Buy new:
-
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
Save with Used - Good
-
Ships from: HPB-Red Sold by: HPB-Red
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Socratic Puzzles Paperback – September 15, 1999
Purchase options and add-ons
One of the foremost philosophers of our time, Robert Nozick continues the Socratic tradition of investigation. This volume, which illustrates the originality, force, and scope of his work, also displays Nozick’s trademark blending of extraordinary analytical rigor with intellectual playfulness. As such, Socratic Puzzles testifies to the great pleasure that both doing and reading philosophy can be.
Comprising essays and philosophical fictions, classics and new work, the book ranges from Socrates to W. V. Quine, from the implications of an Israeli kibbutz to the flawed arguments of Ayn Rand. Nozick considers the figure of Socrates himself as well as the Socratic method (why is it a “method” of getting at the truth?). Many of these essays bring classic methods to bear on new questions about choice. How should you choose in a disconcerting situation (“Newcomb’s Problem”) when your decisions are completely predictable? Why do threats and not offers typically coerce our choices? How do we make moral judgments when we realize that our moral principles have exceptions? Other essays present new approaches to familiar intellectual puzzles, from the stress on simplicity in scientific hypotheses to the tendency of intellectuals to oppose capitalism.
As up to date as the latest reflections on animal rights; as perennial as the essentials of aesthetic merit (doggerel by Isaac Newton goes to prove that changing our view of the world won’t suffice); as whimsical as a look at how some philosophical problems might appear from God’s point of view: these essays attest to the timeliness and timelessness of Nozick’s thinking. With a personal introduction, in which Nozick discusses the origins, tools, and themes of his work, Socratic Puzzles demonstrates how philosophy can constitute a way of life.
- Print length410 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarvard University Press
- Publication dateSeptember 15, 1999
- Dimensions6.12 x 1 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-100674816544
- ISBN-13978-0674816541
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Nozick is a distinctive voice in contemporary philosophy: inventive, funny, and often contrarian in his beliefs and choice of topics. At its best his work is exhilarating.”―Thomas Hurka, Toronto Globe & Mail
From the Back Cover
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Harvard University Press
- Publication date : September 15, 1999
- Edition : Reprint
- Language : English
- Print length : 410 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0674816544
- ISBN-13 : 978-0674816541
- Item Weight : 1.2 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.12 x 1 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #3,896,806 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #339 in Philosophy Methodology
- #2,839 in Philosophy of Logic & Language
- #8,599 in Philosophy of Ethics & Morality
About the author

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

