The Big Questions

by SOLOMON

• ISBN13: 9780155036864
• ISBN10: 0155036866
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-08-05
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

Written by a well-known and respected scholar, this best-selling Introduction to Philosophy text has a student-friendly style and organization. Topics are arranged under big questions (see contents) with each chapter's discussion of the selected big question self-contained so instructors can choose which, and in what order, topics are presented. The writing style is concise and accessible, and coverage is comprehensive without being intimidating.

Table of Contents

Preface	iii
INTRODUCTION: Doing Philosophy	1	(15)
Beyond Buzz Words and Verbal Spaghetti	3	(1)
Articulation and Argument: Two Crucial Features of Philosophy	4	(2)
Concepts and Conceptual Frameworks	6	(10)
Doing Philosophy with Style	11	(5)
A Little Logic	16	(11)
Deduction	17	(1)
Induction	18	(2)
Criticizing Arguments	20	(7)
Closing Questions	24	(2)
Bibliography and Suggested Readings	26	(1)
ONE: Philosophical Questions	27	(16)
Philosophical Questions	29	(1)
Opening Questions	30	(12)
Bibliography and Suggested Readings	42	(1)
TWO: The Meaning of Life	43	(24)
Opening Questions	44	(1)
The Meaning of Meaning	45	(6)
Children as Meaning	47	(1)
God as Meaning	48	(1)
Afterlife as Meaning	48	(1)
No Meaning at All	49	(2)
The Meanings of Life	51	(13)
Life as a Game	52	(1)
Life as a Story	53	(1)
Life as Tragedy	54	(1)
Life as Comedy	54	(1)
Life as a Mission	55	(1)
Life as Art	56	(1)
Life as an Adventure	57	(1)
Life as Disease	57	(2)
Life as Desire	59	(1)
Life as Nirvana	59	(1)
Life as Altruism	60	(1)
Life as Honor	60	(1)
Life as Learning	61	(1)
Life as Suffering	62	(1)
Life as an Investment	62	(1)
Life as Relationships	63	(1)
Closing Questions	64	(1)
Bibliography and Suggested Readings	65	(2)
THREE: God	67	(38)
Opening Questions	68	(1)
Believing in God	69	(3)
Gods and Goddesses	72	(1)
Our Traditional Conceptions of God	73	(11)
God as Transcendent	75	(1)
God as Immanent	75	(1)
God as Totally Immanent: Pantheism	76	(4)
God as Universal Spirit	80	(1)
God as Process	81	(1)
God as Transcendent Creator: Deism	81	(1)
God as the Unknown Object of Faith	82	(1)
God as a Moral Being	83	(1)
The Problem of Evil	84	(5)
Denial of God	84	(1)
Two Kinds of Evil	84	(1)
Denial of Evil	85	(1)
The Least of the Evils	85	(2)
The Aesthetic Totality Solution	87	(1)
The Free-Will Solution	87	(1)
Justice in the Afterlife	88	(1)
God's "Mysterious Ways"	88	(1)
Working Out an Answer	89	(1)
Faith and Reason: Ways of Believing	89	(10)
The Cosmological Argument	90	(1)
The Argument from Design	91	(2)
The Ontological Argument	93	(1)
Rational Faith	94	(1)
Pascal's Wager	95	(2)
Irrational Faith	97	(2)
Understanding Your Belief	99	(1)
Closing Questions	100	(2)
Bibliography and Suggested Readings	102	(3)
FOUR: The Nature of Reality	105	(38)
Opening Questions	106	(1)
The Real World	107	(2)
What Is Most Real?	109	(4)
The Reality Behind the Appearances	110	(1)
Dreams, Sensations, and Reason: What Is Real?	111	(1)
The Basis of Metaphysics	112	(1)
The First Metaphysicians	113	(3)
Thales	113	(1)
The Pre-Socratic Materialists	113	(3)
Early Nonphysical Views of Reality	116	(3)
Plato's Forms	119	(2)
Aristotle's Metaphysics	121	(1)
Mind and Metaphysics	122	(7)
Descartes	123	(3)
Spinoza	126	(1)
Leibniz	127	(2)
Idealism	129	(5)
Teleology	134	(3)
Metaphysics and the Everyday World	137	(2)
Closing Questions	139	(2)
Bibliography and Suggested Readings	141	(2)
FIVE: The Search for Truth	143	(36)
Opening Questions	144	(1)
What Is True?	145	(1)
Two Kinds of Truth	146	(4)
Empirical Truth	147	(1)
Necessary Truth	147	(3)
Rationalism and Empiricism	150	(3)
The Presuppositions of Knowledge	153	(1)
Skepticism	154	(9)
