The weirdness of the world / Eric Schwitzgebel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schwitzgebel, Eric, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mind and reality--Philosophy.

Mind and reality.

Consciousness--Philosophy.

Consciousness.

Physical Description:

viii, 362 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2024]

Summary:

"How all philosophical explanations of human consciousness and the fundamental structure of the cosmos are bizarre--and why that's a good thing. Do we live inside a simulated reality or a pocket universe embedded in a larger structure about which we know virtually nothing? Is consciousness a purely physical matter, or might it require something extra, something nonphysical? According to the philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel, it's hard to say. In The Weirdness of the World, Schwitzgebel argues that the answers to these fundamental questions lie beyond our powers of comprehension. We can be certain only that the truth--whatever it is--is weird. Philosophy, he proposes, can aim to open--to reveal possibilities we had not previously appreciated--or to close, to narrow down to the one correct theory of the phenomenon in question. Schwitzgebel argues for a philosophy that opens. According to Schwitzgebel's 'Universal Bizarreness' thesis, every possible theory of the relation of mind and cosmos defies common sense. According to his complementary 'Universal Dubiety' thesis, no general theory of the relationship between mind and cosmos compels rational belief. Might the United States be a conscious organism--a conscious group mind with approximately the intelligence of a rabbit? Might virtually every action we perform cause virtually every possible type of future event, echoing down through the infinite future of an infinite universe? What, if anything, is it like to be a garden snail? Schwitzgebel makes a persuasive case for the thrill of considering the most bizarre philosophical possibilities" -- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I. Bizarreness and dubiety

In praise of weirdness

Universal bizarreness and universal dubiety. Part II. Peculiar possibilities

If materialism is true, the United States is probably conscious

1% skepticism

Kant meets cyberpunk. Part III. The size of the universe

Experimental evidence for the existence of an external world / with Alan Tonnies Moore

Almost everything you do causes almost everything (under certain not wholly implausible assumptions); or, infinite puppetry / with Jacob Barandes. Part IV. More perplexities of consciousness

Consciousness, innocent and wonderful

The loose friendship of visual experience and reality

Is there something it's like to be a garden snail? Or, how sparse or abundant is consciousness in the universe?

The moral status of future artificial intelligence

Weirdness and wonder

Appendix: Five more objections to U.S. consciousness.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 311-345) and index.

ISBN:

0691215677

9780691215679

OCLC:

1370925335