Open Questions

Description

This engaging introduction to the fundamental issues of philosophy will prompt students to think actively about questions such as: Does God exist? Do we have souls? Does human life have meaning? Is there a real difference between right and wrong? and many more. Organized topically, the twelve chapters in the book focus on key philosophical questions and discuss alternative answers (solutions). Author Emmett Barcalow includes readings in every chapter by famous thinkers and well-known philosophers who offer their own answers to these questions--for example, the thoughts of Charles Darwin, Benjamin Franklin, and Mohandas K. Gandhi on the existence of God; Plato's ideas on the body/mind connection; and John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant's theories of right and wrong. As students progress through the text, they'll begin to think critically and decide for themselves which answers seem the most reasonable to them. Definitions and other relevant information are placed in the margins for easy reference, and brain teasers--questions for class discussion and student reflection--are integrated throughout. The text also features insightful discussion and review questions at the end of each chapter and two valuable appendices: one on reading philosophy and the other on writing a philosophy paper.
The third edition adds chapter objectives; information on philosophy's subfields; a section on self-knowledge; new material on reflective equilibrium; expanded coverage of the social justification of morality; a new discussion of equal opportunity; a discussion of Feinberg's analysis of four liberty limiting principles; and more. It also adds readings by Rahula, Sartre, Russell, St. Augustine, Constant, Rousseau, and many others.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Philosophy
Subfields of Philosophy
Open and Closed Questions
What It's Most Reasonable to Believe
Evaluating Arguments
Facts and Theories
Two Principal Philosophical Questions
2. God and Philosophy
The Concept of God
Arguments for God's Existence
An Argument Against God's Existence: The Argument from Evil
Faith
Experiencing God's Presence
Charles Darwin, Religious Belief
Benjamin Franklin, Franklin's Religious Principles from His Autobiography
Mohandas K. Gandhi, Gandhi's Political Principles
3. Body and Mind
Life
Soul as the Explanation of Life
Physical Explanations of Life
Mind as the Explanation of Consciousness
Minds
Descartes' Argument for Dualism
Problems for Descartes
Physicalism
Identity Theories
Conclusions
Plato, Phaedo
4. Personal Immortality and Personal Identity
Death and Other Happenings
What Role Do Our Bodies Play in Personal Identity?
Same Psychological Essence
How the Self Depends on the Body
Identifying and Reidentifying People
Dualism, Personal Identity, and Existence After Death
Walpola Rahula, The Doctrine of No-Soul: Anatta
5. Freedom and Determinism
Causality and Personal Identity
Causality and Determinism
Determinism
Determinism and Human Freedom
Soft Determinism/Compatibilism
Reasons and Causes
Probalistic Causality?
What Difference Does It Make Whether We Are Free?
Fatalism
Borderline Cases
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Robert Blatchford, The Delusion of Free Will
Jean Paul Sartre, Existentialism
6. Knowledge, Truth, and Justification
It's Only a Belief
Belief and Truth
Three Requirements for Knowledge
Justification
Reasons
Self-Knowledge: Beliefs About Our Own Mental States
Alternatives to Perception
Basic Justifiers
Bertrand Russell, On the Value of Scepticism
7. Knowledge and Skepticism
Evaluating the Skeptic's Argument
A Strong and Weak Sense of Know
Perception, Observation, and Induction
Observation and Causal Generalizations
The Virtue of Skepticism
René Descartes, Meditations on the First Philosophy
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
8. Morality
Moral Objectivism
Moral Nonobjectivism
The Divine Command Theory of Morality
Nonobjectivist Moral Theories
Moral Egoism
Saint Augustine, The Confessions
Moses Maimonides, Laws Concerning Character Traits
Buddha, The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Virtue of Compassion
Plato, Republic
9. Moral Justification
Moral Justification
Evaluating Nonmoral Reasons (Premises)
Evaluating Moral Principles
Reflective Equilibrium
Moral Belief and Action
Why Be Moral? The Challenge of Amoralism
G. J. Warnock, The Object of Morality
10. Two Theories of Right and Wrong
Consequentialism
Utilitarianism
Kantian Moral Theory
John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
Immanuel Kant, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals
11. Justice and Rights
Aristotle's Conception of Justice: Treating Equals Equally
Justice and Relevant Differences
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party
Susan Moller Okin, Justice, Gender, and the Family
12. Liberty and Democracy
Liberty
Is Democracy the Best Form of Government?
Benjamin Constant, The Kind of Liberty Offered to Men at the End of the Last Century
Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract
Appendices
A. Reading Philosophy
B. Writing a Philosophy Paper
Glossary/Index
Each chapter begins with Objectives and an Introduction and ends with Questions for Discussion and Review and Suggestions for Further Reading