Philosophy : key texts / Julian Baggini.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baggini, Julian.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy.

Physical Description:

xii, 140 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.

Summary:

Designed for complete beginners, "Philosophy: Key Texts" is an introduction to philosophy and gives a clear, readable overview of five major texts by Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Sartre, and Russell. As well as providing help in how to analyze these sources, Baggini encourages the reader to question the arguments and positions presented. Invaluable at the start of a course of study, as a concise revision aid, or as a lucid, jargon-free guide for anyone who wants an insight into philosophy, "Philosophy: Key Texts" can be used either independently of, or together with, its companion volume "Philosophy: Key Themes."

Contents:

Styles of reading 2

Arguments 3

Assessing premises 5

Inferences 6

The archaeology of arguments 7

Arguments within arguments 8

Back to style 9

The principle of charity 9

Five key texts 10

1 Aristotle: The Nicomachean Ethics (c.334-323 BCE) 11

The proper method of philosophy 12

Teleology 13

The Good for human life 15

Happiness 18

Moral virtue 20

The doctrine of the mean 22

The role of pleasure 23

Choice, freedom and responsibility 26

Five routes to truth 28

2 Rene Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) 35

First meditation 37

Problems 39

Second meditation 41

Problems 42

The piece of wax 44

Third meditation 45

The existence of God 46

Fourth meditation 49

Fifth meditation 51

Problems 52

Sixth meditation 55

Problems 56

Outstanding problems 56

3 David Hume: An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748) 61

I Of the different species of philosophy 62

II Of the origin of ideas 64

III Of the association of ideas 66

IV Sceptical doubts concerning the operations of the understanding 66

V Sceptical solution of these doubts 68

VI Of probability 70

VII Of the idea of necessary connexion 71

VIII Of liberty and necessity 73

IX Of the reason of animals 75

X Of miracles 76

XI Of a particular providence and of a future state 78

XII Of the academical or sceptical philosophy 79

4 Bertrand Russell: The Problems of Philosophy (1912) 85

1 Appearance and reality 86

2 The existence of matter 88

3 The nature of matter 90

4 Idealism 91

5 Acquaintance and description 92

6 Induction 94

7 Knowledge of general principles 96

8 How is a priori knowledge possible? 98

9 The world of universals 99

10 Our knowledge of universals 101

11 On intuitive knowledge 104

12 Truth and falsehood 105

13 Knowledge, error and probable opinion 107

14 The limits of philosophical knowledge 109

15 The value of philosophy 111

5 Jean-Paul Sartre: Existentialism and Humanism (1947) 115

The attack on existentialism 117

Humanism 117

Existentialism 118

Subjectivity 119

Anguish 120

Abandonment 122

Despair 125

The cogito 126

The human condition 127

Does it matter what you do? 128

Can you judge others? 129

A case of give and take 130

Humanism again 130.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (page 136) and index.

ISBN:

0333964845

0333964853

OCLC:

49991439