On the Brink of Paradox

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Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262039419
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis On the Brink of Paradox by : Agustin Rayo

Download or read book On the Brink of Paradox written by Agustin Rayo and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-04-02 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An introduction to awe-inspiring ideas at the brink of paradox: infinities of different sizes, time travel, probability and measure theory, and computability theory. This book introduces the reader to awe-inspiring issues at the intersection of philosophy and mathematics. It explores ideas at the brink of paradox: infinities of different sizes, time travel, probability and measure theory, computability theory, the Grandfather Paradox, Newcomb's Problem, the Principle of Countable Additivity. The goal is to present some exceptionally beautiful ideas in enough detail to enable readers to understand the ideas themselves (rather than watered-down approximations), but without supplying so much detail that they abandon the effort. The philosophical content requires a mind attuned to subtlety; the most demanding of the mathematical ideas require familiarity with college-level mathematics or mathematical proof. The book covers Cantor's revolutionary thinking about infinity, which leads to the result that some infinities are bigger than others; time travel and free will, decision theory, probability, and the Banach-Tarski Theorem, which states that it is possible to decompose a ball into a finite number of pieces and reassemble the pieces so as to get two balls that are each the same size as the original. Its investigation of computability theory leads to a proof of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, which yields the amazing result that arithmetic is so complex that no computer could be programmed to output every arithmetical truth and no falsehood. Each chapter is followed by an appendix with answers to exercises. A list of recommended reading points readers to more advanced discussions. The book is based on a popular course (and MOOC) taught by the author at MIT.

Paradox

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Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262525496
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (625 download)

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Book Synopsis Paradox by : Margaret Cuonzo

Download or read book Paradox written by Margaret Cuonzo and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2014-02-14 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An introduction to paradoxes showing that they are more than mere puzzles but can prompt new ways of thinking. Thinkers have been fascinated by paradox since long before Aristotle grappled with Zeno's. In this volume in The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Margaret Cuonzo explores paradoxes and the strategies used to solve them. She finds that paradoxes are more than mere puzzles but can prompt new ways of thinking. A paradox can be defined as a set of mutually inconsistent claims, each of which seems true. Paradoxes emerge not just in salons and ivory towers but in everyday life. (An Internet search for “paradox” brings forth a picture of an ashtray with a “no smoking” symbol inscribed on it.) Proposing solutions, Cuonzo writes, is a natural response to paradoxes. She invites us to rethink paradoxes by focusing on strategies for solving them, arguing that there is much to be learned from this, regardless of whether any of the more powerful paradoxes is even capable of solution. Cuonzo offers a catalog of paradox-solving strategies—including the Preemptive-Strike (questioning the paradox itself), the Odd-Guy-Out (calling one of the assumptions into question), and the You-Can't-Get-There-from-Here (denying the validity of the reasoning). She argues that certain types of solutions work better in some contexts than others, and that as paradoxicality increases, the success of certain strategies grows more unlikely. Cuonzo shows that the processes of paradox generation and solution proposal are interesting and important ones. Discovering a paradox leads to advances in knowledge: new science often stems from attempts to solve paradoxes, and the concepts used in the new sciences lead to new paradoxes. As Niels Bohr wrote, “How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress.”

The Ostrich Paradox

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Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 1613630794
Total Pages : 133 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (136 download)

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Book Synopsis The Ostrich Paradox by : Robert Meyer

Download or read book The Ostrich Paradox written by Robert Meyer and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2017-02-07 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Ostrich Paradox boldly addresses a key question of our time: Why are we humans so poor at dealing with disastrous risks, and what can we humans do about it? It is a must-read for everyone who cares about risk." —Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow We fail to evacuate when advised. We rebuild in flood zones. We don't wear helmets. We fail to purchase insurance. We would rather avoid the risk of "crying wolf" than sound an alarm. Our ability to foresee and protect against natural catastrophes has never been greater; yet, we consistently fail to heed the warnings and protect ourselves and our communities, with devastating consequences. What explains this contradiction? In The Ostrich Paradox, Wharton professors Robert Meyer and Howard Kunreuther draw on years of teaching and research to explain why disaster preparedness efforts consistently fall short. Filled with heartbreaking stories of loss and resilience, the book addresses: •How people make decisions when confronted with high-consequence, low-probability events—and how these decisions can go awry •The 6 biases that lead individuals, communities, and institutions to make grave errors that cost lives •The Behavioral Risk Audit, a systematic approach for improving preparedness by recognizing these biases and designing strategies that anticipate them •Why, if we are to be better prepared for disasters, we need to learn to be more like ostriches, not less Fast-reading and critically important, The Ostrich Paradox is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand why we consistently underprepare for disasters, as well as private and public leaders, planners, and policy-makers who want to build more prepared communities.

