Knowing Reality
A Guided Introduction to Metaphysics and Epistemology
  • Print Publication Date: July 15, 2023
  • eBook Publication Date: June 15, 2023
  • ISBN: 9781554815302 / 1554815304
  • 400 pages; 6½" x 9"

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Knowing Reality

A Guided Introduction to Metaphysics and Epistemology

  • Print Publication Date: July 15, 2023
  • eBook Publication Date: June 15, 2023
  • ISBN: 9781554815302 / 1554815304
  • 400 pages; 6½" x 9"

Knowing Reality is a guided introduction to metaphysics and epistemology. Each of the book’s twelve chapters contains extended excerpts from influential historical and contemporary philosophers, as well as a guided exposition of their views and their locations within the logical space of the issues at play. Topics are introduced through engaging thought experiments, with relevant philosophical puzzles sprinkled throughout. Complex issues are explained using down-to-earth examples, with illustrations provided to connect with readers and assist them in understanding the sophisticated concepts under discussion.

Preface

Chapter 1: Philosophy and Sophistry

  • 1.1 Ancient Greek Mythology
  • 1.2 Ancient Greek Philosophy
    • Apology (Plato, 4th Century BCE)
  • 1.3 Sophism
    • Sophist Writings (Protagoras, Prodicus, Hippias, Antiphon, 5th Century BCE)
  • 1.4 The Upside of Philosophy
  • 1.5 How to Win an Argument

Chapter 2: Truth and Relativism

  • 2.1 Correspondence Theory
    • The Problems of Philosophy (Bertrand Russell, 1912)
  • 2.2 Coherence Theory
    • The Nature of Thought (Brand Blanshard, 1921)
  • 2.3 Pragmatic Theory
    • Pragmatism (William James, 1904)
  • 2.4 Relativism
    • “Solidarity or Objectivity” (Richard Rorty, 1991)
    • “Post ‘Post-Truth’” (Susan Haack, 2019)

Chapter 3: Substances – Change and Sameness

  • 3.1 Milesian Materialism
    • “Fragments” (Heraclitus, 490 BCE)
  • 3.2 Eleatic Idealism
    • The Proem (Parmenides, 480 BCE)
  • 3.3 Substratum Theory
    • Physics I.7 – I.8 (Aristotle, c. 350 BCE)
    • A Treatise of Human Nature (David Hume, 1739)
  • 3.5 Perdurantism
    • How Things Persist (Katherine Hawley, 2002)

Chapter 4: Personal Identity

  • 4.1 Soul Theory
    • Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (Thomas Reid, 1785)
  • 4.2 Bundle Theory
    • A Treatise of Human Nature (David Hume, 1739)
    • Majjhima Nikaya 109: “The Greater Discourse on the Full-moon Night” (Buddha, 3rd Century BCE)
  • 4.3 Psychological Theory
    • An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (John Locke, 1689)
    • “Cartesian Persons” (Annette Baier, 1981)

Chapter 5: Mind and Brain

  • 5.1 Dualism
    • Meditations on First Philosophy, Meditation VI (René Descartes, 1641)
    • The Conscious Mind (David Chalmers, 1996)
  • 5.2 Mind-Brain Identity Theory
    • “Sensations and Brain Processes” (J. J. C. Smart, 1959)
    • Physicalism or Something Near Enough (Jaegwon Kim, 2005)
  • 5.3 Functionalism
    • “The Mind-Body Problem” (Jerry Fodor, 1981)
  • 5.4. Eliminative Materialism
  • 5.5. Idealism

Chapter 6: Free Will and Determinism

  • 6.1 Hard Determinism
    • The System of Nature (Baron Henry d’Holbach, 1770)
    • Living Without Free Will (Derk Pereboom, 2004)
  • 6.2 Libertarianism
    • Essays on the Active Powers of Man (Thomas Reid, 1788)
    • A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will (Robert Kane, 2005)
  • 6.3 Compatibilism
    • “Freedom and Necessity” (A. J. Ayer, 1954)
    • “Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person” (Harry Frankfurt, 1971)

Chapter 7: Knowledge

  • 7.1 Propositional Knowledge
  • 7.2 Descartes’ Rationalism
    • Meditations on First Philosophy (René Descartes, 1641)
  • 7.3 Hume’s Empiricism
    • A Treatise of Human Nature (David Hume, 1739)
  • 7.4 Naturalized Epistemology
    • “Epistemology Naturalized” (W. V. O. Quine, 1969)
  • 7.5 Social Epistemology
    • “Testimony” (Jennifer Lackey, 2011)

