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The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener (Paperback)

by Martin Gardner (Author) "Solipsism is the insane belief that only one's self exists..." (more)
Key Phrases: certain posits, reconstitution model, philosophical theist, William James, United States, Bertrand Russell (more...)

4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Review
"Gardner [is]...at the glorious zenith of his diversified powers."--The Boston Globe "Martin Gardner is one of the greatest intellects produced in this country in this century."] --Douglas Hofstadter "For more than half a century, Martin Gardner has been the single brightestbeacone defending rationality and good science...He is also one of the most brilliant men and gracious writers that I have known." --Stephen Jay Gould "Martin Gardner is that rarest of all contemporary species: a scholar in nobody's pocket; a sparkling, pellucid science and mathematics writer who can discuss Sigmund Freud, Sherlock Holmes, and proofs of God with equal fluency." --Stefan Kanfer, former book editor of Time Magazine "Martin Gardner's contribution to contemporary culture is unique." --Noam Chomsky -- Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"Gardner [is]...at the glorious zenith of his diversified powers."--The Boston Globe
"Martin Gardner is one of the greatest intellects produced in this country in this century."]
--Douglas Hofstadter

"For more than half a century, Martin Gardner has been the single brightestbeacone defending rationality and good science...He is also one of the most brilliant men and gracious writers that I have known." --Stephen Jay Gould

"Martin Gardner is that rarest of all contemporary species: a scholar in nobody's pocket; a sparkling, pellucid science and mathematics writer who can discuss Sigmund Freud, Sherlock Holmes, and proofs of God with equal fluency." --Stefan Kanfer, former book editor of Time Magazine

"Martin Gardner's contribution to contemporary culture is unique." --Noam Chomsky

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

Paperback
Publisher: William Morrow & Co (July 1983)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 068802064X
ISBN-13: 978-0688020644
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,723,852 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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First Sentence:
Solipsism is the insane belief that only one's self exists. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
certain posits, reconstitution model, philosophical theist, irrational evil, psi forces, finite god, soft determinism

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
William James, United States, Bertrand Russell, John Dewey, Soviet Union, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, George Santayana, Milton Friedman, Samuel Johnson, Don Quixote, John Stuart Mill, Lewis Carroll, Miguel de Unamuno, New Testament, Norman Thomas, Old Testament, Open Conspiracy, Rudolf Carnap, Second Coming, Adam Smith, Huckleberry Finn, Thomas Aquinas, William Clissold, Charles Peirce

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 100 books:

The Tao Is Silent by Raymond M. Smullyan on 6 pages
The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis on 5 pages
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion: The Posthumous Essays of the Immortality of the Soul and of Suicide by David Hume on 4 pages
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis on 4 pages
The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James on 4 pages

See all 100 books this book cites

39 books cite this book:

Metaphysics: The Big Questions (Philosophy: The Big Questions) by Peter van Inwagen on 6 pages
Critical Lessons: What Our Schools Should Teach by Nel Noddings on 4 pages
How We Believe, 2nd Edition: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God by Michael Shermer on 4 pages
The Meaning of Life: Insights of the World'd Great Thinkers (Value Inquiry Book Series 12) by William Gerber on 4 pages
The Meaning of Life: Insights of the World's Great Thinkers (Value Inquiry Book, Vol 12) by William Gerber on 4 pages

See all 39 books citing this book

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Introduction to Philosophy by Louis P. Pojman

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Ethics for Life by Judith Boss

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The Night Is Large by Martin Gardner

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The New Age by Martin Gardner

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Customer Reviews

25 Reviews

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3 star:		(2)
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4.2 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Pleasure to Read, A Little Hard to Describe, May 28, 2002

By	Bradley P. Rich (Salt Lake City, UT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener (Paperback)

As anyone who has read Martin Gardner knows, he is both a compelling writer and possessed of a great mind. He is best known as skeptic and debunker, usually in reviews for NY Review of Books, and in columns in various magazines, most notably Scientific American. Like Stephen Jay Gould, he has a tremendous intellectual range and can make anything interesting, including topics that you believe you could not possibly care about prior to reading Gardner on the subject.

All of Gardner's compilations are worth reading and may represent a better introduction to Gardner's thought than the present volume. Nevertheless, this book has a charm that cannot be denied. The book is unlike anything else I have ever read. It is basically a series of musings about various philosophical issues: free will, evil, economics, politics and the nature of god. Gardner begins by giving a simple, understandable summary of the area, including the arguments of the great thinkers on the subject. Gardner then moves to a thorough analysis of the weight of the arguments, and concludes with his own position on the issue.

In general reading this book has the feel of being included in the private musings of a great intellect. Gardner is careful to develop his arguments thoroughly and simply so that the neophyte philosopher will not be left behind. (Though in fairness, some terms are not defined, an a Dictionary of Philosophy would be useful in getting the casual reader up to speed.)

Gardner's style is charming. He takes up a topic such as determinism versus free will and examines the philosophical arguments that have been raised against the existence of free will. Having admitted the power of the arguments arrayed against free will, Gardner confesses that he believes in free will anyway. And so it goes for arguments against the existence of God, immortality, prayer, etc., in every case confessing that the rational arguments favor positions contrary to his own, and then maintaining them anyway.

