An Argument for Optimism
This chapter formulates an argument for the main thesis that focuses on a particular type of problem, called a boundary problem. Roughly, a boundary problem is a logical problem involving independently plausible but mutually inconsistent theses, each of which concerns what it takes for a claim, or a certain class of claims, to be true or knowable or understood. Topics identified in this chapter as raising boundary problems include the mind–body problem, the problem of free will, the indeterminancy of meaning, identity over time (or persistence, as it usually called), and the impenetrability of matter. The key idea of the argument is that we can and have solved boundary problems in the past.