Chapter 8: Perception

  • 8.1 Direct Realism
    • Physics, Book 2.1, and De Anima, Books 2 and 3 (Aristotle, 350 BCE)
  • 8.2 Skepticism
    • Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Book I (Sextus Empiricus, 2nd or 3rd Century BCE)
  • 8.3 Representational Model
    • An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (John Locke, 1689)
  • 8.4 Idealism
    • A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (George Berkeley, 1710)
  • 8.5 Intentionalism
    • “Externalism and the Gappy Content of Hallucination” (Susanna Schellenberg, 2013)

Chapter 9: Self-Knowledge

  • 9.1 Inner Sense Model
    • The Mind-Body Problem (David Armstrong, 1998)
  • 9.2 Behaviorism
    • The Concept of Mind (Gilbert Ryle, 1949)
  • 9.3 Acquaintance Model
    • “Renewed Acquaintance” (Brie Gertler, 2012)
  • 9.4 Externalist Models
    • The Varieties of Reference (Gareth Evans, 1982)
    • Nicomachean Ethics, 9.9 & 9.12 (Aristotle, 350 BCE)
  • 9.5 Self-Deception
    • Self-Deception Unmasked (Alfred Mele, 2001)
  • 9.6 Rationality and Irrationality

Chapter 10: Philosophy of Science

  • 10.1 Aristotle
    • Posterior Analytics, II.19 (Aristotle, 350 BCE)
  • 10.2 Francis Bacon
    • The New Organon (Francis Bacon, 1620)
  • 10.3 David Hume
    • An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (David Hume, 1748)
  • 10.4 Immanuel Kant
    • Critique of Pure Reason (Immanuel Kant, 1787)
  • 10.5 Logical Positivism
    • “Verification and Experience” (A. J. Ayer, 1937)
  • 10.6. W. V. O. Quine
    • “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” (W. V. O. Quine, 1951)
  • 10.7 Helen Longino
    • “Can There Be a Feminist Science” (Helen Longino, 1987)

Chapter 11: God and Naturalism

  • 11.1 The Cosmological Argument for Theism
    • Summa Theologiae, 2. I 2.3 (Thomas Aquinas, 1273)
    • Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (David Hume, 1779)
    • “The Kalam Cosmological Argument” (William Craig, 2002)
  • 11.2 The Naturalistic Argument for Naturalism
    • “An Argument for Atheism from Naturalism” (Graham Oppy, 2018)
  • 11.3 The Teleological Argument for Theism
    • The Watch Maker (William Paley, 1802)
    • “Design and the Anthropic Fine-Tuning of the Universe” (William Craig, 2003)
    • “Does the Universe Need God” (Sean Carroll, 2012)
  • 11.4 The Problem of Evil
    • “No Good Reason” (Louise Antony, 2018)
    • Evil and the God of Love (John Hick, 1966)

Chapter 12: Religious Experience, Faith, and Reason

  • 12.1 Varieties of Religious Experience
    • Ptecincala Ska Wakan (Eagle Man, 1990)
    • The Life of the Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus (Teresa of Ávila, 1565)
  • 12.2 Religious Experience as Delusions
    • “The Ethics of Belief” (William Clifford, 1877)
  • 12.3 The Principle of Credulity and the Principle of Testimony
    • The Existence of God (Richard Swinburne, 2004)
  • 12.4 Naturalistic Accounts
    • Born to Believe (Andrew Newberg and Mark Waldman, 2007)
  • 12.5 Reason and Faith
  • 12.6 Fideism
    • Philosophical Fragments (Søren Kierkegaard, 1844)
    • Pensées (Blaise Pascal, 1660)
  • 12.7 Evidentialism
    • “The Ethics of Belief” (William Clifford, 1877)
  • 12.8 The Belief Model
    • “When Is Faith Rational” (Lara Buchak, 2018)

Appendix: How to Write a Philosophy Essay

  • 1. Thesis Statement
  • 2. Roadmap
  • 3. Logical Structure
  • 4. Sentence Structure
  • 5. Original Ideas
  • 6. Accurate Portrayal of Philosophical Positions
  • 7. Effective Critiques of Philosophical Positions
  • 8. Quotations and References

Dwayne Moore is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Saskatchewan.

  • • A “hybrid” text combining the author’s skillful explanations with brief primary source readings.
  • • Over forty concise readings, representing a broad mix of historical sources and contemporary discussions, all thoughtfully excerpted for student readers.
  • • Introduces numerous core topics in metaphysics and epistemology such as relativism, philosophy of mind, free will, perception, science, and religious belief.
  • • Offers a balanced analysis of issues that accurately and fairly represents the pros and cons of competing positions.
  • • Illustrations and diagrams are integrated throughout.

An instructor site offers quiz questions and PowerPoint slides.

A student site includes a study guide of key terms and web links to online videos and other resources.