Table of Contents
Contents
Boxes xviii
Preface xix
Acknowledgments xx
MySearchLab Connections xxii
Part One. Introduction 1
Chapters
1. What Is Philosophy? 3
Examples 4
Three Theories about What Philosophy Is 6
The Nature of Philosophy Has Changed Historically 7
Philosophical Method 8
MySearchLab Connections 9
Read on MySearchLab The Value of Philosophy, Bertrand Russell
2. Deductive Arguments 11
Arguments 11
Good Arguments 12
Deductive Validity Defined 13
"Validity" Is a Technical Term 13
Logical Form 14
Invalidity 14
Testing for Invalidity 15
Circularity, or Begging the Question 18
Truth 18
"True for Me" 20
Wishful Thinking 20
Self-Fulfilling Prophesies 20
MySearchLab Connections 22
3. Inductive and Abductive Arguments 24
Deductive Validity Is a Limitation 25
Nondeductive Inference—A Weaker Guarantee 26
Two Gambling Strategies 26
Universal Laws 26
Detective Work 27
Induction 27
Two Factors Influence Inductive Strength 28
Abduction 28
Inferring What Isn’t Observed 29
Abduction Differs from Induction 29
Can You Deduce the Explanation from the Observations? 30
Deducing Observational Predictions from a Theory 30
When the Prediction Comes True 30
When the Prediction Turns Out to Be False 31
How True Predictions and False Predictions Are Interpreted 31
The Surprise Principle: When Does Successful Prediction Provide Strong Evidence? 32
Evidence May Discriminate between Some Hypotheses While Failing to Discriminate between Others 34
True Prediction Isn’t Enough 35
Modest Favoring 36
The Surprise Principle Summarized 36
The Only Game in Town Fallacy 36
MySearchLab Connections 39
Suggestions for Further Reading 39
Part Two. Philosophy of Religion 41
Chapters
4. Aquinas’s First Four Ways 43
Read on MySearchLab Five Ways to Prove that God Exists, from Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas
The Concept of God 44
The First Two Arguments: Motion and Causality 44
Aquinas on the Cause of Motion 46
God Is a Person, Not Just a Cause That Exists Outside of Nature 46
The Birthday Fallacy 46
Why Can’t Nature Be Infinitely Old? 47
Why Must Every Event in Nature Have a Cause? 48
The Third Argument: Contingency 48
Necessary and Contingent Beings 48
Possible Worlds 48
Reductio Ad Absurdum 50
Contingency and Eternity 51
Conservation Laws in Physics 52
The Birthday Fallacy (Again) 52
Necessary Beings other than God 52
Necessary and Contingent Propositions 53
Mathematical Truths 53
Names Differ from the Things Named 53
Numbers Aren’t Numerals 54
Sets 54
Necessity and Certainty Are Different 55
Numbers Are Necessary Beings 56
Aquinas’s Fourth Argument: Properties That Come in Degrees 56
Criticizing an Argument versus Showing the Argument’s Conclusion Is False 57
MySearchLab Connections 58
5. The Design Argument 59
Goal-Directed Systems 60
Two Kinds of Design Argument 60
Paley’s Watch 61
Read on MySearchLab The Design Argument, from Natural Theology, William Paley
The Analogy 62
Abductions Arguments Often Postulate Unobserved Entities 62
Hume’s Criticisms of the Design Argument 63
Read on MySearchLab Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, David Hume
Is the Design Argument a Weak Argument from Analogy? 63
Is the Design Argument a Weak Induction? 65
MySearchLab Connections 67
6. Evolution and Creationism 68
Creationism 69
Some Creationist Arguments 69
Darwin’s Two-Part Theory 70
Natural Selection 71
Speciation 73
The Tree of Life 73
The Principle of the Common Cause 74
Arbitrary Similarities among Organisms 75
Useful Similarities among Organisms 75
Irreducible Complexity 76
Is Creationism Testable? 78
Predictive Equivalence 78
Prediction versus Accommodation 79
Does Evolutionary Theory Make Novel Predictions? 80
Concluding Remarks 81
MySearchLab Connections 82
7. Can Science Explain Everything? 83
Scientific Ignorance 84
The Only Game in Town Fallacy 85
