Philosophy

Description

Praised for its unique combination of accessibility and comprehensiveness, Philosophy: The Quest for
Truth, Twelfth Edition, provides a wide-ranging selection of classical and contemporary readings on key
topics in philosophy. The text aims to provide students with a grand tour of the discipline, exposing
them to some of the best work in philosophy of religion, epistemology, philosophy of mind, personal
metaphysics, ethics, political philosophy, the meaning of life, and contemporary moral issues. The
readings on each topic are arranged into pro/con dialogues, making it easy for students to compare and
contrast different philosophical positions.

New to this Edition

• Seven new readings from Louise Antony, Lewis Vaughn, John Messerly, Sigal R. Ben-Porat, Erwin Chemerinsky & Howard Gillman, Stephen M. Gardiner, and John Broome each with headnotes, study questions, and discussion questions
• Two new sections in Part IX: "Free Speech and Hate Speech" and "The Ethics of Climate Change."
• Revised Part VIII: What Is the Meaning of Life?
• Added Key Terms in chapters and the Glossary

Table of Contents

Preface
Time Line
I. What Is Philosophy?
The Good of Philosophy
Philosophical Terrain
Thinking Philosophically
Reasons and Arguments
Fallacious Reasoning
Identifying Arguments
Obstacles to Critical Reasoning
Some Applications
Exercises in Critical Reasoning
Study and Discussion Questions
1. Plato: Socratic Wisdom
2. Plato: The Allegory of the Cave
3. John Locke: Of Enthusiasm and the Quest for Truth
4. Bertrand Russell: The Value of Philosophy
Key Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
II. Philosophy of Religion
Introduction
II.A. Is Belief in God Rationally Justified? Arguments for the Existence of God
The Cosmological Argument
Pro
5. Thomas Aquinas: The Five Ways
6. William Lane Craig: The Kalam Cosmological Argument and the Anthropic Principle
Contra
7. Paul Edwards: A Critique of the Cosmological Argument
The Teleological Argument
Pro
8. William Paley: The Watch and the Watchmaker
Contra
9. David Hume: A Critique of the Teleological Argument
The Ontological Argument
Pro et Contra
10. St. Anselm and Gaunilo: The Ontological Argument
11. William Rowe: An Analysis of the Ontological Argument
II.B. Why Is There Evil?
12. Fyodor Dostoevsky: Why Is There Evil?
13. B. C. Johnson: Why Doesn't God Intervene to Prevent Evil?
14. John Hick: There Is a Reason Why God Allows Evil
15. William L. Rowe: The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism
II.C. Is Faith Compatible with Reason?
16. Blaise Pascal: Yes, Faith Is a Logical Bet
17. W. K. Clifford: The Ethics of Belief
18. William James: The Will to Believe
19. Alvin Plantinga: Religious Belief Without Evidence
20. Michael Martin: Faith and Foundationalism
21. Søren Kierkegaard: Faith and Truth
22. Bertrand Russell: Can Religion Cure Our Troubles?
Key Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
III. Knowledge
Introduction
III.A. What Can We Know? Classical Theories of Knowledge
23. René Descartes: Cartesian Doubt and the Search for Foundational Knowledge
24. John Locke: The Empiricist Theory of Knowledge
25. George Berkeley: An Idealist Theory of Knowledge
26. David Hume: The Origin of Our Ideas
27. G. E. Moore: Proof of an External World
III.B. Truth, Rationality, and Cognitive Relativism
28. Bertrand Russell: The Correspondence Theory of Truth
29. William James: The Pragmatic Theory of Truth
30. Richard Rorty: Dismantling Truth: Solidarity Versus Objectivity
31. Daniel Dennett: Postmodernism and Truth
III.C. Feminist Perspectives on Knowledge
32. Eve Browning Cole: Philosophy and Feminist Criticism
33. Alison Ainley: Feminist Philosophy
34. Louise Antony: Embodiment and Epistemology
III.D. Induction
35. David Hume: Skeptical Doubts Concerning the Operations of the Understanding
36. Wesley C. Salmon: The Problem of Induction
Key Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
IV. Philosophy of Mind: The Mind-Body Problem
Introduction
IV.A. What Am I? A Mind or a Body?
37. René Descartes: Substance Dualism
38. Gilbert Ryle: Exorcising Descartes' "Ghost in the Machine"
