The Making of a Philosopher: My Journey Through Twentieth-Century PhilosophyPart memoir, part study, The Making of a Philosopher is the self–portrait of a deeply intelligent mind as it develops over a life on both sides of the Atlantic. The Making of a Philosopher follows Colin McGinn from his early years in England reading Descartes and Anselm, to his years in the states, first in Los Angeles, then New York. McGinn presents a contemporary academic take on the great philosophical figures of the twentieth century, including Bertrand Russell, Jean–Paul Sartre, and Noam Chomsky, alongside stories of the teachers who informed his ideas and often became friends and mentors, especially the colorful A.J. Ayer at Oxford. McGinn's prose is always elegant and probing; students of contemporary philosophy and the general reader alike will absorb every page. |
From inside the book
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... things ) . Naturally , I was very concerned with whether the existence of God could be rationally established , especially since at that time I would have counted myself a Christian believer : not that I had been brought up this way ...
... things do look a certain way to you. So in this case you must be seeing something other than a physical object, and ... things . You perceive the subjective appearances of things, not things themselves, since they aren't there to be ...
... Things look the same in both cases; your experience is the same; you can't tell the difference. Doesn't this mean ... thing. Therefore you do not directly see physical objects at all but only their representatives in the shape of mental ...
... things but always by means of these electrical stimulations. Thus it feels as if you are in a bar in New York talking to your friends, but actually you are stuck in a vat somewhere in Cleveland hallucinating all this. What the ...
... things would not seem any different to me, so how things seem cannot rule out the vat hypothesis. I may at this very moment just be an immobile brain being fed the illusion that I am a walking, talking person in contact with real ...
Contents
Chapter Three Logic and Language | |
Chapter Four Mind and Reality | |
Chapter Five Belief Desire and Wittgenstein | |
Chapter Six Consciousness and Cognition | |
Chapter Seven Metaphilosophy and Fiction | |
Chapter Eight Evil Beauty and Logic | |
Acknowledgments | |
Other editions - View all
The Making of a Philosopher: My Journey Through Twentieth-Century Philosophy Colin McGinn Limited preview - 2003 |
The Making of a Philosopher: My Journey Through Twentieth-century Philosophy Colin McGinn No preview available - 2003 |
The Making of a Philosopher: My Journey Through Twentieth-Century Philosophy Colin McGinn No preview available - 2002 |