Reason at Work: Introductory Readings in Philosophy - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0155759914 ISBN 13: 9780155759916

Publisher: Harcourt, 1990

Synopsis

REASON AT WORK is designed for Introduction to Philosophy courses where the instructor prefers to use a collection of readings to introduce the broad divisions of the discipline. This edition includes sixty-two readings organized into the six major branches of philosophical inquiry: Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, and Philosophy of Mind.

About this title

About the Author

Steven M. Cahn is one of America's most distinguished teachers of philosophy. He has authored or edited more than forty books as well as numerous articles, most in the fields of metaphysics, philosophy of religion, ethics, political philosophy, and philosophy of education. Among his works are FATE, LOGIC, AND TIME; SAINTS AND SCAMPS: ETHICS IN ACADEMIA, 25th Anniversary Edition; FROM STUDENT TO SCHOLAR; A CANDID GUIDE TO BECOMING A PROFESSOR; PUZZLES & PERPLEXITIES: COLLECTED ESSAYS, Second Edition; EXPLORING ETHICS, Second Edition (ED.); POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY; THE ESSENTIAL TEXTS, Second Edition (ED.); THE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DEBATE, Second Edition (ED.); EXPLORING PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION (ED.); and CLASSICS OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY, Seventh Edition.

Review

Introduction. The Elements of Argument. Part I: Ethics. Joel Feinberg, Psychological Egoism. James Rachels, The Challenge of Cultural Relativism. J.L. Mackie, The Subjectivity of Values. John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism. Norman E. Bowie and Robert L. Simon, Some Problems with Utilitarianism. Immanuel Kant, Morality and Rationality. Thomas Nagel, Moral Luck. W.D. Ross, What Makes Right Acts Right. Aristotle, The Nature of Moral Virtue. G.E.M. Anscombe, Modern Moral Philosophy. James Rachel, The Ethics of Virtue. Peter Singer, Famine, Affluence and Morality. Judith Jarvis Thomson, A Defense of Abortion. Part II: Social and Political Philosophy. Plato, What Do We Owe Our Country? Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from the Birmingham City Jail. Thomas Hobbes, Authority and Security. John Locke, Limited Government as Defender of Property. James Madison, The Federalist, No. X. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty. David Lyons, Human Rights and the General Welfare. Joel Feinberg, The Nature and Value of Rights. John Rawls, A Theory of Justice. Robert Nozick, Distributive Justice. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Communism. Michael Walzer, In Defense of Equality. Part III: Theory of Knowledge. Plato, Knowledge as Justified Belief. Descartes, Certain Knowledge. John Locke, Empiricism. David Hume, The Problem of Induction. Nelson Goodman, The New Riddle of Induction. Lawrence Bonjour, Foundationalism. W.V.O. Quine, The Interdependence of Beliefs. Lawrence Bonjour, The Coherence Theory. Edmund L. Gettier, Is Justified True Belief Knowledge. Robert Audi, Knowledge, Justification and Truth. Thomas S. Kuhn, Objectivity, Value Judgments, and Theory Choice. Philip Kitcher, Believing Where We Cannot Prove. Part IV: Metaphysics. John Locke, Real and Nominal Essence. Irving Copi, Essence and Accident. Saul Kripke, Metaphysical Necessity. John Locke, Personal Identity. Thomas Reid, Of Identity and Mr. Locke. Bernard Williams, The Self and the Future. Derek Parfit, Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons. Kathleen V. Wilkes, Fugues, Hypnosis and Multiple Personality. B.F. Skinner, Hard Determinism. G.E.Moore, Free Will. Roderick Chisholm, Human Freedom and the Self. Harry Frankfurt, Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person. Part V: Philosophy of Religion. Saint Anslem and Gaunilo, The Ontological Argument. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Five Proofs for the Existence of God. David Hume, The Teleological Argument. Ernest Nagel, A Defense of Atheism. Richard Swinburne, The Problem of Evil. Steven M. Cahn, The Problem of Goodness. Anthony Flew, R.M. Hare, Basil Mitchell, Theology and Falsification. Nelson Pike, Divine Omniscience and Voluntary Action. John Hick, The New Map of the Universe of Faiths. Part VI: Philosophy of Mind. Rene Descartes, Dualism. Gilbert Ryle, Descartes' Myth. Daniel Dennett, Carlesian Materialism. B.F. Skinner, Behaviorism. Daniel Dennett, Skinner Skinned. Jerry A. Fodor, The Mind-Body Problem. Paul M. Churchland, Eliminative Materialism. A.M. Turnig, Can Machines Think? John Searle, Is the Brain's Mind a Computer Program? Paul M. Churchland and Patricia S. Churchland, Could a Machine Think?

Edition details

• Publisher: Harcourt
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0155759914
• ISBN 13: 9780155759916
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 739