Philosophical Provocations: 55 Short Essays (mit Press)
by Colin McGinn /
2017 / English / PDF
2.8 MB Download
In
InPhilosophical Provocations
Philosophical Provocations, Colin McGinn offers a
series of short, sharp essays that take on philosophical problems
ranging from the concept of mind to paradox, altruism, and the
relation between God and the Devil. Avoiding the usual scholarly
apparatus and embracing a blunt pithiness, McGinn aims to achieve
as much as possible in as short a space as possible while
covering as many topics as possible. Much academic philosophical
writing today is long, leaden, citation heavy, dense with
qualifications, and painful to read. The essays in
, Colin McGinn offers a
series of short, sharp essays that take on philosophical problems
ranging from the concept of mind to paradox, altruism, and the
relation between God and the Devil. Avoiding the usual scholarly
apparatus and embracing a blunt pithiness, McGinn aims to achieve
as much as possible in as short a space as possible while
covering as many topics as possible. Much academic philosophical
writing today is long, leaden, citation heavy, dense with
qualifications, and painful to read. The essays inPhilosophical Provocations
Philosophical Provocations are short, direct, and
engaging, often challenging philosophical orthodoxy as they
consider issues in mind, language, knowledge, metaphysics,
biology, ethics, and religion.
are short, direct, and
engaging, often challenging philosophical orthodoxy as they
consider issues in mind, language, knowledge, metaphysics,
biology, ethics, and religion.
McGinn is looking for new ways to think about old problems. Thus
he writes, about consciousness, "I think we have been all wrong,"
and goes on to suggest that both consciousness and the
unconscious are mysteries. Summing up his proposal on altruism,
he remarks, "My suggestion can now be stated, somewhat brutally,
as follows: human altruism is the result of parasitic
manipulation." He takes a moment to reflect: "I really don't know
why it is good to be alive, though I am convinced that the
standard suggestions don't work." McGinn gets straight to the
point and states his position with maximum clarity. These essays
offer provocative invitations to think again.
McGinn is looking for new ways to think about old problems. Thus
he writes, about consciousness, "I think we have been all wrong,"
and goes on to suggest that both consciousness and the
unconscious are mysteries. Summing up his proposal on altruism,
he remarks, "My suggestion can now be stated, somewhat brutally,
as follows: human altruism is the result of parasitic
manipulation." He takes a moment to reflect: "I really don't know
why it is good to be alive, though I am convinced that the
standard suggestions don't work." McGinn gets straight to the
point and states his position with maximum clarity. These essays
offer provocative invitations to think again.