Classic Questions and Contemporary Film : An Introductory Philosophy Text with Readings

by KOWALSKI, DEAN A.

• ISBN13: 9780072850215
• ISBN10: 0072850213
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-11-01
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Table of Contents

Preface

CHAPTER 1: PHILOSOPHY, PHILOSOPHERS AND ARGUMENTS: What Is Philosophy?

1.1 Introduction

What Is Philosophy?

1.2 Some Deductive Arguments

How Does One Achieve Logical Analysis?

What Are Some Common Deductive Arguments?

How Are Deductive Arguments Evaluated?

Doesn't the Content of the Argument Matter?

1.3 Logic Exercises I: Deductive Arguments

1.4 Some Inductive Arguments

How Do Inductive Arguments Compare to Deductive Arguments?

What Are Some Common Inductive Argument Forms?

1.5 Logic Exercises II: Inductive Arguments

1.6 Philosophical Analysis and Objectivity

Aren't Philosophical Believes Just Peoples' Opinions?

Is All Truth Subjective?

Is All Philosophical Truth Subjective?

Why Is Subjectivism So Initially Attractive?

Is the Law of Non-Contradiction a Universal (Objective) Truth?

1.7 Readings and Movies (and Further Exercises)

Exercise A: Extracting and Recasting Arguments

Movie #1: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Scene 5: 1974)

1. Plato: The Apology

Exercise B: Extracting and Assessing Socratic Arguments

2. Bertrand Russell: The Value of Philosophy

Exercise C: Extracting and Recasting a "Russellian" Argument

1.8 Synthesis and Analysis

1.9 Additional Narratives Pertaining to Critical Reasoning or the Value of Philosophy

CHAPTER 2: EPISTEMOLOGY AND SKEPTICISM: What Can We Know?

Movie #2: The Matrix (1999)

2.1 A Definition of Knowledge

What Can We Know?

What Does it Mean to Know that Something Is the Case?

2.2 Justification and Perception

What Is the Problem with Being Completely Justified?

Are Our Senses Adequate Sources for Knowledge?

2.3 Conclusion and Summary

Why Should Anyone Care About Any of This?

2.4 Readings and Movies

3. Plato: The Theaetetus

4. Chuang Tzu: Butterflies,

5. Sextus Empiricus: The Criterion Problem,

6. Rene Descartes: Meditations I, II and VI

Movie #3: Twelve Angry Men (1957, 1998)

7. John Hospers: An Argument Against Skepticism

8. Jack S. Crumley II: Responding to the Skeptic

9. Lorraine Code: Gender and Knowledge

2.5 Synthesis and Analysis

2.6 Alternative Narratives with Epistemological Themes

CHAPTER 3: GOD, CREATION AND EVIL: Does God Exist?

Movie #4: Bruce Almighty (2003)

3.1 Philosophy and Religion

How Does One Do Philosophy About Religion?

Can We Know Anything About God?

3.2 Ineffability and the Divine Nature

Is it Possible for God to Be Literally Ineffable?

What if the Ineffability Theses Were True?

So, What Can We Know About God?

How Do We Know God?

What Is God Like?

Must We Refer to God as "He" or "Him"?

3.3 The Ontological Argument

Do We Have Any Reasons for Thinking God Exists?

Is it Impossible for God Not to Exist?

Are There Any Ontological Argument Detractors?

3.4 The Cosmological Argument

Is the Universe Evidence of God's Existence?

How Does Aquinas Argue for God's Existence?

Can Aquinas Appeal to PSR Versions?

Must the First Cause Be God?

3.5 The Design Argument

Does Nature Provide Evidence of a Designer?

Why Think that the Designer Is God?

Is the Designer Argument Successful?

How Is Darwinian Evolution Relevant to the Design Argument?

Has the Design Argument Been Defeated?

3.6 The Problem of Evil

Does Evil Provide Evidence Against God's Existence?

Is the Argument from Evil Sound?

How Do Theists Respond to the Problem of Evil?

What Kind of Theodicies Are There?

What Is the Inductive Problem of Evil?

3.7 Readings and Movies

10. Anselm and Gaunilo: The Greatest Possible Being

11. Thomas Aquinas: The First Three Ways

12. William Paley: The Argument from Design

Movie #5: Inherit the Wind (1999)

13. Charles Darwin: The Origin of Species

Movie #6: Schindler’s List (1993)

14. John Hick: The Irenaean Theodicy

15. William Rowe: The Evidential Problem of Evil and Friendly Atheism

3.8 Synthesis and Analysis

3.9 Alternative Narratives Pertinent to the Philosophy of Religion

CHAPTER 4: MIND, BODY AND CONSCIOUSNESS: What Kind of Thinking Thing Are We?

Movie #7: Being John Malkovich (1999)

4.1 The Mind/Body Problem

Where Can We Find How Much You Love Your Mom?

What Does This Have to Do with the Mind-Body Problem?

Can Science Help Answer the Problem?

What Are the Options?

4.2 Leibniz's Law

What Is Leibniz's Law?

Could We Go Over That Again?

4.3 Substance Dualism

What Are Descartes' Arguments for Dualism?

How Does the Argument from Doubt Fail?

What About Descartes' Divisibility Argument?

What Is Interactionism?

Is Interactionism Intelligible?

4.4 Eliminative Materialism

What Is the Case for Materialism?

What Is the Case for Eliminativism Materialism?

What Should We Think About Eliminative Materialism?

