In Uncommon Sense, Andrew Pessin leads us on an entertaining tour of philosophy, explaining the pivotal moments when the greatest minds solved some of the knottiest conundrums—by asserting some very strange things. But the great philosophers don’t merely make unusual claims, they offer powerful arguments for those claims that you can’t easily dismiss. And these arguments suggest that the world is much stranger than you could have imagined:You neither will, nor won't, do certain things in the future, like wear your blue shirt tomorrow. But your blue shirt isn't really blue, because colors don’t exist in physical objects; they’re only in your mind. Time is an illusion.Your thoughts are not inside your head.Everything you believe about morality is false.Animals don’t have minds. There is no physical world at all.In eighteen lively, intelligent chapters, spanning the ancient Greeks and contemporary thinkers, Pessin examines the most unusual ideas, how they have influenced the course of Western thought, and why, despite being so odd, they just might be correct. Here is popular philosophy at its finest, sure to entertain as it enlightens.

Product Description: Goldberg and Pessin provide a clearly written introduction to the field presupposing no knowledge of philosophy. The first two chapters introduce and examine the traditional positions on the "mind-body" problem; the middle three chapters turn to the issues which will define philosophy of mind in the coming decade; and the final chapter provides a brief survey of other relevant topics...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: In 1975, Putnam published a paper called The Meaning of 'Meaning', which challenged the orthodox view in the philosophies of language and mind. The article's Twin Earth conclusions about meaning, thought and knowledge were shocking...read more

Product Description: In 1975, Putnam published a paper called The Meaning of 'Meaning', which challenged the orthodox view in the philosophies of language and mind. The article's Twin Earth conclusions about meaning, thought and knowledge were shocking...read more