Philosophy

Lewis Vaughn is the author or coauthor of several textbooks, including Bioethics (2019); The Power of Critical Thinking, Sixth Edition (2018); Philosophy Here and Now, Third Edition (2018); Writing Philosophy, Second Edition (2018); and Living Philosophy, Second Edition (2017).The late Louis P. Pojman was Professor of Philosophy at the United States Military Academy at West Point and the author, editor, or coeditor of more than twenty books.

• PrefaceTime LineI. What Is Philosophy?The Good of PhilosophyPhilosophical TerrainThinking PhilosophicallyReasons and ArgumentsFallacious ReasoningIdentifying ArgumentsObstacles to Critical ReasoningSome ApplicationsExercises in Critical ReasoningStudy and Discussion Questions1. Plato: Socratic Wisdom2. Plato: The Allegory of the Cave3. John Locke: Of Enthusiasm and the Quest for Truth4. Bertrand Russell: The Value of PhilosophyKey TermsSuggestions for Further ReadingII. Philosophy of ReligionIntroductionII.A. Is Belief in God Rationally Justified? Arguments for the Existence of GodThe Cosmological ArgumentPro5. Thomas Aquinas: The Five Ways6. William Lane Craig: The Kalam Cosmological Argument and the Anthropic PrincipleContra7. Paul Edwards: A Critique of the Cosmological ArgumentThe Teleological ArgumentPro8. William Paley: The Watch and the WatchmakerContra9. David Hume: A Critique of the Teleological ArgumentThe Ontological ArgumentPro et Contra10. St. Anselm and Gaunilo: The Ontological Argument11. William Rowe: An Analysis of the Ontological ArgumentII.B. Why Is There Evil?12. Fyodor Dostoevsky: Why Is There Evil?13. B. C. Johnson: Why Doesn't God Intervene to Prevent Evil?14. John Hick: There Is a Reason Why God Allows Evil15. William L. Rowe: The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of AtheismII.C. Is Faith Compatible with Reason?16. Blaise Pascal: Yes, Faith Is a Logical Bet17. W. K. Clifford: The Ethics of Belief18. William James: The Will to Believe19. Alvin Plantinga: Religious Belief Without Evidence20. Michael Martin: Faith and Foundationalism21. Søren Kierkegaard: Faith and Truth22. Bertrand Russell: Can Religion Cure Our Troubles?Key TermsSuggestions for Further ReadingIII. KnowledgeIntroductionIII.A. What Can We Know? Classical Theories of Knowledge23. René Descartes: Cartesian Doubt and the Search for Foundational Knowledge24. John Locke: The Empiricist Theory of Knowledge25. George Berkeley: An Idealist Theory of Knowledge26. David Hume: The Origin of Our Ideas27. G. E. Moore: Proof of an External WorldIII.B. Truth, Rationality, and Cognitive Relativism28. Bertrand Russell: The Correspondence Theory of Truth29. William James: The Pragmatic Theory of Truth30. Richard Rorty: Dismantling Truth: Solidarity Versus Objectivity31. Daniel Dennett: Postmodernism and TruthIII.C. Feminist Perspectives on Knowledge32. Eve Browning Cole: Philosophy and Feminist Criticism33. Alison Ainley: Feminist Philosophy34. Louise Antony: Embodiment and EpistemologyIII.D. Induction35. David Hume: Skeptical Doubts Concerning the Operations of the Understanding36. Wesley C. Salmon: The Problem of InductionKey TermsSuggestions for Further ReadingIV. Philosophy of Mind: The Mind-Body ProblemIntroductionIV.A. What Am I? A Mind or a Body?37. René Descartes: Substance Dualism38. Gilbert Ryle: Exorcising Descartes' "Ghost in the Machine"39. J. P. Moreland: A Contemporary Defense of Dualism40. Paul Churchland: On Functionalism and Materialism41. J. J. C. Smart: Sensations and Brain Processes42. Thomas Nagel: What Is It Like to Be a Bat?43. Jerry A. Fodor: The Mind-Body Problem44. David Chalmers: Property Dualism45. John Searle: Minds, Brains, and Computers46. Ned Block: Troubles with FunctionalismIV.B. Who Am I? Do We Have Personal Identity?47. John Locke: Our Psychological Properties Define the Self48. David Hume: We Have No Substantial Self with Which We Are IdenticalKey TermsSuggestions for Further ReadingV. Freedom of the Will and DeterminismIntroductionContra49. Baron d'Holbach: We Are Completely DeterminedPro50. William James: The Dilemma of Determinism51. Roderick M. Chisholm: Human Freedom and the SelfPro et Contra52. Harry Frankfurt: Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person53. David Hume: Liberty and Necessity54. W. T. Stace: CompatibilismKey TermsSuggestions for Further ReadingVI. EthicsIntroductionVI.A. Are There Objective Moral Truths or Is Morality Relative?55. Ruth Benedict: Morality Is Relative56. James Rachels: Morality Is Not RelativeVI.B. Ethics and Egoism: Why Should We Be Moral?57. Plato: Why Should I Be Moral? Gyges' Ring and Socrates' Dilemma58. Louis P. Pojman: Egoism and Altruism: A Critique of Ayn Rand59. Joel Feinberg: Psychological EgoismVI.C. Which Is the Correct Ethical Theory?60. Immanuel Kant: The Moral Law61. John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism62. Russ Shafer-Landau: Consequentialism: Its Difficulties63. Aristotle: The Ethics of Virtue 52064. Virginia Held: The Ethics of Care65. Alison M. Jaggar: Feminist Ethics66. Annette C. Baier: The Need for More Than Justice67. Lewis Vaughn: Morality Based on Prima Facie Principles68. Jean-Paul Sartre: Existentialist Ethics69. James Rachels: The Divine Command Theory70. Thomas Nagel: Moral Luck71. Susan Wolf: Moral SaintsKey TermsSuggestions for Further ReadingVII. Political Philosophy and JusticeIntroductionVII.A. What Is the Most Just Form of Government?72. Robert Paul Wolff: In Defense of Anarchism73. Thomas Hobbes: The Absolutist Answer: The Justification of the State Is the Security It Affords74. John Locke: The Democratic Answer: The Justification of the State Is Its Promotion of Security and Natural Human Rights75. John Stuart Mill: A Classical Liberal Answer: Government Must Promote Freedom76. John Rawls: The Contemporary Liberal Answer77. Robert Nozick: Against LiberalismVII.B. What Is Social Justice?78. Martin Luther King Jr.: Nonviolence and Racial Justice79. Susan Moller Okin: Justice, Gender, and the Family80. Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of WomenKey TermsSuggestions for Further ReadingVIII. What Is the Meaning of Life?Introduction81. Epicurus: Moderate Hedonism82. Epictetus: Stoicism: Enchiridion83. Albert Camus: Life Is Absurd84. Julian Baggini: Living Life Forwards85. John Messerly: The Ascent of Meaning 86. Thomas Nagel: The Absurd87. Richard Taylor: The Meaning of Life88. Susan Wolf: Meaning in LifeSuggestions for Further ReadingIX. Contemporary Moral ProblemsIntroductionIX.A. Is Abortion Morally Permissible?Contra89. Don Marquis: Why Abortion Is Immoral90. Francis J. Beckwith: Arguments from Bodily RightsPro91. Mary Anne Warren: On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion92. Judith Jarvis Thomson: A Defense of AbortionPro et Contra93. Jane English: The Moderate Position: Beyond the Personhood ArgumentIX.B. Free Speech and Hate Speech94. Sigal R. Ben-Porath: Free Speech on Campus95. Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman: Hate SpeechIX.C. Who Is a Racist?96. Lawrence Blum: "Racism": Its Core Meaning97. Kwame Anthony Appiah: RacismsIX.D. The Ethics of Climate Change98. Stephen M. Gardiner: A Perfect Moral Storm: Climate Change99. John Broome: The Public and Private Morality of Climate ChangeSuggestions for Further ReadingAppendix:The Truth about Philosophy MajorsHow to Read and Write Philosophy PapersGlossary