Philosophy

By: B. Greetham

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Paperback | 1 August 2006 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

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458 Pages

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24.5 x 19.0 x 2.8

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This is a clear, accessible introduction to the method and subject of philosophy. Written to meet the needs of students, at the end of each chapter there are clear note structures to help students use the ideas confidently, with movements in thought represented on intellectual maps that will allow them to see how each fits into the whole. The text is enriched with fascinating insights into the lives and ideas of philosophers, which makes it an absorbing read.

Industry Reviews

'I think this will make a fine textbook. It's a book I would have very much wished to have read when I first studied philosophy. It is consistently engaging and lucid. It never patronises the reader, it challenges the reader in just the right way. It is historically informed, without being a history of philosophy, and it covers a lot of philosophical ground. This is really a remarkable achievement for a lone author.' - Dr. Damian Cox, School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, University of Queensland, Australia

'Bryan Greetham has, in one way, achieved something remarkable in writing this book: it is as close as one could reasonably hope to being a completely comprehensive introductory textbook in philosophy...The book is well organised and well designed for student use...' - E. J. Lowe, Times Higher Education Supplement

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Non-Fiction Philosophy Science Science in General

List of selected illustrations	p. xiii
List of tables	p. xiii
List of biographies	p. xiv
List of brief lives	p. xiv
Acknowledgements	p. xv
Introduction	p. xvi
The Subject	p. 1
What is philosophy?	p. 1
The relevance of philosophy	p. 3
Learning to philosophize	p. 4
The method of philosophy	p. 7
Conclusion	p. 9
Recommended reading	p. 10
The Method: Hypothesizing	p. 11
Asking the best question	p. 11
Designing the best solution	p. 13
What sort of problem is it?	p. 14
Normative claims	p. 14
Empirical and non-empirical claims	p. 15
Synthetic a priori propositions	p. 16
Analysing the key concepts	p. 17
Open and closed concepts	p. 17
The three-step technique	p. 18
Notes on authority	p. 24
Conclusion	p. 26
Questions	p. 26
Recommended reading	p. 26
The Method: Testing for Validity	p. 27
Validity and truth	p. 29
Sound arguments	p. 30
Valid arguments with false premises	p. 30
Invalid arguments with true premises	p. 31
Problems	p. 31
Suppressed premises	p. 31
Equivocation	p. 32
The fallacy of the undistributed middle term	p. 33
The fallacy of the illicit process of major or minor term	p. 33
The forms of syllogistic arguments	p. 34
Conclusion	p. 41
Quick reference	p. 41
Questions	p. 41
Recommended reading	p. 42
The Method: Testing for Truth	p. 43
Are the connections between our ideas true?	p. 44
Sufficient conditions	p. 44
Necessary conditions	p. 44
Necessary and sufficient conditions: an example	p. 45
Two general rules	p. 45
Is there sufficient evidence to support our theory?	p. 46
How much evidence is enough?	p. 47
Credible connections: argument by analogy	p. 48
Internal test: is it an adequate explanation?	p. 50
Playing devil's advocate	p. 51
Saving theories	p. 52
External test: is it coherent with our other ideas?	p. 52
Questions	p. 54
Recommended reading	p. 54
Our Knowledge of the External World
Knowledge	p. 57
Belief	p. 59
Truth	p. 60
Certainty	p. 61
Rationalism	p. 61
Empiricism	p. 61
Justification	p. 62
Quality	p. 63
Quantity	p. 64
Are the three conditions sufficient for knowledge?	p. 66
Conclusion	p. 67
Questions	p. 67
Recommended reading	p. 68
Truth	p. 69
Necessary and contingent truths	p. 70
Kant and synthetic a priori truths	p. 70
Theories of truth	p. 74
The correspondence theory of truth	p. 74
The coherence theory	p. 76
The pragmatic theory	p. 77
The semantic theory	p. 78
Conclusion	p. 81
Questions	p. 81
Recommended reading	p. 81
Scepticism	p. 82
Philosophical doubt versus ordinary doubt	p. 83
The evil genius	p. 86
Descartes' answer	p. 87
Ordinary doubt	p. 88
Doubt and the search for knowledge	p. 90
Conclusion	p. 93
Questions	p. 93
Recommended reading	p. 94
Perception: Rationalism and Empiricism	p. 95
Ultimate reality	p. 96
Appearance and reality	p. 98
The problem	p. 99
Rationalism	p. 100
