Big Questions : Tackling the Problems of Philosophy with Ideas from Mathematics, Economics and Physics

by Steven E Landsburg

• ISBN13: 9781439148211
• ISBN10: 143914821X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-11-03
• Publisher: Free Press

Summary

Steven E. Landsburgis a Professor of Economics at the University of Rochester. He is the author ofMore Sex Is Safer Sex, The Armchair Economist, Fair Play,two textbooks on economics, and over thirty journal articles in mathematics, economics, and philosophy. He writes the popular ?Everyday Economics? column inSlatemagazine and has written forForbes, theWall Street Journal, and other publications.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Beginning of the Journey	p. xi
Reality and Unreality	p. 1
On What There Is	p. 1
Unfinished Business: Going Bananas	p. 21
How Richard Dawkins Got It Wrong: The Case Against God	p. 29
Belifs	p. 39
Daydream Believers	p. 41
Unfinished Business	p. 45
What Do Believers Believe?	p. 55
On What There Obviously Is	p. 67
Diogenes' Nightmare	p. 75
Knowledge	p. 87
Knowing Your Math	p. 89
Unfinished Business: Hercules and the Hydra	p. 99
Incomplete Thinking	p. 105
The Rules of Logic and the Tale of the Potbellied Pig	p. 111
The Rules of Evidence	p. 123
The Limits to Knowledge	p. 135
Unfinished Business: Quantum Entanglement	p. 143
Right and Wrong	p. 151
Telling Right from Wrong	p. 153
The Economist's Golden Rule	p. 163
How to Be Socially Responsible: A UserÆs Guide to the EconomistÆs Golden Rule	p. 171
On Not Being a Jerk	p. 181
The Economist on the Playground	p. 191
Unfinished Business: Let the Rabbi Split the Pie	p. 205
The Life of The Mind	p. 215
How to Think	p. 217
What to Study: Some Advice to College Students	p. 237
Appendix	p. 249
Acknowledgments	p. 257
Index	p. 259
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.