Study of Philosophy - A Text With Readings

From Plato to Plantinga, from Aristotle to Ayer, and from Socrates to Singer, this text brings the power of both ancient and modern philosophy to students of the twenty-first century! This seventh edition of The Study of Philosophy presents a comprehensive treatment of the major fields and figures of philosophy alongside primary readings to fuel debate and further study.

New chapters in this edition feature:
A substantive account of philosophical theology
A reorganized treatment of early modern rationalism and empiricism
A discussion of the major highlights of twentieth- and twenty-first-century philosophy
A survey of major contemporary moral problems

List of contents

PART I PHILOSOPHY AND ITS BEGINNINGS
Chapter 1: The Nature and Scope of Philosophy
How Philosophy and Science Differ
How Philosophy and Religion Differ
Philosophy's Three Main Subject Areas
Philosophy's Main Method
Summary
Key Terms
Review Questions
Reading: "The Philosopher within You"-Andrew Pessin

Chapter 2: It Began Here: The Pre-Socratics
The Problem of Being
·Thales
·Anaximander
·Anaximenes
The Problem of Becoming
·Parmenides
·Zeno
·Heraclitus
The Theory of Atomism: A Synthesis
Summary
Key Terms
Review Questions
Reading: "Ionian Science before Socrates"-F. M. Cornford
Reading: On the Nature of Things-Lucretius

Chapter 3: Socrates and Plato
The Sophists
Socrates the Man
Life in Athens and Conquest by Sparta
Socrates' Chronicler: Plato
The Dialogues: Socrates' Trial and Death
·Euthyphro
·Apology
·Crito
·Phaedo
Plato's Forms
·What Exactly Are Forms?
·Forms are Neither Perceivable, Changeable, Nor Even Here
·How Many Forms Are There?
·One More Important Implication
·Why Should We Believe in the Existence of Forms?
Philosophers and Cave-Persons
Summary
Key Terms
Review Questions
Reading: Apology-Plato

PART II PHILOSOPHY'S METHOD
Chapter 4: Aristotle and the Science of Logic
Aristotle
The Sophists Again
The Science of Logic
Logic as the Study of Argument
Distinguishing Arguments From Non-Arguments
Eliminating Verbiage
Supplying Missing Components
Distinguishing Deductive and Inductive Arguments
Evaluating Arguments: Truth, Validity, and Soundness
·Some Classic Examples of Valid Deductive Arguments
·Evaluating Arguments: Strategy
Summary
Key Terms
Review Questions
Reading: "What the Tortoise Said to Achilles"-Lewis Carroll
Reading: "Newcomb's Problem and Two Principles of Choice"-Robert Nozick

Chapter 5: Common Fallacies
The Fallacies of Ambiguity
·Amphiboly
·Accent
·Equivocation
The Fallacies of Presumption
·Overlooking the Facts
·Evading the Facts
·Distorting the Facts
Fallacies of Relevance
·Genetic Fallacy
·Abusive ad Hominem
·Circumstantial ad Hominem
·Tu Quoque
·Poisoning the Well
Summary
Key Terms
Review Questions
Reading: "A Mad Tea-Party"-Lewis Carroll

PART III PHILOSOPHY'S MAIN QUESTIONS
Chapter 6: Ethics: What Are We Like, and What Should We Do?
Aristotle's Ethics
·Goodness and Happiness
·Moral Virtues
·Intellectual Virtues
Kant's Ethics
·A Good Will
·The Categorical Imperative
·The Role of Reason
The Utilitarian Theory
·Jeremy Bentham
·John Stuart Mill
Some Criticisms of Utilitarianism
Summary
Key Terms
Review Questions
Reading: Nicomachean Ethics-Aristotle
Reading: "Santa and Scrooge"-Andrew Pessin
Reading: "Of what sort of Proof the Principle of Utility is Susceptible"-John Stuart Mill
Reading: "The Experience Machine"-Robert Nozick

Chapter 7: Religion: The Nature and Existence of God
A Brief History of Philosophical Theology, 427 B.C.E.-1600 C.E.
Proofs for the Existence of God
·St. Anselm's Ontological Argument
·St. Thomas Aquinas's Cosmological Arguments
·William Paley's Biological Teleological Argument
·Immanuel Kant's Moral Argument
·Blaise Pascal's Prudential Argument
God's Nature
·God's Power
·God's Knowledge
·God's Goodness, and the Problem of Evil
Summary
Key Terms
Review Questions
Reading: "That God truly exists"-Anselm
Reading: From Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity-William Paley
Reading: From City of God-Augustine
Reading: From "Abridgement of the Argument Reduced to Syllogistic Form"-G. W. Leibniz

