Philosophy’s value and power are greatly diminished when it operates within a too closely confined professional space. Extreme Philosophy: Bold Ideas and a Spirit of Progress serves as an antidote to the increasing narrowness of the field. It offers readers–including students and general readers–twenty internationally acclaimed philosophers who highlight and defend odd, extreme, or ‘mad’ ideas. The resulting conjectures are often provocative and bold, but always clear and accessible.
Ideas discussed in the book, include:
propaganda need not be irrational science need not be rational extremism need not be bad tax evasion need not be immoral anarchy need not be uninviting democracy need not remain as it generally is humans might have immaterial souls human minds might have all-but-unlimited powers knowing might be nothing beyond being correct space and time might not be ‘out there’ in reality value might be the foundational part of reality value might differ in an infinitely repeating reality reality is One reality is vague
In brief, the volume pursues adventures in philosophy. This spirit of philosophical risk-taking and openness to new, ‘large’ ideas were vital to philosophy’s ancient origins, and they may also be fertile ground today for philosophical progress.
Edited by:
Stephen Hetherington
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Weight: 590g
ISBN: 9781032317380
ISBN 10: 1032317388
Pages: 310
Publication Date: 09 April 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
College/higher education
,
ELT Advanced
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
1. Extreme Philosophy: Some Exploratory Words Stephen Hetherington 2. Monism and the Ontology of Logic Samuel Z. Elgin 3. From Plotinus to Rorty: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps Shamik Dasgupta 4. Spatiotemporal Projectivism Kristie Miller 5. Nonsense + Unintelligibility = How to Understand Vagueness Nicholas J.J. Smith 6. Science Is Irrational – and a Good Thing, Too Michael Strevens 7. Knowing as Merely Being Correct Stephen Hetherington 8. Is Philosophy Possible? Neil Levy 9. Mind Unlimited? Andy Clark 10. Disembodied Souls Are People, Too Michael Huemer 11. Repetition and Value in an Infinite Universe Eric Schwitzgebel 12. The Fatalist Is the Most Extreme Extremist Roy A. Sorensen 13. A Defence of Extremism David Coady 14. The (Ir)Rationality of Propaganda Catarina Dutilh Novaes 15. Is Inclusion Good? Holly Lawford-Smith 16. Corruption Empowers: Political Leadership and Moral Degeneracy Crispin Sartwell 17. Power Inversion Democracy Alexander Guerrero 18. Evading and Aiding: The Moral Case Against Paying Taxes Jason Brennan, Jessica Flanigan, and Christopher Freiman 19. Suicide, Organ Donation, and Meaning in Life: Some Disturbing Reflections Saul Smilansky
Stephen Hetherington is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of New South Wales, Australia, and former Editor-in-Chief of Australasian Journal of Philosophy. His recent books include What Is Epistemology? (Polity, 2019) and Defining Knowledge (Cambridge UP, 2022).
