Ultimate questions /
We human beings had no say in existing, we just opened our eyes and found ourselves here. We have a fundamental need to understand who we are and the world we live in. Reason takes us a long way, but mystery remains. When our minds and senses are baffled, faith can seem justified, but faith is not k...
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Main Authors: | |
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Published: |
Princeton University Press,
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Publisher Address: | Princeton, NJ : |
Publication Dates: | [2016] |
Literature type: | Book |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Summary: |
We human beings had no say in existing, we just opened our eyes and found ourselves here. We have a fundamental need to understand who we are and the world we live in. Reason takes us a long way, but mystery remains. When our minds and senses are baffled, faith can seem justified, but faith is not knowledge. In Ultimate Questions, acclaimed philosopher Bryan Magee provocatively argues that we have no way of fathoming our own natures or finding definitive answers to the big questions we all face. With eloquence and grace, Magee urges us to be the mapmakers of what is intelligible, and to identify the boundaries of meaningfulness. He traces this tradition of thought to his chief philosophical mentors, Locke, Hume, Kant, and Schopenhauer and shows why this approach to the enigma of existence can enrich our lives and transform our understanding of the human predicament. As Magee puts it, There is a world of difference between being lost in the daylight and being lost in the dark. The crowning achievement to a distinguished philosophical career, this is a deeply personal meditation on the meaning of life and the ways we should live and face death. |
Item Description: |
Third printing, and first paperback printing, 2017. Includes index. |
Carrier Form: | 132 pages ; 21 cm |
ISBN: |
9780691178127 0691178127 9780691170657 0691170657 |
Index Number: | BD450 |
CLC: | B089.3 |
Call Number: | B089.3/M191 |
Contents: | Time and space -- Finding our bearings -- The human predicament -- Can experience be understood? -- Where such ideas come from -- Personal reflections -- Our predicament summarized. |