Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult

by DeWeese, Garrett J.

• ISBN13: 9780830827664
• ISBN10: 0830827668
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-30
• Publisher: Ivp Academic

Summary

From time to time we all face life's big questions . . .What is real?How do we know what we know?What is right?Who or what am I?How should we view science and its claims?And as we wrestle with these issues, we may even find ourselves thinking,Perhaps what I need is a good dose of philosophy. It's a shame philosophy is so difficult.Garrett DeWeese and J. P. Moreland understand this frustration and in this book offer help to make philosophy at least slightly less difficult. In straightforward language with everyday examples, they explain the basics needed to understand philosophical concepts and thus bring clarity to discussions of life's big questions.Students, pastors, campus workers and ordinary Christians will all benefit from this user-friendly guide.

Author Biography

Garrett J. DeWeese (Ph.D., Universty of Colorado; Th.M., Dallas Theological Seminary) is associate professor of philosophy and director of the Th.M. emphasis in philosophical and moral theology at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, in La Mirada, California J. P. Moreland (Ph.D., University of Southern California; Th.M., Dallas Theological Seiminary) is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, in La Mirada, California, and director of Eidos Christian Center

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	7	(2)
Where Do I Start?	9	(18)
Logic	11	(12)
Method	23	(1)
Philosophy and Theology	24	(3)
What Is Real? Metaphysics	27	(26)
Getting Started	28	(1)
The Problem of Universals	29	(10)
Identity	39	(2)
Substances, Essences and Natures	41	(7)
Modality: The Necessary, the Possible and the Actual	48	(5)
How Do I Know? Epistemology	53	(26)
Kinds of Knowledge	54	(2)
What Is Knowledge?	56	(18)
The Problem of Skepticism	74	(3)
Concluding Applications	77	(2)
How Should I Live? Ethics	79	(26)
Metaethics	81	(9)
Normative Ethics	90	(12)
Why Be Moral?	102	(3)
What Am I? Philosophical and Theological Anthropology	105	(26)
Philosophy of Mind	105	(2)
Consciousness and Property Dualism	107	(5)
The Self and Substance Dualism	112	(5)
Objections to Dualism	117	(3)
A Critique of Physicalist Alternatives to Dualism	120	(3)
Freedom and Determinism	123	(5)
Theological Implications of the Free Will Debate	128	(3)
How Should Christians Think About Science? Philosophy of Science	131	(24)
Where Do We Go for Help?	133	(1)
She Blinded Me with Science (Scientism)	134	(4)
Theistic Science and Methodological Naturalism	138	(11)
The Realism/Antirealism Debate	149	(2)
Models for Integrating Science and Theology	151	(4)
Where Do I Go from Here? Worldview Struggle and Intellectual Crisis	155	(6)
Worldview Struggle and Intellectual Crisis	155	(1)
Saving the Soul and Saving the Mind	156	(5)
For Further Reading	161	(4)
Notes	165	(4)
Subject Index	169	(2)
Scripture Index	171