Last update:
2 September 2010
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Sisyphus’s BoulderConsciousness and the limits of the knowable
2005. xii, 136 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Hardbound
– In stock
978 90 272 5196 1 / EUR 90.00 978 1 58811 602 4 / USD 135.00
e-Book
– Available from e-book platforms
Consciousness lies at the core of being human. Therefore, to understand ourselves, we need a theory of consciousness. In Sisyphus's Boulder, Eric Dietrich and Valerie Hardcastle argue that we will never get such a theory because consciousness has an essential property that prevents it from ever being explained. Consequently, philosophical debates over materialism and dualism are a waste of time. Scientific explanations of consciousness fare no better. Scientists do study consciousness, and such investigations will continue to grow and advance. However, none of them will ever reveal what consciousness is. In addition, given the centrality of consciousness in philosophy, Dietrich and Hardcastle claim that philosophy itself needs to change. That the central problems of philosophy persist is actually a profound epistemic fact about humans. Philosophy, then, is a limit to what humans can understand. (Series A)
Table of contents
“Sisyphus’s Boulder is a bold reformulation of the problem of consciousness that denies the existence of a reductive explanatory theory of consciousness. Dietrich and Hardcastle take aim at the leading theories of our time and masterfully expose the fundamental weaknesses of each theory. This book is written with wit and insight and should be read by all conscious entities.”
John P. Sullins, Sonoma State University
“[...] enjoyable and thought provoking.”
Subject classification |
Consciousness Research