Fate, time, and language : an essay on free will : David Foster Wallace / edited by Steven M. Cahn and Maureen Eckert; introduction by James Ryerson ; epilogue by Jay Garfield.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wallace, David Foster, author.

Contributor:

Cahn, Steven M.

Eckert, Maureen, 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Taylor, Richard, 1919-2003. Fatalism.

Taylor, Richard.

Fate and fatalism.

Semantics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (263 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

In 1962, the philosopher Richard Taylor used six commonly accepted presuppositions to imply that human beings have no control over the future. David Foster Wallace not only took issue with Taylor's method, which, according to him, scrambled the relations of logic, language, and the physical world, but also noted a semantic trick at the heart of Taylor's argument.Fate, Time, and Language presents Wallace's brilliant critique of Taylor's work. Written long before the publication of his fiction and essays, Wallace's thesis reveals his great skepticism of abstract thinking made to function as a negation of something more genuine and real. He was especially suspicious of certain paradigms of thought-the cerebral aestheticism of modernism, the clever gimmickry of postmodernism-that abandoned "the very old traditional human verities that have to do with spirituality and emotion and community." As Wallace rises to meet the challenge to free will presented by Taylor, we witness the developing perspective of this major novelist, along with his struggle to establish solid logical ground for his convictions. This volume, edited by Steven M. Cahn and Maureen Eckert, reproduces Taylor's original article and other works on fatalism cited by Wallace. James Ryerson's introduction connects Wallace's early philosophical work to the themes and explorations of his later fiction, and Jay Garfield supplies a critical biographical epilogue.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

PREFACE / Cahn, Steven M. / Eckert, Maureen

INTRODUCTION / Ryerson, James

PART I. THE BACKGROUND

INTRODUCTION / Cahn, Steven M.

1. FATALISM / Taylor, Richard

2. PROFESSOR TAYLOR ON FATALISM / Saunders, John Turk

3. FATALISM AND ABILITY / Taylor, Richard

4. FATALISM AND ABILITY II / Makepeace, Peter

5. FATALISM AND LINGUISTIC REFORM / Saunders, John Turk

6. FATALISM AND PROFESSOR TAYLOR / Aune, Bruce

7. TAYLOR'S FATAL FALLACY / Abelson, Raziel

8. A NOTE ON FATALISM / Taylor, Richard

9. TAUTOLOGY AND FATALISM / Sharvy, Richard

10. FATALISTIC ARGUMENTS / Cahn, Steven

11. COMMENT / Taylor, Richard

12. FATALISM AND ORDINARY LANGUAGE / Saunders, John Turk

13. FALLACIES IN TAYLOR'S "FATALISM" / Brown, Charles D.

PART II. THE ESSAY

14. RENEWING THE FATALIST CONVERSATION / Eckert, Maureen

15. RICHARD TAYLOR'S "FATALISM" AND THE SEMANTICS OF PHYSICAL MODALITY / Wallace, David Foster

PART III. EPILOGUE

16. DAVID FOSTER WALLACE AS STUDENT: A MEMOIR / Garfield, Jay

APPENDIX: THE PROBLEM OF FUTURE CONTINGENCIES / Taylor, Richard

Notes:

"Richard Taylor's 'Fatalism' and the semantics of physical modality".

Includes bibliographical references.

Contains:

Wallace, David Foster. Richard Taylor's "Fatalism" and the semantics of physical modality.

ISBN:

9786612897887

9781282897885

1282897888

9780231527071

0231527071

OCLC:

818855814