Glimpse of Light: New Meditations on First Philosophy

Description

I firmly believed there was a world outside of our own minds . . . But all around me were challenges. . . . How could we be so sure there were such things existing apart from us? Philosopher Benedict Chilwell faces a crisis of confidence and hopes to resolve it in a self-imposed exile, far away in the north of Norway. From his cabin, he begins his meditations, pondering the mysteries of philosophy in the dark Arctic winter. Pride, a whale, love and lust, the Huldra, God and a chain of causes all interrupt Benedict's solitude. Could they prove his salvation? In six days approaching the return of the light, Benedict discovers a basis for certainty and tries his best to convince his hosts. Through doubts, questions and reasoning, Chilwell inadvertently follows in Descartes' footsteps. Will he be killed by the cold too; or will the warmth of Plato's sun save him in time?

Stephen Mumford is Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Nottingham UK. He is the author of Metaphysics: A Very Short Introduction (2012) and Causation: A Very Short Introduction (2013).

Brings philosophy to life in a way that will draw readers in and part the curtain that too often obscures real philosophical thinking about hard core topics that obsess professional philosophers. Stephen Mumford provides an enchanting account of a week in the life of a philosopher determined to prove to himself that his life's work has not been a sham. Nonphilosophers as well as philosophers will be captivated. * John Heil, Professor of Philosophy, Washington University in St. Louis, USA * Readers for whom Meditations on First Philosophy is more than just assigned reading in college will welcome Mumford's "new meditations," which offer another inspiring run at an ever-elusive certainty on which to ground a worldview ... The fiction is inspiring in its own right; as with Descartes's Meditations, the reader needn't be convinced by the argument itself to be moved by the drama of a person struggling to think clearly. * Rain Taxi *