AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: Persons and Bodies : A Constitution View by Lynne Rudder Baker ISBN: 0-521-59719-6 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 13 January, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 3 (1 review)

Rating: 3
Summary: In some ways breaks new ground but not compelling
Comment: This book argues for the view that in the same place at the same time are two things -- the human animal that constitutes me and the person that is me. It's a very odd view given our common sense notions, but metaphysical study shows that no coherent view on these matters will entirely fit with common sense. That view is not entirely interesting, since it is not new, though some of her nuances and differences from earlier proponents of a constitution view are worth noting.

The best thing about this book is that Baker has broken some new ground in her attempt to come up with an analysis of the constitution relation. Since her book was published, some reviews in journals have raised serious problems about her actual proposal on mostly technical grounds, which might suggest to some that her work is useless. That's not so. Hardly anyone has even made attempts in this direction, and the process is worth engaging in. Her work on this problem is groundbreaking, even if her actual positive proposal turns out not to work.

One caveat - some stellar philosophers have complained that some of her arguments (e.g. for the neo-Cartesian sense that personhood involves something of my being conscious of my own consciousness) at times seem to be more rhetoric than philosophical argument. I'm more sympathetic to this line of thought myself, but lots of her arguments have seemed this way to some. When I heard this response to the book, I didn't immediately wonder if I'd read the same book they had. I do seem some of what they're saying, despite my attraction to what she's saying. So that's worth being aware of.

On the whole, there's lots of good exploration here of underexplored metaphysical terrain. For that reason, anyone interested in issues of material constitution and personal identity should look at this book.

Similar Books:

	Title: DARWIN'S DANGEROUS IDEA: EVOLUTION AND THE MEANINGS OF LIFE by Daniel C. Dennett ISBN: 068482471X Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 12 June, 1996 List Price(USD): $16.00
	Title: Four-Dimensionalism: An Ontology of Persistence and Time (Mind Association Occasional Series) by Theodore Sider ISBN: 0199263523 Publisher: Clarendon Pr Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95