The Two Questions 85
What Is a Scientific Explanation? 85
A Thesis about Explanation 86
Why Is There Something Rather than Nothing? 87
Can Physics Explain the Origin of the Universe? 87
Leibniz: God Chooses Which Possible World to Actualize 87
Clarke: God Explains Why the Actual World Consists of One Total History Rather than Another 88
The Only Game in Town Fallacy, Again 88
Causality 89
The Principle of Sufficient Reason 90
MySearchLab Connections 91
8. The Ontological Argument 92
A Posteriori and A Priori 92
Definitions and Existence 93
Anselm’s Argument 93
Read on MySearchLab Debate, Guanilo and Anselm
Gaunilo’s Criticism 95
Anselm’s Reply 97
Dispensing with Perfection 98
Conclusion 98
MySearchLab Connections 100
9. Is the Existence of God Testable? 101
Logical Positivism 101
The Testability Theory of Meaning 102
Analyticity 102
Falsifiability 102
Auxiliary Assumptions Needed 104
Auxiliary Assumptions Must Be Independently Established 106
"God Exists" Is Meaningful 106
Read on MySearchLab Of Miracles, from An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume
MySearchLab Connections 108
10. Pascal and Irrationality 109
Prudential and Evidential Reasons for Belief 109
Read on MySearchLab The Wager, from Pensées, Blaise Pascal
When Does It Make Sense to Gamble? 110
Pascal’s Argument 111
First Criticism of Pascal’s Argument 112
Second Criticism of Pascal’s Argument 113
The Role of Reason 113
Freud’s Psychological Explanation of Theism 114
A New Prudential Argument 115
Pragmatism 115
Read on MySearchLab The Will to Believe, William James
Read on MySearchLab The Ethics of Belief, W. K. Clifford
MySearchLab Connections 118
11. The Argument from Evil 119
First Version of the Argument 119
Two Kinds of Evil 120
Possible Reactions to the Argument 120
Theodicy and Defense 121
Soul-Building Evils 121
Second Version of the Argument 123
Free Will 123
Examples and a Third Version of the Argument 123
A Criticism of the Argument 124
Testability, Again 125
Another Kind of Argument—The Evidential Argument from Evil 125
MySearchLab Connections 127
Read on MySearchLab Theodicy, Gottfried Leibniz
Suggestions for Further Reading 127
Readings 129
Five Ways to Prove That God Exists, Thomas Aquinas 129
The Design Argument, William Paley 129
Critique of the Design Argument, David Hume 129
The Ontological Argument, Anselm 130
The Meaninglessness of Religious Discourse, A.J. Ayer 130
Belief in God—What Do You Have to Lose?, Blaise Pascal 134
The Will to Believe, William James 134
Part Three. Theory of Knowledge 135
Chapters
12. What Is Knowledge? 137
Epistemology 137
Three Kinds of Knowledge 138
Two Requirements for Knowledge: Belief and Truth 140
Plato: True Belief Isn’t Sufficient for Knowledge 140
Justification 141
The JTB Theory 141
Three Counterexamples to the JTB Theory 142
What the Counterexamples Have in Common 143
An Argument for Skepticism 143
Problems for Further Thought 145
MySearchLab Connections 145
13. Descartes’ Foundationalism 147
Foundationalism 147
Read on MySearchLab Meditations 1–5 of Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes
Euclid’s Parallel Postulate 148
Descartes’ Method of Doubt 149
The Method Applied to a Posteriori Beliefs 150
Dubitability Is a Logical, Not a Psychological, Property 150
The Method Applied to Beliefs Based on Rational Calculation 150
I Am Thinking, Therefore I Exist 151
Thesis of the Incorrigibility of the Mental 152
Do First-Person Psychological Beliefs Provide a Sufficient Foundation? 153
An Additional Foundational Belief: God Exists and Is No Deceiver 154
How to Prove that God Exists 154
The Clarity and Distinctness Criterion 156
The Cartesian Circle 157
Conclusion 157
MySearchLab Connections 159
14. The Reliability Theory of Knowledge 161
Descartes: Knowledge Is Internally Certifiable 161
