The Big Questions: A Short Introduction to Philosophy

466 Pages·2013·17.968 MB·English

by  Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins

The Big Questions
A Short Introduction to Philosophy
Ninth Edition
y
RoBeRT C. Solomon
University of Texas at Austin
KAThleen m. hIggInS
University of Texas at Austin
Australia • Brazil • Japan • TPPUB • Mexico • Singapore • Spain • United Kingdom • United States
Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
# 110232 Cust: Cengage Au: Solomon Pg. No. i Pantone 7468C/K S4DcESIGaN SrERVlICiESS OlF e
Title: The Big Questions / 0e Server: S4C Short / Normal Publishing Services
This is an electronic version of the print textbook. Due to electronic rights restrictions, some third party content
may be suppressed. Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall
learning experience. The publisher reserves the right to remove content from this title at any time if subsequent
rights restrictions require it. For valuable information on pricing, previous editions, changes to
current editions, and alternate formats, please visit www.cengage.com/highered to search by
ISBN#, author, title, or keyword for materials in your areas of interest.
Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
The Big Questions: A Short © 2014, 2010, 2006 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Introduction to Philosophy,
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the
Ninth Edition
copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used
Robert C. Solomon and
in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical,
Kathleen M. Higgins
including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning,
digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or
Publisher/Executive Editor:
information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted
Clark Baxter
under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act,
Senior Sponsoring Editor:
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Joann Kozyrev
Senior Media Editor: Phil Lanza
For product information and
Assistant Editor: Joshua Duncan technology assistance, contact us at Cengage Learning
Academic Resource Center, 1-800-423-0563
Editorial Assistant: Marri Straton
For permission to use material from this text or product,
Market Development Manager:
submit all requests online at www.cengage.com/permissions.
Joshua I. Adams Further permissions questions can be emailed to
Brand Manager: [email protected]
Jennifer Levanduski
Marketing Communications Library of Congress Control Number: 2012950399
Manager: Linda Yip
ISBN-13: 978-1-133-61064-9
Senior Content Project
Manager: Josh Allen ISBN-10: 1-133-61064-1
Art Director: Riezebos
Holzbaur/Andrei Pasternak Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
10 Davis Drive
Print Buyer: Sandee Milewski
Belmont, CA 94002-3098
Senior Rights Acquisitions
USA
Specialist: Mandy Groszko
Production Service: S4 Carlisle
Cengage Learning products are represented in Canada by
Publishing Services
Nelson Education, Ltd.
Text Designer: Riezebos
Holzbaur/Tim Heraldo
For your course and learning solutions, visit
Copy Editor: S4Carlisle
academic.cengage.com
Publishing Services
Purchase any of our products at your local college store or at our
Cover Designer: Riezebos
preferred online store www.ichapters.com
Holzbaur/Tae Hatayama
Cover Image: paper background
© shutterstock/R Studio,
Brush stroke circle texture
© shutterstock/optimarc
Compositor: S4Carlisle
Publishing Services
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 17 16 15 14 13
Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
# 110232 Cust: Cengage Au: Solomon Pg. No. ii Pantone 7468C/K S4DcESIGaN SrERVlICiESS OlF e
Title: The Big Questions / 0e Server: S4C Short / Normal Publishing Services
For our nieces and nephews,
Jem, Jesi, Danyal, Rachel, and Carrie Solomon,
Caitlin Higgins, Jeffrey and Matthew Cook,
Allison, Rachel, Daniel, Brett, and Marcus Felten,
Kevin and Emily Daily
Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
# 110232 Cust: Cengage Au: Solomon Pg. No. iii Pantone 7468C/K S4DcESIGaN SrERVlICiESS OlF e
Title: The Big Questions / 0e Server: S4C Short / Normal Publishing Services
Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
# 110232 Cust: Cengage Au: Solomon Pg. No. iv Pantone 7468C/K S4DcESIGaN SrERVlICiESS OlF e
Title: The Big Questions / 0e Server: S4C Short / Normal Publishing Services
Contents
Preface xiii
Introduction Doing Philosophy 3
Beyond Buzzwords 4
Articulation and Argument: Two Crucial Features
of Philosophy 5
Concepts and Conceptual Frameworks 8
Doing Philosophy with Style 13
A Little Logic 15
Deduction 16
Induction 17
