Issues in Philosophy: An Introduction

361 Pages·2005·50.62 MB·English

by  Calvin Pinchin (auth.)

Issues in Philosophy
/
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Issues in Philosophy
An Introduction
Second Edition
Calvin Pinchin
* © Calvin Pinchin 2005
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Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First edition 1990
Second edition published 2005 by
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ISBN 978-1-4039-3395-9 ISBN 978-0-230-37658-8 (eBook)
DOl 10.1057/9780230376588
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pinchin, Calvin.
Issues in philosophy: an introduction I Calvin Pinchin.-2nd ed.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes.
ISBN 978-1-4039-3395-9
1. Philosophy-Introductions. I. Title.
BD21.P485 2005
100--dc22 2004057786
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
Contents
Introduction
1 Perception and Knowledge 1
Epistemological theories 1
Descartes' Rationalism 5
Hume's theory of knowledge 11
Russell's Problems of Philosophy 20
A. J. Ayer's Language, Truth and Logic 38
The concept of knowledge 45
2 Problems in the Philosophy of Mind 50
Cartesian Dualism 50
Physicalism 59
Persons 74
The problem of other minds 76
Behaviourism 82
Freud and psychoanalysis 89
The problem of free will and determinism 95
The philosophy of the social sciences 101
Artificial intelligence 111
Searle and the systems reply 113
Personal identity 121
3 The Philosophy of Religion 130
Introductory remarks; the concept of God 130
Arguments for the existence of God 135
Problems facing the religious believer 157
The concept of faith 173
Verificationism and religious language 178
4 An Introduction to Ethics 181
Plato's ethical theory 182
Aristotle: the Nicomachean Ethics 191
Utilitarianism 206
Deontological ethics 221
The emotive theory of ethics 224
Richard Hare and prescriptivism 229
v
vi Contents
Moral principles and behaviour 243
Jean-Paul Sartre and existentialism 246
5 Social and Political Philosophy 255
Introduction to social and political philosophy 255
Images of society 269
6 The Philosophy of Science 287
Introduction 287
Deducibility 291
Laws of nature and accidental generalisations 296
Natural necessity 298
Hume on necessary connection 300
Hume's problem of induction 304
Science and discovery 305
Mill's canons of inductive inference 307
Science and conjecture 311
Realist and non-realist theories of science 321
A note on objectivity 331
Questions 334
Notes 339
Bibliography 345
Name Index 348
Subject and Concept Index 350
Introduction
This book is intended as an introduction to philosophy for students of
philosophy at secondary and degree level and by those taking accessory
courses in certain areas of philosophy. The book also serves as a useful
introduction for the general reader into a number of traditional branches of
the subject.
My approach has been to connect up a number of problem areas in
philosophy with relevant texts. The aim of this approach is to create an
integrated course which should help students to understand why the
writings of the great philosophers of the past have relevance to modern
philosophical problems. Issues in Philosophy has been substantially revised
and expanded for this edition. Changes include a new chapter on the
Philosophy of Science, a new section on Personal Identity and Biological
Naturalism. The text has been updated throughout to reflect recent
developments in research and teaching.
As each of the chapters contains its own introduction, I am not going to
provide further introductory comments here. I shall, however, make some
introductory remarks about philosophy in general. The importance of
philosophical problems can hardly be doubted. The briefest perusal of the
kinds of questions to which philosophers have addressed themselves will
reveal that this is the case.
Philosophers have concerned themselves with questions relating to:
(i) Our knowledge of the world and what justifications our claims to
knowledge have.
(ii) The relation between mind and body, together with the teasing out
of the implications that the different available theses have.
(hi) The existence of God and the problems which face the religious
believer.
(iv) What we mean when we say that a particular course of action is
'right', or a particular state of affairs is 'good'. Philosophers have
concerned themselves with the rationality or otherwise of our moral
judgements. Some have sought to lay down criteria for testing moral
judgements or maxims,
(v) The issue of political obligation and the justification of power
together with related questions concerning the relationship
between the individual's freedom and the state's authority.
VII
viii Introduction
The author believes that the importance of these questions is self-evident
and that many of them will inevitably touch our lives in one way or another.
To think seriously and rationally about such issues is the best definition of
philosophy that the author can give. It is hoped that the definition will
contain its own impetus for study. To someone with no interest in the
aforementioned questions, the author has nothing to say. To the reader who
has either felt the weight of such questions, or can see how that weight
could be felt, the author sincerely hopes that something of use will be found
in these pages.
The philosophical approach adopted here is predominantly that of
linguistic or conceptual analysis. The author believes that most philoso
phical problems are concerned with meaning and the implications of what
we say. In the field of ethics, philosophy has at least a vital clarificatory role
to play. Whether it has a role to play in the deliverance of moral judgements
is an issue which the reader is invited to consider for himself.
The author wishes to express his gratitude to the following philosophers
for their stimulating conversation and more than useful suggestions:
Mr Maurice Charlesworth, Mr Richard Beardsmore, Mr John Daniel, and
Ms Eluned Price - especially for her lengthy philosophical correspondence.
A special debt is owed to the person who fired my interest in the subject
and kept it fuelled, Professor C. W. K. Mundle.
Deganwy, N. Wales CALVIN PINCHIN
Perception and
Knowledge
Epistemological theories
An epistemological theory is a theory of knowledge. Such theories are
concerned with the questions of how we know what we know and with how
we distinguish knowledge from belief, opinion or faith. What we mean by
'knowing' involves an analysis of the meaning of our statements. There are
two opposed epistemological theories. They are the theories of Rationalism
and Empiricism. In considering the two areas on which they disagree, the
reader will become acquainted with important philosophical terminology.
Rationalism and Empiricism: an introduction
The two central areas of disagreement concern (a) the source of our ideas,
and (b) how we know necessary truths. We shall discuss in some detail the
epistemological theories of some important philosophers (Sections II to ?).
Let us first of all clarify the nature of the disagreements and equip ourselves
with the technical terminology.
We shall begin with the issue of the source of our ideas. Empiricists claim
that all our ideas are derived from experience. By 'experience' they mean
sense-experience plus introspection. Empiricists do not claim that a person
can only form ideas of things he himself has experienced. They draw a
distinction between, (i) ideas given in experience, and (ii) constructed ideas
such as mermaids and atoms. According to empiricism, all of our ideas
must either be of things or properties presented to us in our own
experience, or they must be derived from, and analysable into, ideas of
the former kind. This thesis involves the conception of the mind as a 'blank
sheet' which receives impressions from the external world via the sense
organs.
All Rationalists agree that many of our ideas are derived in this way. They
do not, however, agree that this account of our ideas is an exhaustive one.
The father of modern philosophy, Descartes, was a Rationalist but he
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C. Pinchin, Issues in Philosophy
© Calvin Pinchin 2005