Synopses & Reviews
This best-selling, topically organized anthology provides a superb balance of historical selections and contemporary debates. This new edition features more readings than ever before?88 in total?and upholds the anthology?s traditional emphasis on complete selections and the finest translations available. The readings complement each other and organically explore the range of positions on key philosophical issues. Clear, concise introductions provide reading tips and background information to help students engage directly with the primary sources. The book?s renowned selection of readings covers topics such as the nature and value of philosophy; reason and religious belief; the grounds and limits of human knowledge; mind and its place in nature; determinism, free will and responsibility; and morality and its critics, with a new chapter on the meaning of life.
Review
"This is an outstanding collection of essays and this textbook is a very good instance of its kind. There are other books similar to it on the market, but this is a very good one." -- Dr. Matthew Talbert, West Virginia University
Review
"The market for introduction to philosophy textbooks is crowded, but Reason and Responsibility strikes me as a high-quality textbook that competes well with the Perry/Bratman/Fischer reader." -- Dr. Christopher Hom, Texas Tech University
Synopsis
REASON AND RESPONSIBILITY: READINGS IN SOME BASIC PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY has a well-earned reputation for excellence, with a proven selection of high-quality readings that cover centuries of thought and wisdom and include all major issues in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, and ethics. The book's clear organization structures selections so that readings complement each other guiding you through contrasting positions on key concepts in philosophy. Clear, concise introductions to each Part provide just the right amount of guidance, letting you learn primarily from the readings themselves.
Synopsis
REASON AND RESPONSIBILITY: READINGS IN SOME BASIC PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY has a well-earned reputation for clarity and breadth, with a proven selection of high-quality readings that cover centuries of philosophical debate. The anthology includes the central issues in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, and ethics, as well as debates over the value of philosophy and the meaning of life. The book is clearly organized so that the readings complement each other, guiding readers through contrasting positions on key philosophical issues. Clear, concise introductions provide reading tips and background information to help readers engage directly with the primary sources.
About the Author
Joel Feinberg (Professor Emeritus, late of University of Arizona) was widely recognized as one of America's leading political and social philosophers. Acclaimed both for his ground-breaking scholarship and his exemplary teaching skills, Feinberg published widely on topics such as individual rights, legal theory, capital punishment, the treatment of the mentally ill, civil disobedience, and environmental ethics. Before joining the University of Arizona faculty, he taught at Brown, Princeton, and Rockefeller universities. Feinberg was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1987-88 to work in Japan and served as chairman of the National Board of Officers in the American Philosophical Association in the mid-1980s. Some of the royalties from Reason and Responsibility have been used to establish the Regents Professor Joel Feinberg Dissertation Fellowship in Philosophy at the University of Arizona. Russ Shafer-Landau received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona and currently teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he focuses on ethical theory and philosophy of the law. He is the author of THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ETHICS; MORAL REALISM; A DEFENCE; AND WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GOOD AND EVIL? He also serves as series editor for Oxford Studies in Metaethics.
Table of Contents
JOEL FEINBERG (1926-2004): IN MEMORIAM. Preface. About Our Website. THE NATURE AND VALUE OF PHILOSOPHY. Plato, Euthyphro. Bertrand Russell, The Value of Philosophy. Part I: REASON AND RELIGIOUS BELIEF. 1. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. Anselm of Canterbury, The Ontological Argument, from Proslogion. Gaunilo of Marmoutiers, On Behalf of the Fool. William L. Rowe, The Ontological Argument. Thomas Aquinas, The Five Ways, from Summa Theologica. Samuel Clarke, A Modern Formulation of the Cosmological Argument. William L. Rowe, The Cosmological Argument. William Paley, The Argument from Design. David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, II-XI. 2. THE PROBLEM OF EVIL. Fyodor Dostoevsky, Rebellion, from The Brothers Karamazov. J. L. Mackie, Evil and Omnipotence. Robert Merrihew Adams, Must God Create the Best? Richard Swinburne, Why God Allows Evil, from Is there a God? B. C. Johnson, God and the Problem of Evil. 3. REASON AND FAITH. W. K. Clifford, The Ethics of Belief. William James, The Will to Believe. Kelly James Clark, Without Evidence or Argument. Blaise Pascal, The Wager. Simon Blackburn, Miracles and Testimony, from Think. PART II: HUMAN KNOWLEDGE: ITS GROUNDS AND LIMITS. 