Study of Philosophy

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.

Maintaining superb readability, the seventh edition adds key ingredients: more contemporary philosophy, impressive selections of primary sources, and excellent choices of additions within the chapters. There is much to commend in this newest edition.

• PART I PHILOSOPHY AND ITS BEGINNINGSChapter 1: The Nature and Scope of PhilosophyHow Philosophy and Science DifferHow Philosophy and Religion DifferPhilosophy’s Three Main Subject AreasPhilosophy’s Main MethodSummaryKey TermsReview QuestionsReading: “The Philosopher within You”—Andrew PessinChapter 2: It Began Here: The Pre-SocraticsThe Problem of BeingThalesAnaximanderAnaximenesThe Problem of BecomingParmenidesZenoHeraclitusThe Theory of Atomism: A SynthesisSummaryKey TermsReview QuestionsReading: “Ionian Science before Socrates”—F. M. CornfordReading: On the Nature of Things—LucretiusChapter 3: Socrates and PlatoThe SophistsSocrates the ManLife in Athens and Conquest by SpartaSocrates’ Chronicler: PlatoThe Dialogues: Socrates’ Trial and DeathEuthyphroApologyCritoPhaedoPlato’s FormsWhat Exactly Are Forms?Forms are Neither Perceivable, Changeable, Nor Even HereHow Many Forms Are There?One More Important ImplicationWhy Should We Believe in the Existence of Forms?Philosophers and Cave-PersonsSummaryKey TermsReview QuestionsReading: Apology—PlatoPART II PHILOSOPHY’S METHODChapter 4: Aristotle and the Science of LogicAristotleThe Sophists AgainThe Science of LogicLogic as the Study of ArgumentDistinguishing Arguments From Non-ArgumentsEliminating VerbiageSupplying Missing ComponentsDistinguishing Deductive and Inductive ArgumentsEvaluating Arguments: Truth, Validity, and SoundnessSome Classic Examples of Valid Deductive ArgumentsEvaluating Arguments: StrategySummaryKey TermsReview QuestionsReading: “What the Tortoise Said to Achilles”—Lewis CarrollReading: “Newcomb’s Problem and Two Principles of Choice”—Robert NozickChapter 5: Common FallaciesThe Fallacies of AmbiguityAmphibolyAccentEquivocationThe Fallacies of PresumptionOverlooking the FactsEvading the FactsDistorting the FactsFallacies of RelevanceGenetic FallacyAbusive ad HominemCircumstantial ad HominemTu QuoquePoisoning the WellSummaryKey TermsReview QuestionsReading: “A Mad Tea-Party”—Lewis CarrollPART III PHILOSOPHY’S MAIN QUESTIONSChapter 6: Ethics: What Are We Like, and What Should We Do?Aristotle’s EthicsGoodness and HappinessMoral VirtuesIntellectual VirtuesKant’s EthicsA Good WillThe Categorical ImperativeThe Role of ReasonThe Utilitarian TheoryJeremy BenthamJohn Stuart MillSome Criticisms of UtilitarianismSummaryKey TermsReview QuestionsReading: Nicomachean Ethics—AristotleReading: “Santa and Scrooge”—Andrew PessinReading: “Of what sort of Proof the Principle of Utility is Susceptible”—John Stuart MillReading: “The Experience Machine”—Robert NozickChapter 7: Religion: The Nature and Existence of GodA Brief History of Philosophical Theology, 427 B.C.E.–1600 C.E.Proofs for the Existence of GodSt. Anselm’s Ontological ArgumentSt. Thomas Aquinas’s Cosmological ArgumentsWilliam Paley’s Biological Teleological Argument Immanuel Kant’s Moral ArgumentBlaise Pascal’s Prudential ArgumentGod’s NatureGod’s PowerGod’s KnowledgeGod’s Goodness, and the Problem of EvilSummaryKey TermsReview QuestionsReading: “That God truly exists”—AnselmReading: From Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity—William PaleyReading: From City of God—AugustineReading: From “Abridgement of the Argument Reduced to Syllogistic Form”—G. W. LeibnizChapter 8: Epistemology and Metaphysics: The RationalistsBrief Overview of Early Modern PhilosophyRené DescartesDescartes’ DualismDescartes’ Theory of MindDescartes’ Theory of MatterBaruch SpinozaSpinoza’s Pantheism and MonismSpinoza’s Necessitarianism, Determinism, and EthicsGottfried Wilhelm von LeibnizLeibniz’s Monads and Pre-Established HarmonyThe Truth Argument for Pre-Established HarmonyRationalism, Intelligibility, and CausationRationalist Debates on the Nature of CausationSummaryKey TermsReview QuestionsReading: From Meditations on First Philosophy—René DescartesReading: “The Most Dangerous Error of the Philosophy of the Ancients”—Nicolas MalebrancheReading: From Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion—Nicolas MalebrancheReading: “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. LeibnizChapter 9: Epistemology and Metaphysics: The Empiricists and KantJohn LockeLocke’s Attack on NativismThe Structure and Contents of the Mind, and SubstanceThe Distinction Between Primary and Secondary Qualities George BerkeleyThree Lines of Argument Against Materialism and For IdealismIdealism, Materialism, and Common SenseSome Problems For IdealismDavid HumeRelations of Ideas and Matters of FactHume’s Critique of CausationHume’s Critique of Inductive Reasoning Immanuel KantThree Ways to Frame the DiscussionA First Pass through Kant’s AnswerFour Kinds of JudgmentsSynthetic A Priori JudgmentsHow is Mathematics Possible?How is Science Possible?Why Metaphysics is ImpossibleSummaryKey TermsReview QuestionsReading: From “First Dialogue”—George BerkeleyReading: “Sceptical Doubts concerning the Operations of the Understanding”—David HumePART IV CONTEMPORARY DIRECTIONSChapter 10: 20th-21st Century DevelopmentsExistentialismSøren Kierkegaard and Religious ExistentialismFriedrich Nietzsche and Nihilistic ExistentialismJean-Paul Sartre and Humanistic ExistentialismSome Developments in EthicsA. J. Ayer and Logical PositivismSome Developments in Philosophy of Religion Alvin Plantinga on Science and Theism Some Developments in EpistemologyThe Traditional Definition of KnowledgeThe Gettier ProblemSome Developments in MetaphysicsThe Attack on Descartes’ DualismConsciousness and DualismSummaryKey TermsReview QuestionsReading: “A Panegyric upon Abraham”—Sören KierkegaardReading: From Nausea—Jean-Paul SartreReading: “Critique of Ethics and Theology”—A. J. AyerReading: “Is Atheism Irrational?”—Alvin PlantingaReading: “What Mary Didn't Know”—Frank JacksonChapter 11: Contemporary Moral Problems, and Peter SingerPeter 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 PovertySummaryKey TermsReview QuestionsReading: “Of Duties to Animals …”—Immanuel KantReading: “Abortion and Infanticide” and “Taking Life: Humans”—Peter SingerReading: “Life after God? The Ethics of Peter Singer”—Peter MayGlossaryIndex