Philosophy for Everyone

160 Pages·2016·1.91 MB·English

by  Matthew Chrisman

Philosophy for Everyone
‘Philosophy for Everyone is an accessible introduction to some of the
most fundamental topics in philosophy with a contemporary twist. It
exemplifies thevirtues oftreating philosophyasan activity thatanyone
can engage in.’
Michael P. Lynch, University of Connecticut, USA
Philosophy for Everyone begins by explaining what philosophy is
before exploring the questions and issues at the foundation of this
important subject.
Key topics and their areas of focus include:
(cid:1) Epistemology – what our knowledge of the world and ourselves
consists in, and how we come to have it;
(cid:1) Philosophy of science – foundational conceptual issues in scientific
research and practice;
(cid:1) Philosophy of mind – what it means for something to have a mind,
and how minds should be understood and explained;
(cid:1) Moralphilosophy–thenatureofourmoraljudgmentsandreactions,
whether they aim at some objective moral truth, or are mere
personal or cultural preferences; and
(cid:1) Metaphysics – fundamental conceptual questions about the nature
of reality.
Designed to be used on the corresponding Introduction to Philosophy
online course offered by the Universityof Edinburgh, this book is also
highly recommended for anyone looking for a short overview of this
fascinating discipline.
Matthew Chrisman, Duncan Pritchard, Jane Suilin Lavelle, Michela
Massimi, Alasdair Richmond and Dave Ward are all members of the
School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences at the
Universityof Edinburgh, UK.
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Philosophy for Everyone
Edited by
Matthew Chrisman and Duncan
Pritchard
Jane Suilin Lavelle
Michela Massimi
Alasdair Richmond
Dave Ward
This page intentionally left blank
Introduction to Philosophy: Online Course
Taught by Dr. Dave Ward, Professor Duncan Pritchard, Dr. Michela Massimi, Dr.
Suilin Lavelle, Dr. Matthew Chrisman, Dr. Allan Hazlett and Dr. Alasdair Richmond
This completely free and open online course will introduce you to some of the main
areas of contemporary philosophy. Each week a different philosopher will talk you
through some of the most important questions and issues in their area of expertise.
We’ll begin by trying to understand what philosophy is –what are its characteristic
aims and methods, and how does it differ from other subjects? Then we’ll spend the
rest of the course gaining an introductory overview of several different areas of
philosophy. Topics you’ll learn about will include:
(cid:129)
Epistemology, where we’ll consider what our knowledge of the world and
ourselves consists in, and how we come to have it;
(cid:129)
Philosophy of science, where we’ll investigate foundational conceptual issues
in scientific research and practice;
(cid:129)
Philosophy of Mind, where we’ll ask questions about what it means for
something to have a mind, and how minds should be understood and
explained;
(cid:129)
Moral Philosophy, where we’ll attempt to understand the nature of our moral
judgements and reactions –whether they aim at some objective moral truth,
orare mere personal or cultural preferences, and;
(cid:129)
Metaphysics, where we’ll think through some fundamental conceptual
questions about the nature of reality.
Watch an intro video and signup for the courseat www.coursera.org/course/introphil.
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Philosophyforeveryone/editedbyMatthewChrismanandDuncan
Pritchard,withDaveWard,JaneSuilinLavelle,MichelaMassimi,and
AlasdairRichmond.
pagescm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Philosophy–Textbooks.I.Chrisman,Matthew.II.Pritchard,Duncan.
BD31.P5652013
100–dc23
2013022181
ISBN:978-0-415-71945-2(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-415-71947-6(pbk)
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Contents
Preface viii
1 What is philosophy? 1
DAVEWARD
2 What is knowledge? Do we have any? 21
DUNCANPRITCHARD
3 What is it to have a mind? 37
JANESUILINLAVELLE
4 Morality: objective, relative or emotive? 59
MATTHEWCHRISMAN
5 Should you believe what you hear? 74
MATTHEWCHRISMAN,DUNCANPRITCHARD
ANDALASDAIRRICHMOND
6 Are scientific theories true? 89
MICHELAMASSIMI
7 Time travel and metaphysics 107
ALASDAIRRICHMOND
Glossary of key terms 127
Bibliography 137
Index 142
Preface
Have you ever wondered what knowledge is, or whether we have any?
What about whether morality is objective or subjective? Or have you
