Acknowledgments
Introduction
How to Read this Book
1: Scrutability and the Aufbau
2: Varieties of Scrutability
3: Adventures with a Cosmoscope
4: The Case for A Priori Scrutability
5: Revisability and Conceptual Change
6: Hard Cases
7: Minimizing the Base
8: The Structure of the World
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
David Chalmers is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and
Director of the Centre for Consciousness at the Australian National
University, and Professor of Philosophy at New York University.
After studying mathematics at Adelaide and Oxford, he completed a
PhD in philosophy and cognitive science at Indiana University in
1993. His 1996 book The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental
Theory was highly successful with both popular and academic
audiences.
As director of the Center for Consciousness Studies at the
University of Arizona from 1999 to 2004, and as a founder of the
Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, he has
played a major role in
developing the interdisciplinary science of consciousness. He is
well known for his formulation of the 'hard problem' of
consciousness and his arguments against materialism. He has also
written on topics as diverse as the nature of meaning, the
foundations of artificial intelligence, and philosophical issues in
The Matrix.
This is the spaceship amongst philosophy books: it aspires to a
view, not from nowhere, but from everywhere onto the worldâs
truths. Its melange of breadth and rigour acquits it of
megalomania, and introduces a form of analytically shaped
philosophical speculation which, in light of the predominant trend
of miniature debates, is both exciting and refreshing.
*Silvia Jonas, Philosophical Quarterly*
Chalmers' influence in philosophy and consciousness studies is
unquestionable.
*Thomas W. Polger, The British Journal for the Philosophy of
Science*
Chalmers book is monumental in its length and its extraordinary
scope. I think its a safe bet that it will also be monumental in
its influence. Chalmers book is sure to dominate future discussions
of apriority and Fregean sense and with good reason: it is
fascinating, well-argued and highly original. If youll excuse a
reviewers cliché, Constructing the World is required reading for
philosophers interested in epistemology or the foundations of
semantics.
*Tom Donaldson, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews*
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