• Contact

  • Newsletter

  • About us

  • Delivery options

  • Prospero Book Market Podcast

  • The Weirdness of the World

    The Weirdness of the World by Schwitzgebel, Eric;

      • GET 10% OFF

      • The discount is only available for 'Alert of Favourite Topics' newsletter recipients.
      • Publisher's listprice GBP 17.99
      • The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.

        8 594 Ft (8 185 Ft + 5% VAT)
      • Discount 10% (cc. 859 Ft off)
      • Discounted price 7 735 Ft (7 367 Ft + 5% VAT)

    8 594 Ft

    db

    Availability

    Estimated delivery time: In stock at the publisher, but not at Prospero's office. Delivery time approx. 3-5 weeks.
    Not in stock at Prospero.

    Why don't you give exact delivery time?

    Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.

    Product details:

    • Publisher Princeton University Press
    • Date of Publication 4 November 2025
    • Number of Volumes Print PDF

    • ISBN 9780691255408
    • Binding Paperback
    • No. of pages376 pages
    • Size 203x133 mm
    • Language English
    • Illustrations 17 b/w illus. 1 table.
    • 0

    Categories

    Long description:

    How all philosophical explanations of human consciousness and the fundamental structure of the cosmos are bizarre—and why that’s a good thing

    Do we live inside a simulated reality or a pocket universe embedded in a larger structure about which we know virtually nothing? Is consciousness a purely physical matter, or might it require something extra, something nonphysical? According to the philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel, it’s hard to say. In The Weirdness of the World, Schwitzgebel argues that the answers to these and other fundamental questions about the world and our existence lie beyond our powers of comprehension. We can be certain only that the truth—whatever it is—is weird. Philosophy, he proposes, can aim to open—to reveal possibilities we had not previously appreciated—or to close, to narrow down to the one correct theory of the phenomenon in question. Schwitzgebel argues for a philosophy that opens.

    According to Schwitzgebel’s “Universal Bizarreness” thesis, every possible theory of the relation of mind and cosmos defies common sense. According to his complementary “Universal Dubiety” thesis, no general theory of the relationship between mind and cosmos compels rational belief. Might the United States be a conscious organism—a conscious group mind with approximately the intelligence of a rabbit? Might virtually every action we perform cause virtually every possible type of future event, echoing down through the infinite future of an infinite universe? What, if anything, is it like to be a garden snail? Schwitzgebel makes a persuasive case for the thrill of considering the most bizarre philosophical possibilities.



    "[Schwitzgebel] leads readers down a fascinating rabbit hole of metaphysics, ontology, theories of causation, and the science of cognition. . . . It’s an exuberant look at some of life’s biggest questions."

    More