This webpage contains a brief overview of the recently published
book 'Philosophical Sketches'. Below you will find details on the book cover
and back page text, links to other book chapters, and introduction. You
can buy this book online at our Cafepress Philosophy
Book Shop (Book Details: 90 pages, 30 full page portraits, 8.5 inches
by 11 inches, $19.50 USD)
Hope you find it interesting,
Geoff Haselhurst & Karene Jade Howie
Philosophical
SketchesA lively and concise journey through the central
ideas of thirty famous philosophers. From ancient Indian, Greek and Chinese
Philosophy to modern Western Philosophy, this book explores the changing
foundations of human knowledge and their effect on how we think and live.
Includes full page portraits, brief biographies and selected quotes from
some of the greatest minds of human history on the universal subjects of
Truth, Reality, Nature, Cosmos, Wisdom, Morality, Mind, Education, Politics,
Art, Religion & God.
Written for the lay person, while remaining true to the original ideas, this
is an engaging account of the Metaphysical foundations of Philosophy that is
both illuminating and thought provoking. (Cover Photograph: Plato & Aristotle
- The School of Athens by Raphael)
Philosophy in our modern world is largely seen as abstract, esoteric and irrelevant to our daily lives. As the philosopher Michel de Montaigne wrote;
Oddly, things have now reached such a state that even among men of intelligence philosophy means something fantastical and vain, without value or usefulness, both in opinion and practice.” (de Montaigne, 1580)
However, if you read the history of philosophy, you realise that this was never
its intent and this misconception has come about through the failure of
philosophy. So how has philosophy failed?
At the time of the ancients (2,500 years ago) there was no separation between
philosophy, physics and metaphysics. They realised that each of these subjects
was dependent upon physical reality. The problem, quite simply, has been
the failure to work out physical reality. Nonetheless, there are central
elements of reality that are accepted by most philosophers and metaphysicists,
these being;
i) The world we experience from our senses is different (representation
of the mind) to the real world which causes our senses.
ii) Though we perceive many apparently separate objects, they are in fact
connected. This requires an underlying unity to connect them, which has
become known as the problem of the One and the Many. i.e. That there must
be One thing which causes and connects the Many things.
iii) This One thing that exists must also have the properties of activity
(flux, motion) to explain the phenomena of time and change.
iv) If language was to have any absolute meaning and truth it must directly
connect to this underlying dynamic unity of reality (rather than our naive
real senses of the world).
A simple example of this is the orbit of the earth about the sun. While we do not see any obvious connection between these apparently separate bodies, reason tells us that they must be connected. And while everyone knows that ‘gravity’ is the explanation, this word does not explain the cause of this connection.
The purpose of this book is to provide a brief summary of the central ideas of the most important philosophers of the past 2,500 years and their attempts to resolve these problems. Further, and most importantly, we have provided a short essay at the end of this book on the Metaphysics of Space and the Wave Structure of Matter which suggests that there is in fact a simple solution to this most profound of all problems, what is the true nature of reality and thus what does it really mean to be a human existing in the universe.
The history of philosophy is intriguing and thought provoking. Philosophers are generally interesting characters and at times, highly amusing. Philosophy is of benefit to everyone as it encourages us to think critically, examine our beliefs and to be governed by truth rather than custom or emotion. As Michel de Montaigne wrote;
If you want it to be so, history can be a waste of time; it can also be, if you want it to be so, a study bearing fruit beyond price. … Since philosophy is the art which teaches us how to live, and since children need to learn it as much as we do at other ages, why do we not instruct them in it? (de Montaigne, 1580)
We have tried to make this work accessible to everyone and to include philosophers
who wrote on popular subjects such as politics, morality, education, nature,
art and society. The book is formatted with large page size (coffee table
style) as we have included full page images of the philosophers that can
be removed to make nice poster prints. We hope you find it both interesting
and illuminating.
Geoff Haselhurst, Karene Jade Howie (September, 2005)
Space
and Motion Publications
Online print on demand publishers of books on;
Philosophy, Physics, Metaphysics, Truth, Reality, Evolution, Ecology, Nature,
Education, Politics, Fine Art, Erotic Art, Nature, Cosmos, Wisdom, Morality,
Mind, Religion & God.
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/books/online-book-publishing.htm
"When
forced to summarize the general theory of relativity in one sentence: Time
and space and gravitation have no separate existence from matter. ... Physical
objects are not in space, but these objects are spatially extended.
In this way the concept 'empty space' loses its meaning. ... The particle
can only appear as a limited region in space in which the field strength
or the energy density are particularly high. ...
The free, unhampered exchange of ideas and scientific conclusions
is necessary for the sound development of science, as it is in all spheres
of cultural life. ... We must not conceal from ourselves that no
improvement in the present depressing situation is possible without a severe
struggle; for the handful of those who are really determined to do something
is minute in comparison with the mass of the lukewarm and the misguided.
...
Humanity is going to need a substantially new way of thinking if
it is to survive!" (Albert Einstein)
Our world is in great trouble due to human
behaviour founded on myths and customs that are causing the destruction
of Nature and climate
change. We can now deduce
the most simple science theory of reality - the wave structure of matter
in space. By understanding how we and everything around us are interconnected
in Space we can then deduce solutions to the fundamental problems of
human knowledge in physics,
philosophy, metaphysics,
theology,
education,
health, evolution
and ecology, politics
and society.
This is the profound new way of thinking that Einstein
realised, that we exist as spatially extended structures of the universe
- the discrete and separate body an illusion. This simply confirms the intuitions
of the ancient
philosophers and mystics.
Given the current censorship
in physics / philosophy of science journals (based on the standard
model of particle physics / big
bang cosmology) the internet is the best hope for getting new knowledge
known to the world. But that depends on you, the people who care about science
and society, realise the importance of truth and reality.
It is easy to help - just click on the social network sites (below) or grab
a nice image / quote you like and add it to your favourite blog,
wiki or forum. We are listed as one of the top
philosophy sites on the Internet (300,000 page views / week) and have
a wonderful collection of knowledge from the greatest minds in human history,
so people will appreciate your contributions. Thanks! Geoff
Haselhurst - Karene
Howie - Email
Come and say hello to Geoffrey - Support simple sensible science that works.
Eastern
Philosophy Wisdom Quotes
Ancient
Greek Philosophy
Heraclitus
Logos Dynamic Unity
Socrates
Wisdom Truth Apology
Plato's
Republic
Aristotle
Unity Metaphysics
Marcus
Aurelius
Benedict
Spinoza Ethics in Motion
Gottfried
Leibniz
George
Berkeley
David
Hume
Immanuel
Kant
Friedrich
Nietzsche
Political
Science Global Politics
Ed.
Philosophy
Philosophy
of Art
Philosophy
of Mind
Postmodernism
Truth
Reality (Home)
Simple
Metaphysics
Mathematical
Einstein
Quantum Physics
Cosmology
Philosophy
Theology
Evolution
Health
Education
Politics
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