Philosophy: Key Themes PDF
Preview Philosophy: Key Themes
Philosophy: Key Themes AlsobyJulianBagginiandGarethSouthwell PHILOSOPHY:KeyTexts AlsobyJulianBaggini THEEGOTRICK SHOULDYOUJUDGETHISBOOKBYITSCOVER? COMPLAINT DOTHEYTHINKYOU’RESTUPID? WELCOMETOEVERYTOWN THEPIGTHATWANTSTOBEEATEN WHAT’SITALLABOUT? ATHEISM:AVeryShortIntroduction MAKINGSENSE:PhilosophyBehindTheHeadlines AlsobyGarethSouthwell ABEGINNER’SGUIDETODESCARTES’SMEDITATIONS ABEGINNER’SGUIDETONIETZSCHE’SBEYONDGOODANDEVIL WORDSOFWISDOM:Philosophy’sMostImportantQuotationsand TheirMeanings Philosophy: Key Themes Second edition Julian Baggini and Gareth Southwell ©JulianBaggini2002 ©JulianBagginiandGarethSouthwell2012 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 2nd edition 2012 978-0-230-29663-3 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6–10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorshaveassertedtheirrightstobeidentifiedastheauthorsofthis workinaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firsteditionpublished2002 Secondrevisededitionpublished2012by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-0-230-29664-0 ISBN 978-1-137-00887-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137008879 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 Transferred to Digital Printing in 2013 Contents PrefacetotheSecondEdition viii Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 Wheredowestart? 1 Premises 2 Formsofrationaljustification 3 Critiquingarguments 6 Beyonddemolition 8 Becomingaphilosopher 9 1 TheoryofKnowledge 11 Whatisthetheoryofknowledge? 11 Rationalism 12 Empiricism 15 Foundationalism 17 Thetripartiteaccountofknowledge 20 Againstthetripartiteaccount 23 Thenatureofbelief 25 Scepticismconcerningknowledge 29 Scepticismconcerningperception 32 Realism 36 Idealism 36 Phenomenalism 38 KantandtheSyntheticAPriori 39 TheSapir-WhorfHypothesis 41 Objectivityandrelativism 43 Conclusion 47 2 MoralPhilosophy 52 Whatismoralphilosophy? 52 Thedivisionsofmoralphilosophy 54 Moralityandrealism 55 Non-cognitivism 56 Theroleofreason 57 Prescriptivism 58 v vi Contents Deontologicalandconsequentialistethics 61 Virtueethics 64 Utilitarianism 66 Kantianethics 69 Aristotelianethics 71 Animalrights 72 Abortion 74 Euthanasia 76 Approachestoappliedethics 77 Conclusion 78 3 PhilosophyofMind 81 Whatisthephilosophyofmind? 81 Dualism 83 Argumentsagainstdualism 85 Behaviourism 88 Argumentsagainstbehaviourism 91 Physicalism 93 Functionalism 95 Non-reductivematerialismandepiphenomenalism 98 Eliminativism 101 Otherminds 103 Personalidentity 105 Personhood 109 Theproblemoffreewill 112 Conclusion 115 4 PhilosophyofReligion 120 Whatisthephilosophyofreligion? 120 WhatisGod? 121 Theproblemofevil 122 Faithandreason 124 BettingonGod 127 Thestatusofreligiouslanguage 128 Theontologicalargument 131 Thecosmologicalargument 133 Theteleologicalargument 134 Religiousexperience 137 Miracles 140 Godandmorality 142 Conclusion 143 Contents vii 5 PoliticalPhilosophy 147 Whatispoliticalphilosophy? 147 Liberalism 148 Socialism 150 Conservatism 152 Anarchism 154 Freedom 156 Justice 159 Rights 162 Tolerance 164 Thejustificationofthestateanditsauthority 168 Lawsandlaw-breaking 170 Justificationsforpunishment 172 Conclusion 174 6 Aesthetics 178 Whatisaesthetics? 178 Whatcountsasart? 178 Artasimitation 181 Conventionsandrepresentation 183 Artasexpression 185 Artasform 188 Artandsociety 190 Authorshipandmeaning 194 Artandmorality 196 Conclusion 199 Glossary 204 FurtherReading 205 Index 206 Preface to the Second Edition ThisbookisdesignedtohelpthereaderapproachkeythemesinWestern philosophy.Itsaimistogivebrief,accurateandinformativeoverviews ofthemajorargumentsgivenandpositionsheldineacharea. The introduction contains some advice on how to read and make senseofphilosophicalarguments.Philosophyisnotamuseumofideas or an intellectual pick and mix. Arguments need to be carefully exam- ined and assessed and this section helps provide some of the tools to dothis. Eachchaptercomprisesadiscussionofthemainareasineachtheme, asummary,aglossaryofkeytermsandsuggestionsforfurtherreading. The discussions combine two main features. First, they summarise andexplainthemainargumentsofeachtheme,clarifyinganddistilling theircore.Second,thediscussionsalsocontaincriticalpoints,question- ingthevalidityorsoundnessofarguments,andhighlightingpotential weaknessesandproblemsinthepositionsexamined.Themainpurpose of this is not to provide an exhaustive catalogue of criticisms, but to highlightpotentialweaknessesandtoencouragethereadertoquestion theclaimsbeingmadeforthemselves. There is also a glossary of key philosophical words at the end of the book,alongwithsuggestionsforfurtherreadinginphilosophy. This second edition adds a sixth theme (Aesthetics) and includes revisionsandadditionstothechaptersontheoriginalfive. viii Acknowledgements Terka Acton, Priyanka Gibbons, Penny Simmons and the anonymous readersatthepublisherswhohelpedmakethisbookpossibleandthen betterthanitotherwisewouldhavebeen. Julian also thanks his former students whose feedback on the teach- ing materials that formed the bases of the first edition of this book encouragedhimtodevelopthemfurther. GareththanksJulian,forhisgenerosityandsupport;MamandMike,for their frequent and timely help; Dad and Dor, for the sumptuous shed, wherein most of this was written; Phill and Carol, for the kind loan of theirlaptop,onwhichmostofthiswaswritten;theRoyalLiteraryFund and the Society of Authors, for their literary alms; and Jo, for her only veryoccasionallydauntedoptimism(Ilovesyou,babes). ix
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