thought about what makes the difference between beings with minds
like ourselves and things that don’t (seem to) have minds, like bicycles
or computers? Shouldwe trust what other people say, especially if they
report spectacular occurrences; and if so, why? What about the ques-
tion of whether scientific theories aim to be true or merely to capture
the observable data in an attractive way? Do you think time travel is
possible; and if you do, what does that mean for the nature of time?
These are philosophical questions. As the American philosopher
WilfridSellarsoncewrote,‘toachievesuccessinphilosophywouldbe…
to “knowone’sway around” with respect to all these things, not in that
unreflectivewayinwhichthecentipedeofthestoryknewitswayaround
before it faced the question, “how do I walk?”, but in that reflective
waywhichmeansthatnointellectualholdsarebarred.’Theaimofthis
book is to introduce you to the way philosophers think about such
questions.Thatis,wehopetounbartheintellectualholdsandhelpyou
to begin to think reflectively about issues that we all already, in some
implicit and unreflective sense, knowour way around.
We start in Chapter 1 with a general introduction to the practice of
philosophy.Hereyou’llfindoutabitmoreaboutphilosophicalquestions,
and what makes them philosophical. You’ll also learn about the way
philosophers typically go about trying to address such questions in a
careful and systematic way. In Chapter 2 we turn to an area of philoso-
phy known as epistemology. Here we ponder questions about the nature
ofknowledgeandwhetherweevenhaveanyknowledge.Next,inChapter3
weexploresomecentralissuesinthephilosophyofmind,mostimportantly
what a mind is. In Chapter 4 we consider anotherbranch of philosophy:
ethical theory. We’ll consider several important views about the status
of morality, whether it is objective, personally or culturally relative, or
Preface ix
emotive. After that, we turn in Chapter 5 to an issue in the history of
philosophy: the debate between David Hume and Thomas Reid about
whether and when we should trust the testimony of others. The philo-
sophyofscienceisnextinChapter6.Hereweexplorethequestionofthe
nature and aims of science: is its ambition toget the true theoryof how
realityisorjusttoconstructanempiricallyadequatemodelofobservable
phenomena? Finally, we turn in Chapter 7 to an important issue in the
branchofphilosophycalledmetaphysics:thepossibilityoftimetravel.This
is not only interesting to fans of science fiction but also to philosophers
concernedwith the nature of time and other aspects of reality.
Each chapter is followed by a brief summary, some study questions,
and a list of further readings and internet resources. In each chapter,
key terms are emphasized in bold when they’re first used. If a word is
emphasized in this way, you can review its definition in the glossary
that you’ll find at the end of the book.
Thisscramblethroughvariouspartsofphilosophyisnotintendedto
be a comprehensive introduction to the subject (for that we’d need a
much longer book). Rather it’s intended to introduce just some of the
interesting topics philosophers think about and to illustrate their way
of thinking about these topics so that it is accessible to an intelligent
readerwho has not previously studied philosophy but who iswilling to
readcarefullyandthinkdeeply.Ifyou,thereader,havemadeitthisfar,
we’re fully confident you fit the bill. Welcome to the team!
Although we mean for the book to be useable as a general intro-
duction for everyone to philosophy (hence the name), this book was
bornoutofa‘MOOC’offeredthroughtheUniversityofEdinburgh.A
MOOC is a free and open-source ‘massive open online course’. Our
MOOC initially ran in the spring of 2013 with seven video lectures, a
livelydiscussionboard,andself-andpeer-assessmentsonline.We’dlike
to thank our colleague Dave Ward for spearheading the effort in our
Philosophy Department to put together the course and for writing
Chapter 1. We’d like to thank our other MOOChers who contributed
to this volume: Jane Suilin Lavelle, Michela Massimi and Alasdair
Richmond. And we’d like to thank the University of Edinburgh for
institutional support, especially Jeff Haywood, Amy Woodgate and
Lucy Kendra. Our intention is to repeat and refine the course in the
future. So, you may be reading this book because you are enrolled in
one of the future instalments ofour MOOC. But if you’ve come to the
book in some other way, you might be interested in enrolling in the
next instalment of our MOOC. Check us out online.
Matthew Chrisman
Duncan Pritchard