Holes and Other Superficialities (Bradford Books) [Paperback]

Roberto Casati (Author), Achille C. Varzi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 1995 | Series: Bradford Books

This fascinating investigation on the borderlines of metaphysics, everyday geometry, and the theory of perception seeks to answer two basic questions: Do holes really exist? And if so, what are they? Holes are among entities that down-to-earth philosophers would like to expel from their ontological inventory. Casati and Varzi argue in favor of their existence and explore the consequences of this unorthodox approach—odd as these might appear. They examine the ontology of holes, their geometry, their part-whole relations, their identity, their causal role, and the ways we perceive them.

A Bradford Book

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is an exciting epistemological experiment. It is wonderful to see how intelligent philosophers can take a modest concept, such as that of the hole, as a starting point for an immense and brilliant exercise.... The writing is delightful."
—Valentino Braitenberg, Director, Max-Planck-Institut für Biologische Kybernetick

"The idea of Holes and Other Superficialities is wonderfully counterintuitive: The authors want us to think of absences as full-fledged cognitive entities. The book describes a grand variety of holes—holes in doughnuts, tunnels through blocks, flowing gaps in regularly-spaced flowerbed, and hundreds more. There are an enormous number of beautifully-rendered illustrations of every imaginable (and often never-before-imagined) type of hole....The overlap with philosophical issues of every sort is marvelous, and the authors have a delightful sense of humor."
—Douglas Hofstadter, author of Gödel, Escher, Bach

About the Author

Roberto Casati is Research Fellow, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Aix-en-Provence, France. Achille C. Varzi is Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Columbia University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (August 28, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 026253133X
• ISBN-13: 978-0262531337
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,679,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book!, May 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Holes and Other Superficialities (Bradford Books) (Paperback)

Varzi and Casati offer a survey of philosophy far better than anything you'll find in textbooks and histories. Their's is a *demonstration* of philosophy: philosophy in action, applied to a ancient conundrum, yielding explanations and sometimes even answers. For all of you who are curious about what those philosophers were always doing arguing on the steps of the English department, why they would brush by you staring at the ground mumbling about ontology and reference, or just what in the world they've been up to for the past 2000 years--this is your book!