The Human Touch

Humankind, scientists agree, is a tiny and insignificant anomaly in the vastness of the universe. But what would that universe look like if we were not here to say something about it? In this brilliant, insightful work of philosophy, beloved novelist and playwright Michael Frayn examines the biggest and oldest questions of philosophy, from space and time to relativity and language, and seeks to distinguish our subjective experience from something objectively true and knowable. Underlying all revelations in this wise and affectionately written book is the fundamental question: "If the universe is what we make it, then what are we?" Michael Frayn is the author of ten novels, including the bestselling "Headlong," a "New York Times" Editor's Choice selection and a Booker Prize finalist, and "Spies," which won Britain's Whitbread Fiction Award. He has written fourteen plays, among them "Noises Off" and "Copenhagen," which won three Tony Awards in 1999. He lives in London. Humankind, scientists agree, is an insignificant speck in the impersonal vastness of the universe. But what would that universe be like if we were not here to say something about it? Would there be numbers if there were no one to count them? Would the universe even be vast, without the fact of our smallness to give it scale? With wit, charm, and brilliance, this epic work of philosophy sets out to make sense of our place in the scheme of things. Our contact with the world around us, Michael Frayn shows, is always fleeting and indeterminate, yet we have nevertheless had to fashion a comprehensible universe in which action is possible. But how do we distinguish our subjective experience from what is objectively true and knowable? Surveying the spectrum of philosophical concerns from the existence of space and time to relativity and language, Frayn attempts to resolve what he calls "the oldest mystery": the world is what we make of it. Then what are we?
All of Frayn's novels and plays have grappled with these essential questions; in this book he confronts them head-on. "Frayn . . . has a healthy respect for the power of external reality to constrain our world-making. Indeed, what makes "The Human Touch" so rewarding is the subtlety and humor with which he examines 'the great mutual balancing act.' There may be something godlike in the way we 'bring into their various forms of existence all the receding ontological planes of the world we inhabit, ' but we are also at the mercy of that world's whims. A brick to the head and the whole show comes to an end."--Jim Holt, "The New York Times" "Frayn . . . has a healthy respect for the power of external reality to constrain our world-making. Indeed, what makes "The Human Touch" so rewarding is the subtlety and humor with which he examines 'the great mutual balancing act.' There may be something godlike in the way we 'bring into their various forms of existence all the receding ontological planes of the world we inhabit, ' but we are also at the mercy of that world's whims. A brick to the head and the whole show comes to an end."--Jim Holt, "The New York Times" "Michael Frayn's exultant prose entices and ultimately overwhelms you. Reading his arguments, I felt as though I were floating down a warm river, caught up in its playful, whirling eddies . . . Beautifully written."--"Los Angeles Times"
"His command of current scholarship in physics and biology is impressive; his discussion of psychological issues is discerning . . . Witty and ingratiating style."--"The St. Louis Post-Dispatch" "The target audience: anyone who enjoys gaping at the complexities of existence. The topic: everything."--"Entertainment Weekly" "As a primer in where we are up to, these days, vis-a-vis the universe . . . could hardly be bettered."--"The Observer" (London) "The subject here is not dumbed-down; rather, the reader is gently and ingeniously clevered-up."--"Sunday Telegraph" (London) "London-based novelist, playwright, and self-proclaimed amateur philosopher Frayn tackles the big questions of human understanding in this profound work. Beginning with a description of the continual 'traffic' between humans and the universe, Frayn shapes a cohesive introduction to philosophy that includes elements of science, determinism, physics, mathematics, psychology, linguistics, and epistemology. Throughout, he makes great use of articulate and witty examples to supply answers (or, more often, lines of thought that provide paths to satisfying nonanswers) without leaving the general reader too far behind. In the end, Frayn succeeds in peeling back the layers of both the external and the internal thought processes of humans, and he conveys an illuminating proposition that establishes human intellect as a distinct, necessary mediator of our universe."--Jason Moore, "Library Journal" "A vade mecum for head-scratchers by the multifaceted Frayn, whose philosophical concerns are notably many and well attested in his body of work. Humans were born to gaze at the stars and wonder, and when we do, most of us tend to be humbled by the vastness of the universe. But humans shouldn't be daunted, counsels Frayn; instead, we should take courage from the fact that 'the world has no form or substance without you and me to provide them, and you and I have no form or substance without the world to provide them in its turn.' The technical complexities of the Bishop Berkeley/tree-falling-in-the-forest argument and its counters are legion, but Frayn does a very nice job of adumbrating, observing along the way such legendary trip-ups as the principle of uncertainty and observational distortion and revisiting the questions that used to keep college students awake at night: How do we know that we know? Do we ever really make decisions? Why do we say that there's a present when the present is already the past? Why is it that 'the conscious subject that gives meaning to the objective universe cannot give meaning to itself'? Frayn takes clear