Introduction to Philosophy Classical and Contemporary Readings

by Perry, John; Bratman, Michael; Fischer, John Martin

• ISBN13: 9780195169249
• ISBN10: 0195169247
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-28
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Introduction to Philosophy, Fourth Edition, is the most comprehensive topically organized collection of classical and contemporary philosophy available. Building on the exceptionally successful tradition of previous editions, this edition for the first time incorporates the insights of a new coeditor, John Martin Fischer, and has been updated and revised to make it more accessible. Ideal for introductory philosophy courses, the text includes sections on the meaning of life, God and evil, knowledge and reality, the philosophy of science, the mind/body problem, freedom of will, consciousness, ethics, and philosophical puzzles and paradoxes. It presents seventy substantial--and in some cases complete--selections from the best and most influential works in philosophy, offering a unique balance between classical and contemporary material. An extensive glossary of philosophical terms is also included. The fourth edition features fifteen new readings, including work by Albert Camus, Roderick M. Chisholm, Daniel Dennett, Harry G. Frankfurt, William Paley, Derek Parfit, John Perry, Richard Taylor, Peter Van Inwagen, Bernard Williams, and Susan Wolf. Part III, Knowledge and Reality, has been restructured and now includes Plato's Thaetetus, selections by Edmund L. Gettier and Robert Nozick, and an essay by Christopher Grau that explores the philosophical concepts presented in the popular film The Matrix. Two new ethics puzzles--"The Trolley Problem" and "Ducking Harm and Sacrificing Others"--are also included. This edition incorporates Study Questions after each reading and is accompanied by an Instructor's CD and a Student Companion Website, both containing helpful resources.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Fourth Edition	xi
Preface to the First Edition	xiii
Introduction: On the Study of Philosophy	1	(6)
PART I PHILOSOPHY AND THE MEANING OF LIFE	7	(68)
The Value of Philosophy	9	(3)
Bertrand Russell
The Province of Philosophy	12	(9)
J. J. C. Smart
The Absurd	21	(7)
Thomas Nagel
Apology: Defence of Socrates	28	(15)
Plato
The Myth of Sisyphus	43	(2)
Albert Camus
The Meaning of Human Existence	45	(17)
Richard Taylor
The Meanings of Lives	62	(13)
Susan Wolf
PART II GOD AND EVIL	75	(82)
Introduction	75	(3)
Why Believe?
The Ontological Argument	78	(2)
Saint Anselm
The Existence of God	80	(2)
Saint Thomas Aquinas
The Wager	82	(4)
Blaise Pascal
Why I Am Not a Theist	86	(5)
Bertrand Russell
The Problem of Evil
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion	91	(34)
David Hume
God, Evil and the Best of All Possible Worlds	125	(3)
Gottfried Leibniz
Natural Theology	128	(5)
William Paley
Dialogue on Good, Evil, and the Existence of God	133	(24)
John Perry
PART III KNOWLEDGE AND REALITY	157	(118)
Introduction	157	(4)
Plato and the Concept of Knowledge
Thaetetus	161	(7)
Plato
Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?	168	(3)
Edmund L. Gettier
Descartes and the Problems of Skepticism
Meditations on First Philosophy	171	(24)
Rene Descartes
Bad Dreams, Evil Demons, and the Experience Machine: Philosophy and The Matrix	195	(7)
Christopher Grau
Excerpt from Philosophical Explanations	202	(9)
Robert Nozick
Hume's Problems and Some Solutions
Of Scepticism with Regard to the Senses	211	(14)
David Hume
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding	225	(26)
David Hume
The Problem of Induction	251	(24)
W. C. Salmon
PART IV MINDS, BODIES, AND PERSONS	275	(206)
