Showing results for "the world" in Epistemology

Best-selling historian and philosopher Will Durant devoted his entire life to studying the most significant eras, individuals, and achievements of human history. Here is a summation of Durant's work, as he presents the best of world history. Filled with Durant's renowned wit, knowledge, and unique ability to explain events in simple and exciting terms, it is a concise liberal arts education.

Do we live inside a simulated reality or a pocket universe embedded in a larger structure about which we know virtually nothing? Is consciousness a purely physical matter, or might it require something extra, something nonphysical? According to the philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel, it’s hard to say. In The Weirdness of the World, Schwitzgebel argues that the answers to these fundamental questions lie beyond our powers of comprehension. We can be certain only that the truth—whatever it is—is weird.

Does the real world, defined as a world of objects that exist independent of human interests, concerns, and cognitive activities, really exist? Jan Westerhoff argues that we have good reason to believe it does not. His discussion considers four main facets of the idea of the real world, ranging from the existence of a separate external and internal world (comprising various mental states congregated around a self), to the existence of an ontological foundation that grounds the existence of all the entities in the world.

In Rules, historian Lorraine Daston traces their development in the Western tradition and shows how rules have evolved from ancient to modern times. Drawing on a rich trove of examples, including legal treatises, cookbooks, military manuals, traffic regulations, and game handbooks, Daston demonstrates that while the content of rules is dazzlingly diverse, the forms that they take are surprisingly few and long-lived.

Truth before Logic explores the provocative implications of the claim that “you can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.” Chesterton counters the sterile, truncated worldview of scientism with an appeal to a deep awareness in the heart and mind without which there would be neither science nor religion.

For curiosity seekers of aerospace and structural science, how did it all start? Here is the story of a forgotten stress engineer whose philosophy, calculations, and outspoken opinions saved many lives. Greatest Generation story lovers, World War II hounds, and family members caring for aging parents think of Mister B as a national treasure. When a relative inserts herself into the physicist's personal space, the old man decides to teach his new helper some life lessons of his own, specifically that his newest design is to live forever.