Problems from Philosophy with PowerWeb: Philosophy

"This book is an introduction to some of the main problems of philosophy--God, mind, freedom, knowledge, and ethics. The chapters may be read independently of one another. But when read in order, they tell a more or less continuous story. We begin with some reflections about the legacy of Socrates and then go on to the existence of God, which is perhaps the most basic philosophical question of all because our answer to it influences how we will answer all the others. This leads naturally to a discussion of death and the soul, and then to more modern ideas about the nature of persons. The later chapters are about whether it is possible for us to have objective knowledge in either science or ethics." James Rachels, from the Preface Problems from Philosophy and The Truth About the World: Basic Readings in Philosophy are at once James Rachels' newest contributions to philosophy and his last. In these two books, Rachels found a culminating expression for his love of philosophy.

Table of Contents:
PrefaceChapter 1: The Legacy of Socrates1.1. Why Was Socrates Condemned?1.2. Why Did Socrates Believe He Had to Die?Chapter 2: God and the Origin of the Universe2.1. Is It Reasonable to Believe in God?2.2. The Argument from Design2.3. Evolution and Intelligent Design2.4. The First Cause Argument2.5. The Idea that God Is a Necessary BeingChapter 3: The Problem of Evil3.1. Why Do Good People Suffer?3.2. God and Evil3.3. Free Will and Moral CharacterChapter 4: Do We Survive Death?4.1. The Idea of an Immortal Soul4.2. Is There Any Credible Evidence of an Afterlife?4.3. Hume's Argument Against MiraclesChapter 5: The Problem of Personal Identity5.1. The Problem5.2. Bodily Continuity5.3. Memory5.4. The Bundle TheoryChapter 6: Body and Mind6.1. Descartes and Elizabeth6.2. Materialist Theories of the Mind6.3. Doubts About Materialist TheoriesChapter 7: Could a Machine Think?7.1. Brains and Computers7.2. An Argument that Machines Could Think7.3. The Turing Test7.4. Why the Turing Test FailsChapter 8: The Case Against Free Will8.1. Are People Responsible for What They Do?8.2. Determinism8.3. Psychology8.4. Genes and BehaviorChapter 9: The Debate Over Free Will9.1. The Determinist Argument9.2. The Libertarian Response9.3. The Compatibilist Response9.4. Ethics and Free WillChapter 10: Our Knowledge of the World Around Us10.1. The Brain in the Vat10.2. Descartes' Problem10.3. Three Other Attempts to Solve the Problem10.4. Vision and the Brain10.5. The Natural TheoryChapter 11: Ethics and Objectivity11.1. Thrasymachus's Challenge11.2. Is Ethics Just a Matter of Social Conventions?11.3. Ethics and Science11.4. The Importance of Human InterestsChapter 12: Why Should We Be Moral?12.1. The Ring of Gyges12.2. Ethics and Religion12.3. The Social Contract12.4. Morality and BenevolenceChapter 13: The Meaning of Life13.1. The Problem of the Point of View13.2. Happiness13.3. Death13.4. Religion and the Indifferent Universe13.5. The Meaning of Particular LivesAppendix: How to Evaluate ArgumentsSuggestions for Further ReadingNotes on Sources

About the Author :
James Rachels, the distinguished American moral philosopher, was born in Columbus, Georgia, graduating from Mercer University in Macon in 1962. He received his Ph.D. in 1967 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He taught at the University of Richmond, New York University, the University of Miami, Duke University, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he spent the last twenty-six years of his career. 1971 saw the publication of Rachels groundbreaking textbook Moral Problems, which ignited the movement in America away from teaching ethical theory towards teaching concrete practical issues. Moral Problems sold 100,000 copies over three editions. In 1975, Rachels wrote Active and Passive Euthanasia, arguing that the distinction so important in the law between killing and letting die has no rational basis. Originally appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine, this essay has been reprinted roughly 300 times and is a staple of undergraduate education. The End of Life (1986) was about the morality of killing and the value of life. Created from Animals (1990) argued that a Darwinian world-view has widespread philosophical implications, including drastic implications for our treatment of nonhuman animals. Can Ethics Provide Answers? (1997) was Rachels first collection of papers (others are expected posthumously). Rachels McGraw-Hill textbook, The Elements of Moral Philosophy, is now in its fourth edition and is easily the best-selling book of its kind.Over his career, Rachels wrote 5 books and 85 essays, edited 7 books and gave about 275 professional lectures. His work has been translated into Dutch, Italian, Japanese, and Serbo-Croatian. James Rachels is widely admired as a stylist, as his prose is remarkably free of jargon and clutter. A major theme in his work is that reason can resolve difficult moral issues. He has given reasons for moral vegetarianism and animal rights, for affirmative action (including quotas), for the humanitarian use of euthanasia, and for the idea that parents owe as much moral consideration to other peoples children as they do to their own. James Rachels died of cancer on September 5th, 2003, in Birmingham, Alabama.