Constructing the World

Silvia Jonas, Philosophical Quarterly This is the spaceship amongst philosophy books: it aspires to a view, not from nowhere, but from everywhere onto the worlds 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.

Thomas W. Polger, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science Chalmers' influence in philosophy and consciousness studies is unquestionable.

Tom Donaldson, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 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 clich, Constructing the World is required reading for philosophers interested in epistemology or the foundations of semantics.

<br>David J. 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.<br>

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