Chapter 8: Epistemology and Metaphysics: The Rationalists
Brief Overview of Early Modern Philosophy
René Descartes
·Descartes' Dualism
·Descartes' Theory of Mind
·Descartes' Theory of Matter
Baruch Spinoza
·Spinoza's Pantheism and Monism
·Spinoza's Necessitarianism, Determinism, and Ethics
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
·Leibniz's Monads and Pre-Established Harmony
·The Truth Argument for Pre-Established Harmony
Rationalism, Intelligibility, and Causation
·Rationalist Debates on the Nature of Causation
Summary
Key Terms
Review Questions
Reading: From Meditations on First Philosophy-René Descartes
Reading: "The Most Dangerous Error of the Philosophy of the Ancients"-Nicolas Malebranche
Reading: From Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion-Nicolas Malebranche
Reading: "New System of Nature" and "Clarification of the Difficulties Which Mr. Bayle Has Found in the New System of the Union of Soul and Body"-G.W. Leibniz

Chapter 9: Epistemology and Metaphysics: The Empiricists and Kant
John Locke
·Locke's Attack on Nativism
·The Structure and Contents of the Mind, and Substance
·The Distinction Between Primary and Secondary Qualities
George Berkeley
·Three Lines of Argument Against Materialism and For Idealism
·Idealism, Materialism, and Common Sense
·Some Problems For Idealism
David Hume
·Relations of Ideas and Matters of Fact
·Hume's Critique of Causation
·Hume's Critique of Inductive Reasoning
Immanuel Kant
·Three Ways to Frame the Discussion
·A First Pass through Kant's Answer
·Four Kinds of Judgments
·Synthetic A Priori Judgments
·How is Mathematics Possible?
·How is Science Possible?
·Why Metaphysics is Impossible
Summary
Key Terms
Review Questions
Reading: From "First Dialogue"-George Berkeley
Reading: "Sceptical Doubts concerning the Operations of the Understanding"-David Hume

PART IV CONTEMPORARY DIRECTIONS
Chapter 10: 20th-21st Century Developments
Existentialism
·Søren Kierkegaard and Religious Existentialism
·Friedrich Nietzsche and Nihilistic Existentialism
·Jean-Paul Sartre and Humanistic Existentialism
Some Developments in Ethics
·A. J. Ayer and Logical Positivism
Some Developments in Philosophy of Religion
·Alvin Plantinga on Science and Theism
Some Developments in Epistemology
·The Traditional Definition of Knowledge
·The Gettier Problem
Some Developments in Metaphysics
·The Attack on Descartes' Dualism
·Consciousness and Dualism
Summary
Key Terms
Review Questions
Reading: "A Panegyric upon Abraham"-Sören Kierkegaard
Reading: From Nausea-Jean-Paul Sartre
Reading: "Critique of Ethics and Theology"-A. J. Ayer
Reading: "Is Atheism Irrational?"-Alvin Plantinga
Reading: "What Mary Didn't Know"-Frank Jackson

Chapter 11: Contemporary Moral Problems, and Peter Singer
Peter Singer
·"All Animals are Equal"
·"Is the Sanctity of Life Ethic Terminally Ill?"
·The Life You Can Save: How to Do Your Part to End World Poverty
Summary
Key Terms
Review Questions
Reading: "Of Duties to Animals ..."-Immanuel Kant
Reading: "Abortion and Infanticide" and "Taking Life: Humans"-Peter Singer
Reading: "Life after God? The Ethics of Peter Singer"-Peter May

Glossary
Index

About the author

Andrew Pessin is professor of philosophy at Connecticut College. He is the author of Uncommon Sense, (R&L 2013), which was named a CHOICE Outstanding title for the year.

S. Morris Engel is professor emeritus at York University. Previously, he taught at the University of Southern California for twenty-five years.

Product details

• Authors: S. Morris Engel, Engel S. Morris, Andrew Pessin, Andrew Engel Pessin, Pessin Andrew
• Publisher: Rowman and Littlefield
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: ages 18 to 22
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 19.03.2015
• EAN: 9781442242821
• ISBN: 978-1-4422-4282-1
• No. of pages: 458
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: general, reference works; PHILOSOPHY / General, Philosophy