Introduction to Philosophy Classical and Contemporary Readings

by Pojman, Louis P.

• ISBN13: 9780195171501
• ISBN10: 0195171500
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-02-26
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Now in a third edition, Introduction to Philosophy: Classical andContemporary Readings is a highly acclaimed, topically organized collection thatcovers five major areas of philosophy--theory of knowledge, philosophy ofreligion, philosophy of mind, freedom and determinism, and moral philosophy.Editor Louis P. Pojman enhances the text's topical organization by arranging theselections into a pro/con format to help students better understand opposingarguments. He also includes accessible introductions to each part, subsection,and individual reading, a unique feature for an anthology of this depth. Whilethe book focuses on a compelling sampling of classical material--includingselections from Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant--italso incorporates some of philosophy's best twentieth-century and contemporarywork, featuring articles by Bertrand Russell, Richard Taylor, John Searle,Thomas Nagel, and others.This third edition contains an expanded glossary, more extensive sectionintroductions, and twelve new selections:Karl Popper: "Epistemology without a Knowing Subject"Richard Rorty: "Dismantling Truth: Solidarity versus Objectivity"Daniel Dennett: "Postmodernism and Truth"Bruce Russell: "The Problem of Evil: Why is There So Much Suffering?"David Chalmers: "Against Materialism: Can Consciousness Be ReductivelyExplained?"Baron Paul Henri d'Holbach: "A Defense of Determinism"Michael Levin: "A Compatibilist Defense of Moral Responsibility"Plato: "Socratic Morality: Crito"Herodotus: "Custom Is King"J. L. Mackie: "The Subjectivity of Values"Louis P. Pojman: "A Critique of Mackie's Theory of Moral Subjectivism"Thomas Nagel: "Moral Luck"