Criticizing Arguments 19
Closing Questions 23
Suggested Readings 24
Chapter 1 Philosophical Questions 27
What is Philosophy? 28
Opening Questions 29
Suggested Readings 40
Chapter 2 The Meaning of Life 43
Opening Questions 43
What Kind of Meaning? 44
Children as Meaning 46
God as Meaning 46
Afterlife as Meaning 47
No Meaning at All 47
The Meanings of Life 50
Life as a Game 51
Life as a Story 51
Life as Tragedy 52
Life as Comedy 53
Life as a Mission 54
Life as Art 55
v
Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
# 110232 Cust: Cengage Au: Solomon Pg. No. v Pantone 7468C/K S4DcESIGaN SrERVlICiESS OlF e
Title: The Big Questions / 0e Server: S4C Short / Normal Publishing Services
vi Contents
Life as an Adventure 55
Life as Disease 56
Life as Desire 57
Life as Nirvana 58
Life as Altruism 58
Life as Honor 59
Life as Learning 59
Life as Suffering 60
Life as an Investment 61
Life as Relationships 62
Closing Questions 62
Suggested Readings 63
Chapter 3 God 65
Opening Questions 65
Believing in God 66
Gods and Goddesses 69
The Traditional Western Conceptions of God 70
God as Transcendent 73
God as Immanent 74
God as Totally Immanent: Pantheism 77
God as Universal Spirit 79
God as Process 79
God as Transcendent Creator: Deism 80
God as the Unknown Object of Faith 81
God as a Moral Being 82
The Problem of Evil 83
Denial of God 83
Two Kinds of Evil 83
Denial of Evil 84
The Least of the Evils 85
The Aesthetic Solution 86
The Free-Will Solution 86
Justice in the Afterlife 87
God’s “Mysterious Ways” 87
Working Out an Answer 88
Faith and Reason: Grounds for Believing 88
The Cosmological Argument 90
The Argument from Design 91
The Ontological Argument 92
Rational Faith 94
Pascal’s Wager 95
Irrational Faith 96
Religious Tolerance: Ritual, Tradition, and Spirituality 98
Doubts 101
Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
# 110232 Cust: Cengage Au: Solomon Pg. No. vi Pantone 7468C/K S4DcESIGaN SrERVlICiESS OlF e
Title: The Big Questions / 0e Server: S4C Short / Normal Publishing Services
Contents vii
Closing Questions 103
Suggested Readings 104
Chapter 4 The Nature of Reality 107
Opening Questions 107
The Real World 108
What Is Most Real? 111
The Reality Behind the Appearances 112
The Basis of Metaphysics 113
The First Metaphysicians 114
Thales 114
The Pre-Socratic Materialists 114
Early Nonphysical Views of Reality 117
Plato’s Forms 120
Aristotle’s Metaphysics 123
Mind and Metaphysics 124
René Descartes 125
Baruch Spinoza 127
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz 129
Idealism 131
Teleology 136
Metaphysics and the Everyday World 139
Closing Questions 141
Suggested Readings 142
Chapter 5 The Search for Truth 145
Opening Questions 145
What Is True? 145
Two Kinds of Truth 148
Empirical Truth 148
Necessary Truth 149
Rationalism and Empiricism 152
The Presuppositions of Knowledge 154
Skepticism 156
René Descartes and the Method of Doubt 158
David Hume’s Skepticism 160
The Resolution of Skepticism: Immanuel Kant 165
Knowledge, Truth, and Science 165
The Nature of Truth 170
The Coherence Theory of Truth 172
The Pragmatic Theory of Truth 173
Rationality 174
Why Be Rational? 176
Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
# 110232 Cust: Cengage Au: Solomon Pg. No. vii Pantone 7468C/K S4DcESIGaN SrERVlICiESS OlF e
Title: The Big Questions / 0e Server: S4C Short / Normal Publishing Services
viii Contents
Subjective Truth and the Problem
of Relativism 177
Closing Questions 182
Suggested Readings 183
Chapter 6 Self 185
Opening Questions 185
The Essential Self 186
Self as Body, Self as Consciousness 188
The Self and Its Emotions 193
The Egocentric Predicament 197
The Mind-Body Problem 199
Behaviorism 200
Identity Theory and Eliminative
Materialism 202
Functionalism 204
Against the Mind-Body Problem 205
Other Theories of the Self 206
The Self as a Choice 206
No Self, Many Selves 210
The Self as Social 212
The Self and Relationships 216
Closing Questions 219
Suggested Readings 220
Chapter 7 Freedom 223
Opening Questions 223
Freedom and the Good Life 224
Why Is Freedom So Important to Us? 225
What Is Political Freedom? 229
Concepts of Self and Our Notions of Freedom 232
Free Will and Determinism 234
Determinism Versus Indeterminism 237
The Role of Consciousness 240
Compatibilism, or Soft Determinism 242
In Defense of Freedom 244
Closing Questions 248
Suggested Readings 248
Chapter 8 Morality and the Good Life 251
Opening Questions 251
Moral Philosophy 252
The Good Life 253
Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
# 110232 Cust: Cengage Au: Solomon Pg. No. viii Pantone 7468C/K S4DcESIGaN SrERVlICiESS OlF e
Title: The Big Questions / 0e Server: S4C Short / Normal Publishing Services