The Study of Philosophy: A Text with Readings

This seventh edition of The Study of Philosophy presents a comprehensive treatment of the major fields and figures of philosophy alongside primary readings by seminal thinkers to fuel debate and further study. New features of this edition include a substantive account of philosophical theology a reorganized treatment of early modern rationalism and empiricism discussion of the major highlights of twentieth- and twenty-first-century philosophy a survey of major contemporary moral problems From Plato to Plantinga, from Aristotle to Ayer, and from Socrates to Singer, this text brings the power of both ancient and modern philosophy to students of the twenty-first century!

Table of Contents:
PART I PHILOSOPHY AND ITS BEGINNINGS Chapter 1: The Nature and Scope of Philosophy How Philosophy and Science Differ How Philosophy and Religion Differ Philosophy’s Three Main Subject Areas Philosophy’s Main Method Summary Key Terms Review Questions Reading: “The Philosopher within You”—Andrew Pessin Chapter 2: It Began Here: The Pre-Socratics The Problem of Being ThalesAnaximanderAnaximenesThe Problem of Becoming ParmenidesZenoHeraclitusThe Theory of Atomism: A Synthesis Summary Key Terms Review Questions Reading: “Ionian Science before Socrates”—F. M. Cornford Reading: On the Nature of Things—Lucretius Chapter 3: Socrates and Plato The Sophists Socrates the Man Life in Athens and Conquest by Sparta Socrates’ Chronicler: Plato The Dialogues: Socrates’ Trial and Death EuthyphroApologyCritoPhaedoPlato’s Forms What Exactly Are Forms?Forms are Neither Perceivable, Changeable, Nor Even HereHow Many Forms Are There?One More Important ImplicationWhy Should We Believe in the Existence of Forms?Philosophers and Cave-Persons Summary Key Terms Review Questions Reading: Apology—Plato PART II PHILOSOPHY’S METHOD Chapter 4: Aristotle and the Science of Logic Aristotle The Sophists Again The Science of Logic Logic as the Study of Argument Distinguishing Arguments From Non-Arguments Eliminating Verbiage Supplying Missing Components Distinguishing Deductive and Inductive Arguments Evaluating Arguments: Truth, Validity, and Soundness Some Classic Examples of Valid Deductive ArgumentsEvaluating Arguments: StrategySummary Key Terms Review Questions Reading: “What the Tortoise Said to Achilles”—Lewis Carroll Reading: “Newcomb’s Problem and Two Principles of Choice”—Robert Nozick Chapter 5: Common Fallacies The Fallacies of Ambiguity AmphibolyAccentEquivocationThe Fallacies of Presumption Overlooking the FactsEvading the FactsDistorting the FactsFallacies of Relevance Genetic FallacyAbusive ad HominemCircumstantial ad HominemTu QuoquePoisoning the WellSummary Key Terms Review Questions Reading: “A Mad Tea-Party”—Lewis Carroll PART III PHILOSOPHY’S MAIN QUESTIONS Chapter 6: Ethics: What Are We Like, and What Should We Do? Aristotle’s Ethics Goodness and HappinessMoral VirtuesIntellectual VirtuesKant’s Ethics A Good WillThe Categorical ImperativeThe Role of ReasonThe Utilitarian Theory Jeremy BenthamJohn Stuart MillSome Criticisms of Utilitarianism Summary Key Terms Review Questions Reading: Nicomachean Ethics—Aristotle Reading: “Santa and Scrooge”—Andrew Pessin Reading: “Of what sort of Proof the Principle of Utility is Susceptible”—John Stuart Mill Reading: “The Experience Machine”—Robert Nozick Chapter 7: Religion: The Nature and Existence of God A Brief History of Philosophical Theology, 427 B.C.E.–1600 C.E. Proofs for the Existence of God St. Anselm’s Ontological ArgumentSt. Thomas Aquinas’s Cosmological ArgumentsWilliam Paley’s Biological Teleological Argument Immanuel Kant’s Moral ArgumentBlaise Pascal’s Prudential ArgumentGod’s Nature God’s PowerGod’s KnowledgeGod’s Goodness, and the Problem of EvilSummary Key Terms Review Questions Reading: “That God truly exists”—Anselm Reading: From Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity—William Paley Reading: From City of God—Augustine Reading: From “Abridgement of the Argument Reduced to Syllogistic Form”—G. W. Leibniz Chapter 8: Epistemology and Metaphysics: The Rationalists Brief Overview of Early Modern Philosophy René Descartes Descartes’ DualismDescartes’ Theory of MindDescartes’ Theory of MatterBaruch