Facts on File Guide to Philosophy : History of Western Philosophy

by Boersema, David; Middleton, Kari

• ISBN13: 9780816081585
• ISBN10: 0816081581
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-03-01
• Publisher: Facts on File

Summary

We all face philosophical questions and concerns every day. Far from being abstract and subjective, philosophy is fundamental not only to what we do with our lives, but also to who we are and who we hope to be. The new, four-volume Facts On File Guide to Philosophy set provides an accessible and engaging introduction to philosophy. Authors David Boersema and Kari Middleton are academic philosophers who specialize in teaching their subject to beginning philosophical students.

Author Biography

David Boersema is the Douglas C. Strain Chair of Natural Philosophy at Pacific University. His books include Philosophy of Human Rights: Theory and Practice, Pragmatism and Reference, and Philosophy of Science. He is a member of the American Philosophical Association's Committee on Pre-College Instruction in Philosophy. Kari Middleton received a Ph.D. in philosophy from Syracuse University.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. ix
Western Philosophy, from the Greeks to the Renaissance	p. 1
Introductory Discussion Questions	p. 3
The Greek Miracle	p. 5
Elements and the Nature of Change	p. 13
Heraclitus and Change	p. 20
Changelessness and Mathematics	p. 26
Greek Atomism	p. 33
Sophists and Socrates	p. 36
Plato	p. 44
Aristotle	p. 58
Hellenistic Philosophy	p. 76
Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy	p. 86
Concluding Discussion Questions	p. 97
Further Reading	p. 98
Glossary	p. 99
Key People	p. 102
Modern Philosophy	p. 117
Introductory Discussion Questions	p. 119
An Overview of Modern Philosophy	p. 121
Introduction to Empiricism and Rationalism	p. 130
Rene Descartes	p. 139
Thomas Hobbes	p. 144
Baruch Spinoza	p. 148
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz	p. 152
John Locke	p. 157
Jean-Jacques Rousseau	p. 165
George Berkeley	p. 169
David Hume	p. 174
Immanuel Kant	p. 183
Concluding Discussion Questions	p. 193
Further Reading	p. 194
Glossary	p. 195
Key People	p. 199
Continental Philosophy	p. 211
Introductory Discussion Questions	p. 213
Introduction to Continental Philosophy	p. 215
Hegel and German Idealism	p. 218
Karl Marx	p. 229
Søren Kierkegaard	p. 235
Friedrich Nietzsche	p. 239
Phenomenology	p. 244
Edmund Husserl	p. 248
Martin Heidegger	p. 252
Existentialism	p. 255
Jean-Paul Sartre	p. 262
Simone de Beauvoir	p. 267
Hermeneutics	p. 271
Critical Theory	p. 276
Structuralism	p. 282
Post-structuralism, Deconstruction, and Postmodernism	p. 290
Continental Philosophy Today	p. 298
Concluding Discussion Questions	p. 299
Further Reading	p. 300
Glossary	p. 301
Key People	p. 305
Analytic Philosophy	p. 317
Introductory Discussion Questions	p. 319
Analytic Philosophy	p. 321
Gottlob Frege	p. 327
G. E. Moore and Bertrand Russell	p. 333
The Early Work of Ludwig Wittgenstein	p. 343
Logical Positivism	p. 348
Wittgenstein and the Philosophical Investigations	p. 352
Ordinary Language Philosophy	p. 358
Willard Van Orman Quine	p. 366
New Developments	p. 373
More Recent Developments-Saul Kripke	p. 383
Pragmatist Responses to Analytic Philosophy	p. 390
Concluding Discussion Questions	p. 399
Further Reading	p. 400
Glossary	p. 401
Key People	p. 404
Index	p. 415
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