Ask a philosopher : answers to your most important and most unexpected questions / Ian Olasov.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Olasov, Ian, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy--Miscellanea.

Philosophy.

Genre:

Trivia and miscellanea.

Physical Description:

xiii, 194 pages ; 20 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Thomas Dunne Books, 2020.

Summary:

"A collection of answers to the philosophical questions on people's minds-from the big to the personal to the ones you didn't know you needed answered. Based on real-life questions from his Ask a Philosopher series, Ian Olasov offers his answers to questions such as: - Are people innately good or bad? - Is it okay to have a pet fish? - Is it okay to have kids? - Is color subjective? - If humans colonize Mars, who will own the land? - Is ketchup a smoothie? - Is there life after death? - Should I give money to homeless people? Ask a Philosopher shows that there's a way of making philosophy work for each of us, and that philosophy can be both perfectly continuous with everyday life, and also utterly transporting. From questions that we all wrestle with in private to questions that you never thought to ask, Ask a Philosopher will get you thinking"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. I Cosmic Questions

What Is Philosophy?

Why Is There Anything Instead of Nothing?

Does God Exist?

What Is the Meaning of Life?

Do We Have Free Will?

How Do We Know Anything About the World Outside of Our Own Heads?

If the World Is Melting, Is It OK to Have Kids?

How Do Brains Give Rise to Conscious Experience?

Why Should I Care?

What's the Best Form of Government?

Is Color Subjective?

Is Time Travel Possible?

Are People Innately Good or Bad?

Which Came First, Thought or Language?

How Well Do We Know What's Good for Us?

Is There Life after Death?

Are Science and Religion Compatible?

Is There Objective Truth?

What Is Happiness?

Is There an Unconscious?

How Can We Overcome Dualism?

Are Space and Time Objectively Real?

Why?

pt. II Personal Questions

What Is Love?

When Does It Make Sense for One Person to Love Another?

Are People Born Straight or Gay?

What Makes a Boy a Boy?

If Someone Buys Me a Drink at the Bar, Do I Owe Them Anything?

What Can Gentrifiers Do Not to Ruin Their New Neighborhoods?

Should I Give Money to Homeless People?

What's the Point in Getting Upset About Things We Can't Change?

How Do You Cope with the Mortality of Your Own Parents?

How Can You Live with Purpose in Retirement?

What Makes Someone Mentally Ill?

When You Buy Something from a Poor Country, Are You Exploiting Their Workers?

Is It OK to Have a Pet Fish?

When Should We Trust the Experts?

How Can We Raise Children to Be Good People?

What Makes a Word Sexist?

What Can You Do When Nothing You Do Matters?

Should We Live in the Present?

pt. III Questions You Didn't Know You Needed Answered

Is Ketchup a Smoothie?

If Humans Colonize Mars, Who Should Own the Land?

How Do You Know that 1 + 1 = 2?

Is Chicken Parmesan Authentic?

Should You Kill Baby Hitler?

Can Plants Think?

Is Buddhism a Religion or a Philosophy?

How Can Something Be So Bad It's Good?

Do Jelly Beans Taste the Same to People Who Like Them and to People Who Dislike Them?

If You Try to Make a Sculpture of a Dragonfly and It Ends Up Looking Like a Bee, Is It a Sculpture of a Dragonfly or a Bee?

What Makes Simpler Theories Better?

If Superman Gets His Power from the Sun, Why Doesn't He Have a Tan?

Is Anything Really Random?

What Makes a Work Derivative?

What's Your Favorite Animal?

Bonus Question: What's the Best Way to Teach Myself Philosophy? How Do I Start?.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781250756176

1250756170

OCLC:

1153341767