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Closure: A Story of Everything Paperback – 16 Jul 2001

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Hilary Lawson (Author)
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Hilary Lawson (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 7 customer reviews
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Product details

  • Paperback: 422 pages
  • Publisher: Routledge (16 July 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0415136504
  • ISBN-13: 978-0415136501
  • Product Dimensions: 15.6 x 2.4 x 23.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 758,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

'Hilary Lawson shows himself to be a latter-day 'metaphysician' on the grand scale ... a quite astonishing achievement.' - Alan Montefiore, University of Oxford

About the Author

Hilary Lawson runs TVF, a major TV production company which produces documentaries and shows for Channel 4 and the BBC. He has a philosophy background

Customer Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 starsIn response to Sam Nico
By Nina Lyon on 3 May 2003
Format: Hardcover
'Closure' is a work of remarkable breadth and clarity, and the theory it puts forward I found powerful and convincing. Whether 'Closure' finally succeeds in its aim, to provide a theory that overcomes the problems of knowledge brought about by relativism and post-modernism, I would not claim to be able to judge. There can be little doubt however that it offers a solution worth serious consideration and which may prove to have lasting value.
The central idea is the notion that the world is not a fixed reality but is 'open'. Through closure we form from 'openness' what we take to be reality. The book argues that it is through closure that we are able to successfully intervene in the world. One interesting consequence of the theory is that language is not given the special status common in much recent philosophy but is instead one aspect of closure. The description given of the way in which language refers to the world would appear to provide a solution to a problem that has dogged philosophy throughout the twentieth century.
Perhaps the most telling aspect of the book is its attempt to demonstrate that the notion of closure itself, and the theory that the book itself puts forward, overcomes the traditional distinction between objective truth and subjective story, scientific theory and artistic narrative. In doing so it aims to show why the theory of closure is possible. The self-referential quality of the theory is what gives it its real thrust.
Sam Nico in his review says that the notion of closure undermines itself by becoming a purely scientific concept. I found this a strange reading since the whole point of the book is to demonstrate that a scientific account of the world, in so far as this is understood to be true description of an independent reality, is impossible.Read more ›
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2.0 out of 5 starsa flawed theory of everything
By Sam Nico on 24 May 2002
Format: Paperback
'Closure' is an attempt to plasticise reality, to soften up its dogmatic form not by invoking principles of criticism, rather by showing how criticism of sorts is generated by principles of closure. Briefly, it outlines how our conceptual structures are destined to be incomplete. By aiming them at what is not contained in them (the uncontained referred to as 'openness'), it demonstrates how the aiming process itself impedes total containment which is completion. Consequently, the idea of closure is actually a tension between these two words, openness and closure, which generates our concepts, ideas and perspectives concerning the nature of reality. Closure as such a tension generates further concepts and therefore a nested structure of further closures.
This duologue closure/openness has a distinguished pedigree (although this is never alluded to) which can be traced back to the Greek ideas of the fixed and the loose, is re-invoked by Kant's noumenal (which gets a mention in passing) is improved upon by Schopenhauer's idea of the Will and objectification of the Will, can be found again in existential texts such as Heidegger's Dasein and Sartres' in-itself and for-itself. In particular, it bears a marked resemblance to Whitehead's notion of eternal objects and their prehension in actual occasions. Unfortunately, closure stands against them as a distant poor relation, beginning as a great-grandchild but soon deteriorating into a distant cousin twice removed related by name only, as though it is embarrassed by such an association.
The linguistic analysis is handled well enough, arguing against the inordinate emphasis linguistic philosophy has received in the universities.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsI'll be brief
By Five Cram on 26 Mar. 2004
Format: Paperback
This is a terrifically exciting book. Do you love the sound of icons smashing? Would you like a glimpse of what Buddhists might mean by Emptiness? Does Openness feel good? You'll remember this book till you die.
As this is his definitive statement on "closure", the author covers all the angles, so it can read like a legal argument sometimes, and when the popular version is written for the Hawking market it will have less repetition and more examples. But this book is well worth the effort. Mind expanding books...
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5.0 out of 5 starsSam Nico misses the point
By Nina Lyon on 3 April 2003
Format: Paperback
'Closure' is a work of remarkable breadth and clarity, and the theory it puts forward I found powerful and convincing. Whether 'Closure' finally succeeds in its aim, to provide a theory that overcomes the problems of knowledge brought about by relativism and post-modernism, I would not claim to be able to judge. There can be little doubt however that it offers a solution worth serious consideration and which may prove to have lasting value.
The central idea is the notion that the world is not a fixed reality but is 'open'. Through closure we form from 'openness' what we take to be reality. The book argues that it is through closure that we are able to successfully intervene in the world. One interesting consequence of the theory is that language is not given the special status common in much recent philosophy but is instead one aspect of closure. The description given of the way in which language refers to the world would appear to provide a solution to a problem that has dogged philosophy throughout the twentieth century.
Perhaps the most telling aspect of the book is its attempt to demonstrate that the notion of closure itself, and the theory that the book itself puts forward, overcomes the traditional distinction between objective truth and subjective story, scientific theory and artistic narrative. In doing so it aims to show why the theory of closure is possible. The self-referential quality of the theory is what gives it its real thrust.
Sam Nico in his review says that the notion of closure undermines itself by becoming a purely scientific concept. I found this a strange reading since the whole point of the book is to demonstrate that a scientific account of the world, in so far as this is understood to be true description of an independent reality, is impossible.Read more ›
Comment 5 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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