What Makes a Thermometer Reliable? 162
Relevance to the Problem of Knowledge 164
Three Concepts of Impossibility 164
To Have Knowledge, You Don’t Have to Be Able to Construct a Philosophical Argument Refuting the Skeptic 165
A Consequence of the Reliability Theory 167
Thesis of the Relativity of Knowledge 168
What Does the Relativity Thesis Say about Skepticism? 169
MySearchLab Connections 171
15. Justified Belief and Hume’s Problem of Induction 172
Knowledge versus Justified Belief 172
Skepticism about Justified Belief 173
Read on MySearchLab Section IV of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume
Hume’s Skeptical Thesis about Induction 174
Hume’s Argument that Induction Can’t Be Rationally Justified 175
Why Can’t PUN Be Justified? 176
Summary of Hume’s Argument 176
MySearchLab Connections 177
16. Can Hume’s Skepticism Be Refuted? 178
What, Exactly, Does the Principle of the Uniformity of Nature Say? 178
A New Concept: Degrees of Reliability 179
What Is a Rule of Inference? 180
Does the Past Reliability of Induction Provide an Answer? 180
Hume’s Argument Reformulated 181
Strawson: It Is Analytic that Induction Is Rational 181
Black: Induction Can Be Inductively Justified 182
MySearchLab Connections 184
17. Beyond Foundationalism 185
Hume’s Problem and Descartes’ Problem 185
Whether X Is Evidence for Y Depends on Background Assumptions Z 187
Another Relativity Thesis 188
Foundationalism Leads to Skepticism 188
A Nonfoundationalist Approach to Justification 189
Standards of Justification Often Depend on the Audience 189
Two Metaphors—Building a Building and Repairing a Raft 190
MySearchLab Connections 191
18. Locke on the Existence of External Objects 192
Read on MySearchLab Chapter 11 of Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke
Locke’s First Argument—"Those That Want the Organs of Any Sense" 193
Locke’s Second Argument—"Ideas Which Force Themselves upon Me" 194
Locke’s Third Argument—"Pleasure or Pain" 194
Locke’s Fourth Argument—"Our Senses Assist One Another’s Testimony" 195
MySearchLab Connections 196
Suggestions for Further Reading 196
Readings 198
The Theaetetus—Knowledge Is Something More than True Belief, Plato 198
Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes 198
Induction Cannot Be Rationally Justified, David Hume 199
Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke 199
Part Four. Philosophy of Mind 201
Chapters
19. Dualism and the Mind/Body Problem 203
What Is the Mind/Body Problem? 204
Descartes’ Dualism 204
The Mind/Brain Identity Theory 204
Read on MySearchLab Meditation VI, from Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes
Immortality of the Soul 205
Leibniz’s Law 205
Descartes’ First Argument for Dualism—The Indubitable Existence Argument 206
An Analogy 207
Propositional Attitudes and Aboutness 207
Descartes’ Second Argument for Dualism—The Divisibility Argument 210
Causality between the Physical and the Nonphysical 210
Read on MySearchLab Correspondence with Princess Elizabeth, Rene Descartes
MySearchLab Connections 212
20. Logical Behaviorism 214
The Attack on "the Ghost in the Machine" 215
Logical Behaviorism Says Mentalism Is False Because It Leads to Skepticism 215
Do We Know about the Mental States of Others by Analogy with Our Own Case? 216
Abduction 216
Logical Behaviorism’s Positive Thesis—Its Analysis of Mentalistic Vocabulary 217
The Dispositional Analysis of Desire Is Incomplete 218
A Dispositional Analysis Does Not Refute Mentalism 218
MySearchLab Connections 220
21. Methodological Behaviorism 221
The Negative Thesis: Psychology Should Avoid Belief/Desire Explanations 222
Methodological Behaviorism’s Positive Thesis 223
First Objection to Behaviorism’s Positive Thesis: Novel Behaviors 224
Second Objection to Behaviorism’s Positive Thesis: It Assumes that Environmental Determinism Is True 226