Spinoza Spinoza’s Pantheism and MonismSpinoza’s Necessitarianism, Determinism, and EthicsGottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz Leibniz’s Monads and Pre-Established HarmonyThe Truth Argument for Pre-Established HarmonyRationalism, Intelligibility, and Causation Rationalist Debates on the Nature of CausationSummary Key Terms Review Questions Reading: From Meditations on First Philosophy—René Descartes Reading: “The Most Dangerous Error of the Philosophy of the Ancients”—Nicolas Malebranche Reading: From Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion—Nicolas Malebranche Reading: “New System of Nature” and “Clarification of the Difficulties Which Mr. Bayle Has Found in the New System of the Union of Soul and Body”—G.W. Leibniz Chapter 9: Epistemology and Metaphysics: The Empiricists and Kant John Locke Locke’s Attack on NativismThe Structure and Contents of the Mind, and SubstanceThe Distinction Between Primary and Secondary Qualities George Berkeley Three Lines of Argument Against Materialism and For IdealismIdealism, Materialism, and Common SenseSome Problems For IdealismDavid Hume Relations of Ideas and Matters of FactHume’s Critique of CausationHume’s Critique of Inductive Reasoning Immanuel Kant Three Ways to Frame the DiscussionA First Pass through Kant’s AnswerFour Kinds of JudgmentsSynthetic A Priori JudgmentsHow is Mathematics Possible?How is Science Possible?Why Metaphysics is ImpossibleSummary Key Terms Review Questions Reading: From “First Dialogue”—George Berkeley Reading: “Sceptical Doubts concerning the Operations of the Understanding”—David Hume PART IV CONTEMPORARY DIRECTIONS Chapter 10: 20th-21st Century Developments Existentialism Søren Kierkegaard and Religious ExistentialismFriedrich Nietzsche and Nihilistic ExistentialismJean-Paul Sartre and Humanistic ExistentialismSome Developments in Ethics A. J. Ayer and Logical PositivismSome Developments in Philosophy of Religion Alvin Plantinga on Science and Theism Some Developments in Epistemology The Traditional Definition of KnowledgeThe Gettier ProblemSome Developments in Metaphysics The Attack on Descartes’ DualismConsciousness and DualismSummary Key Terms Review Questions Reading: “A Panegyric upon Abraham”—Sören Kierkegaard Reading: From Nausea—Jean-Paul Sartre Reading: “Critique of Ethics and Theology”—A. J. Ayer Reading: “Is Atheism Irrational?”—Alvin Plantinga Reading: “What Mary Didn't Know”—Frank Jackson Chapter 11: Contemporary Moral Problems, and Peter Singer Peter Singer “All Animals are Equal”“Is the Sanctity of Life Ethic Terminally Ill?”The Life You Can Save: How to Do Your Part to End World PovertySummary Key Terms Review Questions Reading: “Of Duties to Animals …”—Immanuel Kant Reading: “Abortion and Infanticide” and “Taking Life: Humans”—Peter Singer Reading: “Life after God? The Ethics of Peter Singer”—Peter May Glossary Index

About the Author :
Andrew Pessin is professor of philosophy at Connecticut College. He is the author of Uncommon Sense, (R&L 2013), which was named a CHOICE Outstanding title for the year. S. Morris Engel is professor emeritus at York University. Previously, he taught at the University of Southern California for twenty-five years.

Review :
Maintaining superb readability, the seventh edition adds key ingredients: more contemporary philosophy, impressive selections of primary sources, and excellent choices of additions within the chapters. There is much to commend in this newest edition. The seventh edition of The Study of Philosophy is a great new version. In addition to offering a new chapter on contemporary moral problems, the authors have revised their work on logic, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion. Lively and engaging, The Study of Philosophy should remain an important resource for every undergraduate. The new edition of The Study of Philosophy retains the impressive coverage of topics of earlier editions—along with the excellent chapters on logic (including a superb treatment of the informal fallacies), and the student-friendly narrative—and adds many new, well-chosen topical readings, and a whole chapter on contemporary moral problems. The best introductory philosophy textbook on the market just got better!