Our Fundamental Problem

A Revolutionary Approach to Philosophy

Nicholas Maxwell

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9780228001515
• eBook ISBN:
  9780228002871
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

How can the world we live in and see, touch, hear, and smell, the world of living things, people, consciousness, free will, meaning, and value - how can all of this exist and flourish embedded as it is in the physical universe, made up of nothing but physical entities such as electrons and quarks? How can anything be of value if everything in the universe is, ultimately, just physics?

In Our Fundamental Problem Nicholas Maxwell argues that this problem of reconciling the human and physical worlds needs to take centre stage in our thinking, so that our best ideas about it interact with our attempts to solve even more important specialized problems of thought and life. When we explore this fundamental problem, Maxwell argues, revolutionary answers emerge for a wide range of questions arising in philosophy, science, social inquiry, academic inquiry as a whole, and - most important of all - our capacity to solve the global problems that threaten our future: climate change, habitat destruction, extinction of species, inequality, war, pollution of earth, sea, and air.

An unorthodox introduction to philosophy, Our Fundamental Problem brings philosophy down to earth and demonstrates its vital importance for science, scholarship, education, life, and the fate of the world.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Figures
• Preface
• 1 Our Human World in the Physical Universe: Introductory discussion of the problem
• 2 Some Ideas as to How Our Fundamental Problem Is to Be Solved: Five approaches to its solution: physicalism, dualism, idealism, naive realism, and the two-aspect view
• 3 How Our Human World Can Exist in the Physical Universe: Outline of the two-aspect view
• 4 Is the Universe Physically Comprehensible?: Argument for aim-oriented empiricism
• 5 How Can There Be Free Will If Physicalism Is True?: Purposive action; fundamental requirement for free will; treble comprehensibility; improbability of free will
• 6 Evolution of Life of Value: Darwinian theory helps explain how and why purposive life of value has evolved; two versions of the theory, purposive and purposeless; resistance to recognition of purpose in nature explained and criticized; principle of noncircularity; sentience, consciousness, and language
• 7 Can Humanity Really Create a Good World?: Global problems; the urgent need for a revolution in our institutions of inquiry; the Enlightenment; from knowledge-inquiry to wisdom-inquiry
• 8 What Is of Real Value in Life?: Reasons for doubts about value; value and evolution; intrinsic value; value relativism; value objectivism; aim-oriented rationalism
• 9 Implications: Revolution for philosophy proposed in this book; basic tasks of philosophy: keep alive thinking about our fundamental problem; put the problem at the heart of philosophy, education, and academia; spell out implications for thought and life; help turn knowledge-inquiry into wisdom-inquiry
• Appendix Why Philosophy Lost Its Way: Some time after Descartes, philosophy lost the plot because of intellectual failures in connection with two of its most basic problems: the mind-body problem and Hume’s problem of induction. We need a revolution in philosophy integral to the revolution we need in academia as a whole and, of far greater moment, the revolution we need in our human world
• Notes
• References
• Index