The Paradox of Choice

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Author :
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0061748994
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (617 download)

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Book Synopsis The Paradox of Choice by : Barry Schwartz

Download or read book The Paradox of Choice written by Barry Schwartz and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether we're buying a pair of jeans, ordering a cup of coffee, selecting a long-distance carrier, applying to college, choosing a doctor, or setting up a 401(k), everyday decisions—both big and small—have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming abundance of choice with which we are presented. As Americans, we assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice: choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. In the long run, this can lead to decision-making paralysis, anxiety, and perpetual stress. And, in a culture that tells us that there is no excuse for falling short of perfection when your options are limitless, too much choice can lead to clinical depression. In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains at what point choice—the hallmark of individual freedom and self-determination that we so cherish—becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. In accessible, engaging, and anecdotal prose, Schwartz shows how the dramatic explosion in choice—from the mundane to the profound challenges of balancing career, family, and individual needs—has paradoxically become a problem instead of a solution. Schwartz also shows how our obsession with choice encourages us to seek that which makes us feel worse. By synthesizing current research in the social sciences, Schwartz makes the counter intuitive case that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives. He offers eleven practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, have the discipline to focus on those that are important and ignore the rest, and ultimately derive greater satisfaction from the choices you have to make.

Fourth International Anthology on Paradoxism (poems, prose)

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Author :
Publisher : Infinite Study
ISBN 13 : 9738467195
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (384 download)

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Book Synopsis Fourth International Anthology on Paradoxism (poems, prose) by : Florentin Smarandache

Download or read book Fourth International Anthology on Paradoxism (poems, prose) written by Florentin Smarandache and published by Infinite Study. This book was released on 2004 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: pARadOXisM is an avant-garde movement in literature, art, philosophy, science, based on excessive use of antitheses, antinomies, contradictions, parables, odds, paradoxes in creations.It was set up and led by the writer and mathematician Florentin Smarandache since 1980's and promulgates a counter-time/counter-sense creation.Paradoxism started as an anti-totalitarian protest against a closed society, Romania of 1980's. Why was the movement based on contradictions? because we lived in that society a double life: an official one propagated by the political system, and another one real. In mass-media it was promulgated that our life is wonderful, but in reality our life was miserable. The paradox flourishing!And then we took the creation in derision, in opposite sense, in a syncretic way. Thus the paradox was born.Through paradoxist experiments one brings new literary, artistic, philosophical, or scientific terms, and procedures, methods, or even algorithms.The Fourth International Anthology on Paradoxism includes 125 writers and artists, from 25 countries (Albania, Algeria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, R. Moldova, Netherlands, Nigeria, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, USA, and Yugoslavia), with literary texts (poetry, prose, letters, essays, comments, translations, folklore) and artworks (collage, drawing) in 13 languages (Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, French, German, Italian, Romanian, Spanish, and Swedish).

The Rule-Following Paradox and Its Implications for Metaphysics

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9783319490625
Total Pages : 128 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (96 download)

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Book Synopsis The Rule-Following Paradox and Its Implications for Metaphysics by : Jody Azzouni

Download or read book The Rule-Following Paradox and Its Implications for Metaphysics written by Jody Azzouni and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph presents Azzouni's new approach to the rule-following paradox. His solution leaves intact an isolated individual's capacity to follow rules, and it simultaneously avoids replacing the truth conditions for meaning-talk with mere assertability conditions for that talk. Kripke's influential version of Wittgenstein's rule-following paradox-and Wittgenstein's views more generally-on the contrary, make rule-following practices and assertions about those practices subject to community norms without which they lose their cogency. Azzouni summarizes and develops Kripke's original version of Wittgenstein's rule-following paradox to make salient the linchpin assumptions of the paradox. By doing so, Azzouni reveals how compelling Kripke's earlier work on the paradox was. Objections raised over the years by Fodor, Forbes Ginsborg, Goldfarb, Tait, Wright, and many others, are all shown to fail. No straight solution (a solution that denies an assumption of the paradox) can be made to work. Azzouni illustrates this in detail by showing that a popular family of straight solutions due to Lewis and refined by Williams, "reference magnetism," fail as well. And yet an overlooked sceptical solution is still available in logical space. Azzouni describes a series of "disposition-meaning" private languages that he shows can be successfully used by a population of speakers to communicate with one another despite their ideolectical character. The same sorts of languages enable solitary "Robinson Crusoes" to survive and flourish in their island habitats. These languages-sufficiently refined-have the same properties normal human languages have; and this is the key to solving the rule-following paradox without sacrificing the individual's authority over her self-imposed rules or her ability to follow those rules. Azzouni concludes this unusual monograph by uncovering a striking resemblance between the rule-following paradox and Hume's problem of induction: he shows the rule-following paradox to be a corollary of Hume's problem that arises when the problem of induction is applied to an individual's own abilities to follow rules. Depressing ly well-argued.

