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Tom Morris. Philosophy For Dummies
Philosophy For Dummies® To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Philosophy For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box. Table of Contents
List of Tables
Guide
Pages
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
What Is Philosophy, Anyway?
Great Thinkers, Deep Thoughts
Listening to the critics
NOT EXACTLY FANS OF PHILOSOPHY
Consulting Socrates on What Counts
Asking The Deeper Questions
Philosophy as an Activity
Adventuring for the Mind
Mapping Our Way Forward
Understanding the Power of Belief
The image of Plato’s Cave
The philosophical Houdini
PLATO AS THE SOURCE
The Love of Wisdom
Identifying Some Skills of Philosophy
Mastering analysis
Improving assessment
Using argument
EXPLORING REASON
UNDERSTANDING THE DANGERS OF ARGUMENT: A GUIDE
Seeing How Wisdom Rules
Embarking on the Socratic Quest for Wisdom
How Do We Know Anything?
Belief, Truth, and Knowledge
Understanding Belief
The Importance of Belief
SUPERSTITION: A TRUE STORY
The Ideal of Knowledge
PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS
The truth about truth
The complete definition of knowledge
FAMOUS LAST WORDS: A RANDOM SAMPLE
Truth and rationality
THE GREAT THINKERS ON OUR TENDENCIES TO BELIEVE
LOGIC 101: AN INTERLUDE
The Challenge of Skepticism
Introducing the Ancient Art of Doubt
THE DOGMATIC NAYSAYERS
Asking Questions We Can’t Answer
The questions of source skepticism
GOOD MIND, BAD MEMORY
Memory
Testimony
Sense experience
Conclusions about source skepticism
The questions of radical skepticism
Radical skepticism about the past
Radical skepticism about the present
DESCARTES: REBEL WITHOUT A PAUSE
Radical skepticism about the future
What the skeptics show us
When it’s good to doubt your doubts
Where Do You Go from Here?
The Amazing Reality of Basic Beliefs
The Foundations of Knowledge
Empiricism and rationalism
JOHN LOCKE
What’s lurking at the foundations
Evidentialism
THE QUEST FOR CERTAINTY
THE IMPORTANCE OF EVIDENCE
The Principle of Belief Conservation
Belief conservation and radical skepticism
Belief conservation and source skepticism
The basic status of belief conservation
Evidentialism refuted and revised
William James on Precursive Faith
Leaps of Faith
What Is the Good?
What’s Good?
Looking at Ethics and Morality
Defining the Good
Evaluating Three Views on Evaluation
The philosophy of noncognitivism: The boo/yay theory
Ethical subjectivism
Moral objectivism
Evaluative objectivism
Objectivism and the moral skeptic
Taking Teleological Target Practice
Happiness, Excellence, and the Good Life
Memo to the Modern World
Exploring The Idea of Good
Divine command theory
Social contract theory
Utilitarianism
Deontological theory
Sociobiological theory
Virtue theory
Four Dimensions of Human Experience
The intellectual dimension
The aesthetic dimension
The moral dimension
The spiritual dimension
TWO SIDES OF MORALITY
The ultimate context of good
Ethical Rules and Moral Character
Weighing Rules and Virtues
The Golden Rule and what it means
THE FAMOUS GOLDEN RULE: SAMPLE STATEMENTS
The precise role of the Golden Rule
Character, wisdom, and virtue
SOME THOUGHTS ON CHARACTER
CAN VIRTUES CONFLICT?
Teaching the Path of Goodness
Who am I? — A test of character
What should I do? — A test of action
The answer to the question
Are We Ever Really Free?
Fate, Destiny, and You
Appreciating Free Will
Revealing the Theological Challenge
Considering the Logical Challenge
FATE
Determining the Scientific Challenge
Standard Views of Freedom
Pondering God, Logic, and Free Will
The theological challenge answered
The Logical Challenge answered
Taking on The Scientific Challenge
Scientific determinists
Metaphysical libertarians
Compatibilism
The incredible tale of Dr. Delusion
The moral of the story
Which approach is the right one?
Doing: Human Agency in the World
Gaining Wisdom on Freedom
Being an Agent and Getting Your Due
The Incredible, Invisible You
What Is a Person?
Learning about Guitars and Ghosts
Glimpses of the Mind
Views of the Person
Monism
Dualism
BISHOP BERKELEY
The Contenders
Interactionism
Epiphenomenalism
Parallelism
Narrowing the Options
The Case for Materialism
Analyzing The Positive Arguments
The man-is-an-animal argument
MAN THE ANIMAL
The artificial intelligence argument
The brain chemistry argument
Considering The Negative Arguments
The superfluity argument
The mystery objection
The problem of other minds
Arriving at a Verdict on the Materialist Case
The Case for Dualism
Examining Dualism
Being a Soul, Man
The introspection argument
The discernibility argument
DIVERGENT VIEWPOINTS: A RANDOM SAMPLE
The Cartesian argument
The Platonic argument
The parapsychology argument
Needing More Evidence
What’s the Deal with Death?
