Puzzles & Perplexities

Steven M. Cahn is professor of philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Not only Cahn's lucidity but his philosophical passion and honesty shine through these essays. He is both scrupulously fair to opposing positions and straightforward in advocating his own, whether popular or not. The book will engage students and scholars alike. I found it a pleasure to read.

• Chapter 1 Free Will or Determinism?Chapter 2 Random ChoicesChapter 3 Time, Truth, and AbilityChapter 4 Does God Know the Future?Chapter 5 Does God Exist?Chapter 6 The Problem of GoodnessChapter 7 The Moriarty HypothesisChapter 8 Job's ProtestChapter 9 The Noes Have It: Hume'sDialoguesChapter 10 Suppose God ExistsChapter 11 Religion Without GodChapter 12 The Question: Plato'sEuthyphroChapter 13 False BeliefsChapter 14 A Supreme Moral Principle?Chapter 15 Happiness and ImmoralityChapter 16 Meaningless Lives?Chapter 17 Two Concepts of Affirmative ActionChapter 18 The Curious Tale of Atlas CollegeChapter 19 Why Not Tell the Truth?Chapter 20 The Divestiture PuzzleChapter 21 The Strange Case of John ShmarbChapter 22 The Wife of LearChapter 23 John Dewey at EightyChapter 24 Are the Humanities Useful?Chapter 25 Should Liberal Education Change?Chapter 26 How to Improve Your TeachingChapter 27 How to Teach Introductory PhilosophyChapter 28 Taking Teaching SeriouslyChapter 29 Teaching Graduate Students to TeachChapter 30 Searching for Adminstrators: The Missing Step