Descartes' rationalism	p. 101
Empiricism	p. 103
Locke's empiricism	p. 104
Innate ideas	p. 104
Experience: the source of knowledge	p. 105
Conclusion	p. 107
Questions	p. 107
Timeline: epistemology	p. 108
Recommended reading	p. 110
Perception: Idealism and Phenomenalism	p. 111
Subjective idealism: Bishop George Berkeley	p. 112
Objects	p. 113
Mind and God	p. 113
Phenomenalism	p. 114
Hume	p. 115
The mind	p. 115
Impressions and ideas	p. 116
The principles and habits of association	p. 116
Reasoning consists in discovering relations	p. 117
Physical objects	p. 117
The complete sceptic	p. 117
Kant	p. 118
Perception	p. 119
Conception	p. 119
The phenomenal and noumenal worlds	p. 120
Logical positivism: phenomenalism in the twentieth century	p. 121
The verification principle	p. 122
Quine and 'Two Dogmas of Empiricism'	p. 122
Timeline: perception	p. 124
Conclusion	p. 126
Questions	p. 126
Recommended reading	p. 126
Explanations: Purposive and Causal Explanations	p. 127
Purposive and causal explanations	p. 127
Causation	p. 130
The problem of induction	p. 134
Discovering hypotheses	p. 134
Justifying hypotheses	p. 137
Conclusion	p. 138
Questions	p. 138
Recommended reading	p. 138
Explanations: Confirming and Falsifying Theories	p. 139
Theories	p. 140
Karl Popper, falsification and pseudo-science	p. 143
Experiments and observation	p. 144
Falsification	p. 145
Science and pseudo-science	p. 147
Thomas Kuhn and confirmation	p. 148
Normal science	p. 149
Crisis and revolution	p. 149
Feminist epistemology	p. 150
Conclusion	p. 152
Questions	p. 153
Recommended reading	p. 153
Religion	p. 154
What is religion?	p. 155
Religious concepts: their coherence, meaning and justification	p. 155
What does it mean to say there is a God?	p. 156
What sort of language is religious language? How are we to understand it and confirm its claims?	p. 157
Arguments for the existence of God	p. 159
The ontological argument: a necessary proof	p. 160
Contingent arguments	p. 161
The teleological argument: the argument from design	p. 163
The argument from miracles and revelations	p. 164
Conclusion	p. 166
Questions	p. 166
Recommended reading	p. 166
Reason and Faith	p. 168
What is faith? Faith, evidence and knowledge	p. 168
Is it rational to believe in God? Pascal's wager	p. 169
The leap of faith: Kierkegaard and subjective truth	p. 170
God as the ultimate concern: Paul Tillich	p. 172
Morality and the problem of evil	p. 173
God's will as the ultimate ground for our moral behaviour: the Euthyphro problem	p. 173
The problem of evil: God's omnipotence and goodness, and the existence of evil	p. 174
Critics of religion	p. 175
Marx versus Kierkegaard: meaning and value	p. 175
Nietzsche: the revolt against traditional values	p. 176
Freud: illusions and wish fulfilment	p. 178
Conclusion	p. 179
Questions	p. 179
Recommended reading	p. 179
Understanding the Individual
The Mind and Mental Events	p. 184
The problem of consciousness	p. 185
Incorrigibility	p. 187
Freud and the unconscious	p. 188
Beliefs, abilities and qualities of mind	p. 189
Privileged access: the privacy of mental events	p. 190
Materialism and the reductive fallacy	p. 192
The reductive fallacy	p. 193
Materialism	p. 193
Husserl, holism and intentionality	p. 195
Conclusion	p. 197
Questions	p. 197
Recommended reading	p. 197
The Problem of Dualism	p. 198
Cartesian dualism and causal interactionism	p. 198
Accept dualism, but reject interactionism	p. 200
The dual aspect theory	p. 200
Psychophysical parallelism	p. 201
Accept dualism and interactionism: epiphenomenalism	p. 202
The rejection of dualism	p. 203
The identity theory	p. 204
Behaviourism	p. 206
Functionalism: the mind as computer	p. 209
Conclusion	p. 210
Questions	p. 211
Recommended reading	p. 211
The Essence of Self	p. 212
The meaning of identity	p. 212
The essence of the self	p. 213
The religious conception	p. 213
Descartes and the 'soul'	p. 213
Locke and memories	p. 214
Hume and the idea of the self as a fiction	p. 216
Kant: the self as transcendental	p. 217
Conclusion	p. 219
Questions	p. 219
Recommended reading	p. 219
Creating the Self	p. 220
Existentialism: inventing the self	p. 220
Sartre: existence precedes essence	p. 221
The feminist self: Simone de Beauvoir	p. 222
Kierkegaard and Nietzsche	p. 225
Psychoanalysis	p. 228
Freud and the unconscious	p. 228
R.D. Laing: existential psychotherapy	p. 229
Marxism	p. 230
Marx and false consciousness	p. 230
Marcuse: one-dimensional thinking	p. 231
Decentring the subject	p. 234
Structuralism and the self	p. 234
Post-structuralism and the self	p. 234
