Extreme Philosophy
Bold Ideas and a Spirit of Progress
Stephen Hetherington, Stephen Hetherington
- 320 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Extreme Philosophy
Bold Ideas and a Spirit of Progress
Stephen Hetherington, Stephen Hetherington
About This Book
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 readersâincluding students and general readersâtwenty 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.