The Meaning of Thought

Markus Gabriel is that rare beast, a serious academic philosopher with the wit and talent to write for non-academic audiences - the German equivalent of Simon Blackburn. This engaging book displays his characteristic insight, in the service of pluralistic metaphysics and inclusive humanism. It's an attractive mix. Huw Price, University of Cambridge One of the youngest protagonists on the global intellectual stage, Markus Gabriel has designed the architecture of a New Realism that inspires specialists and readers alike yearning for an intellectual challenge. Conceiving of philosophy as a theory of thought, he shows how understanding our relationship to the world begins with abandoning the premise that we could ever be separated from it. Doing philosophy along the movements of Gabriel's text thus turns into a pleasurable fulfilment of human existence. Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Albert Guerard Professor in Literature, Emeritus, Stanford University Markus Gabriel is an important and critical voice in the discourse about artificial intelligence, data and technology. He criticizes today's AI mythologies from a fundamentally humanistic perspective about the nature of thought itself. This book will help you navigate the inevitable digitization of individuals and societies. Andreas Weigend, PhD; global expert on data and privacy, author of Data for the People, former chief scientist at Amazon and advisor to Angela Merkel. The Meaning of Thought is a tour de force, combining a critique of naturalistic metaphysics with a diagnosis of our failure to understand ourselves and our place - our immersion - in reality. Markus Gabriel moves with ease from the history of philosophy to popular culture and the theory and culture of artificial intelligence. His New Realism, which countenances a multitude of realities, nevertheless allows him to expose current enthusiasm for the very idea of computer intelligence as a superstition symptomatic of the dangerous unreflectiveness of modern thought. Taylor Carman, Chair, Dept of Philosophy, Barnard College a tour de force Los Angeles Review of Books