Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 228
•
Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-4422-1609-9 • Paperback • February 2015 • $33.00 • (£25.00)
Andrew Pessin is professor of philosophy at Connecticut College, although he is perhaps best known for his appearances as The Genius on the Late Show with David Letterman. He is the author of The God Question: What Famous Thinkers From Plato To Dawkins Have Said About the Divine and The 60-Second Philosopher: Expand Your Mind on a Minute or so a Day!.
Introduction: “Stop Making Sense”
Chapter 1: Plato / More Than What Meets the Eye
Chapter 2: Aristotle / Neither You Will Nor You Won’t
Chapter 3: Augustine / Forced to Be Free
Chapter 4: Anselm / God is Not Just a Good Idea
Chapter 5: Maimonides / Keeps Going, and Going, and Going … Or Not?
Chapter 6: Thomas Aquinas / God Has Not Been on Vacation Since the Original Creation
Chapter 7: René Descartes / “A Monstrous Thesis”
Chapter 8: John Locke / True Colors
Chapter 9: Nicolas Malebranche / On Honoring Leeks and Vegetables
Chapter 10: G. W. Leibniz / Synchronicity
Chapter 11: George Berkeley / To Be Is to Perceive, or Be Perceived
Chapter 12: David Hume / Stercus Accidit
Chapter 13: Friedrich Nietzsche / Philosopher, Psychologist—Antichrist?
Chapter 14: John McTaggart / Time Does Not Fly Even When You’re Having Fun
Chapter 15: Ludwig Wittgenstein / The Voice In My Head is Speaking Nonsense
Chapter 16: Hilary Putnam / Thinking Outside the (Cranial) Box
Chapter 17: David Lewis / The Incredulous Stare
Chapter 18: Thomas Nagel, David Chalmers / Mind and Matter, Together Again at Last (Sort of)!
Andrew Pessin's Uncommon Sense is an uncommonly good introduction to philosophy, unpretentious in its style, and unerring in its sense of humor. It will provide both entertainment and insight to those seeking wisdom from philosophy's most incredible theories. As a philosophical tour guide for the uninitiated, Pessin is unbeatable.
— Sandy Goldberg, Northwestern University
Uncommon Sense is the fruit of a brilliant idea carried out with panache. The ideas explored are esoteric in the extreme, but Andrew Pessin's explanations are clear, down to earth, entertaining, and accessible. This book is an absolute goldmine for general readers curious about philosophy.
— Gregg Osborne, Washington and Jefferson College