4. SKEPTICISM. John Pollock, A Brain in a Vat. Michael Huemer, Three Skeptical Arguments. Roderick M. Chisholm, The Problem of the Criterion. 5. THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE. Plato, Knowledge as Justified True Belief, from Theaetetus. Edmund Gettier, Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? James Cornman, Keith Lehrer, and George Pappas, An Analysis of Knowledge. 6. OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXTERNAL WORLD. Bertrand Russell, Appearance and Reality and the Existence of Matter. Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy. John Locke, The Causal Theory of Perception, from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. George Berkeley, Of the Principles of Human Knowledge. Thomas Reid, Of the Existence of a Material World, from Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense. G. E. Moore, Proof of an External World. 7. THE METHODS OF SCIENCE. David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, II, IV-VII. Wesley C. Salmon, An Encounter with David Hume. Karl Popper, Conjectures and Refutations. Philip Kitcher, Believing Where We Cannot Prove, from Abusing Science. PART III: MIND AND ITS PLACE IN NATURE. 8. THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM. Brie Gertler, In Defense of Mind-Body Dualism. Frank Jackson, The Qualia Problem. Peter Carruthers, The Mind is the Brain, from Introducing Persons. Paul M. Churchland, Functionalism and Eliminative Materialism, from Matter and Consciousness. 9. CAN NONHUMANS THINK? Alan Turing, Computing Machinery and Intelligence. John R. Searle, Minds, Brains, and Programs. William G. Lycan, Robots and Minds, from Consciousness. Peter Carruthers, Brute Experience. John R. Searle, Animal Minds. 10. PERSONAL IDENTITY AND THE SURVIVAL OF DEATH. John Locke, The Prince and the Cobbler, from An Essay concerning Human Understanding. Thomas Reid, Of Mr. Locke's Account of Identity, from Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man. David Hume, The Self, from A Treatise of Human Nature. Derek Parfit, Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons. Daniel Dennett, Where am I? from Brainstorms. John Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality. PART IV: DETERMINISM, FREE WILL, AND RESPONSIBILITY. 11. THE MYSTERIES OF FREE WILL. Peter van Inwagen, Freedom of the Will. 12. LIBERTARIANISM: THE CASE FOR FREE WILL AND ITS INCOMPATIBILITY WITH DETERMINISM. Roderick M. Chisholm, Human Freedom and the Self. Robert Kane, Free Will: Ancient Dispute, New Themes. 13. HARD DETERMINISM: THE CASE FOR DETERMINISM AND ITS INCOMPATIBILITY WITH ANY IMPORTANT SENSE OF FREE WILL. Paul Holbach, The Illusion of Free Will, from System of Nature. Derk Pereboom, Why We Have No Free Will and Can Live Without It. 14. COMPATIBILISM: THE CASE FOR DETERMINISM AND ITS COMPATIBILITY WITH THE MOST IMPORTANT SENSE OF FREE WILL. David Hume, Of Liberty and Necessity, from An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. A. J. Ayer, Freedom and Necessity, from Philosophical Essays. 15. FREEDOM AND MORAL RESPONSIBILITY. James Rachels, The Debate over Free Will. Harry Frankfurt, Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility. Thomas Nagel, Moral Luck. Susan Wolf, Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility. PART V: MORALITY AND ITS CRITICS. 16. CHALLENGES TO MORALITY. Joel Feinberg, Psychological Egoism. James Rachels, Ethical Egoism, from Elements of Moral Philosophy. Plato, The Immoralist's Challenge, from Republic Book II. Friedrich Nietzsche, Master and Slave Morality, from Beyond Good and Evil. 17. PROPOSED STANDARDS OF RIGHT CONDUCT Russ Shafer-Landau, Ethical Subjectivism. Martha Nussbaum, Judging Other Cultures: The Case of Genital Mutilation. Aristotle, Virtue and the Good Life, from Nicomachean Ethics. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Part I, Chapters XIII-XV. John Rawls, Justice as Fairness, from A Theory of Justice. William Lane Craig and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, God and Objective Morality. Immanuel Kant, The Good Will and The Categorical Imperative, from Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, chapters 1 and 2. W. D. Ross, What Makes Right Acts Right? from The Right and the Good. Hilde Lindemann, What is Feminist Ethics? from An Invitation to Feminist Ethics. 18. ETHICAL PROBLEMS Plato, Crito. Peter Singer, Famine, Affluence, and Morality. John Harris, The Survival Lottery. James Rachels, Active and Passive Euthanasia. Peter Singer, Unsanctifying Human Life. Judith Jarvis Thomson, A Defense of Abortion. Don Marquis, An Argument That Abortion is Wrong. 19. THE MEANING OF LIFE. Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus. Aldous Huxley, Brave New World. Leo Tolstoy, My Confession. Richard Taylor, The Meaning of Life. Thomas Nagel, The Absurd. Glossary.