Read the Book
What if the world desperately needs Philosophy? Surely, at least, we could use bigger pictures, wider perspectives, critical courage, some serious “Space and Air in the Mind”, as the 19th Century Pragmatist William James put it. The sheer inventiveness to thoroughly re-imagine the possibilities of a world on edge. Venturesomeness, too, and readiness to follow through, in deed as well as in word.
Sometimes it is said that Philosophy is chiefly a way of consoling ourselves when things are bad but there is nothing to be done. This book argues just the opposite. We most need Philosophy when there is everything to be done.
Philosophy’s Big Chance is a celebratory catalogue of tools, concepts, and possibilities for the transformative re-imagination of the world – with philosophers taking the lead. Following Chapter 1’s whirlwind orientation to an alternative “pragmatopian” strand in Philosophy, Chapters 2 and 3 feature the specific creative skills and stances that enable us to multiply and enlarge alternatives in the face of seemingly stuck and one-dimensional problems. Chapter 4 insistently turns our view to the “give behind the givens” in problems as usually framed. Chapter 5 opens certain unexpected doors to the hidden possibilities of others in interaction, spotlighting more courageous – sometimes also outrageous – ways to bring them forth. Chapter 6 is an invitation to “Eco-philosophy”, challenging philosophers to foreground and celebrate our more-than-human immersion. Chapter 7 turns to “Exo-philosophy”, looking beyond Earth in turn, while circling back in the end to the imperative of receptivity to other-than-human minds right next to us.
Table of Contents
• Chapter 1: How Philosophy Really Begins
• Chapter 2: Space and Air in the Mind
• Chapter 3: Sheer Generativity
• Chapter 4: The Real Trolley Problem
• Chapter 5: The Hidden Possibilities of Things
• Chapter 6: Invitations to Eco-Philosophy
• Chapter 7: Invitation to Exo-Philosophy
• Discussion and study questions (check back later)