The Experience Of Philosophy

by Kolak, Daniel; Martin, Raymond

• ISBN13: 9780195177688
• ISBN10: 0195177681
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-28
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This exceptional anthology immerses students in such powerful ideas that they will find themselves not just reading about, but actually participating in, the kind of philosophical thinking that can change the way they look at their lives and the world around them. Now in a new edition, TheExperience of Philosophy features eighty-five readings that challenge students' thinking about God, freedom, reality, nothingness, death, and their own identities. Provocative and accessible, these selections have been carefully chosen for their ability to draw students out of an ordinary frame ofreference into exciting new territory. Although the editors include many classic sources from philosophers such as Plato, Descartes, Locke, and Kant, the emphasis is on contemporary writings. Articles by Derek Parfit, Bertrand Russell, and others help students see philosophy's links to literature,the natural sciences, and the physical and social sciences. The sixth edition features twelve new essays--by Augustine, Alvin Plantinga and Daniel Kolak, Georges Rey, Fred Dretske, David Reisman, Paul Teller, Clea F. Rees, Padmasiri de Silva, Daniel Kolak, Karl Marx, Anand Chandavarkar, and VincentHendricks--as well as more text boxes offering excerpts from other relevant works. The Experience of Philosophy, Sixth Edition, integrates helpful pedagogical aids including section introductions, a brief introduction to each selection, biographical information on each author, and questions before and after each reading to reinforce main ideas and promote thinking. Furtherreadings after each selection direct students to additional material on related issues. Ideal for introductory philosophy courses, The Experience of Philosophy, Sixth Edition, encourages students to "do" philosophy, rather than just read about its history.

Author Biography

Daniel Kolak is Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University of New Jersey Raymond Martin is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Union College

