Employing a nonbinary logic of the “included middle,” Donald Crosby continues his decades-long effort to illuminate the nature of nature. Nested in the relationality of nature where every particle and wave is sacred, the “middle” reveals deep relations between the terms of seven ostensible binaries: abstract/concrete, human/nature, feeling/knowing, past/future, self/world, preservation/innovation, and monologue/dialogue. Crosby acknowledges the irreducibility of binary logic (the excluded middle) in some instances, but argues that the both/and logic of the included middle often provides a better account of the nature of things. As an exemplar of relationality and interconnections, the middle emerges as among the most profound features of all that is.

William Hart, Macalester College

In a series of books, Don Crosby has been developing a clear and compelling philosophy adequate to the issues, insights, and complexities of our time. Liminality in Questions of Truth gathers together, in crystalline clarity, his reconceived understanding of such world-revealing concepts as nature, time, truth, relationship, tradition, freedom, sacredness, dialogue, and responsibility. Such terms are shown to contribute jointly to the liminal space within which free, open inquiry can foster among discussants a middle ground of understanding. The process of inquiry is enhanced by the epistemic virtues of listening, questioning, and musing. Crosby thus provides in this work a natural, evolutionary vision in which life’s necessary limitations are balanced against its joy-producing opportunities. The result is a comprehensive work of vast wisdom.

Walter B. Gulick, author of Recovering Truths: A Comprehensive Anthology of Michael Polanyi's Writings