Exploring Philosophy An Introductory Anthology

by Cahn, Steven M.

• ISBN13: 9780199797271
• ISBN10: 0199797277
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-10-14
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Extensively revised and expanded in this fourth edition,Exploring Philosophy: An Introductory Anthologyis a uniquely accessible and engaging introduction to philosophy. Steven M. Cahn brings together exceptionally clear recent essays by noted philosophers and supplements them with influential historical sources. Most importantly, the articles have been carefully edited to make them understandable to every reader. The topics are drawn from across the major fields of philosophy and include knowledge and skepticism, mind and body, freedom and determinism, the existence of God, identity and immortality, ethical reasoning, abortion, euthanasia, world hunger, democracy, social justice, art, and life and death. The readings are enhanced by concise introductions, study questions, explanatory notes, and suggestions for further reading. NEW TO THE FOURTH EDITION: * More than fifty new readingsgreatly expand the book's coverage and its flexibility for course use * More than half of the new readings are "Historical Sources,"which introduce students to philosophical classics and help them understand the contemporary selections * Four new sections--Identity and Immortality, Social Justice, Art, and Life and Death--extend the anthology's range into areas that today's students find especially compelling * Study Questionsafter each reading help students test their comprehension and encourage class discussion SUPPORT PACKAGE OFFERED FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH THIS EDITION: * An Instructor's Manualfeatures PowerPoint-based lecture outlines, reading summaries, a glossary, and a Test Bank of objective and essay questions * A Companion Website at www.oup.com/us/cahncontains all the material from the Instructor's Manual along with student resources including self-test questions, suggested readings, and helpful links

Author Biography

Steven M. Cahn is Professor of Philosophy at The City University of New York Graduate Center.

Table of Contents

*=New to this edition
Preface
1. INTRODUCTION
What is Philosophy?, Monroe C. Beardsley and Elizabeth Lane Beardsley
Historical Source
Defence of Socrates, Plato
2. REASONING
The Scope of Logic, Wesley C. Salmon
Improving Your Thinking, Stephen F. Barker
Fixing Belief, Morris R. Cohen and Ernest Nagel
Scientific Inquiry, Carl G. Hempel
3. KNOWLEDGE
What Is Knowledge?, A. J. Ayer
Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?, Edmund L. Gettier
* Conditions for Knowledge, Robert Nozick
Appearance and Reality, Bertrand Russell
What Can I Know?, D. Z. Phillips
The Problem of Induction, Bertrand Russell
* Induction Without a Problem, P. F. Strawson
Historical Sources
Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes
* An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke
* A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, George Berkeley
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume
* Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant
4. MIND
The Ghost in the Machine, Gilbert Ryle
The Mind as a Function of the Body, Richard Taylor
What Is It Like to Be a Bat?, Thomas Nagel
* Knowing What It's Like, David Lewis
Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Alan Turing
Do Computers Think?, John Searle
Historical Source
Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes
5. FREE WILL
Free Will, Thomas Nagel
* Free Will and Determinism, W. T. Stace
Free Will or Determinism?, Steven M. Cahn
The Principle of Alternative Possibilities, Harry Frankfurt
* The Capacities of Agents, Neil Levy
Historical Sources
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume
* The Dilemma of Determinism, William James
6. GOD
* Does God Exist?, Ernest Nagel
Why God Allows Evil, Richard Swinburne
Theology and Falsification, Antony Flew and Basil Mitchell
Pascal's Wager, Simon Blackburn
* Faith and Reason, Michael Scriven
The Hiddenness of God, Robert McKim
Historical Sources
* Euthyphro, Plato
* The Ontological Argument, Anselm and Gaunilo
* Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes
* Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant
Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas
* Natural Theology, William Paley
* Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, David Hume
* The Wager, Blaise Pascal
* The Ethics of Belief, W. K. Clifford
* The Will to Believe, William James
* Religion Without God, Steven M. Cahn
* 7. IDENTITY AND IMMORTALITY
* A Case of Identity, Brian Smart
* The Problem of Personal Identity, John Perry
* Resurrection, John H. Hick
* Heaven and Hell, Steven M. Cahn
* Life After Death, Terence Penelhum
* Do We Need Immortality?, Grace M. Jantzen
Historical Sources
* An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke
* A Treatise of Human Nature, David Hume
* Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, Thomas Reid
8. MORAL THEORY
The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, James Rachels
How Not to Answer Moral Questions, Tom Regan
* Kant's Ethics, Onora O'Neill
* Assessing Utilitarianism, Louis P. Pojman
A Supreme Moral Principle?, Steven M. Cahn
Virtue Ethics, Bernard Mayo
The Ethics of Care, Virginia Held
Happiness and Morality, Christine Vitrano
Historical Sources
Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle
Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant
Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill
* Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche
* Existentialism, Jean-Paul Sartre
9. MORAL PROBLEMS
A Defense of Abortion, Judith Jarvis Thomson
Why Abortion Is Immoral, Don Marquis
Active and Passive Euthanasia, James Rachels
Active and Passive Euthanasia: A Reply to Rachels, Thomas D. Sullivan
Famine, Affluence, and Morality, Peter Singer
World Hunger and Moral Obligation: The Case Against Singer, John Arthur
10. SOCIETY
Democracy, John Dewey
What Is a Liberal Education?, Sidney Hook
Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands, Michael Walzer
Historical Sources
Crito, Plato
On Liberty, John Stuart Mill
* 11. SOCIAL JUSTICE
* A Theory of Justice, John Rawls
* Distributive Justice, Robert Nozick
* The Idea of Justice, Amartya Sen
* Non-Contractual Society: A Feminist View, Virginia Held
Historical Sources
* The Republic, Plato
* Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes
* Second Treatise of Government, John Locke
* Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Karl Marx
* 12. ART
* The Role of Theory in Aesthetics, Morris Weitz
* Interpreting Poetry, Charles L. Stevenson
* Fearing Fictions, Kendall Walton
Historical Sources
* The Republic, Plato
* Poetics, Aristotle
* 13. LIFE AND DEATH
The Meaning of Life, Richard Taylor
* Meaning in Life, Susan Wolf
* Meaningless Lives?, Steven M. Cahn
* Death, Thomas Nagel
Historical Sources
Phaedo, Plato
* Writings, Epicurus
* The Handbook, Epictetus
14. THE VALUE OF PHILOSOPHY
The Value of Philosophy, Bertrand Russell
* The Republic, Plato
Suggestions for Further Reading
Index