Western Philosophy An Illustrated Guide

by Papineau, David

• ISBN13: 9780195221435
• ISBN10: 0195221435
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-11-04
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

What does it mean for someone to exist? What is truth? Are we free to choose to think or act? What is consciousness? Is human cloning justifiable? These are just some of the questions philosophers have attempted to answer, striking right at the heart of what it means to be human. This important new book shows that philosophy need not be dry or intimidating. Its highly original treatment, combining philosophical analysis, historical and biographical background and thought-provoking illustrations, simultaneously informs and stimulates the reader. Western Philosophy: An Illustrated Guide is structured thematically, in terms of major issues, with chapters on World, Mind and Body, Knowledge, Faith, Ethics and Aesthetics, and Society. Cutting across this organization by theme is a parallel organization that focuses on the great thinkers and their influence, as well as the schools or "-isms" to which they subscribed. A highly accessible introduction to the subject, founded upon impeccable academic scholarship, Western Philosophy: An Illustrated Guide offers life-changing perspectives on what really matters.

Author Biography

David Papineau is Professor of Philosophy at King's College, University of London. He is a former editor of The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science and is author of Thinking About Consciousness, Introducing Consciousness, and The Philosophy of Science: Oxford Readings in Philosophy.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 6
World	p. 8
What is reality?	p. 10
Aristotle	p. 13
The physical world	p. 16
The supernatural	p. 18
Cause	p. 20
Hume	p. 24
Idealism	p. 26
Berkeley	p. 28
Hegel	p. 30
Phenomenology	p. 31
Truth	p. 34
Mathematics	p. 36
The infinite	p. 37
Leibniz	p. 38
Time and space	p. 40
Mind and Body	p. 42
What is the mind?	p. 44
Descartes	p. 48
Thinking	p. 50
Fodor	p. 52
Consciousness	p. 53
Feelings and emotions	p. 54
Language	p. 56
Wittgenstein	p. 59
Free will	p. 62
Spinoza	p. 66
The self	p. 68
Sanity and insanity	p. 69
Life and death	p. 70
Knowledge	p. 72
What is knowledge?	p. 74
Plato	p. 76
Perception and experience	p. 80
Locke	p. 82
Scepticism	p. 84
Relativism	p. 86
Foucault	p. 88
Quine	p. 89
Logic and reasoning	p. 90
Carnap	p. 92
Induction and deduction	p. 93
Bacon	p. 96
Diderot	p. 97
Science	p. 98
Rationality	p. 100
Common sense	p. 102
Pragmatism	p. 103
Wisdom	p. 104
Faith	p. 106
Is there a God?	p. 108
Aquinas	p. 112
Faith and reason	p. 113
Augustine	p. 116
Miracles	p. 118
The afterlife	p. 119
Pascal	p. 121
Atheism and agnosticism	p. 122
Pain and evil	p. 124
Voltaire	p. 127
Kierkegaard	p. 128
The meaning of life	p. 129
Ethics and Aesthetics	p. 132
What is morality?	p. 134
Stoicism	p. 138
Mill	p. 139
Kant	p. 141
Lying	p. 144
Conscience	p. 146
Altruism and egoism	p. 148
Responsibility	p. 150
Moral absolutes	p. 151
Nietzsche	p. 153
Existentialism	p. 154
Sartre	p. 156
Goodness	p. 158
Love and friendship	p. 160
Sex	p. 161
Reproduction	p. 163
Animals	p. 166
Technology and nature	p. 168
Beauty	p. 172
Schopenhauer	p. 173
Art	p. 174
Taste and decency	p. 176
Society	p. 178
What is society?	p. 180
Authority	p. 182
Hobbes	p. 184
Democracy	p. 186
Rousseau	p. 188
Freedom	p. 190
Tradition	p. 192
Rights	p. 193
Laws	p. 195
Bentham	p. 197
Crime and punishment	p. 198
Social justice	p. 202
Rawls	p. 203
Equality	p. 204
Ownership	p. 206
Rich and poor	p. 208
Marx	p. 210
Globalization	p. 212
War	p. 214
Bibliography	p. 216
Index	p. 218
Text Acknowledgments	p. 223
Picture Credits	p. 224
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