Think Again

John Kaag is professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He is the author of two memoirs, Hiking with Nietzsche and American Philosophy. His other books include Thinking Through Writing; Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life; and Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living (all Princeton).

• Part 1. Philosophy as a Way of LifeChapter 1: Socrates and Plato1.1 Philosophy and Existential Questions1.2 Socrates—The Examined Life and Socratic WisdomBox 1.1 Thinking Critically: The Value of Self-Knowledge1.3 Socratic Wisdom and DialecticBox 1.2 Historical Context: Education in Ancient Athens1.4 Relativism—Cultural and IndividualSelection 1 Euthyphro [Socrates (S) to Euthyphro (E)]1.5 The Good, the True, and the Real1.6 Justification and ArgumentBox 1.3 Thinking Critically: The Limits of Deduction1.7 The Virtue of Argument and ApologySelection 2 Apology [Socrates (S) to Meletus (M)]Box 1.4 Writing Philosophically: Exercise 1Selection 3 Apology [Socrates’ Speech]Box 1.5 Thinking Critically: Self-Examination and Moral Responsibility1.8 The Allegory of the Cave and the Divided Line1.9 ConclusionChapter 2: Aristotle and the Background of Ancient Thought2.1 From Academy to Lyceum2.2 The Background of Ancient Thought—Pre-SocraticsThalesHeraclitusParmenides and ZenoBox 2.1 Writing Philosophically: Zeno’s Paradox—Achilles and the TortoiseBox 2.2 Historical Context: The Rise of Greek Civilization2.3 Aristotle: The ScientistSelection 1 Aristotle’s Physics [Book II, Part 3 and 4]2.4 Aristotle: EthicistSelection 2 Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics [Book II]Box 2.3 Thinking Critically: The Hard Questions of Virtue2.5 Plato and Aristotle—A ComparisonBox 2.4 Thinking Critically: Necessary and Sufficient Conditions2.6 ConclusionChapter 3: Hellenistic Philosophy3.1 Be Good? Why Bother?!3.2 HedonismBox 3.1 Thinking Critically: The Value of Walking … and ThinkingSelection 1 Epicurus’ Principal DoctrinesBox 3.2 Writing Philosophically: Outlining the Problem—The BIG Outline3.3 Cynicism3.4 The Stoics and DeterminismBox 3.3 Historical Context: The Timelessness of StoicismBox 3.4 Thinking Critically: The Details of DeterminismSelection 2 Epictetus’ Enchiridion3.5 ConclusionChapter 4: Islamic and Medieval Philosophy4.1 Human Crisis and the Roots of the Philosophy of Religion4.2 The Problem of Evil4.3 AugustineAugustine on the Nature of GodAugustine on Free Will and the Privation Theory of EvilAugustine on Proofs of God’s Existence4.4 AquinasAquinas on Proofs of God’s ExistenceSelection 1 Aquinas’ Summa Theologica (“The Five Ways”)Critiques of Aquinas4.5 Islamic Thought4.6 AvicennaA Theory of BeingAvicenna on Proofs of God’s ExistenceBox 4.1 Writing Philosophically: Evaluating Premises (Spoken and Unspoken)4.7 AverroesAverroes on Truth and ReligionAverroes on the AfterlifeBox 4.2 Thinking Critically: Rumi on the Question of Selfishness4.8 Ibn Khaldūn4.9 ConclusionPart 2. Ways of KnowingChapter 5: The Rationalists5.1 Modern Philosophy and Existential UrgencyBox 5.1 Thinking Critically: Moments of Crisis5.2 Descartes’ Response to His TimesSelection 1 Descartes’ Meditation IBox 5.2 Historical Context: Descartes: Armchair, Bedroom Philosopher?5.3 Descartes’ Certainty: The Cogito ArgumentSelection 2 Descartes’ Meditation IIBox 5.3 Writing Philosophically: From Question to Thesis5.4 Cartesian Problems: Dualism and Other MindsJohn