Download Free On Stilts Over Reality Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online On Stilts Over Reality and write the review.

Ruth Troellers lifelong passion for philosophical inquiry has driven her to pursue and spread knowledge and wisdom, not only in the academic sphere. Inspired by the existentialist thought that flourished in postwar Europe and her meetings with Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Gabriel Marcel and particularly Andr Malraux, she studied formally under Jaspers in Baal and Heidegger in Freiburg, and earned a degree in philosophy at the University of London. Her academic path strayed from that of philosophy due to her great dislike of the predominant current (logical positivism) being taught at the time, but although she went on to earn her higher degrees in Economics and dedicated much of her professional life to that area, her interest in philosophy never faded. The 72 years of diaries that this book covers bear witness to her unwavering commitment to reflecting continuously on philosophical questions, and the realization of this book is a testimony of her devotion as a teacher, since she not only wants to share her own thoughts with the world, but to inspire readers of all ages to pursue their own path of philosophical search, to dare to ask themselves important questions and seek the answers, to write and think consistently and contribute to the development of humanity.
Did alien astronauts visit the ancient earth or were the real "aliens" the ancient humans themselves? People today imagine that ancient humans were just like us, but at a more primitive stage of development. In fact, ancient humans were nothing like us. They had incredible abilities - superpowers - that we have now lost. We discarded them in the course of becoming modern, conscious humans, but these superpowers still lie latent in all of us, and can be recovered in the right circumstances. The ancient humans were the Prometheans, bridging the gap to the gods, and supremely well-versed in carrying the divine fire. They knew the secrets of the gods. Isn't it time to regain all of their lost knowledge and power?
This Volume 1 of Part II considers the factors that make science progress. It lays out the differences between normal science and pseudoscience by showing the importance of the scientific method in the advancement of science. It introduces the concept of Truth in science by raising the point that even though truth is based on the scientific method, can science be true? Can it depict reality? The author focuses on modern science, which, he thinks, was born thanks to the Scientific Revolution which started with Galileo Galilei and led to the Industrial Revolution. The impacts of the latter is analyzed in light modernism, modernization, and modernity, all three linked to scientific progress. The book also talks about the Newtonian scientific leap – by analyzing particularly the then social and political fabrics of England – and Albert Einstein by showing how he changed history. According to the author, our very physical world can help us understand scientific progress. So, he explains, among other things, the structure of atoms and molecules, the role of physics in the understanding of our universe, Quantum Mechanics, and the importance of Higgs-Boson. On the other hand, the book is a stunning revelation of how important information is to scientific progress. To make his point, the author, first, talks about John Vincent Atanasoff as the Father of computer thanks to the invention of his ABC computer and then, Alan Turing as the Father of modern computer thanks to his Turing Test and his views on Artificial Intelligence. Both men played a momentous role in the Digital Revolution and in the Information Age, according to the book. Finally, the author talks about nanotechnology, which explores the world of small, meaning at the atomic and the molecular levels and is an inescapable tool in the molecular biology revolution which, itself, is an important factor in scientific progress and in transhumanism or human enhancement defined as the ideology according to which man can surpass his present state by improving his genetic material.
Recent polls suggest that fewer than 40 percent of Americans believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, despite it being one of science’s best-established findings. Parents still refuse to vaccinate their children for fear it causes autism, though this link has been consistently disproved. And about 40 percent of Americans believe that the threat of global warming is exaggerated, including many political leaders. In this era of fake news and alternative facts, there is more bunk than ever. But why do people believe in it? And what causes them to embrace such pseudoscientific beliefs and practices? In this fully revised second edition, noted skeptic Massimo Pigliucci sets out to separate the fact from the fantasy in an entertaining exploration of the nature of science, the borderlands of fringe science, and—borrowing a famous phrase from philosopher Jeremy Bentham—the nonsense on stilts. Presenting case studies on a number of controversial topics, Pigliucci cuts through the ambiguity surrounding science to look more closely at how science is conducted, how it is disseminated, how it is interpreted, and what it means to our society. The result is in many ways a “taxonomy of bunk” that explores the intersection of science and culture at large. No one—neither the public intellectuals in the culture wars between defenders and detractors of science nor the believers of pseudoscience themselves—is spared Pigliucci’s incisive analysis in this timely reminder of the need to maintain a line between expertise and assumption. Broad in scope and implication, Nonsense on Stilts is a captivating guide for the intelligent citizen who wishes to make up her own mind while navigating the perilous debates that will shape the future of our planet.
Confronts the "legendary Jesus" case, showing how the Synoptic Gospels are the most historically probable representation of the actual Jesus of history.
Are you self-organizing dust that becomes alive if it is arranged in just the right way? Are you dust that had life breathed into it by "God", as the Book of Genesis says? Are you dust that links to a mind and is animated by the mind so long as the link remains functional? Well, what are you? Do you know? If you don't know, shouldn't you be trying to know? Go on, what is your quintessence? Write it down. If you can't, what does that say about you? Here's an astounding thing. Feeling types, sensing types, intuitive types and thinking types all have totally different ideas about the "dust" from which the Bible said we came. Do you understand why? Come inside and find out why you hold the beliefs you do. Your beliefs would be totally different if you had a different personality type. Doesn't that disturb you? If you were born in a different part of the world, to different parents, you would have completely different religious beliefs. Equally, if you were born with a different personality type, you would relate entirely differently to the world and believe totally different things about the nature of reality. Don't you want to rise above all these contingencies and know what the absolute, objective truth is? Why not?!
Through an analysis of political, art historical, and literary discourse, this book considers French fascination with the Gothic cathedral.
Winner of the PEN/Malamud Award, Airships is a “strong, original, tragic and funny” story collection of “the creative Southern tradition” (Alfred Kazin). One of the most revered short story collections of the past fifty years, Airships remains a vital text in the history of the American short story. The award-winning contemporary classic features twenty wildly original, exuberant, often hilarious stories that celebrate the universal peculiarities of the new American South—a land of high school band contests where good old boys from Vicksburg are reunited in Vietnam, and petty nostalgia and the incessant pain of disappointed love prevail in spite of our worst efforts. Hailed by none other than Larry McMurtry as “the best young writer to appear in the South since Flannery O’Connor,” Barry Hannah’s immense storytelling gifts are on striking display in this essential work. “Hannah takes fiction by surprise—scenes, shocks, sounds and amazements: an explosive but meticulous originality.” —Cynthia Ozick