Philosophical Questions Classical and Contemporary Readings

1. Questions about Philosophy What Is Philosophy? Why Is It Important? Plato: "The Activity of Philosophy" Plato: "Philosophy on Trial" How Can I Decide What to Believe? Tools for Examining Arguments 2. Questions about God, Faith, and Reason Philosophy of Religion: What Are the Issues? What Are My Options Concerning Philosophy of Religion? Opening Narrative: Is There a Reality that Transcends Our Own? Edwin Abbott: "Flatland" Is There Evidence for the Existence of God? The Cosmological Argument Thomas Aquinas: "Five Arguments for God" Richard Taylor: "Why the World Needs an Explanation" William Rowe: "A Critique of the Cosmological Argument" The Teleological Argument William Paley: "The World Shows Evidence of Design" David Hume: "The Evidence of Design is Weak" The Ontological Argument St. Anselm and Gaunilo: "The Ontological Argument-For and Against" Michael Martin: "A Critique of the Ontological Argument" Do Suffering and Evil Count Against the Existence of God? Albert Camus: "Two Responses to Suffering" B.C. Johnson: "Evil Disproves the Existence of God" John Hick: "There Is a Reason Why God Allows Evil" Is Religious Faith without Evidence Justified? Blaise Pascal: "Faith is Pragmatically Justified" William James: "Faith is Subjectively Justified" Michael Scriven: "Faith is not Justified" Antony Flew, R.M. Hare, and Basil Mitchell: "Three Parables about Religious Faith" Contemporary Application: Does Religion Conflict with Science? Richard Dawkins: "Science is in Tension with Religion" Paul Davies: "Science Supports Religion" 3. Questions about Human Knowledge Human Knowledge: What Are the Issues? What Are My Options Concerning Human Knowledge? Opening Narrative: Do We Know as Much as We Think We Do? Plato: "The Allegory of the Cave" What Can We Know? How Do We Know? Rene Descartes: "Rationalism and the Search for Certainty" John Locke: "Empiricism and Common Sense" George Berkeley: "Empiricism and Idealism" David Hume: "Empiricism and Skepticism" Immanuel Kant: "Knowledge Is Based Both on Reason and Experience" William James: "The Pragmatic Theory of Knowledge" Alison M. Jaggar: "A Feminist Perspective on Knowledge" Can We Know Anything at All? Responses to Skepticism O.K. Bouwsma: "Descartes' Evil Genius" John Hospers: "An Argument Against Skepticism" Contemporary Application: Does Science Give Us Objective Knowledge about the World? Steven Weinberg: "Scientific Knowledge Is Based in Reality" Richard Rorty: "Scientific Knowledge Is Based in Social Solidarity" 4. Questions about the Mind The Mind: What Are the Issues? What Are My Options Concerning the Mind? Opening Narrative: What is the Self? Daniel Dennett: "Where Am I?" What is the Mind? Is It Separate from the Body? Hugh Elliot: "Tantalus" Rene Descartes: "Dualism-The Mind Is Separate from the Body" Gilbert Ryle: "Logical Behaviorism-Mental Statements Refer to Behavior" Paul Churchland: "Eliminative Materialism-There Is No Mind" David Chalmers: "The Puzzle of Conscious Experience" R. Buckminster Fuller: "What's a Man?" What is the Basis of Personal Identity? Do I Survive My Death? John Locke: "The Self Is Identical to Its Psychological States: David Hume: "There Is No Self" Jeffrey Olen: "An Account of Personal Identity and Immortality" Linda Badham: "An Argument Against Immortality" Contemporary Application: Can Computers Think? Christopher Evans: "Computers Will Some Day Be Able to Think" John Searle: "Computer Programs Can Only Simulate Thinking" Terry Bisson: "They're Made Out of Meat" 5. Questions about Free Will and Determinism Freedom and Determinism: What Are the Issues? What Are My Options Concerning Human Freedom? Hard Determinism Libertarianism Compatibilism Opening Narrative: When Are We MoraLawhead, William F. is the author of 'Philosophical Questions Classical and Contemporary Readings', published 2002 under ISBN 9780767424110 and ISBN 0767424115.