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Part I: Beginning Philosophy	1	(30)
``The Trial of Socrates''	2	(20)
Plato
Box: Jonathan Harrison, ``God's Commands and Man's Duties''	6	(16)
``Obedience to Authority''	22	(9)
Stanley Milgram
Box: Patrick Nowell-Smith, ``Morality, Obedience, and Religion''	27	(4)
Part II: Where and When	31	(54)
``Flatland''	32	(16)
Edwin Abbott
``The Incredible Shrinking Zeno''	48	(14)
Daniel Kolak
David Goloff
``Where Am I?''	62	(9)
Daniel C. Dennett
Box: Daniel C. Dennett, ``What It Is to Be a Subject''	67	(4)
``On the Idea of Time in Physics''	71	(4)
Albert Einstein
Box: Paul Davies, ``What Time Is It on Mars?''	73	(2)
``Time Travel: The Rules of the Road''	75	(10)
Kadri Vihvelin
Part III: Who	85	(62)
``The Man Who Mistook Himself for the World''	86	(8)
Daniel Kolak
Box: Adrienne Rich, ``The Liar Fears the Void''	89	(5)
``On Having No Self''	94	(3)
Buddha
Box: Walpola Rahula, ``Nirvana''	95	(1)
Box: Edward Conze, ``Nirvana''	96	(1)
``On Self and Substance''	97	(9)
Rene Descartes
``Personal Identity''	106	(7)
John Locke
``Personal Identity''	113	(4)
David Hume
``Critique of Locke and Hume on Behalf of Common Sense''	117	(7)
Thomas Reid
Box: Alasdair Maclntyre, ``Narration and Personal Identity''	122	(2)
``Personal Identity from Plato to Parfit''	124	(15)
Raymond Martin
``Trans or Me?''	139	(8)
Adam/Linda Parascandola
Box: Jane Flax, ``Patriarchy''	141	(6)
Part IV: Freedom	147	(52)
``Freedom of the Will''	148	(4)
Augustine
``The Illusion of Free Will''	152	(6)
Baron Holbach
``Liberty and Necessity''	158	(11)
David Hume
Box: C. A. Campbell, ``The Self and Free Will''	161	(8)
``The Dilemma of Determinism''	169	(8)
William James
Box: Marcus Aurelius, ``Be Master of Yourself''	171	(6)
``Free Will''	177	(6)
G. E. Moore
``Freedom and Determinism''	183	(10)
Richard Taylor
Box: Clarence Darrow, ``Defense of Leopold and Loeb''	187	(6)
``Existentialism and Human Freedom''	193	(6)
Jean-Paul Sartre
Part V: Knowledge	199	(62)
``Knowledge''	200	(23)
Plato
``Meditations''	223	(9)
Rene Descartes
Box: Vincent Hendricks, ``The Chastity of the Intellect: Santayana's Blessing''	225	(7)
``Where Our Ideas Come From''	232	(3)
John Locke
``To Be Is to Be Perceived''	235	(5)
George Berkeley
``Perception, Knowledge, and Induction''	240	(14)
Bertrand Russell
Box: Jaakko Hintikka, ``Sexy Epistemology''	243	(11)
``The Infinite Regress of Reasons''	254	(7)
D. M. Armstrong
Part VI: God	261	(94)
``The Ontological Argument''	262	(3)
Anselm
Box: Immanuel Kant, ``Existence Is Not a Predicate''	264	(1)
``The Five Ways and the Doctrine of Analogy''	265	(3)
Thomas Aquinas
``The Wager''	268	(3)
Blaise Pascal
Box: G. W. F. von Leibniz, ``Proving God''	270	(1)
``The Ethics of Belief''	271	(6)
W. K. Clifford
Box: Sigmund Freud, ``Religion as Wish Fulfillment''	273	(2)
Box: Karl Marx, ``The Opium of the People''	275	(2)
``The Will to Believe''	277	(6)
William James
Box: William James, ``On the Ultimate Insecurity''	278	(1)
Box: Shree Rajneesh, ``On the Corpse of a Buddha, Religion Stands''	279	(2)
Box: Abraham Maslow, ``The History of Mysticism''	281	(2)
``God and Evil''	283	(7)
David Hume
Box: John Hick's View, ``A World Without Suffering and Misfortune''	285	(2)
Box: Genesis, ``Abraham and Isaac''	287	(1)
Box: Walter Stace, ``Mystical Experience vs. Religious Visions''	288	(2)
Robert Merrihew Adams, ``Must God Create the Best?''	290	(8)
Box: William J. Wainwright, ``God's Compassion''	292	(6)
``The Elusive Messiah''	298	(10)
Raymond Martin
Box: Nancy Murphy, ``The Historian as Philosopher''	301	(3)
Box: Morton Smith, ``Historical Method in the Study of Religion''	304	(2)
Box: John Hick, ``Lucky to Be Born into the True Religion?''	306	(2)
``Philosophy, the Bible, and God: A Debate''	308	(17)
Alvin Plantinga
Daniel Kolak
Box: Naomi Goldenberg, ``The Pope Against Women Priests''	315	(10)
``Religion from an African Perspective''	325	(10)
Kwasi Wiredu
``Does Anyone Really Believe in God?''	335	(20)
Georges Rey
Part VII: Reality	355	(50)
``Causation, Reality, and Fiction''	356	(5)
David Hume
``Considerations on the Universe as a Whole''	361	(4)
Albert Einstein
Box: John D. Barrow, ``Theory of Everything but Snowflakes''	363	(2)
``Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus''	365	(3)
Ludwig Wittgenstein
``Fiction''	368	(4)
Robert Nozick
Box: Paul Davies, ``Schizophrenia with a Vengeance''	370	(2)
