Synopses & Reviews
In this highly original work, Robert Nozick develops new views on philosophy's central topics and weaves them into a unified philosophical perspective. It is many years since a major work in English has ranged so widely over philosophy's fundamental concerns: the identity of the self, knowledge and skepticism, free will, the question of why there is something rather than nothing, the foundations of ethics, the meaning of life.
Writing in a distinctive and personal philosophical voice, Mr. Nozick presents a new mode of philosophizing. In place of the usual semi-coercive philosophical goals of proof, of forcing people to accept conclusions, this book seeks philosophical explanations and understanding, and thereby stays truer to the original motivations for being interested in philosophy.
Combining new concepts, daring hypotheses, rigorous reasoning, and playful exploration, the book exemplifies how philosophy can be part of the humanities.
Review
Nozick is moved by a splendid passion...His arguments link his explanations to what he is rightly confident of...his vision of a persistent role for philosophy in common life. Ian Hacking
Review
Philosophical Explanations "will attract intelligent people of all backgrounds...Nozick is moved by a splendid passion...His arguments link his explanations to what he is rightly confident of his vision of a persistent role for philosophy in common life. Bernard Williams - New York Review of Books
Review
This "remarkable new book...brings a reader into immediate and unmistakable contact with an uncommon mind. The clarity of [Nozick's] style mirrors the lucidity of his thought...This is a major book. New Republic
Review
An important book...[Nozick is] a philosopher who is answering the questions posed by such philosophers as Kierkegaard, Sartre, Marcel and Buber with the aid of tools produced by such very different philosophers as W. V. Quine, Saul Kripke and Hilary Putnam...[He displays a] striking and imaginative originality. For he does nothing less than propose a new way of doing philosophy...Perhaps one good way for the serious general reader to attack this often difficult but always rewarding book would be to begin at the end. First read the fine last chapter on 'Philosophy and the Meaning of Life'...It should then be very clear why it is important for you, whoever you are, to go back and read the rest of this book. Robert Taylor - Boston Globe
Review
Nozick is "a theorist with a style and a method of his own, and ideas as bold as they are bright." New York Times Book Review
Review
Toward the end of his talented, diverse...book, Robert Nozick embraces the idea of philosophy as an art form, and of the philosopher as a literary creator who works with ideas...[This book] is as brilliant and exciting as anything in contemporary philosophy. Maurice Cranston - Washington Post Book World
Review
It is important for you, whoever you are, to read...this book. Boston Globe
Review
It is not surprising that Nozick has a following. He does not come at the reader with heavy solemnity. His prose style is insouciant, his manner whimsical, and he gives every indication of having lots of fun. Washington Post Book World
Synopsis
In this highly original work, Robert Nozick develops new views on philosophy's central topics and weaves them into a unified philosophical perspective. It is many years since a major work in English has ranged so widely over philosophy's fundamental concerns: the identity of the self, knowledge and skepticism, free will, the question of why there is something rather than nothing, the foundations of ethics, the meaning of life.
About the Author
Robert Nozick was Pellegrino University Professor at Harvard University. His book Anarchy, State, and Utopia received a National Book Award.
DECEASED
Table of Contents
Introduction Coercive Philosophy
Philosophical Explanations
Status of the Hypotheses
Explanation versus Proof
Philosophical Pluralism
METAPHYSICS
1. The Identity of the Self
I. Personal Identity Through Time
The Closest Continuer Theory
The Theory Applied
Overlap
Structuring Philosophical Concepts
Problem Cases
Ties and Caring
II. Reflexivity
Reflexive Self-Reference
Essence as a Self
How is Reflexive Self-Knowledge Possible?
Classification and Entification
Self-Synthesis
What Synthesis Explains
Unities and Wholes
The Self-Conception of the Self
Reflexive Caring
An Ontologically Solid Self?
2. Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
Explaining Everything
Inegalitarian Theories
Egalitarianism
Fecundity
Fecundity and Self-Subsumption
Ultimacy
The Principle of Sufficient Reason
How Are Laws Possible? Beyond
Mystical Experience
EPISTEMOLOGY
3. Knowledge and Skepticism
I. Knowledge
Conditions for Knowledge
Ways and Methods
Knowledge of Necessities
Cases and Complications
II. Skepticism
Skeptical Possibilities
Skeptical Results
Nonclosure
Skepticism and the Conditions for Knowledge
Narrower Skepticisms
Details of Nonclosure
Proof and the Transmission of Knowledge
Skepticism Revisited
Knowing That One Knows
III. Evidence
The Evidential Connection
Evidence Based on Probability
Inference Based on Probability
The Contingency of the Evidential Tie
Is There Evidence for Skepticism?
Knowledge, Evidence, and Justification
Evidence for the Evidential Relation
How the Regress Stops
Knowing Inside Out
What's So Special about Knowledge?
VALUE
4. Free Will
I. Choice and Indeterminism
Weigh(t)ing Reasons
Nonrandom Weighting
Understanding and Explaining Free Choices
Could One Have Bestowed Otherwise?
Why Free Will, and How
Is Free Will Valuable?
II. Deteminism and Aligning with Value
Tracking Bestness
How the Tracking Is Mediated
How Illuminating Is the Parallel?
Does Neurophysiological Reduction Undercut Tracking?
Does Sociobiology Undercut Tracking?
Acts in Equilibrium
Self-choosing
III. Retributive Punishment
A Framework for Retribution
A Rationale Is Needed
Retribution and Revenge
The Message of Retribution
Connecting with Correct Values
The Act Requirement
Flouting Correct Values
Retributive Contours
More on the r x H Structure
Offenders and the Law
Determinism and Punishment
5. Foundations of Ethics
I. Ethical Push
Glaucon's Challenge
Inconsistency and Motivation
The Moral Benefit
Leading the Most Valuable
Life
Intrinsic Value
Degree of Organic Unity
Value as Degree of Organic Unity
The Structure of Value
Conditions on Value and Disvalue
The Allure of Value
Explaining the Role of Organic Unity
Designing Value
Pluralism and Creativity
II. Ethical Pull
The Moral Basis
Seeking Value
Blocking Moral Avoidance
Moral Responsiveness
Responding and Anti-Responding
Responsive Interaction and Moral Principles
III. The Structure of Ethical Pull
Moral Complications and Moral Structures
The Simple Balancing Structure
Judgment in Ethics
The Complex Structure: Alternative Actions
Measurement of Moral Weight
The Complex Structure: Larger Courses of Action
Deontology and Teleology
Rights
IV. The Life of Value
Self-Improvement
Harmonious Hierarchical Development
Developing Self and Others
Flourishing
The Value of Valuers
Treating in Accordance with Value
Responsive Connection to Reality
Parity of Push and Pull
Does Push Cover Pull?
V. Fact and Value
Chasms
Ethical Explanation and Self-Subsumption
Kantian Structuring
VI. The Basis of Value
The Euthyphro Question
Nihilism, Realism, Idealism, Romanticism, and Realizationism
Choosing That There Be Value
The Relationship Between Fact and Value
6. Philosophy and the Meaning of Life
Modes of Meaning(fulness)
Death
Traces
God's Plan
Transcending Limits
The Unlimited
Meaning and Value
Philosophy as Part of the Humanities
Reductionism
Nonreductive Understanding
Philosophy as an Art Form
Notes