Human Interests: Reflections on Philosophical Anthropology

by Nicholas Rescher

A Stanford University Press classic.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804718113
• ISBN13: 9780804718110
• Release Date: August 1990
• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Length: 212 Pages

Customer Reviews

Unique

Philosophers often speak of the ideal of communicating with the non-philosophical world, in regard to familiar puzzles that we might come upon in our lives. But this is the only work that I've come upon that actually pulls this off. Hence, it is unique, IMHO. So, if you'd like to wax philosophical about your own situation, living your life, I'd recommend that you start here. Rescher does not push his philosophical agenda. Of course, he has a philosophical agenda: his own philosophy. (See below.) But the purpose of this book is not to induct you into the Rescher camp. It is to get you to reflect, with him, about certain familiar puzzles. He not only introduces these puzzles and discusses them, he also comes to some conclusions. Usually sensible conclusions, I found. They are for you to appreciate, to re-think, & dispute. Or concur with, as the case may be. The chapters that I enjoyed the most are 2, 5, 7, 8, 10-12, 15 & 16. You may prefer others. They can be read independently, so just pick the chapter that interests you the most. Topics include: happiness, luck, aging, the meaning of life, optimism and pessimism, morality, and faith and belief, etc. (If you are then curious as to his philosophy, the place to begin is with his synoptic 3 volume effort, A System of Pragmatic Idealism, published by Princeton U.P.)