``Quantum Cosmology, the Anthropic Principle, and Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?''	372	(24)
Daniel Kolak
Box: Steven Weinberg, ``The First Hundredth of a Second''	374	(1)
Box: Paul Davies, ``Is the Universe a Free Lunch?''	375	(1)
Box: John Bell, ``On Hume and Quantum Mechanics''	376	(3)
Box: David Bohm, ``On Philosophy''	379	(2)
Box: Albert Einstein, ``On Kant and Comprehensibility''	381	(1)
Box: Daniel Kolak, ``Grand Unification Theories (GUTs) and the End of the World''	382	(6)
Box: Stephen Hawking, ``On Wittgenstein, Philosophy, and God''	388	(1)
Box: John Wheeler, ``On Bohr, Philosophy, and Meaning''	389	(3)
Box: John D. Barrow and Frank J. Tipler, ``The Anthropic Principle''	392	(4)
``The Puzzle of Reality: Why Does the Universe Exist?''	396	(9)
Derek Parfit
Box: Freeman Dyson, ``Mind and Physics''	399	(2)
Box: Albert Einstein, ``Cosmic Religious Feeling''	401	(4)
Part VIII: Experience	405	(60)
``Of Sense and Imagination''	406	(3)
Thomas Hobbes
``Experience and Understanding''	409	(10)
John Locke
``The Senses''	419	(3)
David Hume
``Percepts and Concepts''	422	(12)
Immanuel Kant
``How Do You Know That You Are Not a Zombie?''	434	(10)
Fred Dretske
``A Simple Guide to Contemporary Philosophy of Mind''	444	(15)
Garrett Thomson
Philip Turetzky
``Sartre on Consciousness and the Body: The Look''	459	(6)
David Reisman
Part IX: Consciousness	465	(32)
``The Selfish Gene''	466	(5)
Richard Dawkins
Box: Richard Thomas, ``The Self as Community''	469	(2)
``The Story of a Brain''	471	(6)
Arnold Zuboff
``What Is It Like to Be a Bat?''	477	(7)
Thomas Nagel
``Epiphenomenal Qualia''	484	(2)
Frank Jackson
``Reduction, Qualia, and the Direct Introspection of Brain States''	486	(8)
Paul Churchland
``Subjectivity''	494	(3)
Paul Teller
Part X: Death	497	(42)
``Death and Immortality''	498	(8)
Plato
Box: John Hick, ``Plato's Legacy''	499	(3)
Box: The Catholic Encyclopaedia, ``The Truth About the Soul''	502	(2)
Box: Antony Flew, ``The Cartesian Assumption''	504	(2)
``Of the Immortality of the Soul''	506	(4)
David Hume
``Survival of Bodily Death: A Question of Values''	510	(16)
Raymond Martin
Box: C. J. Ducasse, ``Remembrances of Past Lives''	514	(1)
Box: Paul Edwards, ``Karmic Tribulations''	515	(2)
Box: John Beloff, ``Beyond Death''	517	(3)
Box: A. J. Ayer, ``What I Saw When I Was Dead''	520	(3)
Box: Peter van Inwagen, ``Resurrection''	523	(3)
``Death, Nothingness, and Subjectivity''	526	(9)
Thomas W. Clark
Box: Robert Nozick, ``Why Are Traces Important?''	529	(1)
Box: Epicurus, ``The Evil of Death''	530	(2)
Box: ``A Tibetan Buddhist Experience of Death''	532	(3)
``The Wine Is in the Glass''	535	(4)
Daniel Kolak
Part XI: Meaning	539	(26)
``My Confession''	540	(6)
Leo Tolstoy
``The Myth of Sisyphus''	546	(4)
Albert Camus
Box: Daniel Kolak and Raymond Martin, ``Values''	549	(1)
``Is Life Meaningful?''	550	(6)
Richard Taylor
``A Fast Car and a Good Woman''	556	(9)
Raymond Martin
Box: Thomas Nagel, ``Death''	559	(1)
Box: Friedrich Nietzsche, ``Truth Be a Woman''	560	(5)
Part XII: Ethics	565	(66)
``The Categorical Imperative''	566	(4)
Immanuel Kant
Box: Epictetus, ``What Is in Our Power''	568	(2)
``Utilitarianism''	570	(4)
John Stuart Mill
``The Conscience of Huckleberry Finn''	574	(7)
Jonathan Bennett
``Reclaiming the Conscience of Huckleberry Finn''	581	(11)
Clea F. Rees
``Buddhist Ethics''	592	(12)
Padmasiri de Silva
``Morality and the Problem of the Other: From Sidgwick to Rawls and Parfit''	604	(27)
Daniel Kolak
Part XIII: Values and Society	631	(70)
``The Myth of Gyges's Ring''	632	(4)
Plato
``Virtue and Character''	636	(9)
Aristotle
Box: Thomas Hobbes, ``On Egoism''	641	(4)
``The Rights of Women''	645	(7)
Mary Wollstonecraft
Box: Nancy Hartsock, ``Feminism''	648	(3)
Box: Sherry B. Ortner, ``Female Subordination''	651	(1)
``Beyond Good and Evil''	652	(6)
Friedrich Nietzsche
Box: Jiddu Krishnamurti, ``Revolt''	655	(3)
``Intrinsic Value''	658	(7)
G. E. Moore
``On Liberty''	665	(10)
John Stuart Mill
``Alienation and the Power of Money''	675	(9)
Karl Marx
``Philosophy and Economics: Issues and Questions''	684	(17)
Anand Chandavarkar
Epilogue: Inconclusive Philosophical Postscript	701	(8)
``The Value of Philosophy''	702	(4)
Bertrand Russell
``A Portrait of the Philosopher as a Young Man''	706	(1)
Robert Nozick
``On Becoming a Philosopher''	706	(1)
Freeman Dyson
``Feisty Fragments''	707	(2)
Vincent Hendricks
Glossary	709