The Two Objections Summarized 227
MySearchLab Connections 228
22. The Mind/Brain Identity Theory 229
The Identity Theory Is an A Posteriori Claim 229
Materialism 230
Progress in Science 230
Dualism Resembles Vitalism 231
A Correlation Experiment 231
The Principle of Parsimony 232
MySearchLab Connections 235
23. Functionalism 236
Functionalism’s Negative Thesis: What’s Wrong with the Identity Theory? 237
Multiple Realizability 237
Could a Computer Have Psychological Characteristics? 238
Multiple Realizability within the Class of Living Things 239
Functionalism’s Positive Thesis 240
Sensations 241
MySearchLab Connections 243
24. Freedom, Determinism, and Causality 244
The Problem of Freedom 245
Examples of Unfree Acts 246
Are All Behaviors Like Those Produced by Brainwashing and Compulsions? 247
A Clash of Plausible Conceptions 247
What Is Causality? 248
Determinism 248
Indeterminism 249
Does Indeterminism Make Us Free? 250
Causality Is the Issue, Not Determinism 251
What Does Determinism Say about the Causation of Behavior? 252
Determinism Differs from Fatalism 252
MySearchLab Connections 254
25. A Menu of Positions on Free Will 255
"Compatibility" Defined 255
Incompatibilism and Compatibilism 256
Libertarianism 257
Read on MySearchLab The System of Nature, Baron d’Holbach
Two Soft Determinist Theories 259
Hume 259
Read on MySearchLab Of Liberty and Necessity, David Hume
First Objection to Hume’s Theory: Compulsive Behavior 260
Second Objection to Hume’s Theory: Locke’s Locked Room 261
Does Coercion Rob Us of Free Will? 261
A Second Compatibilist Proposal: The Relevance of Second-Order Desires 262
Read on MySearchLab On Free Choice, Thomas Aquinas
MySearchLab Connections 263
26. Compatibilism 265
The Weather Vane Analogy 265
Function and Malfunction 266
What Does It Mean to Ascribe a Function to Something? 267
The Function of the Desire-Generating Device 268
Reply to the Distant Causation Argument 269
What Does Responsibility Mean? 269
Moral Responsibility 270
Reply to the Could-Not-Have-Done-Otherwise Argument 271
Are Coerced Actions Unfree? 272
An Objection to the Weather Vane Theory: Freely Chosen, Rational Self-Sacrifice 273
MySearchLab Connections 274
27. Psychological Egoism 275
Two Truisms 276
Goals and Side Effects of an Act 277
A Simple Example 277
Four Preference Structures 278
People Are Rarely Pure Altruists or Pure Egoists 279
An Experimental Test 281
A Second Experimental Test 282
Conclusion 283
MySearchLab Connections 284
Read on MySearchLab The Republic, Book II, 357A–367E, Plato
Suggestions for Further Reading 285
Readings 286
Meditation VI, René Descartes 286
Other Minds Are Known by Analogy from One’s Own Case, Bertrand Russell 286
Has the Self "Free Will"?, C.A. Campbell 289
Determinism Shows that Free Will Is an Illusion, Baron d’Holbach 300
Of Liberty and Necessity, David Hume 301
What Motivates People to Act Justly?, Plato 301
Part Five. Ethics 303
Chapters
28. Ethics—Normative and Meta 305
Ethics and Religion 305
Metaethics and Normative Ethics 306
Truth and Opinion 306
Alternative Metaethical Positions 307
Subjectivism 307
Realism 307
Conventionalism 307
Three Varieties of Conventionalism 308
MySearchLab Connections 310
29. The Is/Ought Gap and the Naturalistic Fallacy 311
Subjectivism: Ethical Statements Are Neither True Nor False 311
Does the Existence of Ethical Disagreement Show that Subjectivism Is True? 312
The Genetic Fallacy 313
Hume: The Is/Ought Gap 314
(S1): An Argument for Subjectivism with Hume’s Thesis as a Premise 314
The Naturalistic Fallacy 316
(S2): An Argument for Subjectivism with Moore’s Thesis as a Premise 317
MySearchLab Connections 318
30. Observation and Explanation in Ethics 319
Reasoning about Ethical Issues 319
Testing General Principles by Applying Them to Specific Examples 320