A Time of Paradox

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Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1461636388
Total Pages : 575 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (616 download)

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Book Synopsis A Time of Paradox by : Glen Jeansonne

Download or read book A Time of Paradox written by Glen Jeansonne and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2006-03-02 with total page 575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this lively and provocative synthesis, distinguished historian Glen Jeansonne explores the people and events that shaped America in the twentieth century. Comprehensive in scope, A Time of Paradox offers a balanced look at the political, diplomatic, social and cultural developments of the last century while focusing on the diverse and sometimes contradictory human experiences that characterized this dynamic period. Designed with the student in mind, this cogent text provides the most up to date analysis available, offering insight into the divisive election of 2004, the War on Terror and the Gulf Coast hurricanes. Substantive biographies on figures ranging from Samuel Insull to Madonna give students a more personalized view of the men and women who influenced American society over the past hundred years.

Paradox Valley

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Publisher : Bella Books
ISBN 13 : 1594937362
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (949 download)

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Book Synopsis Paradox Valley by : Gerri Hill

Download or read book Paradox Valley written by Gerri Hill and published by Bella Books. This book was released on 2016-07-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Was it an earthquake? A meteor? Or something else entirely? Running from a marriage proposal in Seattle, Dana Ingram returns to her parents’ farm in Western Colorado for a two-week vacation in Paradox Valley. Only a couple of days into it, however, a small earthquake leaves them without power. Cars won’t start, batteries don’t work and cell phones are useless. When a Black Hawk helicopter vanishes off of radar, Captain Corey Conaway is sent in to locate it and its crew—all while keeping the disappearance out of the media. When she meets Dana and her cousin, Butch, Corey solicits their help in the search. But as they travel on horseback through the rugged and remote Paradox Valley, what they stumble upon soon has them running for their lives.

Time Paradox

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Author :
Publisher : iUniverse
ISBN 13 : 1663210640
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (632 download)

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Book Synopsis Time Paradox by : M. Timothy Murray

Download or read book Time Paradox written by M. Timothy Murray and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2021-04-15 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Derak, Shesain, and the time crew are unexpectedly thrust 600 years into Thumar’s past. A planet wide plague is raging that our intrepid time travelers were destined to cure. They return to the future to discover that they’re actions dramatically changed their original timeline. With help from Derak’s brother, Robert, and the mysterious Time Lords of the universe, they set out across time, space, and dimension to fix their time paradox. Can they stop the space-time-continuum from tearing itself apart, and destroying the known universe?

Paradox

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Author :
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 0307986802
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (79 download)

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Book Synopsis Paradox by : Jim Al-Khalili

Download or read book Paradox written by Jim Al-Khalili and published by Crown. This book was released on 2012-10-23 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fun and fascinating look at great scientific paradoxes. Throughout history, scientists have come up with theories and ideas that just don't seem to make sense. These we call paradoxes. The paradoxes Al-Khalili offers are drawn chiefly from physics and astronomy and represent those that have stumped some of the finest minds. For example, how can a cat be both dead and alive at the same time? Why will Achilles never beat a tortoise in a race, no matter how fast he runs? And how can a person be ten years older than his twin? With elegant explanations that bring the reader inside the mind of those who've developed them, Al-Khalili helps us to see that, in fact, paradoxes can be solved if seen from the right angle. Just as surely as Al-Khalili narrates the enduring fascination of these classic paradoxes, he reveals their underlying logic. In doing so, he brings to life a select group of the most exciting concepts in human knowledge. Paradox is mind-expanding fun.

