Robert Nozick shifts the philosophical objective from formal proof to holistic explanation. He addresses the persistence of personal identity through time, proposing a "closest continuer" theory to define the self. The text introduces the tracking theory of knowledge, which argues that a belief counts as knowledge only if it is sensitive to the truth across counterfactual scenarios. Nozick also examines the tension between deterministic laws and free will, the origin of value in a purposeless universe, and the classical metaphysical question of why existence prevails over emptiness.
This book is for advanced students and professional philosophers who want to move beyond narrow analytic puzzles toward a broad, integrated metaphysical system. Readers find a rigorous alternative to traditional skepticism and a framework for understanding how subjective meaning aligns with objective reality. You will finish the text with a technical vocabulary for analyzing ethical foundations and a pluralistic method for connecting disparate philosophical problems into a single, coherent worldview.
Deep, contemplative and open-ended; a demanding read.
Best for readers like The Literary Connoisseur. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1981
- Publisher
- Harvard University Press
- ISBN
- 9780674664791
- Language
- EN