Introduction	275	(10)
The Traditional Problem of Mind and Body
The Argument from Analogy for Other Minds	285	(2)
Bertrand Russell
Descartes's Myth	287	(8)
Gilbert Ryle
The Nature of Mind	295	(7)
David M. Armstrong
Mad Pain and Martian Pain	302	(6)
David Lewis
Intentional Systems	308	(13)
Daniel Dennett
Eliminative Materialism	321	(5)
Paul M. Churchland
Minds, Brains, and Machines
Turing Machines	326	(2)
Hilary Putnam
Computing Machinery and Intelligence	328	(13)
A. M. Turing
Minds, Brains, and Programs	341	(13)
John R. Searle
Consciousness
What Is It Like to Be a Bat?	354	(9)
Thomas Nagel
What Mary Didn't Know	363	(3)
Frank Jackson
Knowing What It's Like	366	(2)
David Lewis
Personal Identity
A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality	368	(21)
John Perry
The Self and the Future	389	(10)
Bernard Williams
Personal Identity	399	(13)
Derek Parfit
Where Am I?	412	(9)
Daniel Dennett
Freedom, Determinism, and Responsibility
Human Freedom and the Self	421	(7)
Roderick M. Chisholm
The Powers of Rational Beings: Freedom of the Will	428	(12)
Peter van Inwagen
Of Liberty and Necessity	440	(11)
David Hume
Freedom and Determinism	451	(13)
Richard Taylor
Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility	464	(6)
Harry G. Frankfurt
Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person	470	(11)
Harry G. Frankfurt
PART V ETHICS AND SOCIETY	481	(300)
Introduction	481	(8)
Utilitarianism
The Principle of Utility	489	(3)
Jeremy Bentham
Utilitarianism	492	(17)
John Stuart Mill
Criticisms of Utilitarianism	509	(2)
E. F. Carritt
Extreme and Restricted Utilitarianism	511	(8)
J. J. C. Smart
Utilitarianism and Integrity	519	(8)
Bernard Williams
Famine, Affluence, and Morality	527	(9)
Peter Singer
Kantian Ethics
Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals	536	(17)
Immanuel Kant
Kantian Approaches to Some Famine Problems	553	(6)
Onora O'Neill
War and Massacre	559	(13)
Thomas Nagel
Aristotelian Ethics
Nicomachean Ethics	572	(16)
Aristotle
Aristotle on Eudaimonia	588	(4)
Thomas Nagel
Virtue Theory and Abortion	592	(15)
Rosalind Hursthouse
Justice and Equality
A Theory of Justice	607	(13)
John Rawls
Justice and Entitlement	620	(8)
Robert Nozick
Where the Action Is: On the Site of Distributive Justice	628	(16)
G. A. Cohen
The Subjection of Women	644	(5)
John Stuart Mill
Markets in Women's Reproductive Labor	649	(14)
Debra Satz
Racisms	663	(11)
Appiah Kwame Anthony
Challenges to Morality
Morality and Self-Interest	674	(1)
The Republic	674	(37)
Plato
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals	711	(24)
David Hume
Morality and Advantage	735	(8)
David Gauthier
The Law of the Jungle: Moral Alternatives and Principles of Evolution	743	(6)
J. L. Mackie
Subjectivism, Relativism, and Skepticism	749	(1)
The Subjectivity of Values	749	(12)
J. L. Mackie
Ethics and Observation	761	(4)
Gilbert Harman
Moral Explanations	765	(16)
Nicholas L. Sturgeon
PART VI PUZZLES AND PARADOXES	781	(14)
Introduction	781	(1)
Zeno's Paradoxes
Achilles and the Tortoise	782	(1)
The Racecourse	783	(1)
The Argument Against Plurality	783	(1)
Metaphysical and Epistemological Puzzles and Paradoxes
The Paradox of Identity	784	(1)
The Paradox of the Heap	785	(1)
The Surprise Examination	786	(1)
Goodman's New Riddle of Induction	786	(2)
Puzzles of Rational Choice
The Prisoner's Dilemma	788	(1)
Newcomb's Problem	788	(1)
Kavka's Toxin Puzzle	789	(1)
Quinn's Puzzle of the Self-Torturer	790	(1)
Paradoxes of Logic, Set Theory, and Semantics
The Paradox of the Liar	791	(1)
Other Versions of the Liar	791	(1)
Russell's Paradox	792	(1)
Grelling's Paradox	792	(1)
Puzzles of Ethics
The Trolley Problem	793	(1)
Ducking Harm and Sacrificing Others	794	(1)
Glossary of Philosophical Terms	795