Stuart Mill and the Argument from Analogy5.5 Rationalist Metaphysics—Spinoza and LeibnitzBox 5.4 Thinking Critically: To Understand is to Be Free5.6 Hidden Passages in Modern Rationalism5.7 ConclusionChapter 6: The Empiricists6.1 Introduction to Empiricism6.2 Bacon: Four Idols and Induction on the RiseThe Idol of the TribeIdol of the CaveIdols of the MarketplaceIdols of the TheaterSelection 1 Bacon’s New Organon (Preface)Box 6.1 Writing Philosophically: Compare and Contrast Essays— Descartes and Bacon6.3 Locke and the Blank SlateSelection 2 Locke: Essay Concerning Human Understanding6.4 Berkeley on Keeping Things in Mind6.5 Hume’s Skepticism: Science and Human Nature at Risk?Hume on ideas, impressions, and inquiryHume’s Skepticism about InductionBox 6.2 Thinking Critically: Hume: On the PassionsSelection 3 Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human UnderstandingHume’s Critique of TheologyHume on the SelfBox 6.3 Historical Context: Japanese Philosophy in the 1700s6.6 ConclusionChapter 7: Kant and His Copernican Revolution in Philosophy7.1 Kant and the Enlightenment7.2 The First Critique: An Exploration of JudgmentThe Analytic-Synthetic DistinctionKant’s Copernican RevolutionCategories of Judgment and CausalitySelection 1 The Second Analogy from Critique of Pure Reason7.3 “What Is Enlightenment?”Box 7.1 Writing Philosophically: Writing with Sources, Enlightened WritingBox 7.2 Thinking Critically: Kant and the Hindrances to EnlightenmentSelection 2 “What Is Enlightenment?7.4 ConclusionPart 3. Ways of InteractingChapter 8: The Social Contract8.1 Social and Political Philosophy: What is it?8.2 Machiavelli: Political Power, Fortune, and VirtúBox 8.1 Writing Philosophically: Close Reading Revisited8.3 Hobbes in Search of Political LegitimacyThe State of NatureThe LeviathanSelection 1 The Leviathan (1651)Box 8.2 Thinking Critically: Hobbes and the Historical Record of Political Philosophy8.4 Locke on LibertySelection 2 The U.S. Declaration of Independence8.5 Rousseau on Natural Goodness and the General WillBox 8.3 Historical Context: The Role of the General Will in the French Revolution8.6 Extending the Social Contract8.7 ConclusionChapter 9: Utilitarianism9.1 Utilitarianism: Context and Basic PrinciplesSelection 1 Jeremy Bentham’s An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789)Box 9.1 Historical Context: The Panopticon of Jeremy BenthamBox 9.2 Thinking Critically: The Question of Non-Human Animals—Peter Singer9.2 Is All Pleasure Created Equal?Selection 2 John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism (1863)9.3 Criticisms of UtilitarianismThe Objection of DemandingnessThe Difficulty of Predicting ConsequencesThe Challenge of Intrinsic Value9.4 Rule and Negative UtilitarianismRule UtilitarianismNegative UtilitarianismBox 9.3 Writing Philosophically: Arguments and Counterarguments—Utility and Abortion9.5 ConclusionChapter 10: Kantian Ethics10.1 Deontology and Kant’s Notion of Duty10.2 The Categorical ImperativeThe Formulation of UniversalityBox 10.1 Writing Philosophically: Facing Objections: The Murderer at the DoorThe Formulation of HumanityBox 10.2 Historical Context: Kant’s White SupremacyBox 10.3 Writing Philosophically: Kant on Nonhuman AnimalsFormulation of AutonomyPerfect and Imperfect DutiesSelection 1 Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals (On the Happiness of Others)Box 10.4 Thinking Critically: The Duty to