Philosophy : Key Texts

by Baggini, Julian

• ISBN13: 9780333964859
• ISBN10: 0333964853
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-11-16
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Designed for complete beginners, Philosophy: Key Texts is an introduction to philosophy and gives a clear, readable overview of five major texts by Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Sartre, and Russell. As well as providing help in how to analyze these sources, Baggini encourages the reader to question the arguments and positions presented. Invaluable at the start of a course of study, as a concise revision aid, or as a lucid, jargon-free guide for anyone who wants an insight into philosophy, Philosophy: Key Texts can be used either independently of, or together with, its companion volume Philosophy: Key Themes .

Author Biography

Julian Baggini is Editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Acknowledgements	xii
Introduction	1	(1)
Styles of reading	2	(1)
Arguments	3	(2)
Assessing premises	5	(1)
Inferences	6	(1)
The archaeology of arguments	7	(1)
Arguments within arguments	8	(1)
Back to style	9	(1)
The principle of charity	9	(1)
Five key texts	10	(1)
Aristotle: The Nicomachean Ethics (c.334--323 BCE)	11	(24)
Background	11	(1)
The text	12	(1)
The Proper method of philosophy	12	(1)
Teleology	13	(2)
The Good for Human Life	15	(3)
Happiness	18	(2)
Moral Virtue	20	(2)
The Doctrine of the Mean	22	(1)
The Role of Pleasure	23	(3)
Choice, Freedom and Responsibility	26	(2)
Five Routes to Truth	28	(3)
Conclusion	31	(4)
Rene Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy (1641)	35	(26)
Background	35	(1)
The text	36	(1)
First meditation	37	(2)
Problems	39	(2)
Second meditation	41	(1)
Problems	42	(2)
The piece of wax	44	(1)
Third meditation	45	(1)
The existence of god	46	(3)
Fourth meditation	49	(2)
Fifth meditation	51	(1)
Problems	52	(3)
Sixth meditation	55	(1)
Problems	56	(1)
Outstanding problems	56	(1)
Conclusion	57	(4)
David Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)	61	(24)
Background	61	(1)
The text	61	(24)
Of the different species of philosophy	62	(2)
Of the origin of ideas	64	(2)
Of the association of ideas	66	(1)
Sceptical doubts concerning the operations of the understanding	66	(2)
Sceptical solution of these doubts	68	(2)
Of probability	70	(1)
Of the idea of necessary connexion	71	(2)
Of liberty and necessity	73	(2)
Of the reason of animals	75	(1)
Of miracles	76	(2)
Of a particular providence and of a future state	78	(1)
Of the academical or sceptical philosophy	79	(6)
Bertrand russell: The problems of philosophy (1912)	85	(30)
Background	85	(1)
The text	86	(29)
Appearance and reality	86	(2)
The existence of matter	88	(2)
The nature of matter	90	(1)
Idealism	91	(1)
Acquaintance and description	92	(2)
Induction	94	(2)
Knowledge of general principles	96	(2)
How is a priori knowledge possible?	98	(1)
The world of universals	99	(2)
Our knowledge of universals	101	(3)
On intuitive knowledge	104	(1)
Truth and falsehood	105	(2)
Knowledge, error and probable opinion	107	(2)
The limits, of philosophical knowledge	109	(2)
The value of philosophy	111	(4)
Jean-Paul Sartre: Existentialism and Humanism (1947)	115	(19)
Background	115	(1)
The text	116	(1)
The attack on existentialism	117	(1)
Humanism	117	(1)
Existentialism	118	(1)
Subjectivity	119	(1)
Anguish	120	(2)
Abandonment	122	(3)
Despair	125	(1)
The cogito	126	(1)
The human condition	127	(1)
Does it matter what you do?	128	(1)
Can you judge others?	129	(1)
A case of give and take	130	(1)
Humanism again	130	(1)
Conclusion	131	(3)
Glossary	134	(2)
Further Reading	136	(1)
Index	137