philosophy -- 12. Biological Reasons for Being Cheerful? -- 13. The Soup and the Scaffolding -- 14. Don't Tell Him, Pike! -- 15. Okey Doke -- 16. The Professor of Data-Lean Generalizations -- 17. "I Kid You Not": Knowingness and Other Shallows -- 18. My Bald Head: The Ethics of Hair-Splitting -- 19. Getting Consciousness to Speak Itself: The Great Unmet Challenge of Realistic Fiction -- 20. Reader, I Sh***ed Him: Reflections on the Decline of the Asterisk -- 21. Ian McEwan's Saturday: Does Implausibility Matter? -- 22. Literature, Philosophy and Medicine: On Anton Chekhov's "Ward No. 6" -- 23. The Mystery and the Paradox of Scientific Medicine -- 24. Enhancing Humanity -- 25. On Not Choosing the Alternative: Reflections on Living Longer -- 26. Making Use of Death -- 27. Why I am an Atheist -- Coda: Parmenides: The Great Awakening -- Index.
Abstract:
In these lively and provocative essays, philosopher, polymath and all-round intellectual heavyweight, Raymond Tallis debunks commonplace truths, exposes woolly thinking and pulls the rug from beneath a wide range of commentator whether scientist, theologian, philosopher or pundit. Tallis takes to task much of contemporary science and philosophy, arguing that they are guilty of taking us down ever narrowing conduits of problem solving that only invite ever more complex responses and in doing so have lost sight of "wonder" - the metaphysical intoxication that first gave birth to philosophy 2,500 years ago. Tallis tackles some meaty topics - memory, time, language, truth, fiction, consciousness - but always with his characteristic verve, insight and wit. These essays showcase Tallis's skill for getting to the heart of the matter and challenging us to see, and wonder, in different ways. Wonder is the proper state of humankind, and as these essays show it has no more forceful a champion than Raymond Tallis.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
Genre:
Electronic Access:
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