Philosophies for Living

This interdisciplinary and intercultural anthology approaches some fundamental philosophical questions with a focus on the "self" and its discovery, limitations, possibilities, and contexts.Numerous readings and a wide variety of voices include Africans, Natives, Hispanic Americans, religious traditions outside dominant Christian philosophies, and European and Asian traditions. These narratives, poetry selections, and discursive arguments either reinforce or challenge each other and traditional thoughts and beliefs about human nature, the natural world, race and gender, the good life, society, culture and morality, relationships with others, and religion.For risk-takers who are not afraid to question popular beliefs in order to discover which ones are true to his or her own self.

Preface As teachers of philosophy, we firmly believe that the purpose of any text is to facilitate the natural curiosity of the student. An introductory philosophy text should help students move from where they are to a clearer, more informed perspective on themselves and their world. To do this, it must not impose a finished and sophisticated philosophy, that is, the scholar''s worldview, on the student. Rather, it should begin with the questions that the students may have. Today, it is not unusual for many students to see an education as a way out, and not as an affordable leisure. Their questions are practical, or at least they see them as such. As philosophy teachers, we believe we should help students see their questions as no less important than our own. We need to help students look more deeply into themselves, their beliefs, and their worldviews. Since many students choose colleges and universities close to home, it becomes more the case that they have not been nor will they be naturally exposed to different cultures, different beliefs, different worldviews. We need to help them discover the differences in the world around them as well as reexamine the identities they perceive. This book is also about voices, and in particular about the voices of those whom we call students and teachers. It is about distinguishing these voices and the questions to which they give rise and the opinions and beliefs that they articulate. It is about discovering from where these voices may come. More important, we need to understand that these voices not only reside in traditions with which we may be unfamiliar, they will at times sound dissonant. As teachers of philosophy, it may become necessary for us to accept that not all philosophical questions nor all articulations of philosophic belief come from what we recognize as the Western philosophical tradition or from those we recognize as philosophers. We need to realize that such voices may be heard as narratives, as poetry, as well as discursive arguments. As a reader in introductory philosophy, Philosophies for Livingfocuses on the self, its discovery, its limitations, its possibilities, and its contexts or worlds. The readings that we include in this text have been used by us, our students, and some of our colleagues since 1993. They have told us what they thought worked, and what didn''t, and why. Also, the editorial intent of this anthology is both interdisciplinaryand intercultural.As a matter of pedagogy, we genuinely believe it desirable to create a dialogue about the self across academic disciplines as well as between cultures. We believe it is important to balance the attempts of traditional philosophies to cast knowledge of the self in terms apart from ordinary experience with explanations of what it means to be a self in the world, its societies, and its cultures. We further believe it may be important to understand that the world, the societies, and cultures of which we speak are dynamic, constantly changing entities. Cultures do not merely stand alongside one another; now, more than ever, they interact, and each culture lends a part of its identity to the other. This text has nine chapters. Each chapter begins with an introduction that explores the questions and themes of the proposed readings for that chapter. Each article has its own introduction, directing readers to ask specific questions and look for specific issues as they read. Each chapter concludes with a set of discussion questions that can be used for in-class activities or short essay assignments. The first and last chapters are about living philosophically. We begin by asking our students and readers to reflect on what characteristics and activities may be typical of a philosophical life. We conclude by pointing to further actions and attitudes that may strengthen or deepen philosophical resolve. Between the reflections on the nature of a philosophical life and philosophical activities, we ask students to reflect on how they understand who they are--what makes them the persons they believe themselves to be. The second chapter exposes readers to what philosophers have said about persons and personal identity. Chapter 3 asks students to reflect on how social interactions and modern social practices may influence how their personal identities are constructed. In Chapter 4, we explore the ways in which our perceptions of race and ethnicity affect our sense of self, and in Chapter 5 we explore the ways in which our perceptions of economic class structures and social hierarchies may affect self-affirmation and self-definition. Many of us, teachers and students alike, are reluctant to discuss matters of human sexuality. But our sense of our sexuality and the accompanying perceptions of gender differences do have some relation to who we are. Therefore, in Chapter 6 we examine the ways in which questions about sexuality, sexual relations, and gender difference may modify our understanding of who we are. As we note later, many students today are married or have been married, and many are parents. In what ways might our perceptions of what it means to be married or to be a parent help define who we are? In Chapter 7, we explore both classical and contemporary concepts of marriage and parenthood. Finally, we address the question of the ways in which religious experiences or a personal faith may contribute to our sense of who we are. Through many experiences as classroom teachers, we have found that students often identify their religious beliefs with their personal identities, so in Chapter 8 our inquiries are not so much about the existence of God or God''s attributes as they are about faith and personal meaning. In this chapter, we also include articles that raise questions of cultural difference. Readers will discover that in each chapter we have tried to balance the old with the new, the familiar with the unfamiliar, and the traditional canon of academic philosophy with wisdom and argument from disciplines and traditions outside academic philosophy. In doing this, we have tried to remember that our primary audience is students who are making an initial journey into philosophical thinking. Therefore, we believe it is important to keep in mind questions that are created in wonder, if not confusion, especially questions about the selfand self-identity. A Special Word to Beginning Students of Philosophy If you are a student, it may be that you are very much preoccupied with who you are and who you may be becoming. Some, if not many, of your are working at part-time jobs, and a significant number of you are parents; some of you may be single parents. As such, you may be struggling with your identity as male or female; as black, white, or red; as parents; as workers; or with your sexuality and/or with your religious faith. In the latter case, you may find that your questions are more frequently not about whether God exists or what attributes God may have, but rather about whether a religious belief can bring any meaning or purpose to your life. In order to help you, as students, answer these questions, we ask you only to "listen" carefully to what each of our authors has to say. A story has persisted for many generations in the halls of academic philosophy. It is a story of a bright, young student who attends a prestigious university and who has recently attended the lecture of a world famous professor. After the lecture, it is told, the young student approaches the professor and asks him to tell him "everything he needs to know." (Why must each be a he?) The professor commands the young student to sit and listen. Thirty minutes pass, an hour passes, and the professor says nothing. The student says: "Professor, I have been sitting here for an hour, and you have said nothing." "Have you been listening?" the professor responds