书名: A Brief History of the Paradox: Philosophy and the Labyrinths of the Mind
作者: Roy Sorensen (Author)
出版社: Oxford University Press, USA (December 4, 2003)
语言：English
ISBN-10: 0195159039
ISBN-13: 978-0195159035
Book Description
Can God create a stone too heavy for him to lift? Can time have a beginning? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Riddles, paradoxes, conundrums--for millennia the human mind has found such knotty logical problems both perplexing and irresistible. Now Roy Sorensen offers the first narrative history of paradoxes, a fascinating and eye-opening account that extends from the ancient Greeks, through the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment, and into the twentieth century. When Augustine asked what God was doing before He made the world, he was told: "Preparing hell for people who ask questions like that." A Brief History of the Paradox takes a close look at "questions like that" and the philosophers who have asked them, beginning with the folk riddles that inspired Anaximander to erect the first metaphysical system and ending with such thinkers as Lewis Carroll, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and W.V. Quine. Organized chronologically, the book is divided into twenty-four chapters, each of which pairs a philosopher with a major paradox, allowing for extended consideration and putting a human face on the strategies that have been taken toward these puzzles. Readers get to follow the minds of Zeno, Socrates, Aquinas, Ockham, Pascal, Kant, Hegel, and many other major philosophers deep inside the tangles of paradox, looking for, and sometimes finding, a way out. Filled with illuminating anecdotes and vividly written, A Brief History of the Paradox will appeal to anyone who finds trying to answer unanswerable questions a paradoxically pleasant endeavor.
Review
"Sorensen delivers a lightly written yet persistently head-scratching review of paradoxes in the Western tradition. In an apt simile, the author, a college professor, likens paradoxes in philosophy to prime numbers in mathematics; they build up the larger edifice. Paradoxes, however, are potentially weak materials for pondering the existence of God, the validity of common sense, the reliability of reason, or which door to choose on Let's Make a Deal. Although the contradictions that paradoxes pose may bemuse general readers, for philosophers, they are serious business indeed. Yet both audiences will be served by Sorensen's account. Everybody knows that Zeno's Paradox (which asserts motion is impossible) can't be true, yet, Sorensen reports, no philosopher could refute it until the late nineteenth century. The Zeno case epitomizes the author's approach: he centralizes a paradox as originated by, or associated with, two dozen historical philosophers, and calls the play-by-play of successors who wrestled it to the mat. High-interest material for recreational philosophers." -- Gilbert Taylor, Booklist
"Because paradoxes show great minds at once at their most inspired and befuddled, a book like this makes an excellent introduction to philosophy in general. By treating how different thinkers deal with a problem, Mr. Sorensen provides a sort of whistle-stop tour of Western thought." -- New York Sun
"One of the most enjoyable books I read this past year, though I don't share Sorenson's conception of philosophy. To fully appreciate the book--and to adequately assess it--you would need to be a philosopher, which I am not. But for general readers with a strong interest in philosophy, it's an unbeatable bedside book, witty and stimulating if taken in small doses." -- John Wilson, Christianity Today
About the Author
Roy Sorensen is Professor of Philosophy at Dartmouth College.
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作者: Roy Sorensen (Author)
出版社: Oxford University Press, USA (December 4, 2003)
语言：English
ISBN-10: 0195159039
ISBN-13: 978-0195159035
Book Description
Can God create a stone too heavy for him to lift? Can time have a beginning? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Riddles, paradoxes, conundrums--for millennia the human mind has found such knotty logical problems both perplexing and irresistible. Now Roy Sorensen offers the first narrative history of paradoxes, a fascinating and eye-opening account that extends from the ancient Greeks, through the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment, and into the twentieth century. When Augustine asked what God was doing before He made the world, he was told: "Preparing hell for people who ask questions like that." A Brief History of the Paradox takes a close look at "questions like that" and the philosophers who have asked them, beginning with the folk riddles that inspired Anaximander to erect the first metaphysical system and ending with such thinkers as Lewis Carroll, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and W.V. Quine. Organized chronologically, the book is divided into twenty-four chapters, each of which pairs a philosopher with a major paradox, allowing for extended consideration and putting a human face on the strategies that have been taken toward these puzzles. Readers get to follow the minds of Zeno, Socrates, Aquinas, Ockham, Pascal, Kant, Hegel, and many other major philosophers deep inside the tangles of paradox, looking for, and sometimes finding, a way out. Filled with illuminating anecdotes and vividly written, A Brief History of the Paradox will appeal to anyone who finds trying to answer unanswerable questions a paradoxically pleasant endeavor.
Review
"Sorensen delivers a lightly written yet persistently head-scratching review of paradoxes in the Western tradition. In an apt simile, the author, a college professor, likens paradoxes in philosophy to prime numbers in mathematics; they build up the larger edifice. Paradoxes, however, are potentially weak materials for pondering the existence of God, the validity of common sense, the reliability of reason, or which door to choose on Let's Make a Deal. Although the contradictions that paradoxes pose may bemuse general readers, for philosophers, they are serious business indeed. Yet both audiences will be served by Sorensen's account. Everybody knows that Zeno's Paradox (which asserts motion is impossible) can't be true, yet, Sorensen reports, no philosopher could refute it until the late nineteenth century. The Zeno case epitomizes the author's approach: he centralizes a paradox as originated by, or associated with, two dozen historical philosophers, and calls the play-by-play of successors who wrestled it to the mat. High-interest material for recreational philosophers." -- Gilbert Taylor, Booklist
"Because paradoxes show great minds at once at their most inspired and befuddled, a book like this makes an excellent introduction to philosophy in general. By treating how different thinkers deal with a problem, Mr. Sorensen provides a sort of whistle-stop tour of Western thought." -- New York Sun
"One of the most enjoyable books I read this past year, though I don't share Sorenson's conception of philosophy. To fully appreciate the book--and to adequately assess it--you would need to be a philosopher, which I am not. But for general readers with a strong interest in philosophy, it's an unbeatable bedside book, witty and stimulating if taken in small doses." -- John Wilson, Christianity Today
About the Author
Roy Sorensen is Professor of Philosophy at Dartmouth College.
[thread=8631]论坛相关讨论主题[/thread]
