The Big Questions: A Short Introduction to Philosophy

Описание

The Big Questions
The Big Questions
A Short Introduction to Philosophy
Eighth Edition
ROBERT C. SOLOMON University of Texas at Austin
KATHLEEN M. HIGGINS University of Texas at Austin
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The Big Questions: A Short Introduction to Philosophy, Eighth Edition
Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins
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For our nieces and nephews,
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Contents
Preface
Introduction Doing Philosophy
Beyond Buzzwords
Articulation and Argument: Two Crucial Features of Philosophy
Concepts and Conceptual Frameworks
Doing Philosophy with Style
A Little Logic
Deduction
Induction
Criticizing Arguments
Closing Questions
Suggested Readings
Chapter 1 Philosophical Questions
Philosophical Questions
Opening Questions
Suggested Readings
Chapter 2 The Meaning of Life
Opening Questions
The Meaning of Meaning
Children as Meaning
God as Meaning
Afterlife as Meaning
No Meaning at All
The Meanings of Life
Life as a Game
Life as a Story
Life as Tragedy
Life as Comedy
Life as a Mission
Life as Art
Life as an Adventure
Life as Disease
Life as Desire
Life as Nirvana
Life as Altruism
Life as Honor
Life as Learning
Life as Suffering
Life as an Investment
Life as Relationships
Closing Questions
Suggested Readings
Chapter 3 God
Opening Questions
Believing in God
Gods and Goddesses
The Traditional Western Conceptions of God
God as Transcendent
God as Immanent
God as Totally Immanent: Pantheism
God as Universal Spirit
God as Process
God as Transcendent Creator: Deism
God as the Unknown Object of Faith
God as a Moral Being
The Problem of Evil
Denial of God
Two Kinds of Evil
Denial of Evil
The Least of the Evils
The Aesthetic Totality Solution
The Free-Will Solution
Justice in the Afterlife
God’s “Mysterious Ways”
Working Out an Answer
Faith and Reason: Ways of Believing
The Cosmological Argument
The Argument from Design
The Ontological Argument
Rational Faith
Pascal’s Wager
Irrational Faith
Religious Tolerance: Ritual, Tradition, and Spirituality
Doubts
Closing Questions
Suggested Readings
Chapter 4 The Nature of Reality
Opening Questions
The Real World
What Is Most Real?
The Reality Behind the Appearances
Dreams, Sensations, and Reason: What Is Real?
The Basis of Metaphysics
The First Metaphysicians
Thales
The Pre-Socratic Materialists
Early Nonphysical Views of Reality
Plato’s Forms
Aristotle’s Metaphysics
Mind and Metaphysics
René Descartes
Baruch Spinoza
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
Idealism
Teleology
Metaphysics and the Everyday World
Closing Questions
Suggested Readings
Chapter 5 The Search for Truth
Opening Questions

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