Question Everything: A Stone Reader
528
Question Everything: A Stone Reader
528Hardcover
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Overview
When The Stone Reader—a landmark collection of 133 essays from the New York Times’ award-winning philosophy column—first published, in 2015, the world urgently needed insight and wisdom, and for many, the book served as a bulwark of reason against the rising tide of post-fact rhetoric. Now, as disinformation continues to run rampant and our rights are increasingly called into question, editors Peter Catapano and Simon Critchley contend that philosophy in the public sphere is more crucial than ever.
Like The Stone Reader and its sequel, Modern Ethics in 77 Arguments, Question Everything delivers the contrarian views, sound arguments, and creative approaches to traditional opinion-writing that loyal readers of the series have come to expect. Its essays, however, are not organized by traditional categories like ethics or epistemology, but thematically by question, thirteen of them in all—the first twelve like the hours of a clock, ticking us through the tumultuous time in which these pieces were written, from late 2015 to 2021, with the last speculating into an uncertain future.
The volume begins with the most fundamental of questions: What does it mean to be human? There, contemporary thinkers from Martha Nussbaum to Bernard-Henri Lévy explore the essence of who we are as a species. The next question—Is democracy possible?—interrogates our social and political ideals. While Malka Older calls into question the viability of our institutions, philosophers Gary Gutting and Alex Rosenberg reassess the meaning of patriotism. And onward, with more timeless struggles: What is happiness? Does life have meaning? Finally, it asks, Is this the end of the world as we know it? Now what?
While its foundation and core consists of the work of professional scholars and philosophers, Question Everything also features a number of prominent artists and thinkers who may never appear on a philosophy syllabus, including, among others, novelist Elena Ferrante, actor Cate Blanchett, filmmaker Errol Morris, musician Sonny Rollins, and artist Ai Weiwei, all of whom offer insights shaped by decades of devotion to and practice of their crafts.
Designed both for immediate gratification and long-term use, Question Everything, with an introduction by Catapano, is not only an essential addition to a much-loved series, but an act of resistance, “a product,” as Catapano writes, “of the spirit of agitation and inquiry that has been integral to the human enterprise from the beginning of recorded history.”
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781324091837 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Liveright Publishing Corporation |
| Publication date: | 10/25/2022 |
| Pages: | 528 |
| Sales rank: | 359,731 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.40(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.50(d) |
About the Author
Simon Critchley is a best-selling author and the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research. His many books include The Book of Dead Philosophers, Bowie, and Tragedy, the Greeks, and Us.
Table of Contents
Introduction Peter Catapano xi
I What Does it Mean to be Human?
We Are Merging with Robots. That's a Good Thing Andy Clark 3
What Does It Mean to Be Human? Don't Ask Martha Nussbaum i
We Are Not Born Human Bernard-Henri Lévy 11
A Road Trip to the Origins of Our Species Michael S. Gazzaniga 14
The Beast in Me Maxim Loskutoff 21
Our Delight in Destruction Costica Bradatan 24
The Humanity We Can't Relinquish Pico Iyer 28
The Question We Must Keep Asking Ai Weiwei 32
II Is Democracy Possible?
Rethinking Our Patriotism Gary Gutting 37
What We Believe About Our Institutions Malka Older 42
Democracy Is for the Gods Costica Bradatan 46
The Tragedy of Democracy Simon Critchley 50
Why We Still Need Walt Whitman Ed Simon 55
How Democracy Can Survive Big Data Colin Koopman 59
The Making Of a Non-Patriot Alex Rosenberg 63
What We Believe About Freedom Mike Schur Todd May 68
III Can We Believe Our Eyes?
Consciousness Isn't a Mystery. It's Matter Galen strawson 75
Do We Really Understand "Fake News"? Michael P. Lynch 80
What We Believe About Reality Garry Kasparov 83
Deepfakes Are Coming. We Can No Longer Believe What We See Regina Rini 87
Knowledge, Ignorance, and Climate Change N. Ángel Pinillos 90
"Transparency" is the Mother of Fake News Stanley Fish 95
What Is the Future of Speculative Journalism? Christy Wampole 102
IV Should Speech be Free?
The End of Satire Justin E. H. Smith 109
Should We Cancel Aristotle? Agnes Callard 114
What "Snowflakes" Get Right About Free Speech Ulrich Baer 119
Confronting Philosophy's Anti-Semitism Laurie Shrage 125
The Ignorant Do Not Have a Right to an Audience Bryan W. Van Norden 129
I Am a Dangerous Professor George Yancy 135
Beware of "Snakes," "Invaders," and Other Fighting Words Jason Stanley David Beaver 139
Breaking My Own Silence Min Jin Lee 143
V What is Happiness?