Resist One’s Own Oppression10.3 The Kingdom of Ends and PunishmentSelection 2 Immanuel Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals10.4 ConclusionPart 4. Ways of the WorldChapter 11: Aesthetics11.1 The Importance of Beauty11.2 Ancient Greek Ideas About Art and BeautyPlato and MimesisAristotle and CatharsisSelection 1 Aristotle’s PoeticsBox 11.1 Writing Philosophically: Relating Philosophy to Contemporary Life11.3 Formalists, Functionalists, and KantKant’s Turn InwardKant on the Judgment of the BeautifulGenius and Fine ArtSelection 2 The Critique of Judgment (section 46) “Fine art is the art of genius”Box 11.2 Thinking Critically: Does Great Art (And the Appreciation of Beauty) Require Solitude?11.4 Schiller and Dewey on the Artistry of LifeBox 11.3 Historical Context: The Time of the ImaginationBox 11.4 Writing Philosophically: Dewey on Aesthetics and the “Live Creature”11.5 Bell and Danto: What Counts as Art?11.6 ConclusionChapter 12: Idealism and Materialism12.1 The Rise of Post-Kantian PhilosophyBox 12.1 Thinking Critically: The “Ich” in Idealism12.2 Hegel: The Movement of SpiritConsciousness and SpiritSelf-Reflection and CultureSelection 1 Preface to Hegel’s Phenomenology of SpiritThe Phenomenology of SpiritBox 12.2 Writing Philosophically: Lordship and Bondage12.3 Marx: Making Hegel MatterBiographical SettingMarx Meets EngelsMarxist Criticisms of Hegel (The German IdeologyThe Forms of Social RelationBox 12.3 Writing Philosophically: Evaluating a Theory: Marx versus HegelModes of Production and Modes of OrganizationBox 12.4 Historical Context: Marx in AfricaSelection 2 Marx’s The German Ideology (1845)12.4 ConclusionChapter 13: Pragmatism and Phenomenology13.1 Proto-Pragmatism: American TranscendentalismSelection 1 Emerson’s “Self-Reliance #x201D;Box 13.1 Historical Context: Christianity in the 1830sCritique of IndustrializationSelection 2 Emerson’s “Compensation”Box 13.2 Writing Philosophically: Thoreau on the Use of “I” in Philosophy13.2 Pragmatism: Peirce and James on ExperienceSelection 3 James’ “Will to Believe”13.3 Dewey and Addams on Pragmatic CommunitiesBox 13.3 Thinking Critically: Addams on Charity13.4 European PhenomenologyHusserl and Heidegger13.5 ConclusionChapter 14: Existentialism and Postmodern Philosophy14.1 Introduction to Existentialism14.2 Schopenhauer, Pessimism, and the “Ozymandias Trap”14.3 Kierkegaard, Faith, and AnxietyBox 14.1 Writing Critically: Discussing Short Passages14.4 Nietzsche, Slave Morality, and the OvermanBox 14.2 Thinking Critically: Nietzsche’s Antichrist14.5 Camus on the AbsurdSelection 1 Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus14.6 Defining Existentialism: Sartre, Beauvoir, and FanonSartre and Existentialism Is a HumanismExistentialism’s Bad RapSelection 2 Rilke’s Notebooks of Malte Laurids BriggeBeauvoir and Fanon on Crosscurrents of ExistentialismBox 14.3 Historical Context: Existentialism and Religions of the Here and Now14.7 Postmodern Philosophy and NeopragmatismMichel Foucault on PowerRichard Rorty on the Linguistic Turn14.8 ConclusionPart 5. Contemporary TopicsChapter 15: Contemporary Metaphysics and Epistemology15.1 The History of Metaphysics and Epistemology: A Brief Review15.2 What Is Knowledge?Justified True BeliefTruthBeliefJustificationGettier CounterexamplesSelection 1 Gettier’s “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?”15.3 Is Knowledge Possible?Box 15.1 Historical Context: Zhuangzi and SkepticismMoore and a Proof of an External WorldBox 15.2 Writing Philosophically: Refuting a Refutation of SkepticismWittgenstein on Language and KnowledgeThe Ideal Structure of LanguageSelection 2 Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-PhilosophicusBox 15.3 Thinking Critically: Correspondence or Not?15.4 Do We Possess Free Will?Selection 3 James’s The Dilemma of DeterminismBox 15.4 Thinking Critically: Frankfurt on Compatibilism15.5 What Is Personal Identity?15.6 ConclusionChapter 16: Philosophy of Mind16.1 Introduction to the Mind16.2 Classical DualismCartesian DualismSelection 1 Descartes’ Meditations VIThe Problem of InteractionWittgenstein’s Beetle16.3 The Behaviorist ChallengeRyle’s Category MistakeBehaviorism and Its LimitsCriticisms of Behaviorism16.4 Identity TheoryLobotomies and the Physical MindCorrelations and IdentityZombies and the Hard Problem of ConsciousnessSelection 2 David Chalmers’ “The Hard Problem of Consciousness” in The Norton Introduction to Philosophy (2018)Eliminative Materialism16.5 FunctionalismMultiple RealizabilityAI and the Chinese RoomSelection 3 The Chinese Room by John SearleBox 16.1 Thinking Critically: The Turing TestThe Systems ResponseBox 16.2 Historical Context: Artificial Intelligence16.6 Contemporary PerspectivesWhat Is It Like to Be a Bat?Jackson’s Knowledge ArgumentSelection 4 “What Mary Doesn’t Know”EpiphenomenalismBox 16.3 Writing Philosophically: Transitions and Structure16.7 ConclusionChapter 17: Virtue and Care Ethics17.1 Care and Virtue: Framing the Issue17.2 Virtue Ethics: ConfucianismSelection 1 Confucius’ Analects (Chapter 2)17.3 Contemporary Ethics of CareCarol Gilligan’s Ethics of CareBox 17.1 Thinking Critically: What Is Care, Exactly?Criticism of Ethics of CareBox 17.2 Historical Context: Care Ethics and the History of Womanhood17.4 Virtue Ethics Brought Up to Date: Professional Codes of ConductVirtue in Medical PracticeSelection 2 Code of Medical ProfessionalsVirtue in Engineering: The Case of LoyaltyFundamental CanonsBox 17.3 Writing Philosophically: Using Practical Examples to Evaluate a Theory17.5 ConclusionChapter 18: Contemporary Moral and Political Philosophy18.1 The Rise of MetaethicsBox 18.1 Thinking Critically: The Naturalistic Fallacy in Action18.2 Rawls and the Question of JusticeBox 18.2 Thinking Critically: Moore and RawlsSelection 1 “Justice as Fairness #x201D; by John Rawls18.3 Libertarianism: Leave My Stuff Alone!Box 18.3 Thinking Critically: The Breadth of Libertarianism18.4 Communitarianism: Individualism, OverratedBox 18.4 Writing Philosophically: Entering a Debate18.5 Radical and Feminist Critiques of RawlsBox 18.5 Thinking Critically: A Strange, Unsurprising Commonality18.6 International Social Justice18.7 ConclusionChapter 19: Oppression19.1 Birdcages and Double BindsBox 19.1 Thinking Critically: To Fight or Not to Fight? That Is the Question19.2 FeminismWho Is a Feminist?Androcentric Culture and SexismFirst Wave FeminismElizabeth Cady StantonSelection 1 Seneca Falls Declaration (1848)Box 19.2 Historical Context: Lydia Maria ChildSecond Wave FeminismBox 19.3 Historical Context: The Feminine Mystique and Second Wave Feminism in the United StatesThird Wave FeminismSelection 2 Killing Rage19.3 RacismWashington and Du BoisContemporary Philosophies “Born of Struggle”19.4 Philosophy of DisabilityBox 19.4 Writing Philosophically: Conclusions 10119.5 ConclusionGlossaryNotesIndex