CON'I'ENTS
Preface
xiii
INTRODUCTION
What Is Philosophy?
The Search for Bedrock: Paradox
The Search for System: Discovery
Philosophy and Science
Value of Philosophy
1
3
6
7
11
David Stewart The Philosopher as Detective
13
PART ONE
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
The Paradoxes of Religion
23
CHAPTER 1
Does God Exist?
25
Problem Introduction
St. Anselm The Ontological Argument for the Existence of God
(from the Monologion)
St. Thomas Aquinas The Five Ways (from Summa Theologica)
David Hume Design and God
(from Dialogues concerning Natural Religion)
Ernest Nagel An Atheist's Critique of Belief in God
vii
28
33
36
48
viii
Contents
CHAPTER 2
The Problem of Evil
Problem Introduction
55
Mark Twain Letters From The Earth
John Hick Free Will, Moral Growth, and Evil
(from Philosophy of Religion)
J. 1. Mackie Evil and Omnipotence
58
68
76
CHAPTER 3
Faith and Reason
Problem Introduction
88
W. T. Stace Mysticism and the Limits of Reason
Michael Scriven No Alternative to Reason (from Primary Philosophy)
William James The Will to Believe
Corliss Lamont Humanism Defined (from The Philosophy of Humanism)
92
101
109
119
125
Selected Readings for Part One
PART TWO
KNOWLEDGE
129
The Paradoxes of Appearance
CHAPTER 4
Skepticism and the Self
Problem Introduction
131
Rene Descartes Meditations I and II (from Meditations on First Philosophy)
David Hume The Nature of the Self (from A Treatise of Human Nature)
George Johnson In the Chinese Room-Do Computers Think?
(from Machinery of the Mind)
135
146
156
CHAPTER 5
Perception and Knowledge
Problem Introduction
Plato
The Role of Perception in Knowing
(from Theaetetus and The Republic)
171
175
Contents
George Berkeley Perception and Matter
(from Three Dialogues between Hylas and Phi/onous)
David Hume Our Knowledge of Cause and Effect
(from An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding)
Morris R. Cohen and Ernest Nagel Scientific Method
(from An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method)
ix
190
203
212
CHAPTER 6
Truth
224
Problem Introduction
William James The Pragmatic Test (from Pragmatism)
Bertrand Russell Truth as Correspondence: A Reply to James
(from Philosophical Essays)
Brand Blanshard Truth as Coherence (from The Nature of Thought)
228
236
243
250
Selected Readings for Part Two
PART THREE
FREE WILL AND DETERMINISM
253
The Paradox of Freedom
CHAPTER 7
Choice: From Chance to Compulsion
255
Problem Introduction
Clarence Darrow Leopold and Loeb: The Crime of Compulsion
William James The Dilemma of Determinism
Peter Bertocci Free Will and Self-Creation
(from Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion)
J. J. c. Smart Can a Robot Have Free Will?
(from Between Science and Philosophy)
259
265
274
282
CHAPTER 8
Moral Responsibility in a Determined World
Problem Introduction
John Hospers
Man neither Free nor Responsible
288
292
X
Contents
C. A. Campbell The Self and Free Will
(from On Selfhood and Godhood)
Sidney Hook Moral Freedom in a Determined World
(from The Quest for Being)
300
309
319
Selected Readings for Part Three
PART FOUR
MORALITY
323
The Paradox of Moral Experience
CHAPTER 9
Sources of Morality:
God, Society, and the Individual
325
Problem Introduction
Kai Nielsen The Connection between Morality and Religion
(from Ethics without God)
Ruth Benedict Culture and Morality
James Rachels The Challenge of Cultural Relativism
(from The Elements of Moral Philosophy)
Jane Caputi Seeing Elephants: The Myths of Phallotechnology
328
335
343
354
CHAPTER 10
The Search for Objectivity:
Classicial Ethical Theories
Problem Introduction
Aristotle Virtue and Rationality (from Nichomachean Ethics)
Immanuel Kant The Categorical Imperative
(from Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals)
John Stuart Mill The Greatest Happiness Principle (from Utilitarianism)
Jesse Kalin A Defense of Ethical Egoism
William Gass The Case of the Obliging Stranger
Selected Readings for Part Four
382
386
396
409
418
429
438
Contents
xi
PART FIVE
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
The Paradoxes of Authority
441
CHAPTER 11
The State and the Individual
Problem Introduction
443
Plato Our Duty to the Law (from The Crito)
Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter From Birmingham Jail
Robert Paul Wolff In Defense of Anarchism
(from In Defense of Anarchism)
Carl Cohen Autonomy and Authority-The Solution of Democracy
(from Four Systems)
446
456
462
467
CHAPTER 12
Classical Political Theories:
Dictatorship, Democracy, and Communism
Problem Introduction
Thomas Hobbes In Defense of Dictatorship (from Leviathan)
John Locke Limited Government: The Natural Rights Approach
(from The Second Treatise on Government)
John Stuart Mill Limited Government: The Utilitarian Approach
(from On Liberty)
Friedrich Engels Communism (from Socialism: Utopian and Scientific)
Selected Readings for Part Five
Index of Authors and Titles
476
484
493
503
513
520
523