The Paradox of Preservation

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Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520277082
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis The Paradox of Preservation by : Laura Alice Watt

Download or read book The Paradox of Preservation written by Laura Alice Watt and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Point Reyes National Seashore has a long history as a working landscape, with dairy and beef ranching, fishing, and oyster farming; yet, since 1962 it has also been managed as a National Seashore. The Paradox of Preservation chronicles how national ideals about what a park “ought to be” have developed over time and what happens when these ideals are implemented by the National Park Service (NPS) in its efforts to preserve places that are also lived-in landscapes. Using the conflict surrounding the closure of the Drakes Bay Oyster Company, Laura Alice Watt examines how NPS management policies and processes for land use and protection do not always reflect the needs and values of local residents. Instead, the resulting landscapes produced by the NPS represent a series of compromises between use and protection—and between the area’s historic pastoral character and a newer vision of wilderness. A fascinating and deeply researched book, The Paradox of Preservation will appeal to those studying environmental history, conservation, public lands, and cultural landscape management, and to those looking to learn more about the history of this dynamic California coastal region.

The Genocide Paradox

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Publisher : Fordham Univ Press
ISBN 13 : 1531503276
Total Pages : 152 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (315 download)

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Book Synopsis The Genocide Paradox by : Anne O'Byrne

Download or read book The Genocide Paradox written by Anne O'Byrne and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2023-04-25 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We regard genocidal violence as worse than other sorts of violence—perhaps the worst there is. But what does this say about what we value about the genos on which nations are said to be founded? This is an urgent question for democracies. We value the mode of being in time that anchors us in the past and in the future, that is, among those who have been and those who might yet be. If the genos is a group constituted by this generational time, the demos was invented as the anti-genos, with no criterion of inheritance and instead only occurring according to the interruption of revolutionary time. Insofar as the demos persists, we experience it as a sort of genos, for example, the democratic nation state. As a result, democracies are caught is a bind, disavowing genos-thinking while cherishing the temporal forms of genos-life; they abhor genocidal violence but perpetuate and disguise it. This is the genocide paradox. O’Byrne traces the problem through our commitment to existential categories from Aristotle to the life taxonomies of Linneaus and Darwin, through anthropologies of kinship that tether us to the social world, the shortfalls of ethical theory, into the history of democratic theory and the defensive tactics used by real existing democracies when it came to defining genocide for the U.N. Genocide Convention. She argues that, although models of democracy all make room for contestation, they fail to grasp its generational structure or acknowledge the generational content of our lives. They cultivate ignorance of the contingency and precarity of the relations that create and sustain us. The danger of doing so is immense. It leaves us unprepared for confronting democracy’s deficits and its struggle to entertain multiple temporalities. In addition, it leaves us unprepared for understanding the relation between demos and violence, and the ability of good enough citizens to tolerate the slow-burning destruction of marginalized peoples. What will it take to envision an anti-genocidal democracy?

The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Paradox

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0191069388
Total Pages : 528 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Paradox by : Wendy K. Smith

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Paradox written by Wendy K. Smith and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-07 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The notion of paradox dates back to ancient philosophy, yet only recently have scholars started to explore this idea in organizational phenomena. Two decades ago, a handful of provocative theorists urged researchers to take seriously the study of paradox, and thereby deepen our understanding of plurality, tensions, and contradictions in organizational life. Studies of organizational paradox have grown exponentially over the past two decades, canvassing varied phenomena, methods, and levels of analysis. These studies have explored such tensions as today and tomorrow, global integration and local distinctions, collaboration and competition, self and others, mission and markets. Yet even with both the depth and breadth of interest in organizational paradoxes, key issues around definitions and application remain. This handbook seeks to aid, engage, and fuel the expanding interest in organizational paradox. Contributions to this volume depict how paradox studies inform, and are informed, by other theoretical perspectives, while creating a resource that enables scholars to learn about and apply this lens across varied organizational phenomena. The increasing complexity, volatility, and ambiguity in our world continually surfaces paradoxical dynamics. Thus, this handbook offers insights to scholars across organizational theory.

