Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self (The Terry Lectures Series) - Hardcover

9780300145182: Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self (The Terry Lectures Series)
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In this ambitious book, acclaimed writer Marilynne Robinson applies her astute intellect to some of the most vexing topics in the history of human thought—science, religion, and consciousness. Crafted with the same care and insight as her award-winning novels, Absence of Mind challenges postmodern atheists who crusade against religion under the banner of science. In Robinson’s view, scientific reasoning does not denote a sense of logical infallibility, as thinkers like Richard Dawkins might suggest. Instead, in its purest form, science represents a search for answers. It engages the problem of knowledge, an aspect of the mystery of consciousness, rather than providing a simple and final model of reality.

By defending the importance of individual reflection, Robinson celebrates the power and variety of human consciousness in the tradition of William James. She explores the nature of subjectivity and considers the culture in which Sigmund Freud was situated and its influence on his model of self and civilization. Through keen interpretations of language, emotion, science, and poetry, Absence of Mind restores human consciousness to its central place in the religion-science debate.

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About the Author:
Marilynne Robinson is the author of Gilead, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for fiction; Home, winner of the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction; and Housekeeping, winner of the 1982 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for first fiction. She is also the author of two previous books of nonfiction, Mother Country and The Death of Adam. She teaches at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and lives in Iowa City.
Review:
“Robinson's arguments [are] so much more interesting, capacious, and informed than most. . . . Robinson makes a strong, unapologetic case, not for mystery but for self-respect.”—Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

 

 

(Susan Salter Reynolds Los Angeles Times 2010-06-13)

"There is much to admire, and even to agree with, in Robinson's humanist passion. Her defense of the insights to be gained from religion and literature is as convincing as her attacks on the facile generalizations of parascience."--Adam Kirsch, Boston Globe (Adam Kirsch Boston Globe)

“[Robinson] is one of the best thinkers in American letters. Her new (nonfiction) work is a slashing attack on scientific fundamentalism, not on behalf of religion but of human consciousness and our traditional concept of mind.”--Maclean’s

(Maclean’s)

"[Robinson] makes the case with exceptional elegance and authority--the authority not only of one of the unmistakably great novelists of the age but of a clear and logical mind that is wholly intolerant of intellectual cliché. . . . This book has a greater density (and sophistication) of argument than many three times its length; but it is one of the most significant contributions yet to the current quarrels about faith, science and rationality."—Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Daily Telegraph (Rowan Williams Daily Telegraph 2010-05-29)

"Robinson is one of the greatest Christian thinkers alive today. She is also one of the world's best novelists. . . . Absence of Mind is a slim but compelling volume."—Luke Coppen, Catholic Herald

(Luke Coppen Catholic Herald 2010-04-23)

“Marilynne Robinson asks hard questions. She challenges readers with a severe, sophisticated and spellbinding style and a determination to change the conversation about contemporary American culture. . . . Absence of Mind is important not so much as a brief for religion but as a tenacious and often trenchant critique of modern Western thought.”—Glenn Altschuler, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

 

(Glenn Altschuler Minneapolis Star-Tribune 2010-06-05)

“What Robinson has over both the parascientific writers whose work she rejects and the religion writers with whom she finds common ground is a long career (though few books) as a fiction writer, where she has demonstrated—and in her way, provided evidence of—the very contemplative, subjective lives of the faithful she defends in her new book.”—Scott Korb, The Revealer

 

(Scott Korb The Revealer 2010-06-09)

"These impassioned pages require and reward very close attention."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post
(Michael Dirda Washington Post)

"[Robinson reveals] how deep a debt both science and religion owe to art. . . . It is a rare treat to have a novelist express herself so forcefully, and so eloquently, in another medium."—Ingrid Rowland, American Scholar
(Ingrid Rowland American Scholar)

"The scope of Robinson's erudition is stunning, and she shares it with generosity and no dissembling."—Linda McCullough Moore, Books & Culture
(Linda McCullough Moore Books & Culture)

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  • PublisherYale University Press
  • Publication date2010
  • ISBN 10 0300145187
  • ISBN 13 9780300145182
  • BindingHardcover
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages176
  • Rating

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