From Dust to Dust: Fear and the Void
Exiting Life and the Four Fears
SOME FAMOUS LAST WORDS
Fear of the process of dying
Fear of punishment
Fear of the unknown
Fear of annihilation
Philosophical Consolations on Death
Calming Us, Philosophically
The stoic response to fear of the process
DEATH AS A NATURAL PART OF LIFE
The Natural Process Argument
The Necessity Argument
The Agnostic Argument
The Two Eternities Argument
Epicurus’ argument
Considering Materialist Consolations
Social immortality
Cultural immortality
Cosmic immortality
Scientific immortality
Is There Life after Death?
Considering Doubts and Denials
The psychological origin argument
The silence argument
The trumpet analogy argument
The brain damage argument
SOME POSITIVE VIEWS OF OUR PROSPECTS
Identifying Arguments for Survival
Plato’s indestructibility argument
The nature analogy argument
The argument from desire
Moral arguments
Seeing Light at the End of the Tunnel
Claims of former lives
Apparent contact with the dead
Near-death experiences
Is There a God?
Two Worldviews
Finding a Lost Beach Ball
The Great Divide
PHILOSOPHERS WITHOUT BEACH BALLS SPEAK OUT
The mainline theistic worldview
The naturalistic worldview
SKEPTICAL WARNINGS ON MAKING GOD IN OUR IMAGE
How the two worldviews compare
The Great Debate
Theistic Visions
Reasoning to God’s Existence
The Ontological Argument
Cosmology and God
THE PRINCIPLE OF SUFFICIENT REASON
Living in a Designer Universe
Having Experience Beyond Argument
NOVELIST REYNOLDS PRICE SPEAKS OUT
The Problem of Evil
Expecting Things of a God
Understanding the Problem
The main argument against theism
The alleged incompatibility of God and evil
Moral justification for allowing evil
Moral justification and the atheist’s argument
The theist’s claim
Considering The Great Theodicies
The punishment theodicy
The extreme version: All suffering is punishment for sin
The limited version: Some evil is punishment for wrongdoing
The free will theodicy
The extreme version: All evil is the result of the misuse of free will by God’s creatures
The limited version: Some evil is justifiably allowed as the price of free will
The soul-making theodicy
The extreme version: All evil is necessary for the great enterprise of soul-making
The limited version: Some evil is necessary, or necessarily allowed, for the great enterprise of soul-making
A fourth and combination theodicy
Exploring the Element of Mystery
The Meaning of Life
What Is the Meaning of Life?
Asking Critical Questions
Pondering Meaning and This World
Nihilism: The ultimate negativity
The Do-It-Yourself Approach to the meaning of life
Pairing Meaning and God
PHILOSOPHICAL COMMENTS ON GOD AND MEANING
Pascal’s Wager: Betting Your Life
Introducing Pascal: Philosopher-Genius
Wagering like Pascal
PASCAL’S NIGHT OF FIRE
Criticizing the Wager
The immorality objection
The probability assignment objection
The many claimants objection
CRAZY PROMISES OF ETERNAL REWARD
The single case objection
Choosing a Worldview Right for You
Success and Happiness in Life
Finding Enough in The Race for More
SUCCESS RUINS A STAR
Aiming for True Success
Mastering the Conditions of Success
THE GREATEST ADVICE FROM PHILOSOPHERS
A clear conception of what we want, a vivid vision, a goal clearly imagined
A strong confidence that we can attain the goal
A focused concentration on what it takes to reach the goal
A stubborn consistency in pursuing our vision
An emotional commitment to the importance of what we’re doing
A good character to guide us and keep us on a proper course
A capacity to enjoy the process along the way
ACTOR GEENA DAVIS ON MEANING AND SUCCESS
Concluding with a Note on Happiness
The Part of Tens
Ten Great Philosophers
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle
Saint Thomas Aquinas
William of Ockham
René Descartes
Immanuel Kant
G.W.F. Hegel
Soren Kierkegaard
Bertrand Russell
Ten Great Questions
Is Philosophy Practical?
Can We Ever Really Know Anything?
Is There Ultimately an Objectivity to Ethics?
Who Am I?
Is Happiness Really Possible in Our World?
Is There, After All, a God?
What Is the Good Life?
Why Is So Much Suffering in the World?
Does a Tree Falling Solo Make a Sound?
BISHOP BERKELEY SPEAKS
What’s Stronger: Reason or its Opposite?
Index. A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
About the Author
Dedication
Author’s Acknowledgments
WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