Thought Experiments versus Empirical Experiments 321
Observations Are "Theory Laden" 321
Observation Does Not Imply Objectivity 322
Insoluble Disagreements 322
Is Subjectivism Preferable to Realism on Grounds of Parsimony? 324
Does Subjectivism Follow? 326
An Explanatory Role for Ethical Principles 326
What Is the Point of Ethics? 327
Read on MySearchLab Treatise of Human Nature, Part III, 1.1, David Hume
MySearchLab Connections 328
31. Conventionalist Theories 329
What Makes a View Conventionalist? 330
Trivial Semantic Conventionalism 330
Substantive versus Trivial Conventionalism 330
Plato’s Critique of the Divine Command Theory 331
Read on MySearchLab Euthyphro, Plato
Two Objections to the Divine Command Theory 332
Ethical Relativism 333
Ethical Relativism Is Normative, Not Descriptive 333
A Further Clarification of Ethical Relativism 334
Ethical Relativism Is a Version of Conventionalism 334
If Imperialism Is Wrong, Does That Justify Ethical Relativism? 334
Sartre’s Existentialism 336
Read on MySearchLab Existentialism Is a Humanism, Jean-Paul Sartre
MySearchLab Connections 338
32. Utilitarianism 340
Read on MySearchLab Utilitarianism, Chapters 1–4, John Stuart Mill
Mill’s Defense of the Greatest Happiness Principle 341
Reciprocal Illumination 342
What Is Happiness? 343
The Problem of the Experience Machine 343
Mill on "Higher" and "Lower" Pleasures 344
Objection to Hedonistic Utilitarianism 345
Preference Utilitarianism 345
The Apples and Oranges Problem 346
Utilitarianism and Justice: The Case of the Lonesome Stranger 347
Punishment 347
A Reply: Distinguish Rule and Act Utilitarianism 348
Utilitarianism and Tolerance: The Problem of the Fanatical Majority 349
Read on MySearchLab On Liberty, Chapters 1–3, John Stuart Mill
Utilitarianism and Personal Integrity: The Problem of Dirty Hands 352
Utilitarianism and Personal Loyalties 353
A Psychological Objection to My Criticisms of Utilitarianism 353
Read on MySearchLab Principle of Utility, Jeremy Bentham
MySearchLab Connections 355
33. Kant’s Moral Theory 357
Hume on Reason’s Role 358
Kant Rejects the Idea that Reason Is Purely Instrumental 358
Read on MySearchLab Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Sections 1 and 2, Immanuel Kant
Kant: Moral Rules Are Categorical Imperatives 358
The Moral Law 359
Kant: The Moral Value of an Act Derives from Its Maxim, Not from Its Consequences 359
Kant Rejected Consequentialism 360
The Universalizability Criterion 360
Four Examples 361
Evaluation of Kant’s Examples 362
A Problem for the Universalizability Criterion 363
Kant: People Are Ends in Themselves 364
The Rabbit and the Hat 365
MySearchLab Connections 366
34. Aristotle on the Good Life 368
How Far Do Obligations Extend? 368
The Theory of the Right and the Theory of the Good 369
Are There General Principles about the Good Life? 369
Read on MySearchLab Nicomachean Ethics, Books I, II and X (Sections 7 and 8), Aristotle
What Is a Good X? 370
Human Beings Are Goal-Directed Systems 371
The Capacity to Reason 371
Aristotle: Happiness Is Not a Subjective State 372
Why the Life of Rational Activity Is Best: Two More Reasons 373
The Doctrine of the Mean 373
A Second Criticism of Aristotle’s Theory—Defining What a Good X Is Differs from Saying What Is Good for an X 374
A Third Criticism—Why Single Out Contemplation as the Best Life? 375
MySearchLab Connections 377
Suggestions for Further Reading 378
Readings 379
The Euthyphro—A Critique of the Divine Command Theory, Plato 379
Existentialism, Jean-Paul Sartre 379
Defense of Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill 379
Ethics Founded on Reason, Immanuel Kant 380
Morality and Human Nature, Aristotle 380
Famine, Affluence, and Morality, Peter Singer 380
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