39. J. P. Moreland: A Contemporary Defense of Dualism
40. Paul Churchland: On Functionalism and Materialism
41. J. J. C. Smart: Sensations and Brain Processes
42. Thomas Nagel: What Is It Like to Be a Bat?
43. Jerry A. Fodor: The Mind-Body Problem
44. David Chalmers: Property Dualism
45. John Searle: Minds, Brains, and Computers
46. Ned Block: Troubles with Functionalism
IV.B. Who Am I? Do We Have Personal Identity?
47. John Locke: Our Psychological Properties Define the Self
48. David Hume: We Have No Substantial Self with Which We Are Identical
Key Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
V. Freedom of the Will and Determinism
Introduction
Contra
49. Baron d'Holbach: We Are Completely Determined
Pro
50. William James: The Dilemma of Determinism
51. Roderick M. Chisholm: Human Freedom and the Self
Pro et Contra
52. Harry Frankfurt: Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person
53. David Hume: Liberty and Necessity
54. W. T. Stace: Compatibilism
Key Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
VI. Ethics
Introduction
VI.A. Are There Objective Moral Truths or Is Morality Relative?
55. Ruth Benedict: Morality Is Relative
56. James Rachels: Morality Is Not Relative
VI.B. Ethics and Egoism: Why Should We Be Moral?
57. Plato: Why Should I Be Moral? Gyges' Ring and Socrates' Dilemma
58. Louis P. Pojman: Egoism and Altruism: A Critique of Ayn Rand
59. Joel Feinberg: Psychological Egoism
VI.C. Which Is the Correct Ethical Theory?
60. Immanuel Kant: The Moral Law
61. John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism
62. Russ Shafer-Landau: Consequentialism: Its Difficulties
63. Aristotle: The Ethics of Virtue 520
64. Virginia Held: The Ethics of Care
65. Alison M. Jaggar: Feminist Ethics
66. Annette C. Baier: The Need for More Than Justice
67. Lewis Vaughn: Morality Based on Prima Facie Principles
68. Jean-Paul Sartre: Existentialist Ethics
69. James Rachels: The Divine Command Theory
70. Thomas Nagel: Moral Luck
71. Susan Wolf: Moral Saints
Key Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
VII. Political Philosophy and Justice
Introduction
VII.A. What Is the Most Just Form of Government?
72. Robert Paul Wolff: In Defense of Anarchism
73. Thomas Hobbes: The Absolutist Answer: The Justification of the State Is the Security It Affords
74. John Locke: The Democratic Answer: The Justification of the State Is Its Promotion of Security and Natural Human Rights
75. John Stuart Mill: A Classical Liberal Answer: Government Must Promote Freedom
76. John Rawls: The Contemporary Liberal Answer
77. Robert Nozick: Against Liberalism
VII.B. What Is Social Justice?
78. Martin Luther King Jr.: Nonviolence and Racial Justice
79. Susan Moller Okin: Justice, Gender, and the Family
80. Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Key Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
VIII. What Is the Meaning of Life?
Introduction
81. Epicurus: Moderate Hedonism
82. Epictetus: Stoicism: Enchiridion
83. Albert Camus: Life Is Absurd
84. Julian Baggini: Living Life Forwards
85. John Messerly: The Ascent of Meaning
86. Thomas Nagel: The Absurd
87. Richard Taylor: The Meaning of Life
88. Susan Wolf: Meaning in Life
Suggestions for Further Reading
IX. Contemporary Moral Problems
Introduction
IX.A. Is Abortion Morally Permissible?
Contra
89. Don Marquis: Why Abortion Is Immoral
90. Francis J. Beckwith: Arguments from Bodily Rights
Pro
91. Mary Anne Warren: On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion
92. Judith Jarvis Thomson: A Defense of Abortion
Pro et Contra
93. Jane English: The Moderate Position: Beyond the Personhood Argument
IX.B. Free Speech and Hate Speech
94. Sigal R. Ben-Porath: Free Speech on Campus
95. Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman: Hate Speech
IX.C. Who Is a Racist?
96. Lawrence Blum: "Racism": Its Core Meaning
97. Kwame Anthony Appiah: Racisms
IX.D. The Ethics of Climate Change
98. Stephen M. Gardiner: A Perfect Moral Storm: Climate Change
99. John Broome: The Public and Private Morality of Climate Change
Suggestions for Further Reading
Appendix:
The Truth about Philosophy Majors
How to Read and Write Philosophy Papers
Glossary