Table of Contents
1: Philosophy
What is Philosophy?
A Brief Introduction to Arguments
Introductory Tips on Reading and Writing Philosophy
2: Philosophy of Religion: Does God Exist?
St. Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion (Preface, Chapters 2–5), Gaunilo, “On Behalf of the Fool,” Anselm, Reply to Gaunilo.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae (Part I, Question 2, The Existence of God)
David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (Parts II–V and VII–XI)
Gottfried Leibniz, Theodicy (Abridgement of the Argument Reduced to Syllogistic Form)
J.L. Mackie, “Evil and Omnipotence.”
William James, “The Will to Believe.”
3: Epistemology: Is the External World the Way It Appears to Be?
René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy.
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (selections).
George Berkeley, Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous (First Dialogue).
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason (Introduction).
Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy (Chapters 1–3).
G.E. Moore, “Proof of an External World.”
4: Philosophy of Science: When, if Ever, are Scientific Inferences Justified?
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Sections IV and V).
Nelson Goodman, Fact, Fiction and Forecast (The New Riddle of Induction).
Carl Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science (“Scientific Inquiry: Invention and Test”).
Karl Popper, “Science: Conjectures and Refutations.”
C.S. Peirce, “The Fixation of Belief.”
Thomas Kuhn, “Objectivity, Value Judgment, and Theory Choice.”
5: Philosophy of Mind: What is the Place of Mind in the Physical World?
Gilbert Ryle, The Concept of Mind (“Descartes’s Myth”).
J.J.C. Smart, “Sensations and Brain Processes.”
Hilary Putnam, “The Nature of Mental States.”
John R. Searle, “Minds, Brains and Programs.”
Paul Churchland, “Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes.”
Thomas Nagel, “What Is It Like To Be a Bat?”
6: Metaphysics: Do We Have Free Will?
Paul Rée, The Illusion of Free Will (Chapters 1 and 2).
C.A. Campbell, On Selfhood and Godhood (“Has the Self ‘Free Will?”).
Robert Kane, “Free Will: The Elusive Ideal.”
Daniel Dennett, “On Giving Libertarians What They Say They Want.”
Susan Wolf, “Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility.”
Peter Strawson, “Freedom and Resentment.”
7: Ethics: How Ought We to Live Our Lives?
Plato, Republic (Book II, 357a–367e).
Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics (selections).
Immanuel Kant, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals (Sections I and II).
John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism (Chapters 1–4).
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (§§ 259–261).
Virginia Held, “Feminist Transformations of Moral Theory.”
8: Social/Political Philosophy: What is Justice?
Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics (Book V, Sections 1-5).
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (selections).
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (Chapters I, II, and IV).
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto
John Rawls, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (§§12-13).
Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (“Distributive Justice,” Section I).
9: New Directions in Philosophy
Mary Midgley, “Is a Dolphin a Person?”
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (Introduction).
Lorraine Code, “Is the Sex of the Knower Epistemologically Significant?”
W.V.O. Quine, “Epistemology Naturalized.”
Arthur Fine, “The Natural Ontological Attitude.”
Richard Rorty, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (“Philosophy Without Mirrors”).