Table Of Content

EYEWITNESS companions EYEWITNESS companions Philosophy Philosophy EYEWITNESS companions EYEWITNESS companions Stephen Law Contents Philosophy Philosophy Despite a checkered academic history, P Introducing Philosophy including expulsion from high school and Pages 12–21 a brief stint delivering mail, Stephen Law h the history of philosophy graduated with honors in philosophy from Pages 22–43 the City University, London. He continued i branches of philosophy stephen law his studies at Oxford University, where he l Pages 44–189 was a junior research fellow for three years, o The great thinkers Philosophy Toolkit and is currently a lecturer in philosophy Discover who’s who Pages 190–225 at Heythrop College, in the in philosophy, from s Aristotle to Zeno, and who’s who in Philosophy University of London. their contributions to o Pages 226–345 the way we think today. Stephen is the author of several books on p philosophy, some written for adults and some for children. He is also the editor of THINK, h Exercise your mind The defi nitive visual guide the Royal Institute of Philosophy’s popular Find out how to construct Evocative and imaginative and communicate y new journal aimed at the general public; images illustrate the philosophical philosophical arguments. www.thinking-big.co.uk arguments. s other eyewitness companions t The big questions architecture • Art • astronomy Understand the debate e cats • Classical Music • dogs • fi lm on such philosophical p enquiries as “Where did French Cheeses •French Wines • Golf the universe come from?” East meets West h Guitar • herbal remedies •Hiking Explore the history horse riding • Olive Oil • opera of Western thought as e well as traditions of n Photography • sailing • scuba diving Eastern philosophy. Trees• Wines of the World l Printed in China a Jacket imagesFront: Alamy Images: David Noton Photography (c); w The Bridgeman Art Library: Private Collection (fbr); Vatican Museums KEY TO SYMBOLS USED IN THIS BOOK and Galleries, Vatican City, Italy (bl); Corbis: Bettmann (bc); Gregor b Schuster/zefa (t); Getty Images: Amana Images/Teisuke Shinoda (c). Back: Birth and death dates akg-images: (crb); Erich Lessing (t); Corbis: HO/epa (bl); Owaki - Kulla Discover more at (c); Archivo Iconografi co, S.A. (cr). Spine: Corbis: Jens Nieth/zefa www.dk.com n Place of birth All other images © Dorling Kindersley For further information see: www.dkimages.com $25.00 USA history • ideas • THEORIES history • ideas • THEORIES $30.00 Canada WHO’S WHO • how to think WHO’S WHO • how to think EYEWITNESS COMPANIONS Philosophy STEPHEN LAW “MAN IS A ROPE STRETCHED BETWEEN THE ANIMAL AND THE SUPERMAN A ROPE OVER AN ABYSS.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra “PHILOSOPHERS... ARE IRRESISTIBLY TEMPTED TO ASK AND ANSWER QUESTIONS IN THE WAY SCIENCE DOES.” Ludwig Wittgenstein, The Blue Book “THE WISEST HAVE THE MOST AUTHORITY.” Attributed to Plato LONDON, NEW YORK, MELBOURNE, MUNICH, AND DELHI Project Editor Sam Atkinson Project Designer Victoria Clark Production Controller Rita Sinha DTP John Goldsmid Managing Editor Debra Wolter Managing Art Editor Karen Self Art Director Bryn Walls Publisher Jonathan Metcalf Additional text contributions by Daniel Cardinal, Michael Lacewing, and Chris Horner. Produced for Dorling Kindersley by cobaltid Foreword 10 The Stables, Wood Farm, Deopham Road, Chapter One Attleborough, Norfolk NR17 1AJ, UK INTRODUCING www.cobaltid.co.uk PHILOSOPHY Editors Marek Walisiewicz, Kati Dye, (cid:2) What is philosophy? 14 Louise Abbott, Jamie Dickson, Maddy King Art Editors Paul Reid, Lloyd Tilbury, Pia Ingham, Darren Bland, Claire Oldman, Annika Skoog Chapter Two THE HISTORY First American Edition, 2007 OF PHILOSOPHY Published in the United States by DK Publishing 375 Hudson Street The Ancients 24 New York, NY 10014 The medieval world 30 07 08 09 10 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 PD108—April 2007 The early moderns 34 Copyright © 2007 Dorling Kindersley Limited The m(cid:2)odern age 40 All rights reserved Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-0-75662-625-9 DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 or [email protected] Color reproduction by GRB, Italy. Printed and bound in China by Leo. Discover more at www.dk.com CONTENTS Chapter Three PHILOSOPHY OF PHILOSOPHY OF BRANCHES RELIGION 138 SCIENCE 178 OF PHILOSOPHY Does God exist? 140 The problem of induction 180 The problem of evil 153 Introduction 46 (cid:2) Falsificationism 186 Faith and reason 157 KNOWLEDGE 48 Scepticism 50 Chapter Four What is knowledge? 58 PHILOSOPHY TOOLKIT Reason and experience 66 Introduction 192 Reasoning 194 METAPHYSICS 74 Fallacies 198 Plato and the Forms 76 (cid:2) Thinking tools 212 Mind-dependence 82 MORAL PHILOSOPHY 100 Chapter Five What should I do? 102 WHO’S WHO IN PHILOSOPHY So what is morality? 112 Introduction 228 PHILOSOPHY OF (cid:2) Directory 230 MIND 122 POLITICAL The consciousness PHILOSOPHY 160 puzzle 124 The liberal ideal 162 Index 346 Could a machine think? 132 The common good 172 Acknowledgments 352