You Kant Make It Up! Strange Ideas from History's Great Philosophers

by Hayden, Gary

• ISBN13: 9781851688456
• ISBN10: 1851688455
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-02-01
• Publisher: Oneworld Publications

Summary

Drawing on the writings of the great philosophers, You Kant Make it Up sends the reader on thrilling, non-stop tour of their most outrageous and counter-intuitive conclusions. Harry Potter is real. Matter doesn¿t exist. Dan Brown is better than Shakespeare. All these statements stem from philosophy¿s greatest minds, from Plato to Nietzsche. What were they thinking? Overflowing with compelling arguments for the downright strange - many of which are hugely influential today - popular philosopher Gary Hayden shows that just because something is odd, doesn¿t mean that someone hasn¿t argued for it. Spanning ethics, logic, politics, sex and religion, this unconventional introduction to philosophy will challenge your assumptions, expand your horizons, infuriate, entertain and amuse you.

Author Biography

Gary Hayden is a journalist and popular philosopher. He has a master’s degree in philosophy and has written for The Times Educational Supplement, Scotsman, Church Times, and a selection of magazines. He is the author of This Book Does Not Exist: Adventures in the Paradoxical. He lives in the UK.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xi
Not bad Just misguided	p. 1
Couldn't be better	p. 5
Couldn't be worse	p. 9
Selfish motives	p. 13
Nothing changes	p. 18
Nothing stays the same	p. 23
Total perfection	p. 28
The real world	p. 34
Oranges aren't orange	p. 41
Cosmic comeuppance	p. 45
It's all in the numbers	p. 50
Dan Brown vs. Shakespeare	p. 58
Burn, baby, burn	p. 60
Again, and again, and again...	p. 66
All in the mind	p. 71
Now I remember	p. 77
Gambling on God	p. 81
The ghost in the machine	p. 86
How did that happen?	p. 90
Leibniz's fantastic fairytale	p. 95
Ouch! I feel good	p. 101
You can't predict the future	p. 106
An end to suffering	p. 111
The weaker sex?	p. 116
Selfishness is a virtue	p. 121
One hand clapping	p. 127
Thou shalt kill	p. 133
The brain in the jar	p. 137
Harry Potter exists	p. 141
No one's to blame	p. 145
Duty calls!	p. 149
Mind your behaviour	p. 154
Body-swapping	p. 159
Cannibal conundrums	p. 163
Philosophy? Nonsense!	p. 168
World 3	p. 172
Nothing to discuss	p. 177
R.I.P. God	p. 182
The ultimate vice	p. 187
Rules... rules... rules...	p. 192
Absurd, but true	p. 197
Scientifically unproven	p. 202
The unexamined life	p. 208
Further reading	p. 212
Index	p. 229
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