This Is Philosophy

Оглавление

Steven D. Hales. This Is Philosophy

THIS IS PHILOSOPHY

THIS IS PHILOSOPHY. AN INTRODUCTION, SECOND EDITION

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Guide

Pages

PREFACE FOR INSTRUCTORS

PREFACE FOR STUDENTS

Website Links

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

1 ETHICS: PRELIMINARY VIEWS:

1.1 Is Morality Just Acting on Principles?

1.2 Divine Command Theory (Is Morality Just What God Tells Me to Do?)

1.3 Egoism (Is Morality Just My Own Personal Code?)

Objection 1: horrible consequences

Objection 2: subjectivity

Objection 3: equal treatment

1.4 Moral Relativism (Is Morality Just How Society Says We Should Act?)

Annotated Bibliography

Website Links

2 ETHICS: THE BIG THREE THEORIES

2.1 Utilitarianism (Is Morality Doing What I Can to Make This the Best World Possible?)

2.1.1 Measuring Pains and Pleasures

2.1.2 Quality and Quantity

2.1.3 Objections to Utilitarianism

2.2 Deontology, or Kantianism (Is There an Absolute Moral Law?)

2.2.1 Inconsistency

2.2.2 Inconsistent Willing

2.3 Objections

2.4 Virtue Ethics (Is Morality all about Having a Virtuous Character?)

2.5 Objections. Objection 1: virtue ethics collapses to either utilitarianism or deontology

Objection 2: clashing virtues

Objection 3: relativism about virtues

Objection 4: there is no such thing as character

Conclusion

Annotated bibliography

Website Links

3. GOD

3.1 The Attributes of God

3.2 Why There is a God. 3.2.1 The Argument from Scripture

3.2.2 The Ontological Argument

Objection 1: the fool’s response

Objection 2: a reverse parody

Objection 3: existence is not a property

3.2.3 The Cosmological Argument

Objection 1: the cause of god?

Objection 2: problem of the attributes

Objection 3: alternative scientific explanations

3.2.4 The Teleological Argument or the Argument from Design

Objection 1: weaknesses in the watch analogy

Objection 2: alternative scientific explanations

Objection 3: problem of the attributes

Objection 4: problem of uniqueness

Objection 5: explaining the complexity of god

3.2.5 Pascal’s Wager

Objection 1: unforced wagering

Objection 2: the odds of God

Objection 3: assumes loads of christian theology without argument

Objection 4: the value of your life

Objection 5: an alternate ending

Objection 6: the problem of other gods

Objection 7: the involuntarism of belief and self-deception

3.3 Why There is No God

3.3.1 Proving a Negative

3.3.2 The Argument from Religious Pluralism

3.3.3 The Problem of Evil

Objection 1: just give up an attribute

Objection 2: it’s all part of god’s greater plan

Objection 3: free will

3.4 Atheist Responses to the Free Will Defense. Response 1: moral vs. natural evil

Response 2: what’s the value of free will?

Response 3: the irresponsible owner

Response 4: why doesn’t god intervene?

Conclusion

Note

Annotated Bibliography

Website Links

4. FREEDOM

4.1 Against Free Will, Part 1: Divine Foreknowledge

Objection 1: atheism and agnosticism

Objection 2: Aristotle’s answer

4.2 Against Free Will, Part 2: A Regress of Reasons for Acting

4.3 Against Free Will, Part 3: Determinism and the Dilemma Argument

4.4 The Incompatibilist Argument

4.5 The Dilemma Argument Against Free Will

4.6 Free Will and Moral Responsibility

4.7 Agent Causation

4.8 Compatibilism

4.9 The Feeling of Freedom

Conclusion

Annotated bibliography

Website Links

5. SELF

5.1 Preliminary Positions

5.1.1 The Luz Bone

5.1.2 Fingerprints

5.1.3 DNA

5.2 The Soul Criterion

5.2.1 Soul1: Soul = Mind

5.2.2 Soul2: Soul = Ghost

5.2.3 Soul3: Soul = Vitalist Force

5.2.4 Soul4: Soul = Supernatural Stuff

5.3 Objections. Objection 1: definition

Objection 2: evidence

Objection 3: identification

5.4 The Physicalist Criterion

5.5 The Psychological Criterion

The Case of Phineas Gage

5.6 The Bundle Theory

Conclusion

Annotated Bibliography

Website Links

6. MIND

6.1 First Theory of the Mind: Substance Dualism

Objection 1: conceivability and possibility

Objection 2: the mind-body problem

Objection 3: other minds

6.2 Second Theory of the Mind: Behaviorism

6.3 Third Theory of the Mind: Mind-brain Identity Theory

Objection 1: the subjectivity of experience

Objection 2: multiple realizability

6.4 Fourth Theory of the Mind: Functionalism

Objection 1: emotions, feelings, and sensations

Replies to Objection 1

Objection 2: creativity

Reply to Objection 2

Objection 3:The Chinese Room46

Conclusion

Annotated Bibliography

Website Links

7. KNOWLEDGE

7.1 The Value of Truth

7.2 The Value of Evidence

7.2.1 How Much Evidence do we Need? Part 1: We Need a Lot

7.2.2 How Much Evidence do we Need? Part 2: Go On, Take a Chance

7.3 The Sources of Evidence

7.4 The Nature of Knowledge

7.5 The Skeptic’s Challenge

7.5.1 Dreamers, Demons, and Movies

7.5.2 The Theater of the Mind

7.5.3 The Counterfeit Detector

Annotated Bibliography

Website Links

8. POLITICS

8.1 State of Nature

8.2 Anarchy

8.3 Contractarianism

8.4 Leviathan and the Philosopher Kings

8.5 The Minimal State

8.6 The Liberal State

Conclusion

Annotated Bibliography

Website Links

POSTSCRIPT

INDEX

WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

Отрывок из книги

Series editor: Steven D. Hales

Reading philosophy can be like trying to ride a bucking bronco–you hold on for dear life while “transcendental deduction” twists you to one side, “causa sui” throws you to the other, and a 300‐word, 300‐year‐old sentence comes down on you like an iron‐shod hoof the size of a dinner plate. This Is Philosophy is the riding academy that solves these problems. Each book in the series is written by an expert who knows how to gently guide students into the subject regardless of the reader’s ability or previous level of knowledge. Their reader‐friendly prose is designed to help students find their way into the fascinating, challenging ideas that compose philosophy without simply sticking the hapless novice on the back of the bronco, as so many texts do. All the books in the series provide ample pedagogical aids, including links to free online primary sources. When students are ready to take the next step in their philosophical education, This Is Philosophy is right there with them to help them along the way.

.....

McGinnis certainly did not act in his own self-interest. He received no benefit at all from his heroism, and even the Medal of Honor is cold comfort to his grieving family, who would have much preferred the safe return of their son. It is an understatement to observe that the value of his gift–saving the lives of four fellow soldiers–was greater than what he got in return, which was merely death.

You might be inclined to argue that McGinnis is a rare exception, and that heroic self-sacrifice is far from the norm. Maybe psychological egoism isn’t true of every human being ever to live, but it could still be true of the vast majority. You might think that nearly everyone always acts in their own self-interest. Yet even this modified claim of predominant egoism is apparently false.

.....