Dividing Reality

Dividing Reality PDF Author: Eli Hirsch
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195111427
Category : Division (Philosophy)
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
"Important and challenging, and covers much territory.... Hirsch leads us through the heart of metaphysics, [leaving] his special mark on all the topics he touches. I'd put it on the Metaphysician's Must Read list."--Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

Dividing Reality

Dividing Reality PDF Author: Eli Hirsch
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195111427
Category : Division (Philosophy)
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Important and challenging, and covers much territory.... Hirsch leads us through the heart of metaphysics, [leaving] his special mark on all the topics he touches. I'd put it on the Metaphysician's Must Read list."--Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

Dividing Reality

Dividing Reality PDF Author: Eli Hirsch
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195057546
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Why does our language divide up reality one way rather than another? On what rational basis does our language contain certain kinds of general words rather than others? Hirsch shows that a language can be constructed which describes reality in ways we would find absurdly irrational, for example by classifying normally disparate items under the same general term. The apparent irrationality of the new language does not depend on its impoverished fact-stating power, as this may be equivalent to the fact-stating power of ordinary language; the problem then is to explain exactly what is wrong with it. Various options are explored and criticized, such as the hypothesis that language must reflect an underlying objective distinction between 'natural' kinds; that there are pragmatic reasons for the way language functions as it does; and that, as a matter of 'metaphysical necessity, ' strange ways of dividing up reality are constructions out of ordinary ways. Having demonstrated that this newly identified problem is in fact a serious one which cannot be easily solved or brushed aside, Hirsch offers his own suggestions for a possible solution.

The Everlasting Beautiful Journey

The Everlasting Beautiful Journey PDF Author: Tomer Shani
Publisher: Archway Publishing
ISBN: 166570683X
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
Tomer Shani has dedicated his life to search for a way out of darkness toward light, to find a way to change the negative perception of reality that was created within him as a default and ruled him as a result of his life’s circumstances. Tomer sought a way to change, to overcome all the doubts, fears, and feelings of worthlessness he carried for many years. This book is a fulfillment of a promise he made: if he finds the way, he will try to help others! In The Everlasting Beautiful Journey, he offers a three-part guide that helps you set off to a profound inner evolution. Tomer lays out a real, fundamental and essential process, that doesn’t end and doesn’t set a final destination or an expiration on development, learning, and understanding. Producing new perspectives within, The Everlasting Beautiful Journey shares the essence of the mental, psychological, emotional, and philosophical path Tomer experienced in his journey. It presents a well based channel for change, transcendence, development, and growth that is everlasting and therefore, beautiful.

A Rose Armed with Thorns: Spinoza’s Philosophy Under a Novel Lens

A Rose Armed with Thorns: Spinoza’s Philosophy Under a Novel Lens PDF Author: Amihud Gilead
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030548104
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
This book presents a systemic analysis of Spinoza’s philosophy and challenges the traditional views. It deals with Spinoza’s concepts of substance, truth conditions, attributes, and the first, second, and supreme grades of knowledge. Based upon an analysis of the relevant details in all of Spinoza’s philosophical works, the book reveals many important points, including the following: Spinoza’s system is not, nor is meant to be, a foundational-deductive system but was meant to be a coherent system of a network model. Spinoza’s reality is not made in the image of a mathematical model. Imaginatio, the first grade of knowledge, and ratio, the second grade, are parts or properties of the supreme grade of knowledge, scientia intuitiva, which is their essence. Finite beings, especially humans, are necessary and eternal (unless they are mistakenly perceived by imaginatio) whereas time, place, and death are simply “entities of imagination.” The salvation, happiness, and blessedness that Spinoza’s Ethics offers us, are active and depend only upon us. Concluding a careful examination and interpretation, the book suggests additional novel viewpoints in interpreting Spinoza’s philosophical psychology and political philosophy.

We Speak Because We Have First Been Spoken

We Speak Because We Have First Been Spoken PDF Author: Michael Pasquarello
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0802829171
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
This text focuses on the person and formation of the preacher, describing the kind of Christian wisdom and character that are essential to hearing and speaking the Word of God with authenticity.