Descartes and the "Method of Doubt"	157	(1)
David Hume's Skepticism	158	(4)
The Resolution of Skepticism: Kant	162	(1)
Knowledge, Truth, and Science	163	(5)
The Nature of Truth	168	(4)
The Coherence Theory of Truth	170	(1)
The Pragmatic Theory of Truth	171	(1)
Rationality	172	(3)
Why Be Rational?	174	(1)
Subjective Truth: Any Truth at All?	175	(2)
Closing Questions	177	(1)
Bibliography and Suggested Readings	178	(1)
SIX: Self	179	(34)
Opening Questions	180	(1)
The Essential Self	181	(3)
Self as Body, Self as Consciousness	184	(11)
The Self as a Problem	189	(4)
No Self, Many Selves	193	(2)
The Mind-Body Problem	195	(16)
Behaviorism	197	(1)
Identity Theory	198	(2)
Functionalism	200	(1)
The Egocentric Predicament	201	(3)
The Self as Social	204	(4)
Self and Relationships	208	(3)
Closing Questions	211	(1)
Bibliography and Suggested Readings	212	(1)
SEVEN: Freedom	213	(26)
Opening Questions	214	(1)
Freedom and the Good Life	215	(9)
Why Is Freedom So Important to Us?	216	(4)
What Is Freedom?	220	(4)
Free Will and Determinism	224	(12)
Determinism Versus Indeterminism	227	(4)
The Role of Consciousness	231	(1)
"Soft" Determinism	232	(1)
In Defense of Freedom	233	(3)
Closing Questions	236	(1)
Bibliography and Suggested Readings	237	(2)
EIGHT: Morality and the Good Life	239	(36)
Opening Questions	240	(3)
The Good Life	243	(7)
Hedonism	243	(2)
Success	245	(1)
Asceticism	246	(1)
Freedom	247	(1)
Power and Creativity	247	(1)
Religion	248	(1)
Happiness	249	(1)
Egoism versus Altruism	250	(5)
Morality and Theories of Morality	255	(4)
Duty-defined Morality	259	(2)
Kant and the Authority of Reason	259	(2)
Consequentialist	261	(3)
Utilitarianism: Bentham and Mill	262	(2)
Aristotle and the Ethics of Virtue	264	(2)
Morality-Relative or Absolute?	266	(2)
Nietzsche and the Attack on Morality	268	(3)
Closing Questions	271	(1)
Bibliography and Suggested Readings	272	(3)
NINE: Justice and the Good Society	275	(24)
Opening Questions	276	(1)
Morals and Society	277	(1)
The Nature of Society	278	(2)
Who Should Rule?-The Question of Legitimacy	280	(2)
Anarchism, the Free Market, and the Need for Government	282	(3)
What Is Justice?	285	(3)
The Meaning of Equality	288	(3)
The Origins of Justice and the Social Contract	291	(3)
Rights and the Notion of the Self	294	(2)
Libertarianism	295	(1)
Liberalism	295	(1)
Communitarianism	296	(1)
Closing Questions	296	(1)
Bibliography and Suggested Readings	297	(2)
TEN: Philosophy, Sex, Race, and Culture	299	(34)
Opening Questions	300	(1)
Expanding the Philosophical "Canon"	301	(3)
Beyond the "Western Tradition"	304	(1)
Other Cultures, Other Philosophies	305	(16)
South Asian Philosophy	307	(6)
East Asian Philosophy	313	(3)
The Middle East	316	(2)
Native American and African Philosophy	318	(3)
Sexual Politics: The Rise of Feminist Philosophy	321	(7)
Women and Nature	323	(2)
Plato: Patriarch or Early Feminist?	325	(1)
Reason versus Passion in Ethics: The Ethics of Care	325	(2)
Feminist Epistemology and Feminist Science	327	(1)
The Revival of African-American Philosophy	328	(2)
Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X	328	(2)
Closing Questions	330	(1)
Bibliography and Suggested Readings	331	(2)
Appendix I: Writing Philosophy	333	(22)
Opening Questions	333	(1)
The Rules of Good Writing in Philosophy	334	(12)
Organize	334	(2)
Write Simply	336	(1)
Be Clear	336	(1)
Be Human	337	(1)
Use Examples	338	(2)
Argue Your Point	340	(3)
Consider the Objections and Alternatives	343	(1)
Define Your Specialized Terms	344	(1)
Use the History of Philosophy	345	(1)
Indirect Styles	346	(9)
Dialogue Style	346	(3)
Ironic Style	349	(2)
Aphoristic Style	351	(4)
Appendix II: Deductive Logic Valid Argument Forms	355	(6)
Appendix III: Common Informal Fallacies	361	(6)
"Informal" Fallacies	361	(6)
Brief Biographies	367	(4)
Glossary	371	(16)
Index	387