Classic Philosophical Questions, 14th edition

IN THIS SECTION:

1. BRIEF
2. COMPREHENSIVE

BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Part 1: Socrates and the Nature of Philosophy
• Part 2: Philosophy of Religion
• Part 3: Ethics
• Part 4: Knowledge
• Part 5: Metaphysics
• Part 6: Social and Political Philosophy
• Part 7: Aesthetics
• Part 8: Philosophy and the Good Life

COMPREHENSIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Part 1: Socrates and the Nature of Philosophy

• What is Philosophy?
  • The Euthyphro: Defining Philosophical Terms
  • The Apology: Socrates’ Trial and Defense
  • The Crito: Socrates’ Refusal to Escape
  • The Phaedo: Virtue and Socrates’ View of Death

Part 2: Philosophy of Religion

• Can We Prove That God Exists?
  • St. Anselm: The Ontological Argument
  • St. Thomas Aquinas: The Cosmological Argument
  • William Paley: The Teleological Argument
  • Blaise Pascal: It is Better to Believe in God's Existence Than to Deny it.
• Does the Idea of a Good God Exclude Evil?
  • Boethius: God Can Allow Some Evil.
  • David Hume: A Good God Would Exclude Evil.
  • John Hick: Evil, Human Freedom and Moral Development

Part 3: Ethics

• Are Ethics Relative?
  • Ruth Benedict: Ethics Are Relative
  • W. T. Stace: Ethics Are Not Relative
• Are Humans Always Selfish?
  • Humans Are Always Selfish: Glaucon's Challenge to Socrates
  • James Rachels: Humans Are Not Always Selfish
• Which is Basic in Ethics: Happiness or Obligation?
  • Aristotle: Happiness Is Living Virtuously
  • Jeremy Bentham: Happiness Is Seeking the Greatest Pleasure for the Greatest Number of People
  • Immanuel Kant: Duty Is Prior to Happiness
  • Friedrich Nietzsche: Happiness Is Having Power
  • Jean-Paul Sartre: Existentialist Ethics
  • Virginia Held: Feminist Ethics Are Different

Part 4: Knowledge

• What is Knowledge?
  • Plato: Knowledge Is “Warranted True Belief”
• What Method is Best For Acquiring Knowledge?
  • Charles Sanders Peirce: Four Approaches to Philosophy
• How Do We Acquire Knowledge?
  • René Descartes: Knowledge Is Not Ultimately Sense Knowledge
  • John Locke: Knowledge is Ultimately Sensed
  • Immanuel Kant: Knowledge Is Both Rational and Empirical.
• How Is Truth Established?
  • Bertrand Russell: Truth Is Established By Correspondence
  • Brand Blanshard: Truth Means Coherence
  • William James: Truth Is Established by Pragmatic Means
• Can We Know the Nature of Causal Relations?
  • David Hume: Cause Means Regular Association
  • David Hume: There Are No Possible Grounds for Induction

Part 5: Metaphysics

• Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
  • Parmenides: Being Is Uncaused
  • Lao-Tzu: Non-Being Is the Source of Being
• Is Reality General Or Particular?
  • Plato: Universals Are Real
  • David Hume: Particulars Are Real
• Of What Does Reality Consist?
  • René Descartes: Reality Consists of Mind and Matter
  • Paul Churchland: Reality Consists of Matter
  • George Berkeley: Reality Consists of Ideas
  • John Dewey: Reality Consists of Mental and Physical Qualities
• Are Humans Free?
  • Holbach: Humans Are Determined
  • John Stuart Mill: Determinism and Freedom Are Compatible
  • Richard Taylor: Humans Are Free
• Do Humans Have an Identical Self?
  • John Locke: Humans Beings Have an Identical Self
  • David Hume: Human Beings Have No Identical Self
• Is There Life After Death?
  • Plato: The Soul is Immortal and Imperishable
  • Joseph Butler: Human Beings Survive Death
  • David Hume: Life After Death Is Philosophically Unprovable

Part 6: Social and Political Philosophy

• What is Liberty?
  • Fyodor Dostoevski: Liberty and Authority
  • John Stuart Mill: Liberty is Independence from the Majority's Tyranny
  • Martin Luther King Jr.: Liberty and Racial Prejudice
  • Simone de Beauvoir: Women's Liberation.
• Which Government is Best?
  • Thomas Hobbes: Monarchy Is Best
  • John Locke: Democracy Is Best
  • Karl Marx: Communism and Nonalienated Labor Is Best
  • Benjamin Barber: ‘Strong Democracy’ Is Best

Part 7: Aesthetics

• What Constitutes The Experience of Beauty?
  • Plotinus: Beauty, Sensuous and Ideal
• What is the Function of Art?
  • Aristotle: The Nature of Tragedy
  • Henri Bergson: The Nature of Comedy

Part 8: Philosophy and the Good Life

• Two Classic Views of the Good Life
  • Epicurus and the Pleasant Life
  • Epictetus and the Life of Self-Control
• What Gives Life Meaning?
  • Leo Tolstoy: Faith Provides Life's Meaning
  • Albert Camus: Life's Meaning Is Determined by Each Individual
• What Is the Value Of Philosophy?
  • Bertrand Russell: The Value of Philosophy to Individual Life.
  • John Dewey: The Value of Philosophy to Society

Glossary