About the Book
Praised for its unique combination of accessibility and comprehensiveness, Philosophy: The Quest for Truth is one of the best-selling textbooks for the introduction to philosophy course. Now in its eighth edition, this acclaimed text provides an excellent selection of eighty-nine classical and contemporary readings on nineteen key problems in philosophy. Coeditors Louis P. Pojman and Lewis Vaughn have carefully organized the essays so that they present pro/con dialogues that allow students to compare and contrast the philosophers' positions. Topics covered include the nature of philosophy, logic, the existence of God, immortality, knowledge, the mind-body question, personal identity, free will and determinism, ethics, political philosophy, the meaning of life, abortion, capital punishment, global ethics, and animal rights. Each of the eighty-nine readings is accompanied by study questions, end-of-reading reflective questions, and an individual introduction featuring a biographical sketch of the philosopher. A detailed glossary of key terms and an appendix on reading and writing philosophy papers-both revised and updated in this edition-further enhance the text's pedagogical value.
In addition, each major section opens with a substantial introduction and ends with a short bibliography. NEW TO THIS EDITION: * Eleven new selections from Plato, David Hume, Wesley C. Salmon, Ned Block, Buddhist scripture, Peter van Inwagen, Louis P. Pojman, Virginia Held, Julian Baggini, Peter Singer, and Garrett Hardin * Two new sections: "Induction" in Part III: Knowledge and "Do We Have Obligations to the Poor and Hungry?" in Part IX: Contemporary Moral Problems * An expanded "A Little Bit of Logic" section that offers students more help in identifying and evaluating arguments * Boldfaced key terms, listed at the end of most parts and collected and defined in the fully revised glossary * A revised and expanded appendix on "How to Read and Write Philosophy Papers" * A Time Line highlighting the philosophers included in the text An Instructor's Manual and Test Bank on CD includes sample syllabi, selection summaries, a list of key terms with definitions, helpful web links, and multiple-choice, true/false, and essay questions on each reading. A Companion Website at www.oup.com/us/pojman contains the material from the Instructor's Manual along with student resources including essay questions, interactive quizzes, flashcards, and additional web links.
Table of Contents:
EACH PART OPENS WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND ENDS WITH KEY TERMS (NEW TO THIS EDITION) AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING. ; *=NEW TO THIS EDITION ; PREFACE ; * TIME LINE ; I. WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? ; 1. Plato: Socratic Wisdom ; * 2. Plato: The Allegory of the Cave ; 3. John Locke: Of Enthusiasm and the Quest for Truth ; 4. Bertrand Russell: The Value of Philosophy ; EXCURSUS: A LITTLE BIT OF LOGIC ; II. PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION ; II A. IS BELIEF IN GOD RATIONALLY JUSTIFIED? ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD ; 5. Thomas Aquinas: The Five Ways ; 6. William Lane Craig: The Kalam Cosmological Argument and the Anthropic Principle ; 7. Paul Edwards: A Critique of the Cosmological Argument ; 8. William Paley: The Watch and the Watchmaker ; 9. David Hume: A Critique of the Teleological Argument ; 10. St. Anselm and Gaunilo: The Ontological Argument ; 11. William Rowe: An Analysis of the Ontological Argument ; II.B. WHY IS THERE EVIL? ; 12. Fyodor Dostoevsky: Why Is There Evil? ; 13. B.C. Johnson: Why Doesn't God Intervene to Prevent Evil? ; 14. John Hick: There Is a Reason Why God Allows Evil ; II.C. IS FAITH COMPATIBLE WITH REASON? ; 15. Blaise Pascal: Yes, Faith Is a Logical Bet ; 16. W.K. Clifford: The Ethics of Belief ; 17. William James: The Will to Believe ; 18. Antony Flew, R.M. Hare, and Basil Mitchell: A Debate on the Rationality of Religious Belief ; 19. Alvin Plantinga: Religious Belief Without Evidence ; 20. Soren Kierkegaard: Faith and Truth ; 21. Michael Martin: Holy Spirit Epistemology ; 22. Bertrand Russell: Can Religion Cure Our Troubles? ; III. KNOWLEDGE ; III.A. WHAT CAN WE KNOW? CLASSICAL THEORIES OF KNOWLEDGE ; 23. Rene Descartes: Cartesian Doubt and the Search for Foundational Knowledge ; 24. John Locke: The Empiricist Theory of Knowledge ; 25. George Berkeley: An Idealist Theory of Knowledge ; 26. David Hume: The Origin of Our Ideas ; 27. John Hospers: An Argument Against Skepticism ; III.B. TRUTH, RATIONALITY, AND COGNITIVE RELATIVISM ; 28. Bertrand Russell: The Correspondence Theory of Truth ; 29. William James: The Pragmatic Theory of Truth ; 30. Richard Rorty: Dismantling Truth: Solidarity versus Objectivity ; 31. Daniel Dennett: Postmodernism and Truth ; 32. Harvey Siegel: Relativism ; * III.C. INDUCTION ; * 33. David Hume: