Determinism, Death, and Meaning

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-032-13217-4
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 208 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 462 g

Reihe: Routledge Studies in Metaphysics

This book offers new arguments for determinism. It draws novel and surprising consequences from determinism for our attitudes toward such things as death, regret, grief, and the meaning of life.

The book argues that rationalism is the right attitude to take toward reality. It then shows that rationalism implies determinism and that determinism has surprising and far-reaching consequences. The author contends that the existence of all of humanity almost certainly depends on the precise time and manner of your death and mine; that purely retrospective regret, relief, gratitude, and grief are irrational for all but those who hold extreme values; and that everyone’s life has an unending impact on the future and thereby achieves the strongest kind of meaning that it makes sense to desire.

Written in a direct and accessible style, Determinism, Death, and Meaning will be of interest to researchers and advanced students working in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and value theory, as well as general readers with a serious interest in these topics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Maitzen, Stephen

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Metaphysik, Ontologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Erkenntnistheorie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Rationalism

2. Determinism Advocated

3. Determinism Defended

4. Determinism and Infinite Regress

5. The Counterfactual Past, Death, and Regret

6. Cosmic Meaning

Über Autor(innen)

Stephen Maitzen is the W. G. Clark Professor of Philosophy at Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada. His work appears in several edited collections and in major scholarly journals, including The Journal of Philosophy, Erkenntnis, Synthese, and Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. He has received Acadia’s highest recognition for excellence in teaching.