Conclusion	p. 236
Questions	p. 236
Recommended reading	p. 236
Determinism and Freedom	p. 237
Causes and compulsions	p. 239
Hard determinism	p. 241
Physical determinism	p. 241
Psychological determinism	p. 242
Freedom as an illusion	p. 242
Consciousness	p. 243
Indeterminism: libertarianism	p. 244
Why isn't our moral self determined?	p. 246
We only appear to be free because we don't yet know the causes	p. 246
Freedom is impossible if indeterminism is true	p. 247
Soft determinism: compatibilism	p. 247
Character	p. 248
The moral self	p. 250
Conclusion	p. 251
Questions	p. 251
Recommended reading	p. 251
Freedom in Context	p. 252
Centring the subject	p. 253
Kant	p. 253
Individualism	p. 254
Existentialism	p. 254
Decentring the subject	p. 257
Historicism	p. 258
Freud: undermining consciousness	p. 262
Structuralism and post-structuralism	p. 263
Conclusion	p. 264
Questions	p. 264
Recommended reading	p. 264
Responsibility and Punishment	p. 265
When is an act compelled?	p. 265
External compulsion	p. 266
Internal compulsion	p. 269
Responsibility	p. 271
Punishment	p. 274
Vengeance	p. 274
Deterrence	p. 274
Retribution	p. 275
Rehabilitation	p. 276
Protection	p. 277
Conclusion	p. 278
Questions	p. 278
Recommended reading	p. 278
Understanding Our Relations with Others
Metaethics	p. 282
Relativism	p. 284
Metaethical theories: objectivism and subjectivism	p. 285
Objectivism	p. 285
Subjectivism	p. 286
Metaethical theories: cognitivism and non-cognitivism	p. 287
Cognitivism	p. 287
Non-cognitivism	p. 293
Is all moral discourse futile?	p. 295
The is-ought gap	p. 295
Descriptivism	p. 297
Conclusion	p. 298
Questions	p. 298
Recommended reading	p. 299
Normative Ethics: Deontology	p. 300
Teleological and deontological ethics	p. 301
Deontological ethics, Kant and rational rules	p. 303
Egoism and altruism	p. 307
Psychological egoism	p. 308
Ethical egoism	p. 308
Altruism	p. 310
Morality and sentiment: Hume and Rousseau	p. 312
Hume	p. 312
Rousseau	p. 313
Female ethics: the ethic of care	p. 315
Conclusion	p. 318
Questions	p. 319
Recommended reading	p. 319
Normative Ethics: Consequentialism and Virtue Ethics	p. 320
Consequentialist theories: utilitarianism	p. 321
Act and rule utilitarianism	p. 321
Happiness	p. 324
Preference utilitarianism	p. 326
Moral pluralism	p. 329
Virtue ethics	p. 330
Conclusion	p. 333
Timeline: ethics	p. 334
Questions	p. 336
Recommended reading	p. 336
Politics: Legitimacy and the State	p. 337
Authority, power, legitimacy, force and influence	p. 339
Legitimacy	p. 340
Legitimacy and legality	p. 340
Legitimacy and consent	p. 341
Other sources of legitimacy	p. 341
Legitimacy and morality	p. 343
Theories of legitimacy	p. 343
Divine right theory	p. 344
Force theory	p. 344
Voluntary acceptance theories	p. 345
Moral purpose theories	p. 352
Conclusion	p. 356
Questions	p. 356
Recommended reading	p. 356
Politics: The Extent of Power	p. 357
Theories of human nature	p. 358
Freedom	p. 358
Negative liberty	p. 359
Positive liberty	p. 359
The extent of state power	p. 362
Insulating the individual	p. 362
The state as the actual will of the individual	p. 366
Conclusion	p. 368
Questions	p. 368
Recommended reading	p. 369
Politics: Forms of Government	p. 370
The extent of power	p. 370
Totalitarian	p. 371
Libertarian	p. 371
Legitimacy	p. 371
Autocracy	p. 371
Democracy	p. 372
Forms of government	p. 375
Protest, civil disobedience and our moral and legal obligations	p. 378
Law and morality	p. 378
Civil disobedience	p. 379
Solutions	p. 381
Conclusion	p. 382
Questions	p. 382
Recommended reading	p. 383
Politics: Political Theories	p. 384
Ideology	p. 385
The end of ideology debate	p. 385
Political socialization	p. 386
Interpretations of ideology	p. 386
Classifying political theories	p. 388
The use and limits of power	p. 388
Human nature	p. 389
The left and right wing spectrum	p. 389
The concept and role of the state	p. 390
Political theories	p. 393
Anarchism: order without authority	p. 393
Liberalism: minimizing the state	p. 394
Totalitarianism: constant mobilization	p. 395
Conservatism: the rule of tradition	p. 396
Nationalism: pre-political homogeneity	p. 397
Fascism: reversing the forces of history	p. 398
Socialism and communism: dialectical history	p. 399
Conclusion	p. 401
Questions	p. 401
Recommended reading	p. 401
Conclusion	p. 402
Answers to questions	p. 404
Glossary	p. 406
Bibliography	p. 416
Index	p. 429
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Philosophy

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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