4.5 Reductive Materialism

So Why Not Reduce the Mental Without Eliminating It?

What Is the Case Against Reductive Materialism?

What's a Mental Event and Why Are They Important?

What Does the Data Tell Us About the "Insideness" of Our Experiences?

4.6 Functionalism

Must Conscious Experience Be Limited to Biological Entities?

What Are Functional Concepts?

Yes, But Isn't This Behaviorism Again?

Can Machines Be Persons?

4.7 Concluding Remarks

Where Does This Leave Us?

4.8 Readings and Movies

16. Jeffrey Olen: Reductive Materialism

17. Thomas Nagel: What Is it Like to Eat a Chocolate Bar?

Movie #8: Bicentennial Man (1999)

18. William Lycan: Robots and Minds

19. John Searle: The Myth of the Computer

20. Dean A. Kowalski: Some Cartesian Rejoinders

4.9 Synthesis and Analysis

4.10 Additional Narratives Pertaining to the Philosophy of Mind

CHAPTER 5: FREEDOM, DETERMINISM AND FOREKNOWLEDGE: Are We Free to Choose?

Movie #9: The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

5.1 Fate and Determinism

Are We Ever Free to Choose?

"Do You Believe in Fate, Neo?"

Does Everything Have a Cause?

Doesn't This Mean That We Aren't Free?

5.2 Compatibilism

Aren't There Alternatives to Hard Determinism?

So, Why Isn't Everyone a Compatibilist?

5.3 The Dilemma of Human Freedom

Why Not Simply Deny Determinism?

So Now What?

Must We give Up Our Beliefs in Freedom and Responsibility?

What Are the Options Again?

5.4 Libertarianism

What Is Agent Causation?

How Do We Explain the Uniqueness of Agents?

5.5 The Threat of Theological Determinism

Are There Other Threats to Our Freedom?

Can We Make Sense of the Divine Nature?

5.6 Readings and Movies

21. Baron D'Holbach: How We Lack Free Will

22. Walter T. Stace: How We Can Be Free

Movie #10: Run, Lola, Run (1998)

23. Roderick Chisholm: Human Freedom and the Self

Movie #11: Minority Report (2002)

24. Dean A. Kowalski: Reconciling Freedom and Foreknowledge

5.7 Synthesis and Analysis

5.8 Additional Narratives Exploring Themes of Freedom, Determinism and Foreknowledge

CHAPTER 6: FOUNDATIONS OF ETHICS: Is Ethics Objective?

Movie #12: Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

6.1 Subjectivity and Objectivity

What Are Ethical Foundations?

Is Ethics Objective?

How Is Ethics Subjectively True?

6.2 Readings and Movies

25. David Hume: Ethics as Sentiment

Movie #13: The Joy Luck Club (1994)

26. William G. Sumner: Folkways, Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

27. Plato: The Euthyphro

28. Dean A. Kowalski: Three Conventionalist Theories of Ethics

6.3 Synthesis and Analysis

6.4 Alternative Narratives with Metaethical Themes

CHAPTER 7: ETHICS AND MORAL THEORY: What Ought I to Do?

Movie #14: Life Is Beautiful (1998)

7.1 Ethics and "Oughts"

What Is Ethics?

Are All "Ought Statements" Ethical?

7.2 Moral Reasoning

Can Morality Be Equated with Legality?

Must We Study Philosophy When Thinking Ethically?

What Is So Important About Ethics?

7.3 The Basics of Moral Theory

What Is a Moral Judgment?

What Is a Moral Theory?

What Are Some Examples of a Moral Theory?

But Why Ought I to Act Morally in the First Place?

7.4 Readings and Movies

29. Plato: Gyges and the Ring

Movie #15: Groundhog Day (1993)

30. Aristotle: Virtue Ethics

Movie #16: Extreme Measures (1996)

31. John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism

32. Immanuel Kant: Respect for Persons Ethic

33. Friedrich Nietzsche: Master and Slave Morality

34. Nel Noddings: The Ethics of Caring

7.5 Synthesis and Analysis

7.6 Additional Narratives with Themes Pertinent to Ethics

CHAPTER 8: HUMAN NATURE, SOCIETY AND JUSTICE: What Is the Nature of a Just State?

Movie #17: Lord of the Flies (1990)

8.1 Hobbes, Locke and Social Contract Theory

Why Do We Need Government at All?

How Do We Avoid Hobbes's State of Nature?

Aren't Hobbes's Views Rather Extreme?

What About Democracy?

8.2 King, Socrates and Civil Disobedience

What Is Civil Disobedience?

What Morally Justified the Civil Rights Movement?

What Is the Relationship Between King and Locke?

Is it Ever Permissible to Break the Law?

Should We Follow King or Socrates?

Shouldn't One Practice Civil Disobedience Only as a Last Resort?

8.3 Marginalized Voices

Who Is Malcom X?

What of Women in Society?

What of the Plight of Women in Non-Fictional Society?

Has the Plight of Minorities Improved?

8.4 Readings and Movies

35. Thomas Hobbes: Tyranny Before Anarchy and War

36. John Locke: A Democratic View of Government

37. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Letter from the Birmingham City Jail

Movie #18: Malcolm X (1992)

38. Malcolm X: The Harvard Speeches

Movie #19: The Handmaid's Tale (1990)

39. Mary Wollstonecraft: The Vindication of Women’s Rights

8.5 Synthesis and Analysis

8.6 Additional Narratives Pertaining to Social and Political Philosophy