Key Texts S.
2 total works
In this critique of religious philosophy Beck discusses six philosophers whose works on religion he considers to be most germane to contemporary issues: Spinoza; Hume; Kant; Nietzsche; William James; and Santayana. Beck first addresses the question, "what is secular philosophy?" and then explains differences between the "families" of secular philosophers, before examining their lives and works.
Can a machine think? More pointedly, if I am a machine, can I think? Beck answers these questions by analyzing two clusters of metaphors -- one of which dramatizes human beings as spontaneous agents (actors), and the other sees them as observers attempting to explain causally their own behavior and that of the actor (spectators). Using a hypothetical scene with two spectators, each explaining an action, and each representing a different way of viewing the world, Beck points up the central philosophical problems raised by the varieties of ways in which we explain our own actions and those of others.