Thursday, July 25, 2019

Review of Tallis


My review of Raymond Tallis’s excellent recent book Logos: The Mystery of How We Make Sense of the World appears in the July 26 issue of The Times Literary Supplement. 

Links to other book reviews can be found at my main website.

8 comments:

  1. Damn, subscription wall--looks like a good book though. I'll consider ordering a copy.

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  2. Found this little blurb in an Amazon review:
    "As he has done so often in the past, Tallis is unafraid to take on the leading intellectuals of our time – the Daniel Dennetts and Richard Dawkins"

    I hope this perception of Dawkins and Dennet isn't popular opinion. Although I understand the temptation. Bad philosophy branded as intellectual rejection of arcane thought seems thrilling to some. It's fun to point at things and call them stupid. It just makes you look stupid too. Please excuse my mini rant.

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    1. Sadly, going from experience in Britain and among people of a certain age (under 40) Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris seem to have had some significant influence and to enjoy high regard.

      Never come across things I can identify as clearly due to the influence of Dennett, but he is an actual philosopher, maybe this is why.

      This is something that is possibly worrying for the future e.g. transmission of Dawkins and Harris down the generations as authoritative opinions on important subjects.

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  3. Looks interesting. Anyone have other recommendations for works in epistemology, perhaps of the A-T approach engaging with modern philosophy? I'm especially curious how A-T philosophers might approach topics like external world skepticism and Kantian approaches to epistemology.

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  4. Anyone else notice the 1-Star Amazon review complaining Tallis's boom lacked any substance? The review was, amazingly, entirely absent any details, let alone substance.

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    1. Yeah I sometimes read 1-star reviews just for the chuckles. On the german amazon page there is a review of TLS from a woman giving the book one star and the entire review consisted of quotes which painted Aquinas as a mysoginist, which somehow makes all of his arguments entirely worthless.
      Also she claimed that a mere philosopher like Ed can´t be taken seriously when criticising a world-renowned scientist like Richard Dawkins.

      And then as a cherry on the top, she told us that she remained a pantheist.

      I hit my head on the table so often, I almost got a concussion. But this is what nowadays comes out of the cognitive faculties of supposed rational animals.

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  5. Can someone please share a pdf of this review with me privately?

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