Skeptical Doubts Concerning the Operations of the Understanding ; * 34. Wesley C. Salmon: The Problem of Induction ; IV. PHILOSOPHY OF MIND: THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM ; IV.A. WHAT AM I? A MIND OR A BODY? ; 35. Rene Descartes: Substance Dualism ; 36. Gilbert Ryle: Exorcising Descartes' "Ghost in the Machine" ; 37. J.P. Moreland: A Contemporary Defense of Dualism ; 38. Paul Churchland: On Functionalism and Materialism ; 39. Thomas Nagel: What Is It Like to Be a Bat? ; 40. Jerry A. Fodor: The Mind-Body Problem ; 41. David Chalmers: Property Dualism ; 42. John Searle: Minds, Brains, and Computers ; * 43. Ned Block: Troubles with Functionalism ; IV.B. WHO AM I? DO WE HAVE PERSONAL IDENTITY? ; 44. John Locke: Our Psychological Properties Define the Self ; 45. David Hume: We Have No Substantial Self with Which We Are Identical ; * 46. Buddhist Scripture: Questions to King Milinda ; IV.C. IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH? AM I IMMORTAL? ; 47. Plato: Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul ; 48. Paul Edwards: An Argument Against Survival: The Dependence of Consciousness on the Brain ; 49. John Hick: In Defense of Immortality ; V. FREEDOM OF THE WILL AND DETERMINISM ; 50. Baron d'Holbach: We Are Completely Determined ; 51. William James: The Dilemma of Determinism ; * 52. Peter van Inwagen: The Powers of Rational Beings: Freedom of the Will ; 53. Roderick M. Chisholm: Human Freedom and the Self ; 54. W.T. Stace: Compatibilism ; 55. Harry Frankfurt: Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person ; 56. David Hume: Liberty and Necessity ; 57. Richard Taylor: Fate ; VI. ETHICS ; VI.A. ARE THERE ANY MORAL ABSOLUTES OR IS MORALITY COMPLETELY RELATIVE? ; 58. Ruth Benedict: Morality Is Relative ; 59. James Rachels: Morality Is Not Relative ; VI.B. ETHICS AND EGOISM: WHY SHOULD WE BE MORAL? ; 60. Plato: Why Should I Be Moral?: Gyges' Ring and Socrates' Dilemma ; 61. Louis P. Pojman: Egoism and Altruism: A Critique of Ayn Rand ; VI.C. WHICH IS THE CORRECT ETHICAL THEORY? ; 62. Aristotle: The Ethics of Virtue ; * 63. Virginia Held: The Ethics of Care ; 64. Immanuel Kant: The Moral Law ; 65. John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism ; 66. Jean-Paul Sartre: Existentialist Ethics ; 67. James Rachels: The Divine Command Theory ; VII. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY ; 68. Robert Paul Wolff: In Defense of Anarchism ; 69. Thomas Hobbes: The Absolutist Answer: The Justification of the State Is the Security It Affords ; 70. John Locke: The Democratic Answer: The Justification of the State Is Its Promotion of Security and Natural Human Rights ; 71. John Stuart Mill: A Classical Liberal Answer: Government Must Promote Freedom ; 72. John Rawls: The Contemporary Liberal Answer ; VIII. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE? ; 73. Epicurus: Moderate Hedonism ; 74. Epictetus: Stoicism: Enchiridion ; 75. Albert Camus: Life Is Absurd ; * 76. Julian Baggini: Living Life Forwards ; 77. Louis P. Pojman: Religion Gives Meaning to Life ; 78. Thomas Nagel: The Absurd ; 79. Bertrand Russell: Reflections on Suffering ; IX. CONTEMPORARY MORAL PROBLEMS ; IX.A. IS ABORTION MORALLY PERMISSIBLE? ; 80. Don Marquis: Why Abortion Is Immoral ; 81. Mary Anne Warren: On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion ; 82. Judith Jarvis Thomson: A Defense of Abortion ; 83. Jane English: The Moderate Position: Beyond the Personhood Argument ; IX.B. IS THE DEATH PENALTY MORALLY PERMISSIBLE? ; 84. Burton Leiser: The Death Penalty Is Permissible ; 85. Hugo Adam Bedau: No, the Death Penalty Is Not Morally Permissible ; IX.C. DO ANIMALS HAVE RIGHTS? ; 86. Peter Singer: The Case for Animal Liberation ; 87. Carl Cohen: The Case Against Animal Rights ; * IX.D. DO WE HAVE OBLIGATIONS TO THE POOR AND HUNGRY? ; * 88. Peter Singer: Famine, Affluence and Morality ; * 89. Garrett Hardin: Living on a Lifeboat ; APPENDIX: HOW TO READ AND WRITE A PHILOSOPHY PAPER ; GLOSSARY
About the Author :
The late Louis P. Pojman was Professor of Philosophy at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is the author or editor of more than thirty books including Classics of Philosophy, Third Edition (OUP, 2010) and The Moral Life, Fourth Edition (OUP, 2010). Lewis Vaughn is the author or coauthor of several books, including Contemporary Moral Arguments (OUP, 2010), The Power of Critical Thinking, Third Edition (OUP, 2009), Doing Philosophy, Fourth Edition (2009), Bioethics (OUP, 2008), and Writing Philosophy (OUP, 2005)
Review :
"For more than a decade, this is the only introductory text that I have used. I would not have remained faithful to it if I didn't believe it to be an excellent collection of problems and responses. It's the best available text for the type of introductory course that I want to offer our beginning students."--H. Scott Hestevold, The University of Alabama
