Beyond Weakness [Paperback]

Stephen Garvey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 1998

A critical examination of reason as a means to exist.

Editorial Reviews

Review

REVOLUTIONARY WORKS - The Anti-self and Beyond Weakness penetrate to the basis of the invented civilized world and show that we are entrapped between the directness of nature and the emptiness of our minds with no way out except to balance the two. Yet, even this is not enough because the longer we attach to our minds the more we both detach ourselves from nature and make the means for our existence inhuman.

The Anti-self begins the assault on the invented civilized world with its relentless focus on the basis for everything we perceive: conscious fabrications. From this we discover the fabrication parasite existing off us while we give meaning to it though there is really no meaning to give.

We have been fooled by the idea that our thoughts really have meaning. Garvey responds with eighteen resolutions to eliminate what is destroying the species.

For anybody interested in his or her preservation, this book is a must read.

Beyond Weakness goes further by showing our relationship to conscious fabrications from a larger and more powerful perspective. We are introduced to The Higher Type: an individual who goes beyond the invented civilized world by existing off it and not letting it exist off himself. Yet, we discover in our self-destructing existence, as illustrated by the self-destructive nature of the sun, that all of us are entrapped by what Garvey calls the race to fabricate as we become increasingly dependent on fabrications to exist while further detaching ourselves from nature. Our existence is even more troublesome when Garvey reveals that the basis of the invented civilized world, reason cannot hold up to itself! In other words, he proves rational thought is inherently irrational unless we use it to detach ourselves from it, and even then it is only less irrational than attaching to it further. What are we to make of Garvey's conclusions? Can we deny or ignore them when to do so is to act irrational?

What does anything matter if all conscious thought and therefore the invented civilized world is irrational?

Is there a way out when we are entrapped between the directness of nature and emptiness of our minds, and caught in the race to fabricate as we make the means for our existence more and more inhuman? We come to what Garvey calls beyond weakness. It is a crucial read for anybody interested in strengthening his existence. -- Thoughts on Paper, Special Summer Issue 1998

About the Author

Garvey attended The University of British Columbia, in which he earned a BA in political science, and completed course work in philosophy. He then attended The University of Cambridge receiving a MA in Environment and Development with thesis emphasis on philosophy. He has written six philosophical works: "I Am Existence" (1996), "The Anti-self" (1996), "Beyond Weakness" (1997), "The Inexpressible and The Unknown" (1998), "Why I Am Right, A Philosophical Investigation of Consciousness"(1998), and "The Superman Philosophy" (1999). Upcoming work of Garvey is "The Critique of Reasonableness, A Method to End Partiality".

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Inexpressible Pubns; 1 Ed edition (July 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0968294014
• ISBN-13: 978-0968294017
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,593,198 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound and Controversial, April 10, 2000

By 

Jason Thompson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Weakness (Paperback)

In his third non-fiction work, Beyond Weakness, Garvey investigates the meaning of our existence through ninety-eight epistemological, phenomenological, and ontological inquires. He focuses on the modern world, including its economic drive, proliferation of arms, and space exploration, in which he identifies a central component to the world and species: our existence through thoughts themselves and their material extensions.

From Nietzsche's view that consciousness is an illusion, Garvey examines the illusion itself, and by doing so, he discovers that thoughts themselves, including illusion, are intrinsically different from who we are. He then discusses the implications for us, and other life-forms, from existing through things empty of who we are.

Though the book can be a bit deep in parts, and sentences long, it is continuously moving forward to greater epistemological and ontological understanding. Garvey's free thinking style helps the flow of the book.

At the end of Beyond Weakness, I felt that I had climbed a mountain; though the view at the top made the climb more than worthwhile. The epistemological, and ontological significance of the book will be determined in time. Though I am confident that Garvey is onto something regarding the origin of knowledge and the relationship between who we are and thoughts themselves, and our corresponding need to restructure the world.