An Introduction to Systematic Philosophy

An Introduction to Systematic Philosophy PDF Author: Walter Taylor Marvin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 598

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Book Description


The Mammoth Encyclopedia of the Unsolved

The Mammoth Encyclopedia of the Unsolved PDF Author: Colin Wilson
Publisher: Robinson
ISBN: 1780337051
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 904

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Book Description
Now available in one tremendous volume is a compelling and remarkable history spanning over two thousand years of the greatest unsolved mysteries known to mankind, including: Atlantis the Bermuda Triangle Bigfoot crop circles crystal skulls the Holy Shroud of Turin the Hope Diamond and other cursed jewels the mystery of the Mary Celeste mummies and their curses poltergeists sea monsters spontaneous human combustion Tunguska and other falling meteors vampires zombies Includes a mystery never examined before - the missing maps of Atlantis Colin Wilson is an acknowledged expert in the field of the unexplained and is in constant demand by the media Colin has a track record of proven successes with the Mammoth series, including, most recently, The Mammoth Book of Murder

Realism and Antirealism

Realism and Antirealism PDF Author: William P. Alston
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501720562
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
Throughout the past century, a debate has raged over the thesis of realism and its alternatives. Realism—the seemingly commonsensical view that all or most of what we encounter in the world exists and is what it is independently of human thought—has been vigorously denied by such prominent intellectuals as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Richard Rorty, Thomas Kuhn, Hilary Putnam, and Nelson Goodman. The opponents of realism, among them historians and social scientists who support social constructionism, hold that all or most of reality depends on human conceptual schemes and beliefs. In this volume of original essays, a group of philosophers explores the ongoing controversy. The book opens with an introduction by William P. Alston, whose writing on the subject has been widely influential. Selected essays then compare and contrast aspects of the arguments put forward by the realists with those of the antirealists. Other chapters discuss the importance of the debate for philosophical topics such as epistemology and for domains ranging from religion, literature, and science to morality.

The Unfinished Universe

The Unfinished Universe PDF Author: Louise B. Young
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195080394
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
From the dawn of humankind, men and women have looked at change--as wrought by weather, the seasons, and, most strikingly, the inexorable advance of time--as something essentially to be feared. And partially from this fear the great religions and mythologies have arisen, systems which gave meaning to the ever-changing world, and, quite often, immortality to ourselves. By the late nineteenth century, the quest for ultimate meanings became largely the province of science, and today, change still figures (on the surface, at least) as a malevolent force: most of the cosmological theories formulated in recent years predict the ultimate extinction of the world by universal entropy. Bringing together the evidence and insights of biology and physics, of astronomy and cosmology, Louise Young offers a profoundly original and stirring vision of order, form, change, and the creative forces in the universe. Opposing the long-held beliefs of many scientists that the universe is running down and will eventually collapse upon itself, Young eloquently argues that the tendency toward increasing entropy is merely one aspect of a single process that is creating more complex, highly organized, and more efficient forms of matter all the time, and at every level--from the microscopic to the stellar. In vivid, compelling prose, Louise Young--an award-winning writer on science and a former physicist--takes us on an unforgettable tour of the world around us, showing how even the most ordinary aspects of life and the universe display a strangely beautiful symmetry. She clearly demonstrates that creation was not simply some big-bang eons ago, but rather is an ongoing process, one in which we are both witnesses and participants. Illustrating her findings with many remarkable photographs and fascinating examples ranging from geology to animal behavior, and from oceanography to genetics, Young gracefully canvasses the themes of growth, change creativity, and the mystery of the universe in a book that is as much poetry as it is science. Based on solid scientific knowledge, yet informed by a refreshingly philosophical sensibility, The Unfinished Universe is a book that will inspire anyone who has ever questioned their place and purpose in a world filled with uncertainty and change.

Familiar Objects and their Shadows

Familiar Objects and their Shadows PDF Author: Crawford L. Elder
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139501127
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Most contemporary metaphysicians are sceptical about the reality of familiar objects such as dogs and trees, people and desks, cells and stars. They prefer an ontology of the spatially tiny or temporally tiny. Tiny microparticles 'dog-wise arranged' explain the appearance, they say, that there are dogs; microparticles obeying microphysics collectively cause anything that a baseball appears to cause; temporal stages collectively sustain the illusion of enduring objects that persist across changes. Crawford L. Elder argues that all such attempts to 'explain away' familiar objects project downwards, onto the tiny entities, structures and features of familiar objects themselves. He contends that sceptical metaphysicians are thus employing shadows of familiar objects, while denying that the entities which cast those shadows really exist. He argues that the shadows are indeed really there, because their sources - familiar objects - are mind-independently real.