Gardner is a "fideist," meaning that he acknowledges the impossibility of demonstrating rationally the existence of God and related issues, but insisting that faith is an appropriate mechanism for getting around these difficulties. Gardner is never heavy-handed or preachy in his positions, and he gives the arguments against him a fair hearing.

The joy of reading this book is that the issues are so clearly presented that the reader can assess his own thoughts on the subject. I personally do not buy fideism as a justification for abandoning reason, but the book presented the alternative views so well that I felt comfortable disagreeing with Gardner in his conclusion.

In the end, fideism is an interesting point of view. It does not require the destruction of arguments against one's belief in God. In fact, the fideist can revel in the irrationality of his position. While the reader may not be convinced to believe as Gardner does, I will bet you will come away with a better grasp of the issues involved.

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent book by an intellectual giant, August 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener (Paperback)

Gardner starts off with "This is a book of essays about what I believe and why." Gardner has a fantastically clear mind and is able to communicate apparently difficult ideas with great ease. He rejects various philosphical positions in the 1st few chapters, then proceeds to explain his positions on issues. He also explains why some things that can never be proven (including God). He inspires a sense of wonder. But I most recommend this book to those struggling with the issue of God. Gardner is a theist--he believes in a personal God who can be prayed to--and offers arguements as to why that belief is rational in this age of science where many people (properly he says) reject the stories of traditional religion as absurd. Gardner is one of the treasures of the 20th century and it is a shame he is not more widely read.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A series of lucid essays on faith and reason, March 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The whys of a philosophical scrivener

I'm writing chiefly to defend this book against charges -- made by earlier reviewers -- that this book is pleasant enough reading, but weak in the philosophy department. As someone who spent too much time doing graduate work in philosophy, I find Gardner to be philosophically sophisticated yet thoroughly unpretentious. Sort of like a really good jazz musician with a strong background in music theory, Gardner mastered theory and technique, and then forgot it. Now he uses philosophy to think about the problems that interest him, rather than to write unreadable treatises about trendy issues that will nudge him closer to tenure or full professorship. Would that some of my philosophy profs had taken this approach! Moreover, Gardner's arguments, far from being trite, combine the views of disparate thinkers, such as Carnap and Unamuno (what the heck...?) in original and imaginative ways.

I recommend this book to readers versed in philosophy as well as to those with no background in the subject. As far as his political and economic views, I'm thoroughly sympathetic with Gardner, but have no background in these matters. I leave it others to judge the worth of these portions of the book. But I would suggest that the dated examples don't seriously undermine his arguments.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Unlikliest Theist
"Philosophy is concerned with two matters: soluble questions that are trivial, and crucial questions that are insoluble. Read more

Published 29 days ago by S.A. Alenthony

5.0 out of 5 stars Celestially Required Reading
I am a long-term admirer of Gardner's writings, starting with his "Mathematical Games" columns in "Scientific American," his "Annotated Alice" and "Annotated Ancient Mariner," and... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Eugene R. Walker

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear and Credible Arguments on Many Philosophical Issues
Gardner is an especially clear and forceful writer. He writes with humor and solid knowledge about an amazing variety of philosophical topics. Read more

Published 19 months ago by Dr. Sterling Harwood

5.0 out of 5 stars The thrill of the examined life
(Just yesterday, I posted a "review" which was actually an excerpt from an email. A cheap way to go to be sure, but here I am doing it again, this time from an old message board... Read more

Published 19 months ago by Martin Bush

4.0 out of 5 stars Gardner's intellect at war with his heart
The key to this book can be found on page 221: "Let me speak personally. By the grace of God I managed the leap [of faith] when I was in my teens. Read more

Published on May 12, 2007 by a reader from Alexandria, VA

4.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and Honest
I give this book four stars primarily because of his honesty and his attempt to rationally expound his views (which it seems is all too rare in the current climate of... Read more

Published on April 29, 2007 by William G. Pratt

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice reading...
It is a very nice book to read and it spans an enormous variety of topics, facts and ideas.
Since the books, in fact, is a collection of more or less loosely related... Read more

Published on May 3, 2006 by M. Sharkansky

5.0 out of 5 stars The moral and religious credo of a man of Science and faith in God
Martin Gardner is one of those people who knows much about many different things. In this work he surveys his own world of knowledge and tells us why he is not a solipsist, a... Read more

Published on May 2, 2006 by Shalom Freedman

1.0 out of 5 stars Good effort, not rigorous enough
I read parts of this book for a class assignment, where I had to identify the different paradigms which Gardner uses in his assertions. Read more

Published on April 24, 2006 by N. Housley

4.0 out of 5 stars Why I can only give this book four stars
For any real fan of Martin Gardner, this book is a must. In it he explains why he cannot agree with relativism, pragmatism, determinism, atheism, Marxism, and several other modern... Read more

Published on March 10, 2006 by Franz Kiekeben

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