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Frederick Kaufman offers a piquant sampling of American history by
way of the stomach.Travel with him as he tracks down our earliest
foodies; discovers the secret history of Puritan purges; introduces
diet gurus of the nineteenth century such asWilliam Alcott, who
believed that "nothing ought to be mashed before it is eaten";
traces extreme feeders from Paul Bunyan to eating-contest champ
Dale Boone (descended from Daniel, of course); and investigates our
blithe efforts to re-create the plants and animals that we've eaten
to the point of extinction.With outraged wit and an incredible
range of sources that includes everything from Cotton Mather's
diary to interviews with Amish black-market raw-milk dealers,
Kaufman takes readers on a Bourdainmeets- Pollan tour of the
American gut.
Do our lives have meaning? Should we create more people? Is death
bad? Should we commit suicide? Would it be better to be immortal?
Should we be optimistic or pessimistic? Since Life, Death, and
Meaning: Key Philosophical Readings on the Big Questions first
appeared, David Benatar's distinctive anthology designed to
introduce students to the key existential questions of philosophy
has won a devoted following among users in a variety of upper-level
and even introductory courses. While many philosophers in the
"continental tradition"-those known as "existentialists"-have
engaged these issues at length and often with great popular appeal,
English-speaking philosophers have had relatively little to say on
these important questions. Yet, the methodology they bring to
philosophical questions can, and occasionally has, been applied
usefully to "existential" questions. This volume draws together a
representative sample of primarily English-speaking philosophers'
reflections on life's big questions, divided into six sections,
covering (1) the meaning of life, (2) creating people, (3) death,
(4) suicide, (5) immortality, and (6) optimism and pessimism. These
key readings are supplemented with helpful introductions, study
questions, and suggestions for further reading, making the material
accessible and interesting for students. In short, the book
provides a singular introduction to the way that philosophy has
dealt with the big questions of life that we are all tempted to
ask.
Do our lives have meaning? Should we create more people? Is death
bad? Should we commit suicide? Would it be better to be immortal?
Should we be optimistic or pessimistic? Since Life, Death, and
Meaning: Key Philosophical Readings on the Big Questions first
appeared, David Benatar's distinctive anthology designed to
introduce students to the key existential questions of philosophy
has won a devoted following among users in a variety of upper-level
and even introductory courses. While many philosophers in the
"continental tradition"-those known as "existentialists"-have
engaged these issues at length and often with great popular appeal,
English-speaking philosophers have had relatively little to say on
these important questions. Yet, the methodology they bring to
philosophical questions can, and occasionally has, been applied
usefully to "existential" questions. This volume draws together a
representative sample of primarily English-speaking philosophers'
reflections on life's big questions, divided into six sections,
covering (1) the meaning of life, (2) creating people, (3) death,
(4) suicide, (5) immortality, and (6) optimism and pessimism. These
key readings are supplemented with helpful introductions, study
questions, and suggestions for further reading, making the material
accessible and interesting for students. In short, the book
provides a singular introduction to the way that philosophy has
dealt with the big questions of life that we are all tempted to
ask.
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