Paradox Bound

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Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 1101907037
Total Pages : 402 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (19 download)

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Book Synopsis Paradox Bound by : Peter Clines

Download or read book Paradox Bound written by Peter Clines and published by Crown. This book was released on 2018-06-26 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “One cool novel. If the Tardis were a Ford Model A , this might be Doctor Who meets National Treasure.”—F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of the Repairman Jack series “GET IN THE CAR, MR. TEAGUE. THE ROAD BECKONS.” The traveler sped through Eli Teague’s life long ago. With her tricorne hat, flintlock rifle, and steampunked Model-A Ford, she was a living anachronism, and an irresistible mystery—and she was gone as soon as she arrived, in a cloud of gunfire and a squeal of tires. So when Eli sees her again, he’s determined that this time, he’s going to get some answers. But his hunt soon yields far more than he bargained for, plunging him headlong into a dizzying world full of competing factions and figures straight out of legend. To make sense of the secret at its heart, he must embark on a breakneck chase across the country and through two centuries of history­—with nothing less than America’s past, present, and future at stake. Praise for Paradox Bound “So good you’ll want to invent time travel and send a copy back to yourself, just so you can read it again for the first time. A tour de force.”—Jason M. Hough, New York Times bestselling author of The Darwin Elevator “A timey-wimey, full-barrel adventure novel that also teaches a nonironic lesson in American civics . . . [featuring] an epithet-wielding, pistol-packing heroine that will capture hearts.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A fast and resonant time-travel thriller and tour of America, bursting with fun ideas.”—Django Wexler, author of The Shadow Campaigns novels “Lively, likeable, and wonderfully amusing.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The Joseph Paradox

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Author :
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786489820
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

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Book Synopsis The Joseph Paradox by : Hillel I. Millgram

Download or read book The Joseph Paradox written by Hillel I. Millgram and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a reader-friendly treatment of the Joseph story--one of the most popular tales in the Bible. Instead of the usual interpretation as an Horatio Alger success story, the text proposes that we are presented with a cautionary tale of high achievement and the pursuit of success. In the context of the larger biblical narrative, Joseph's short-term success leads to the enslavement of his descendants and the centuries-long derailment of the destiny of the Children of Israel. The self-limiting nature of the pursuit of power is just one of the themes illuminated in this work.

The Knowability Paradox

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780199282593
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (825 download)

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Book Synopsis The Knowability Paradox by : Jonathan L. Kvanvig

Download or read book The Knowability Paradox written by Jonathan L. Kvanvig and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2006-02-09 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The paradox of knowability, derived from a proof by Frederic Fitch in 1963, is one of the deepest paradoxes concerning the nature of truth. Jonathan Kvanvig argues that the depth of the paradox has not been adequately appreciated. It has long been known that the paradox threatens antirealist conceptions of truth according to which truth is epistemic. If truth is epistemic, what better way to express that idea than to maintain that all truths are knowable? In the face of theparadox, however, such a characterization threatens to undermine antirealism. If Fitch's proof is valid, then one can be an antirealist of this sort only by endorsing the conclusion of the proof that all truths are known.Realists about truth have tended to stand on the sidelines and cheer the difficulties faced by their opponents from Fitch's proof. Kvanvig argues that this perspective is wholly unwarranted. He argues that there are two problems raised by the paradox, one that threatens antirealism about truth and the other that threatens everybody's view about truth, realist or antirealist. The problem facing antirealism has had a number of proposed solutions over the past 40 years, and the results have notbeen especially promising with regard to the first problem. The second problem has not even been acknowledged, however, and the proposals regarding the first problem are irrelevant to the second problem.This book thus provides a thorough investigation of the literature on the paradox, and also proposes a solution to the deeper of the two problems raised by Fitch's proof. It provides a complete picture of the paradoxicality that results from Fitch's proof, and presents a solution to the paradox that claims to address both problems raised by the original proof.

The Great Paradox of Science

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190055073
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis The Great Paradox of Science by : Mano Singham

Download or read book The Great Paradox of Science written by Mano Singham and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-20 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Science has revolutionized our lives and continues to show inexorable progress today. It may seem obvious that this must be because its theories are steadily getting better and approaching the truth about the world. After all, what could science be progressing toward, if not the truth? But scholarship in the history, philosophy, and sociology of science offers little support for such a sanguine view. Those opposed to specific conclusions of the scientific community-nonbelievers in vaccinations, climate change, and evolution, for example-have been able to use a superficial understanding of the nature of science to sow doubt about the scientific consensus in those areas, leaving the general public confused as to whom to trust, with damaging effects for the health of individuals and the planet. The Great Paradox of Science argues that to better counter such anti-science efforts requires us to understand the nature of scientific knowledge at a much deeper level and dispel many myths and misconceptions. It is the use of scientific logic, the characteristics of which are elaborated on in the book, that enables the scientific community to arrive at reliable consensus judgments in which the public can retain a high degree of confidence. This scientific logic is applicable not just in science but can be used in all areas of life. Scientists, policymakers, and members of the general public will not only better understand why science works: They will also acquire the tools they need to make sound, rational decisions in all areas of their lives.