About the Book
Extensively revised and expanded in this fourth edition, Exploring Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology is a uniquely accessible and engaging introduction to philosophy. Steven M. Cahn brings together exceptionally 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, identity and immortality, ethical reasoning, abortion, euthanasia, world hunger, democracy, social justice, art, and life and death. The readings are enhanced by concise introductions, study questions, explanatory notes, and suggestions for further reading.
NEW TO THE FOURTH EDITION: * More than fifty new readings greatly expand the book's coverage and its flexibility for course use * More than half of the new readings are "Historical Sources," which introduce students to philosophical classics and help them understand the contemporary selections * Four new sections- Identity and Immortality, Social Justice, Art, and Life and Death-extend the anthology's range into areas that today's students find especially compelling * Study Questions after each reading help students test their comprehension and encourage class discussion SUPPORT PACKAGE OFFERED FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH THIS EDITION: * An Instructor's Manual features PowerPoint-based lecture outlines, reading summaries, a glossary, and a Test Bank of objective and essay questions * A Companion Website at www.oup.com/us/cahn contains all the material from the Instructor's Manual along with student resources including self-test questions, suggested readings, and helpful links
Table of Contents:
*=NEW TO THIS EDITION ; 1. THE NATURE OF PHILOSOPHY ; 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 ; 3. KNOWLEDGE ; What Is Knowledge?, A. J. Ayer ; Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?, Edmund L. Gettier ; * Conditions for Knowledge, Robert Nozick ; Appearance and Reality, Bertrand Russell ; What Can I Know?, D. Z. Phillips ; The Problem of Induction, Bertrand Russell ; * Induction Without a Problem, P. F. Strawson ; HISTORICAL SOURCES ; Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes ; * An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke ; * A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, George Berkeley ; An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume ; * The Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant ; 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 ; * Knowing What It's Like, David Lewis ; Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Alan Turing ; Do Computers Think?, John Searle ; HISTORICAL SOURCE ; Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes ; 5. FREE WILL ; Free Will, Thomas Nagel ; * Free Will and Determinism, W. T. Stace ; Free Will or Determinism?, Steven M. Cahn ; The Principle of Alternative Possibilities, Harry Frankfurt ; * The Capacities of Agents, Neil Levy ; HISTORICAL SOURCES ; An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume ; * The Dilemma of Determinism, William James ; 6. GOD ; * Does God Exist?, Ernest Nagel ; Why God Allows Evil, Richard Swinburne ; Theology and Falsification, Antony Flew and Basil Mitchell ; Pascal's Wager, Simon Blackburn ; * Faith and Reason, Michael Scriven ; The Hiddenness of God, Robert McKim ; * Religion Without God, Steven M. Cahn ; HISTORICAL SOURCES ; * Euthyphro, Plato ; * Proslogion; On Behalf of the Fool; Reply to Gaunilo, Anselm and Gaunilo ; * Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes ; * The Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant ; Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas ; * Natural Theology, William Paley ; * Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, David Hume ; * The Wager, Blaise Pascal ; * The Ethics of Belief, W. K. Clifford ; * The Will to Believe, William James ; * 7. IDENTITY AND IMMORTALITY ; * A Case of Identity, Brian Smart ; * The Problem of Personal Identity, John Perry ; * Resurrection, John H. Hick ; * Heaven and Hell, Steven M. Cahn ; * Life After Death, Terence Penelhum ; * Do We Need Immortality?, Grace M. Jantzen ; HISTORICAL SOURCES ; * An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke ; * A Treatise of Human Nature, David Hume ; * Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, Thomas Reid ; 8. ETHICS ; The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, James Rachels ; How Not to Answer Moral Questions, Tom Regan ; * Kant's Ethics, Onora O'Neill ; * Assessing Utilitarianism, Louis P. Pojman ; A Supreme Moral Principle?, Steven M. Cahn ; Virtue Ethics, Bernard Mayo ; The Ethics of Care, Virginia Held ; Happiness and Morality, Christine Vitrano ; HISTORICAL SOURCES ; Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle ; Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant ; Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill ; * Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche ; * Existentialism, Jean-Paul Sartre ; 9. 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 ; 10. SOCIETY ; Democracy, John Dewey ; What Is a Liberal Education?, Sidney Hook ; Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. ; Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands, Michael Walzer ; HISTORICAL SOURCES ; Crito, Plato ; On Liberty, John Stuart Mill ; * 11. SOCIAL JUSTICE ; * A Theory of Justice, John Rawls ; * The Entitlement Theory, Robert Nozick ; * The Idea of Justice, Amartya Sen ; * Non-contractual Society: A Feminist View, Virginia Held ; HISTORICAL SOURCES ; * The Republic, Plato ; * Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes ; * Second Treatise of Government, John Locke ; * Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Karl Marx ; * 12. ART ; * The Role of Theory in Aesthetics, Morris Weitz ; * Interpreting Poetry, Charles L. Stevenson ; * Fearing Fictions, Kendall Walton ; HISTORICAL SOURCES ; * The Republic, Plato ; * Poetics, Aristotle ; * 13. LIFE AND DEATH ; The Meaning of Life, Richard Taylor ; * Meaning in Life, Susan Wolf ; * Meaningless Lives?, Steven M. Cahn ; * Death, Thomas Nagel ; HISTORICAL SOURCES ; Phaedo, Plato ; * Writings, Epicurus ; * The Handbook, Epictetus ; 14. THE VALUE OF PHILOSOPHY ; The Value of Philosophy, Bertrand Russell ; HISTORICAL SOURCE ; * The Republic, Plato ; BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ; SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING ; INDEX
About the Author :
Steven M. Cahn is Professor of Philosophy at The City University of New York Graduate Center.
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
