Classic philosophical questions

Classic Philosophic Questions has presented decades of students with the most compelling classic and contemporary primary source readings on the most enduring and abiding questions in philosophy.

Classic Philosophic Questions is a longstanding and highly respectedanthology of basic readings in philosophy, taken from ancient, modern, and contemporary sources. Issues are treated in a fundamentally open manner with arguments pro and con for the various positions covered. All selections are taken from primary sources, with introductions and study guides to facilitate reading for the beginning student. A unique feature of this book is the list of "think abouts" at the end of most of the readings. These suggestissues raised in the readings that can promote new ways of thinking about themes and concepts.

Contents

Preface

PART 1-Plato and the Trial of Socrates

What is Philosophy?

1. Euthyphro: Defining Philosophical Terms

2. The Apology, Phaedo, and Crito: The Trial, Immortality, and

Death of Socrates

PART 2 -Philosophy of Religion

Can We Prove That God Exists?

3. St. Anselm: The Ontological Argument

4. St. Thomas Aquinas: The Cosmological Argument

5. William Paley: The Teleological Argument

6. BlaisePascal: It Is Better to Believe in God's Existence Than to Deny It

7. William James: Free Choice is the Basis of Belief.

Does the Idea of a Good God Exclude Evil?

8. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: God Can Allow Some Evil

9. David Hume: A Good God Would Exclude Evil

PART 3 - Ethics

Are Ethics Relative?

10. Ruth Benedict: Ethics Are Relative

11. W.T. Stace: Ethics Are Not Relative

Are Humans Always Selfish?

12. Humans Are Always Selfish: Glaucon's Challenge to Socrates

13. James Rachels: Humans Are Not Always Selfish

Which Is Basic in Ethics: Happiness or Obligation?

14. Aristotle: Happiness Is Living Virtuously

15. Jeremy Bentham: Happiness Is Seeking the Greatest Pleasure for the Greatest Number of People.

16. Immanuel Kant: Duty Is Prior to Happiness

17. Friedrich Nietzsche: Happiness is Having Power

18. Jean-Paul Sartre: Existentialist Ethics

19. Rosemarie Tong: Feminist Ethics Are Different

Three Contemporary Moral Problems: Abortion, Homosexuality, Animal Rights.

20. Jane English: Are Most Abortions Moral?

21. James A. Gould: Is Homosexuality Unnatural or Immoral?

22. Peter Singer: Do Animals Have Rights?

PART 4 - Knowledge

What is Knowledge?

23. Plato: Knowledge is Warranted, True Belief'

What Method is Best for Acquiring Knowledge?

24. Charles Sanders Peirce: Four Approaches to Philosophy

How Do We Acquire Knowledge?

25. RenÚ Descartes: Knowledge Is Not Ultimately Sense Knowledge

26. John Locke: Knowledge Is Ultimately Sensed

27. Immanuel Kant: Knowledge Is Both Rational and Empirical

How Is Truth Established?

28. Bertrand Russell: Truth Is Established by Correspondence

29. F. H. Bradley: Truth Is Established by Coherence

30. William James: Truth Is Established on Pragmatic Grounds

Can We Know the Nature of Causal Relations?

31. David Hume: Cause Means Regular Association

32. David Hume: There Are No Possible Grounds for Induction

PART 5 Metaphysics

Why is there something rather than nothing?

33. Parmenides: Being is Uncaused

34. Lao-Tzu: Non-Being is the Source of Being

Is Reality General or Particular?

35. Plato: Universals Are Real

36. David Hume: Particulars Are Real

Of What Does Reality Consist?

37. RenÚ Descartes: Reality Consists of Mind and Matter

38. Paul Churchland: Reality Consists of Matter

39. George Berkeley: Reality Consists of Ideas

40. John Dewey: Reality Consists of Mental and Physical Qualities

Are Humans Free?

41. Holbach: Humans Are Determined

42. Moritz Schlick: Freedom and...