One: Being an Investigation into the Unity of Reality and of its Parts, including the Singular Object which is Nothingness

by Graham Priest

Graham Priest presents an original exploration of philosophical questions concerning the one and the many. He covers a wide range of issues in metaphysics--including unity, identity, grounding, mereology, universals, being, intentionality, and nothingness--and deploys the techniques of paraconsistent logic in order to offer a radically new treatment of unity. Priest brings together traditions of Western and Asian thought that are usually kept separate in
academic philosophy: he draws on ideas from Plato, Heidegger, and Nagarjuna, among other philosophers.

Genres: Philosophy, Metaphysics, Nonfiction, Science, Buddhism

280 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Chant · Rating 4 out of 5]

無

[Greg Samsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing new if you're into (Indian) Buddhism,

still one of the best books i know.

You're in for a wild ride with Priest. From Frege via Wittgenstein to Heidegger and Sartre, west meets east - Nagarjuna mainly. Mereology, metaphysics, ethics.

Degree in philosophy or mathematics recommended. Lol.

[Giovanni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Covers a very wide range of topics in a cohesive manner. While the chapters Priest marks out as excessively formal definitely are hard to get through without a strong education in logic, they can be skipped without much trouble — though I suggest working through them, they are very rewarding. Generally, the book can be summed up pretty well with a quote by Conze on the Heart Sutra, the precise formulation of which eludes my mind, but is to the effect of: “Aristotle sought to prove the PNC by showing that if it were not true, everything would be one, whereas here the existence of contradictions is used to prove the unity of existence”.

The third part of this book does tread familiar ground to anyone decently schooled in Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, but Priest is not a doctrinaire, and naturally develops the positions. Additionally, the formalizations of Buddhist philosophical theory he gives are helpful in sharpening one’s understanding, and addressing objections through techniques that previous thinkers had appealed to, but were not yet rigorous due to insufficient mathematical development.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contained within this book are some of the most novel and grand metaphysics on everything and nothing that you will find. This is a bit heavy and some parts a bit tough to get through (the Parmenides bit, for one), but it's well worth it. Really changed my perspective on a lot of things. Priest seemed to rush through the Buddhism section but it's interesting nonetheless. This is really worth the read.

[Levi Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Priest’s background as a logician adds a considerable amount of depth to these ideas but all of the technical work makes it largely inaccessible to anyone who doesn’t have mucho logic training. Regardless, the negation of the PNC is an absolutely fascinating perspective.

[PerennialMystery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Commendable

Takeaways were nothing particularly new to anyone reasonably well-versed in Buddhism, but the articulation in terms formal logic was interesting.

[Misteryfan78 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es muy raro encontrar tratados de filosofia hoy en dia. Antes un autor en un solo libro abordaba distintas areas interconectadas bajo un mismo sistema. Hoy es algo raro de ver, normalmente uno se encuentra con un libro de etica y que solo trata de etica. El conocimiento filosofico esta completamente especializado y fragmentado. Priest en este libro no hace eso. Es un tratado de filosofia a la vieja usanza que aborda distintas areas pero unificadas en un mismo pensamiento. Este libro aborda cuestiones de lógica, filosofia del lenguaje, epistemologia, metafisica y etica de manera coherente y unificada. No es una lectura facil, pero una vez que uno comprende las ideas centrales se vuelve una lectura inolvidable e imprescindible. Es mas que recomendable su lectura para cualquier filosofo o estudiante de filosofia.

Una nota personal: Los ultimos dos capitulos que abordan cuestiones de etica fueron los que mas me gustaron. Me hicieron reflexionar profundamente sobre mi vida personal y mis relaciones con la gente que me rodea. Y eso es algo que muy pocos libros de filosofia han logrado hacer.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting approach regarding the metaphysics of unity, applying paraconsistent logic to offer an interpretation of some of the writings of Plato and Parmenides, as well as budhist philosophers such as Nagarjuna.

[Harry Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10 - one to come back to though, if/when I’m more interested in this particular topic.

[Ruben Lake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intuitive non-duality becomes rational to the thinking mind.

[Venus Weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best metaphysics book I've ever had the misfortune to read. Gluon theory tore apart my life (ironic!) for about three months, but I came out of it a more complicated, if not better, person.