Does It Matter?: Essays on Man's Relation to Materiality - Softcover

9781577315858: Does It Matter?: Essays on Man's Relation to Materiality
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This is a series of essays representing philosopher Alan Watts's most recent thinking on the astonishing problems of man's relations to his material environment. The basic theme is that civilized man confuses symbol with reality, his ways of describing and measuring the world with the world itself, and thus puts himself into the absurd situation of preferring money to wealth and eating the menu instead of the dinner. Thus, with his attention locked upon numbers and concepts, man is increasingly unconscious of nature and of his total dependence upon air, water, plants, animals, insects, and bacteria. He has been hallucinated into the notion that the so-called "external" world is a cluster of "objects" separate from himself, that he "encounters" it, that he comes into it instead of out of it. Consequently, our species is fouling its own nest and is in imminent danger of self-obliteration. Here, a philosopher whose works have been mainly concerned with mysticism and Oriental philosophy gets down to the "nitty-gritty" problems of economics, technology, clothing, cooking, and housing.

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This series of essays represents philosopher Alan Watts' thinking on the confounding problems of our relation to our material environment. In it, Watts argues that modern people confuse symbol with reality, as well as ways of describing and measuring the world with the world itself. Thus we put ourselves into the absurd situation of preferring money to wealth and eating the menu instead of the dinner. With our attention locked on numbers, concepts, and technology, we are increasingly unconscious of nature and of our total dependence on air, water, plants, animals, insects, and bacteria.We have hallucinated the notion that the so-called "external" world is a cluster of "objects" separate from ourselves, that we "encounter" it, that we come into it instead of out of it. Consequently, our species is fouling its own nest and is in imminent danger of self-obliteration. In this classic work, a philosopher best known for his writings and teachings about mysticism and Eastern philosophy gets down to the nitty-gritty problems of economics, technology, clothing, cooking, housing, and the rest of the world around us.

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  • PublisherNew World Library
  • Publication date2010
  • ISBN 10 1577315855
  • ISBN 13 9781577315858
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages138
  • Rating

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9780394716657: Does it Matter?: Essays on Man's Relation to Materiality (Vintage books)

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Publisher: Random House USA Inc, 1971
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. This series of essays represents philosopher Alan Watts' thinking on the confounding problems of our relation to our material environment. In it, Watts argues that modern people confuse symbol with reality, as well as ways of describing and measuring the world with the world itself. Thus we put ourselves into the absurd situation of preferring money to wealth and eating the menu instead of the dinner. With our attention locked on numbers, concepts, and technology, we are increasingly unconscious of nature and of our total dependence on air, water, plants, animals, insects, and bacteria.We have hallucinated the notion that the so-called "external" world is a cluster of "objects" separate from ourselves, that we "encounter" it, that we come into it instead of out of it. Consequently, our species is fouling its own nest and is in imminent danger of self-obliteration. In this classic work, a philosopher best known for his writings and teachings about mysticism and Eastern philosophy gets down to the nitty-gritty problems of economics, technology, clothing, cooking, housing, and the rest of the world around us. "Does It Matter?" presents Alan Watts' thoughts on the problem of humankind's relationship to its environment. Here he argues that contemporary people confuse symbols with reality, preferring money to wealth and "eating the menu instead of the dinner." Focusing on numbers, concepts, and technology, he says, makes us increasingly unconscious of nature and of our total dependence on air, water, plants, animals, insects, and bacteria. We have hallucinated the notion that the "external" world is a cluster of "objects" separate from ourselves, that we "encounter" it rather than come out of it. Consequently, he claims, humanity is fouling its own nest and is in imminent danger of self-obliteration. In one of his most provocative books, a philosopher known for his writings and teachings about mysticism and Eastern philosophy confronts the nitty-gritty problems of economics, technology, clothing, cooking, housing, and the rest of the world around us. First published in 1971, the book is especially timely today. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781577315858

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