gesang reviewed Beyond the Limits of Thought by Graham Priest
The paradox of the Absolute
5 stars
It's the third time I finished the book. The exact book that I wanted since I was around eight years old, when I began to wonder what does it mean that the Universe is finite, or infinite: what happens when you stick your finger outside the edge of the world? And what is "outside", is it legitimate to say that there "is" something outside? - what "happened" before the beginning of the Time?
The book is well written. Systematic and comprehensive, Priests traces how a family of paradoxes, or the paradox that the book centers around, developed and transformed, and locates the essential core of the it. It's recommended for all who's bewildered and fascinated by deep paradoxes, or that one paradox, the paradox of the Absolute.
But unfortunately I found Priest's argument against e.g. intuitionistic arguments far too hand-wavy and unconvincing, whether it be in his In Contradiction or …
It's the third time I finished the book. The exact book that I wanted since I was around eight years old, when I began to wonder what does it mean that the Universe is finite, or infinite: what happens when you stick your finger outside the edge of the world? And what is "outside", is it legitimate to say that there "is" something outside? - what "happened" before the beginning of the Time?
The book is well written. Systematic and comprehensive, Priests traces how a family of paradoxes, or the paradox that the book centers around, developed and transformed, and locates the essential core of the it. It's recommended for all who's bewildered and fascinated by deep paradoxes, or that one paradox, the paradox of the Absolute.
But unfortunately I found Priest's argument against e.g. intuitionistic arguments far too hand-wavy and unconvincing, whether it be in his In Contradiction or in this book. His thinking is crystal-clear, technical, but not deep, and occasionally it's doubtful what exactly are his criteria for making judgements. Just like Buddhism, it always seems to me that Priest's thought halts exactly where real depth begins, thus it becomes a frustrating experience to read his works sometimes. His expositions are better than his own opinions. Priest is not a profound thinker, but an erudite philosopher with a crisp, balanced, and clear thinking style.