Happiness and Its Discontents Daniel M. Haybron 149
The Problem of "Living in the Present" Kieran Setiya 155
The Happiest Man I've Ever Met Simon Critchley 158
A Philosopher on Brain Rest Megan Craig 166
It's a Terrible Day in the Neighborhood, and That's Okay Mariana Alessandri 171
Nietzsche Made Me Do It John Kaag 176
A Revolution in Happiness Adriana Cavarero 180
VI Does Life Have Meaning?
What We Believe About Beliefs Errol Morris 187
The Good-Enough Life Avram Alpert 190
Is a Life Without Struggle Worth Living? Adam Etinson 193
Waking Up to the Gift of "Aliveness" Sean D. Kelly 198
If You Could Be Someone Else, Would You? Todd May 203
Gratitude: In Sickness and Health Philip S. Garrity 208
Why Do Anything? A Meditation on Procrastination Costica Bradatan 212
The Universe Doesn't Care About Your "Purpose" Joseph P. Carter 216
A Life of Meaning (Reason Not Required) Robert A. Burton 221
VII Why Can't We All Just Get Along?
The Ancient Myth of "Good Fences" Ingrid Rossellini 227
The Road to Auschwitz Wasn't Paved with Indifference Rivka Weinberg 231
White America Wants Me to Conform. I Won't Do It. Chris Lebron 237
Dear White America George Yancy 242
Enough with Crumbs-I Want the Cake Mona Eltahawy 249
Drawing a Line in the "Gay Wedding Cake" Case John Corvino 254
Education in the Age of Outrage Kelly Oliver 259
VIII What is the Difference Between Right and Wrong?
What "Justice" Really Means Paul Bloomfield 265
Are We All "Harmless Torturers" Now? Paul Bloom Matthew Jordan 269
What We Owe to Others: Simone Weil's Radical Reminder Robert Zaretsky 273
In Praise of Lost Causes Mariana Alessandri 277
The Real Cost of Tweeting About My Kids Agnes Callard 281
The Stories We Tell Ourselves Todd May 285
You Should Not Have Let Your Baby Die Gary Comstock 289
What Do We Owe the Dead? Iskra Fileva 294
IX What is it Like to be a Woman?
Descartes Is Not Our Father Christia Mercer 301
What Does It Mean to "Speak as a Woman"? Agnes Callard 306
Who Counts as a Woman? Carol Hay 311
A Power of Our Own Elena Ferrante 318
#IAmSexist George Yancy 322
The Gender Politics of Fasting Mariana Alessandri 329
Is There a "Rational" Punishment for My Rapist? Amber Rose Carlson 334
Feminism and the Future of Philosophy Gary Gutting 340
X Why Does Art Matter?
Five Theses on Creativity Eric Kaplan 347
Art Is a Different Kind of Cosmic Order Brian Greene 350
What We Believe About Storytelling Ini Archibong 354
A Cog in the Machine of Creation Wes Studi 358
Naming the Disappeared, Raising the Dead Doris Salcedo 361
I'm Not "Mrs. America." That's the Point Cate Blanchett 364
What We Believe About Culture Shahzia Sikander 367
Art Never Dies Sonny Rollins 371
XI Is this the End of the World as we know it?
How to Be a Prophet of Doom Alison McQueen 377
Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein, and Then a Pandemic Eileen M. Hunt 382
To Philosophize is to Learn How to Die Simon Critchley 386
Montaigne Fled the Plague, and Found Himself Robert Zaretsky 391
Does the Pandemic Have a Purpose? Stephen T. Asma 394
Our Cruel Treatment of Animals Led to the Coronavirus David Benator 398
Our "Pursuit of Happiness" Is Killing the Planet James Traub 402
Would Human Extinction Be a Tragedy? Todd May 407
XII Do We Need God?
Dear God, Are You There? George Yancy 415
What Religion Gives Us (That Science Can't) Stephen T. Asma 421
Teaching Calvin in California Jonathan Sheehan 427
What's So Good About Original Sin? Crispin Sartwell 432
Abandon (Nearly) All Hope Simon Critchley 436
What We Believe About Prophecies T. M. Luhrmann 442
Why Mortality Makes Us Free Martin Hägglund 446
Can We Learn to Believe in God? Agnes Callard 450
XIII Now What?
We're Doomed, Now What? Roy Scranton 457
Are We the Cows of the Future? Esther Leslie 463
A Utopia for a Dystopian Age Espen Hammer 467
The Courage to Be Alone Megan Craig 471
In Dark Times, "Dirty Hands" Can Still Do Good John Kaag Clancy Martin 475
What Would David Bowie DO? Simon Critchley 480
Acknowledgments 485
Contributors 487