Preface 1. Philosophy Subfields of Philosophy Open and Closed Questions What It's Most Reasonable to Believe Evaluating Arguments Facts and Theories Two Principal Philosophical Questions
2. God and Philosophy The Concept of God Arguments for God's Existence An Argument Against God's Existence: The Argument from Evil Faith Experiencing God's Presence Charles Darwin, Religious Belief Benjamin Franklin, Franklin's Religious Principles from His Autobiography Mohandas K. Gandhi, Gandhi's Political Principles
3. Body and Mind Life Soul as the Explanation of Life Physical Explanations of Life Mind as the Explanation of Consciousness Minds Descartes' Argument for Dualism Problems for Descartes Physicalism Identity Theories Conclusions Plato, Phaedo
4. Personal Immortality and Personal Identity Death and Other Happenings What Role Do Our Bodies Play in Personal Identity? Same Psychological Essence How the Self Depends on the Body Identifying and Reidentifying People Dualism, Personal Identity, and Existence After Death Walpola Rahula, The Doctrine of No-Soul: Anatta
5. Freedom and Determinism Causality and Personal Identity Causality and Determinism Determinism Determinism and Human Freedom Soft Determinism/Compatibilism Reasons and Causes Probalistic Causality? What Difference Does It Make Whether We Are Free? Fatalism Borderline Cases John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Robert Blatchford, The Delusion of Free Will Jean Paul Sartre, Existentialism
6. Knowledge, Truth, and Justification It's Only a Belief Belief and Truth Three Requirements for Knowledge Justification Reasons Self-Knowledge: Beliefs About Our Own Mental States Alternatives to Perception Basic Justifiers Bertrand Russell, On the Value of Scepticism
7. Knowledge and Skepticism Evaluating the Skeptic's Argument A Strong and Weak Sense of Know Perception, Observation, and Induction Observation and Causal Generalizations The Virtue of Skepticism Rene Descartes, Meditations on the First Philosophy David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
8. Morality Moral Objectivism Moral Nonobjectivism The Divine Command Theory of Morality Nonobjectivist Moral Theories Moral Egoism Saint Augustine, The Confessions Moses Maimonides, Laws Concerning Character Traits Buddha, The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Virtue of Compassion Plato, Republic
9. Moral Justification Moral Justification Evaluating Nonmoral Reasons (Premises) Evaluating Moral Principles Reflective Equilibrium Moral Belief and Action Why Be Moral? The Challenge of Amoralism G. J. Warnock, The Object of Morality
10. Two Theories of Right and Wrong Consequentialism Utilitarianism Kantian Moral Theory John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism Immanuel Kant, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals
11. Justice and Rights Aristotle's Conception of Justice: Treating Equals Equally Justice and Relevant Differences Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party Susan Moller Okin, Justice, Gender, and the Family
12. Liberty and Democracy Liberty Is Democracy the Best Form of Government? Benjamin Constant, The Kind of Liberty Offered to Men at the End of the Last Century Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract
Appendices A. Reading Philosophy B. Writing a Philosophy Paper Glossary/Index Each chapter begins with Objectives and an Introduction and ends with Questions for Discussion and Review and Suggestions for Further Reading
