Philosophy The Quest for Truth

by Pojman, Louis P.

• ISBN13: 9780195156249
• ISBN10: 0195156242
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-02-21
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Praised for its accessibility and comprehensiveness, Philosophy: The Quest for Truth provides an excellent selection of classical and contemporary readings on nineteen key problems in philosophy. Louis Pojman has carefully organized the essays in each section so that they present pro/condialogues that allow students to compare and contrast the philosophers' positions. Topics covered include the nature of philosophy, the existence of God, immortality, knowledge, the mind-body question, personal identity, free will and determinism, ethics, political philosophy, and the meaning oflife. The fifth edition offers selections from Plato, Rene Descartes, John Locke, David Hume, William James, Bertrand Russell, John Hick, John Hospers, and James Rachels--as well as essays by Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Blaise Pascal, Thomas Hobbes, George Berkeley, Immanuel Kant, Gilbert Ryle,Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Friedrich Nietzsche, Alvin Plantinga, and many others. In Philosophy: The Quest for Truth, 5th edition, Pojman offers substantial introductions to each of the nineteen philosophical problems. In addition, each of the seventy-three readings is accompanied by an individual introduction with a biographical sketch of the philosopher, study questions,and reflective questions that challenge students to analyze and critique the material. Short bibliographies following each major section, an appendix on how to read and write philosophy papers, and a detailed glossary further enhance the text's pedagogical value. Invaluable for introductory coursesin philosophy, this highly acclaimed text inspires and guides students' quest for wisdom. The fifth edition adds new study questions and nine new articles: * Father F. C. Copleston and Bertrand Russell: "A Debate on the Argument from Contingency" * Corliss Lamont: "Freedom of the Will and Human Responsibility" * Richard Taylor: "Fate" * Louis Pojman: "A Critique of Ethical Egoism" * Robert Paul Wolff: "In Defense of Anarchism" * Brian Barry: "A Cosmopolitan Theory of International Society" * Thomas Nagel: "The Absurd" * Thurgood Marshall: "The Death Penalty Is a Denial of Human Dignity" * Burton Leiser: "The Death Penalty Is Permissible"

Table of Contents

New to this edition

Each Part opens with an Introduction and ends with Suggestions for Further Reading

Preface

What Is Philosophy?

Socratic Wisdom

Of Enthusiasm and the Quest for Truth

The Value of Philosophy

Excursus: A Little Bit of Logic

Deductive and Inductive Reasoning

Abductive Reasoning

Some Applications

Fallacies of Reasoning

Logic Exercises

Philosophy of Religion

Is Belief in God Rationally Justified?

Arguments for the Existence of God

The Cosmological Argument

Pro

The Five Ways

The Kalam Cosmological Argument and the Anthropic Principle

Contra

A Critique of the Cosmological Argument

The Teleological Argument

Pro

The Watch and the Watchmaker

Contra

A Critique of the Teleological Argument

The Ontological Argument

Pro et Contra

The Ontological Argument

An Analysis of the Ontological Argument

Why Is There Evil?

Why Is There Evil?

Why Doesn't God Intervene to Prevent Evil?

There Is a Reason Why God Allows Evil

Is Faith Compatible with Reason?

Yes, Faith Is a Logical Bet

The Ethics of Belief

The Will to Believe

A Debate on the Rationality of Religious Belief

Alvin Plantinga: Religious Belief Without Evidence

Knowledge

What Can We Know?

Classical Theories of Knowledge

Cartesian Doubt and the Search for Foundational Knowledge

The Empiricist Theory of Knowledge

An Idealist Theory of Knowledge

The Origin of Our Ideas and Skepticism about Causal Reasoning

An Argument Against Skepticism

Truth, Rationality, and Cognitive Relativism

The Correspondence Theory of Truth

The Pragmatic Theory of Truth

Dismantling Truth: Solidarity versus Objectivity

Postmodernism and Truth

Philosophy of Mind: The Mind-Body Problem

What Am I?

A Mind or a Body?

Dualistic Interactionism

Exorcising Descartes' "Ghost in the Machine"

A Contemporary Defense of Dualism

On Functionalism and Materialism

What Is It Like to Be a Bat?

Minds, Brains, and Computers

Who Am I?

Do We Have 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

Is There Life after Death?

Am I Immortal?

Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul

An Argument Against Survival: The Dependence of Consciousness on the Brain

In Defense of Immortality

Freedom of the Will and Determinism

Contra

We Are Completely Determined

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