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Riddles of Existence: A Guided Tour of Metaphysics
Books: Text Books: Metaphysics: Item 2
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Riddles of Existence: A Guided Tour of Metaphysicsby Earl Conee and Theodore Sider
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5 of 9 people found the following review helpful: Horrid, February 3, 2006 Reviewer:William Kerney (San Diego, CA USA) - There's a number of problems with this book. First and foremost, it's not a guided tour, but mainly just proofs for everything the two authors believe, and dismissive claims against everything they don't. The book is overpriced for its slim size, and while styled as a gentle introduction for beginners without terminology, I had trouble even following arguments I already understood. Instead of lacking terminology, they would give bizarre labels to propositions like Srii11, without an explanation of what exactly the S, r, and i stand for (the 11, at least, was obviously due to it being the 11th statement...). Moreover, the book is annoying. In the discussion of the cosmological argument for God (also known as the first cause argument), which roughly goes, "Everything effect we know of in science has a cause, therefore there was a first cause, which must necessarily lie outside of science.", they hand-wave / dismiss the claim that everything in the world has a cause thus proving the arguments invalidity, and later on casting serious doubt on the existance of God because of this proof of its falseness. The problem, of course, is that in two other chapters, in which the authors are arguing against, say, Free Will, they take it as an immutable law that everything in the world has a cause and an effect. There are good arguments against the Cosmological Argument for God, but they don't use them, instead basing their argument on a claim that they flat out claim is false in other chapters. There's at least one blindingly wrong argument the authors make in every chapter of the book. So reading the book with any level of critical thinking makes you just want to hurl it across the room in disgust. I'd recommend Labyrinths of Reason insead.
Book Description
The riddles of metaphysics are the deepest and most puzzling questions we can ponder. What are the basic ingredients of reality? What is their ultimate nature? Could reality have been different? And where do human beings fit into reality? Indeed, why does reality contain anything at all?
Riddles of Existence is the first book ever to make metaphysics genuinely accessible and fun. Its lively, informal style brings these questions to life and shows how stimulating it can be to think about them. Earl Conee and Theodore Sider offer a lucid discussion of the major topics in
metaphysics. What makes me the same person I was as a child? Is everything fated to be exactly as it is? Does time flow? How fast does it flow, and can one travel back in time, against the current? Does God exist? Why is there anything at all rather than nothing? If our actions are caused by
things science can predict and control, how can we have free will? The authors approach these topics in an open-minded and undogmatic manner, giving readers a full sense of the issues involved. They don't try to convince us of their point of view. Instead, they hope that, by reading this book, we
will come to appreciate the importance of such problems and develop reasoned opinions of your own.
Riddles of Existence shows that philosophy can be exciting and important, and understandable by anyone. No philosophical background is required to enjoy this book: anyone who has thought about life's most profound questions will find plenty to provoke and entertain them here.
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