The Vindication of Absolute Idealism [Hardcover]

Timothy Sprigge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1984 | ISBN-10: 085224455X | ISBN-13: 978-0852244555

When Timothy Sprigge's The Vindication of Absolute Idealism appeared in 1983 it ran very much against the grain of the dominant linguistic and analytic traditions of philosophy in Britain. The very title of this work was a challenge to those who believed that Absolute Idealism fell with the critiques of Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore at the beginning of the 20th century. Sprigge, however, saw himself as providing an underrepresented position in the philosophical spectrum rather than as advocating an abandoned view. For him, idealism did not fall at any determinate point in the history of philosophy. The truth of any philosophical thesis cannot depend on what happens to be currently fashionable, but rather must stand on the soundness of philosophical argument. To this end, The Vindication of Absolute Idealism is a bold statement of his conclusions, a synthesis of panpsychism and absolute idealism, which he contends is the most satisfactory solution to the question of the nature of consciousness and the mind-body problem. Sprigge's view of consciousness remains a challenge to mainstream physicalism and a viable option that addresses pressing contemporary concerns not only in metaphysics and philosophy of mind but also in environmental ethics and animal rights.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The philosophical community is indebted to T. L. S. Sprigge for single-handedly keeping alive the great tradition of absolute idealism. Although his courageous "I Did It My Way" approach to philosophy has won few converts, it has succeeded in stimulating fruitful discussion, as is amply attested to in this volume. -- Richard M. Gale, Department of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh

About the Author

Timothy L. S. Sprigge (1932-2007) was Regius Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In addition, to his magnum opus, The Vindication of Absolute Idealism (1983), his books include: Facts, Words and Beliefs (1970), Santayana: An Examination of His Philosophy (1974), Theories of Existence (1984), The Rational Foundation of Ethics (1988), James and Bradley: American Truth and British Reality (1993) and The God of Metaphysics (2006).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 291 pages
• Publisher: Edinburgh Univ Pr (January 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 085224455X
• ISBN-13: 978-0852244555
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,317,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable defense of panpsychism., January 26, 2000

By 

John S. Ryan "Scott Ryan" (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Vindication of Absolute Idealism (Hardcover)

Absolute Idealism isn't dead, and Timothy Sprigge has breathed new life into one of its incarnations: panpsychism.

In this fascinating volume, Sprigge elaborates and defends the view that ultimately, reality consists of "experience" -- little nuggets of it, integrated into one tremendous overarching Experience. Sound implausible? Not after Sprigge is through; he presents his thesis clearly and cogently, and offers several genuinely new arguments for it (including a nicely developed view of physical entities as "concrete universals").

Since I happen to find Sprigge's thesis intuitively plausible and in some ways highly attractive, I am also inclined to be extremely critical of arguments in its favor; it is notoriously easy to be misled to a desired conclusion. (I also suspect, from what I have read of Sprigge's other works, that he draws ethical and political conclusions from this thesis with which I would disagree.) But I shall not critique his arguments here; suffice it to say that Sprigge renders panpsychism at least newly defensible. At any rate some of the reading is tough going, and I shall have to reread his arguments a few more times before I am dead sure I have followed them correctly.

But some of the recent work done in the current "Idealist renaissance" has persuaded me to take another look at several theses that I had earlier thought it necessary to abandon. Sprigge's fascinating work in this volume is at the top of the list. It is highly recommended to anyone who finds materialism implausible and dualism an unhappy compromise. At the very least, it is an important contribution to a generations-long dialogue and its arguments deserve to be considered.

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely plausible, May 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Vindication of Absolute Idealism (Hardcover)

Philosophy's supposed to make you think, not just think up clever reasons for what you already believe in, but make you question exactly what you believe in. For that reason, Sprigge's masterwork is far superior to any British work of philosophy since McTaggart (or maybe since Whitehead and Collingwood), because unlike lovely old Bertie Russell & Freddie Ayer, Sprigge doesn't leave you feeling how pointless reading philosophy is. At the same time, though, it's not just pseudo-mystical rubbish, it is actually systematic, thorough and extremely convincing. My only criticism is that he doesn't address the challenges of philosophers like Heidegger, and that he doesn't extend this work beyond the relatively narrow frontiers he has set himself (only one mention of Hegel and only one of McTaggart, both far more far-reaching thinkers than Sprigge). Aside from that, though, this is an open-minded and inherently plausible work which actually tells you more about what the world is really like, and has more good reasons to back it up, than almost any philosophical work which has ever been published, even if in terms of complexity and originality it is stimulating but not amazingly innovative.