Exploring Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology

Exploring Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology, Third Edition, is a remarkably accessible and engaging introduction to philosophy. Steven M. Cahn brings together extraordinarily clear, recent essays by noted philosophers and supplements them with influential historical sources. Most importantly, the articles have been carefully edited to make them understandable to every reader. The topics are drawn from across the major fields of philosophy and include knowledge and skepticism, mind and body, freedom and determinism, the existence of God, the problem of evil, ethical reasoning, abortion, euthansia, world hunger, democracy, capital punishment, affirmative action, and the meaning of life. The readings are enhanced by concise introductions, explanatory notes, and suggestions for further reading. Featuring twenty-two new selections, the third edition has been expanded to include a separate section on free will containing articles by A.J. Ayer, Steven M. Cahn, Harry Frankfurt, Thomas Nagel, and Richard Taylor.It offers two sections on morality - Moral Theory and Moral Problems - with new selections by John Arthur, Virginia Held, Don Marquis, Bernard Mayo, Peter Singer, Judith Jarvis Thomson, and Christine Vitrano. This edition also adds historical sources by St. Anselm, William James, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, as well as contemporary essays by A.J. Ayer, Steven M. Cahn, Nicholas Everitt, Edmund L. Gettier, Carl G. Hempel, Alan Turing, and Ernest van den Haag.

Table of Contents:
1. INTRODUCTION; What Is Philosophy?, Monroe C. Beardsley and Elizabeth Lane Beardsley; HISTORICAL SOURCE; Defence of Socrates, Plato; 2. REASONING; The Scope of Logic, Wesley C. Salmon; Improving Your Thinking, Stephen F. Barker; Fixing Belief, Morris R. Cohen and Ernest Nagel; * Scientific Inquiry, Carl G. Hempel; Science and Common Sense, Ernest Nagel; 3. KNOWLEDGE; Appearance and Reality, Bertrand Russell; What Can I Know?, D. Z. Phillips; Knowledge and Belief, Norman Malcolm; The Problem of Induction, Bertrand Russell; Will the Future Be Like the Past?, Frederick L. Will; * What is Knowledge?, A. J. Ayer; * Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?, Edmund L. Gettier; HISTORICAL SOURCES; Meno, Plato; Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes; An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume; 4. MIND; The Ghost in the Machine, Gilbert Ryle; The Mind as a Function of the Body, Richard Taylor; What Is It Like to Be a Bat?, Thomas Nagel; * Computers and Intelligence, Alan Turing; Do Computers Think?, John Searle; HISTORICAL SOURCE; Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes; * 5. FREE WILL; * Free Will, Thomas Nagel; * Freedom and Determinism, Richard Taylor; * Freedom and Necessity, A. J. Ayer; * Free Will or Determinism?, Steven M. Cahn; * Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility, Harry Frankfurt; HISTORICAL SOURCE; An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume; 6. GOD; Does God Exist?, Ernest Nagel ; Why God Allows Evil, Richard Swinburne; Theology and Falsification, Antony Flew and Basil Mitchell; Do Miracles Occur?, Monroe C. Beardsley and Elizabeth Lane Beardsley; Pascal's Wager, Simon Blackburn; The Hiddenness of God, Robert McKim; * God and Science, Nicholas Everitt; * God and Morality, Steven M. Cahn; HISTORICAL SOURCES; * Proslogion, St. Anselm; Summa Theologiae, Saint Thomas Aquinas; An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume; * The Will to Believe, William James; 7. MORAL THEORY; The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, James Rachels; How Not to Answer Moral Questions, Tom Regan; The Nature of Ethical Disagreement, Charles L. Stevenson; A Supreme Moral Principle?, Steven M. Cahn; * Happiness and Morality, Christine Vitrano; * Virtue Ethics, Bernard Mayo; * The Ethics of Care, Virginia Held; HISTORICAL SOURCES; Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle; Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant; Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill; 8. MORAL PROBLEMS; * A Defense of Abortion, Judith Jarvis Thomson; * Why Abortion Is Immoral, Don Marquis; Active and Passive Euthanasia, James Rachels; Active and Passive Euthanasia: A Reply, Thomas D. Sullivan; * Famine, Affluence, and Morality, Peter Singer; * World Hunger and Moral Obligation, John Arthur; 9. SOCIETY; Democracy, John Dewey; Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr; Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands, Michael Walzer; * In Defense of the Death Penalty, Ernest van den Haag; Capital Punishment, Hugo Adam Bedau; Two Concepts of Affirmative Action, Steven M. Cahn; Are Quotas Sometimes Justified?, James Rachels; What Is a Liberal Education?, Sidney Hook; HISTORICAL SOURCES; Crito, Plato; On Liberty, John Stuart Mill; * The Solitude of Self, Elizabeth Cady Stanton; 10. CONCLUSION; The Meaning of Life, Richard Taylor; The Value of Philosophy, Bertrand Russell; HISTORICAL SOURCE; Phaedo, Plato

Review :
"Exploring Philosophy is a wonderful achievement and a significant contribution to philosophical pedagogy. . . . Cahn's choice of articles is superb and clearly reflects the choice of someone with years of experience engaging students in philosophy. . . . The book contains a balanced mix of authors, an even-handed treatment of the issues, rigorous yet accessible articles that are appropriately introduced by the editor, and is far more affordable than most college texts."--Laurence Carlin, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh "Exploring Philosophy demonstrates an uncommon achievement in the editing of anthologies--a genuinely good read. . . . I recommend this work highly for its emphasis upon and selection of original sources; the quality of philosophical argument addressed; and the accessibility of the argument(s) for the undergraduate."--Eleanor F. Katz, Orange Coast College