Philosophy

by Warburton, Nigel

• ISBN13: 9780415146944
• ISBN10: 0415146941
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-06-21
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Philosophy: The Basicsisthebook for anyone coming to philosophy for the first time. Nigel Warburton's popular book gently eases the reader into the world of philosophy. Each chapter considers a key area of philosophy, explaining and exploring the basic ideas and themes. The third edition updates and expands the main text, and is the perfect companion toPhilosophy: Basic Reading. These two books will together make for an ideal and straight forward introduction to philosophy.

Author Biography

Nigel Warburton is a lecturer in Philosophy at the Open University.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Philosophy and its history	p. 2
Why study philosophy?	p. 3
Is philosophy difficult?	p. 5
The limits of what philosophy can do	p. 6
How to use this book	p. 6
Further reading	p. 7
Internet resources	p. 9
God	p. 11
The Design Argument	p. 12
Criticisms of the Design Argument	p. 13
Fine Tuning	p. 15
Criticism of Fine Tuning	p. 16
The First Cause Argument	p. 16
Critisms of the First Cause Argument	p. 17
The Ontological Argument	p. 18
Criticisms of the Ontological Argument	p. 19
Knowledge, proof and the existence of God	p. 20
The Problem of Evil	p. 21
Attempted solutions to the Problem of Evil	p. 22
The Free Will Defence	p. 24
Criticisms of the Free Will Defence	p. 24
The argument from miracles	p. 27
Hume on miracles	p. 27
The Gambler's Argument: Pascal's Wager	p. 30
Criticisms of the Gambler's Argument	p. 31
Non-realism about God	p. 32
Criticisms of non-realism about God	p. 33
Faith	p. 33
Death	p. 35
Criticism of Epicurus	p. 36
Would immortality be tedious?	p. 36
Criticism of the tedium of immortality	p. 36
Conclusion	p. 37
Further reading	p. 37
Right and wrong	p. 39
Duty-based theories	p. 40
Christian ethics	p. 40
Criticisms of Christian ethics	p. 41
Kantian ethics	p. 42
Criticisms of Kantian ethics	p. 46
Consequentialism	p. 48
Utilitarianism	p. 48
Criticisms of utilitarianism	p. 49
Negative utilitarianism	p. 52
Criticism of negative utilitarianism	p. 53
Rule utilitarianism	p. 53
Virtue theory	p. 54
Criticisms of virtue theory	p. 55
Applied ethics	p. 56
Ethics and meta-ethics	p. 59
Naturalism	p. 59
Criticisms of naturalism	p. 60
Moral relativism	p. 62
Criticisms of moral relativism	p. 62
Emotivism	p. 63
Criticisms of emotivism	p. 64
Conclusion	p. 65
Further reading	p. 66
Politics	p. 67
Equality	p. 67
Equal distribution of money	p. 69
Criticisms of equal distribution of money	p. 69
Equal opportunity in employment	p. 71
Reverse discrimination	p. 72
Criticisms of reverse discrimination	p. 73
Political equality: democracy	p. 74
Direct democracy	p. 74
Representative democracy	p. 75
Criticisms of democracy	p. 75
Freedom	p. 77
Negative freedom	p. 77
Criticisms of negative freedom	p. 78
Positive freedom	p. 79
Freedom of speech	p. 80
Criticisms of Mill on free speech	p. 81
Removing freedom: punishment	p. 82
Punishment as retribution	p. 82
Criticisms of retributivism	p. 83
Deterrence	p. 83
Criticisms of deterrence	p. 84
Protection of society	p. 84
Criticisms of protection of society	p. 85
Reform	p. 85
Criticisms of reform	p. 86
Civil disobedience	p. 86
Criticisms of civil disobedience	p. 88
Conclusion	p. 90
Further reading	p. 90
The external world	p. 92
Common-sense realism	p. 92
Scepticism about the evidence of the senses	p. 93
The Illusion Argument	p. 93
Criticisms of the Illusion Argument	p. 94
Could I be dreaming?	p. 95
Hallucination	p. 96
Memory and logic	p. 98
I think therefore I am	p. 99
Criticism of the Cogito	p. 99
Representative realism	p. 99
Criticisms of representative realism	p. 101
Idealism	p. 102
Criticisms of idealism	p. 103
Phenomenalism	p. 105
Criticisms of phenomenalism	p. 106
Causal realism	p. 107
Criticisms of causal realism	p. 108
Conclusion	p. 109
Further reading	p. 109
Science	p. 110
The simple view of scientific method	p. 111
Criticisms of the simple view	p. 112
The Problem of Induction	p. 114
Attempted solutions to the Problem of Induction	p. 118
Falsificationism: conjecture and refutation	p. 120
Criticisms of falsificationism	p. 122
Scientism	p. 124
Criticism of scientism	p. 125
Conclusion	p. 125
Further reading	p. 125
Mind	p. 127
Philosophy of mind and psychology	p. 127
The Mind/Body Problem	p. 128
Zombies	p. 128
Dualism	p. 129
Criticisms of dualism	p. 130
Dualism without interaction	p. 132
Physicalism	p. 133
Type-identity theory	p. 134
Criticisms of type-identity theory	p. 135
Token-identity theory	p. 137
Criticisms of token-identity theory	p. 138
Behaviourism	p. 138
Criticisms of behaviourism	p. 139
Functionalism	p. 142
Criticism of functionalism	p. 143
Other Minds	p. 144
The argument from analogy	p. 144
Criticisms of the argument from analogy	p. 145
Conclusion	p. 146
Further reading	p. 146
Art	p. 148
Can art be defined?	p. 149
The family resemblance view	p. 149
Criticisms of the family resemblance view	p. 149
The significant form theory	p. 150
Criticisms of the significant form theory	p. 151
The idealist theory	p. 152
Criticisms of the idealist theory	p. 152
The institutional theory	p. 153
Criticisms of the institutional theory	p. 154
Art criticism	p. 156
Anti-intentionalism	p. 156
Criticisms of anti-intentionalism	p. 157
Performance, interpretation, authenticity	p. 158
Historical authenticity in performance	p. 159
Criticisms of historical authenticity in performance	p. 159
Forgeries and artistic value	p. 160
Conclusion	p. 164
Further reading	p. 164
Index	p. 165
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