Introduction to Philosophy Classical and Contemporary Readings

by Pojman, Louis P.

• ISBN13: 9780195155068
• ISBN10: 0195155068
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-18
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The readings in this acclaimed topically organized collection cover five major areas of philosophy--philosophy of religion, theory of knowledge, philosophy of mind, freedom and determinism, and ethics. Editor Louis P. Pojman enhances the topical organization by arranging the selections into a pro/con format to help students better understand opposing arguments. He also includes comprehensive, accessible introductions to each chapter, subsection, and individual reading, a unique feature for an anthology of this depth. While Introduction to Philosophy, 2/e focuses on a compelling sampling of classical material--including selections from Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant--it also incorporates a representation of philosophy's best twentieth-century and contemporary work, featuring articles by such philosophers as Bertrand Russell, Richard Taylor, John Searle, and Thomas Nagel. This second edition contains an expanded glossary, a more extensive appendix on logic, and eight new selections: John Locke: "Philosophy: The Love of Truth versus Enthusiasm" Fyodor Dostoevsky: "Why Is There Evil?" from The Brothers Karamazov John Maynard Smith: "Science and Myth" Thomas Nagel: "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?" John Searle: "Minds, Brains, and Computers" Richard Taylor: "Libertarianism: A Defense of Free Will" Galen Strawson: "The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility" Thomas Hobbes' defense of contractualism from Leviathan

Table of Contents

Preface

What is Philosophy?

Socratic Wisdom: The Trial of Socrates (from the Apology)

Philosophy as the Love of Truth versus Enthusiasm

The Value of Philosophy

The Theory of Knowledge

The Theory of Ideas and Doctrine of Recollection (from the Meno)

Meditations on First Philosophy (complete)

An Empiricist Theory of Knowledge (from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding)

An Idealist Theory of Knowledge (from Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous)

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

The Copernican Revolution in Knowledge

Science and Myth

Two Types of Knowledge

Epistemology without a Knowing Subject

Dismantling Truth: Solidarity versus Objectivity

Postmodernism and Truth

Philosophy of Religion

Traditional Arguments for the Existence of God

The Five Ways

The Argument from Contingency

A Debate on The Argument from Contingency

The Watch and the Watchmaker

A Critique of the Teleological Argument

The Ontological Argument

A Debate on The Argument from Religious Experience

The Argument from Religious Experience

The Problem of Evil

Why Is There Evil?

The Problem of Evil: Why Is There So Much Suffering?

A Theistic Response to the Problem of Evil

Faith and Reason

A Debate on Rationality and Religious Belief

Faith Is a Rational Wager

The Ethics of Belief

The Will to Believe

Religious Belief without Evidence

Philosophy of Mind

The Mind-Body Problem

Dualism

Consciousness and the Mind-Body Problem

A Critique of Dualism

On Functionalism and Materialism

What Is It Like to Be a Bat?

Against Materialism: Can Consciousness Be Reductively Explained?

Minds, Brains, and Computers

Who Am I? The Problem of Personal Identity

Our Psychological Properties Define the Self

We Have No Substantial Self with Which We Are Identical

Brain Transplants and Personal Identity: A Dialogue

Personal Identity and Survival: Will I Survive My Death?

Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul (from the Phaedo)

The Illusion of Immortality

In Defense of Life after Death

Freedom of The Will, Responsibility, and Punishment

Free Will and Determinism

A Defense of Determinism

Libertarianism: Defense of Free Will

Compatibilism: Free Will Is Consistent with Determinism

Determinism: Free Will and Psychoanalysis

Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person

Moral Responsibility

Voluntary Action and Responsibility

The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility

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