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
I WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?	1	(30)
Plato
Socratic Wisdom: The Trial of Socrates (from the Apology)	11	(9)
John Locke
Philosophy as the Love of Truth versus Enthusiasm	20	(5)
Bertrand Russell
The Value of Philosophy	25	(6)
II THE THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE	31	(128)
Plato
The Theory of Ideas and Doctrine of Recollection (from the Meno)	36	(6)
René Descartes
Meditations on First Philosophy: In Which the Existence of God, and the Real Distinction of Mind and Body, Are Demonstrated	42	(31)
John Locke
An Empiricist Theory of Knowledge (from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding)	73	(9)
George Berkeley
An Idealist Theory of Knowledge (from Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous)	82	(23)
David Hume
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding	105	(15)
Immanuel Kant
The Copernican Revolution in Knowledge	120	(6)
John Maynard Smith
Science and Myth	126	(4)
Norman Malcolm
Two Types of Knowledge	130	(8)
Karl Popper
Epistemology without a Knowing Subject	138	(7)
Richard Rorty
Dismantling Truth: Solidarity versus Objectivity	145	(7)
Daniel Dennett
Postmodernism and Truth	152	(7)
III PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION	159	(100)
A. Traditional Arguments for the Existence of God	160	(40)
St. Thomas Aquinas
The Five Ways	167	(2)
Samuel Clarke
The Argument from Contingency	169	(2)
F.C. Copleston and Bertrand Russell
A Debate on the Argument from Contingency	171	(7)
William Paley
The Watch and the Watchmaker	178	(3)
David Hume
A Critique of the Teleological Argument	181	(6)
Anselm versus Gaunilo
The Ontological Argument	187	(3)
F.C. Copleston and Bertrand Russell
A Debate on the Argument from Religious Experience	190	(3)
C.D. Broad
The Argument from Religious Experience	193	(7)
B. The Problem of Evil	200	(24)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Why Is There Evil?	203	(4)
Bruce Russell
The Problem of Evil: Why Is There So Much Suffering?	207	(6)
Richard Swinburne
A Theistic Response to the Problem of Evil	213	(11)
C. Faith and Reason	224	(35)
Antony Flew, R.M. Hare, and Basil Mitchell
A Debate on Rationality of Religious Belief	228	(5)
Blaise Pascal
Faith Is a Rational Wager	233	(3)
W.K. Clifford
The Ethics of Belief	236	(5)
William James
The Will to Believe	241	(6)
Alvin Plantinga
Religious Belief without Evidence	247	(12)
IV PHILOSOPHY OF MIND	259	(103)
A. The Mind-Body Problem	260	(70)
René Descartes
Dualism	264	(4)
Jerome Shaffer
Consciousness and the Mind-Body Problem	268	(11)
Paul Churchland
A Critique of Dualism	279	(10)
Paul Churchland
On Functionalism and Materialism	289	(14)
Thomas Nagel
What Is It Like to Be a Bat?	303	(7)
David Chalmers
Against Materialism: Can Consciousness Be Reductively Explained?	310	(13)
John Searle
Minds, Brains, and Computers	323	(7)
B. Who Am I? The Problem of Personal Identity	330	(16)
John Locke
Our Psychological Properties Define the Self	335	(3)
David Hume
We Have No Substantial Self with Which We Are Identical	338	(3)
Derek Parfit and Godfrey Vesey
Brain Transplants and Personal Identity: A Dialogue	341	(5)
C. Personal Identity and Survival: Will I Survive My Death?	346	(16)
Plato
Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul (from the Phaedo)	347	(4)
Bertrand Russell
The Illusion of Immortality	351	(3)
John Hick
In Defense of Life after Death	354	(8)
V FREEDOM OF THE WILL, RESPONSIBILITY, AND PUNISHMENT	362	(107)
A. Free Will and Determinism	362	(46)
Baron Paul Henri d'Holbach
A Defense of Determinism	370	(5)
Richard Taylor
Libertarianism: Defense of Free Will	375	(7)
W.T. Stace
Compatibilism: Free Will Is Consistent with Determinism	382	(6)
John Hospers
Determinism: Free Will and Psychoanalysis	388	(10)
Harry Frankfurt
Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person	398	(10)
B. Moral Responsibility	408	(33)
Aristotle
Voluntary Action and Responsibility	410	(5)
Galen Strawson
The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility	415	(10)
Michael Levin
A Compatibilist Defense of Moral Responsibility	425	(12)
Lois Hope Walker
A Libertarian Defense of Moral Responsibility	437	(4)
C. Punishment	441	(28)
Immanuel Kant
The Right to Punish: Retributivism	445	(3)
Jonathan Glover
Utilitarianism and Punishment	448	(6)
Karl Menninger
The Crime of Punishment: The Humanitarian Theory	454	(5)
C.S. Lewis
Against the Humanitarian Theory of Rehabilitation	459	(5)
John Rawls
Two Concepts of Punishment	464	(5)
VI MORAL PHILOSOPHY	469	(154)
Plato
Socratic Morality: Crito	476	(7)
A. Moral Relativism	483	(31)
Herodotus
Custom Is King	483	(1)
Ruth Benedict
In Defense of Moral Relativism	484	(5)
Louis P. Pojman
Ethical Relativism versus Ethical Objectivism	489	(10)
J.L. Mackie
The Subjectivity of Values	499	(11)
Louis P. Pojman
A Critique of Mackie's Theory of Moral Subjectivism	510	(4)
B. Morality and Self-Interest	514	(22)
Plato
Gyges' Ring, or Is the Good Good for You?	515	(5)
James Rachels
Ethical Egoism	520	(9)
J.L. Mackie
The Law of the Jungle: Moral Alternatives and Principles of Evolution	529	(7)
C. Religion and Ethics	536	(25)
Plato
The Divine Command Theory of Ethics	539	(2)
Bertrand Russell
A Free Man's Worship	541	(5)
George Mavrodes
Religion and the Queerness of Morality	546	(9)
Kai Nielsen
Ethics without Religion	555	(6)
D. Which Moral Theory Is Correct?	561	(38)
Aristotle
The Ethics of Virtue	562	(10)
Thomas Hobbes
Contractualism	572	(9)
John Stuart Mill
Utilitarianism	581	(6)
Immanuel Kant
The Moral Law	587	(12)
E. Challenges to Traditional Moral Theories	599	(24)
Friedrich Nietzsche
Beyond Good and Evil	600	(8)
William Gass
The Case of the Obliging Stranger	608	(6)
Thomas Nagel
Moral Luck	614	(9)
Appendix I How to Read and Write a Philosophy Paper	623	(3)
Appendix II A Little Bit of Logic	626	(15)
Glossary	641	(8)
Suggestions for Further Readings	649