Exploring Philosophy An Introductory Anthology

In Exploring Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology, Steven M. Cahn brings together exceptionally clear recent essays by noted philosophers and supplements them with influential historical sources. Most importantly, the articles have been carefully edited to make them understandable to every reader. The readings are enhanced by concise introductions, study questions, explanatory notes, and suggestions for further reading. Reflecting the major role of women in philosophy today, more than 1/4 of the contemporary essays are authored by women. The sixth edition features a new section on Asian Outlooks, with essays on Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Zen Buddhism.

Steven M. Cahn is Professor of Philosophy at The City University of New York Graduate Center. He is the author or editor of more than fifty books. Most recently, he authored Religion Within Reason (2017). Dr. Cahn is the editor of Exploring Ethics (OUP, 2016) and The World of Philosophy (OUP, 2015).

*=New to this Edition
Preface
1. INTRODUCTION
What Is Philosophy?, Monroe C. Beardsley and Elizabeth Lane Beardsley
The Value of Philosophy, Bertrand Russell
Historical Source
Defence of Socrates, Plato
2. REASONING
* The Elements of Argument, Steven M. Cahn, Patricia Kitcher, and George Sher
Improving Your Thinking, Stephen F. Barker
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions, Steven M. Cahn
Scientific Inquiry, Carl G. Hempel
3. KNOWLEDGE
Caring and Epistemic Demands, Linda Zagzebski
What Is Knowledge?, A. J. Ayer
Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?, Edmund L. Gettier
Conditions for Knowledge, Robert Nozick
Appearance and Reality, Bertrand Russell
What Can I Know?, D. Z. Phillips
The Problem of Induction, Bertrand Russell
Induction Without a Problem, P. F. Strawson
Puzzling Out Knowledge, Susan Haack
Historical Sources
Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke
A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, George Berkeley
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume
Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant
4. MIND
The Ghost in the Machine, Gilbert Ryle
Body and Soul, Richard Taylor
The Mind-Body Problem, Paul M. Churchland
What Is It Like to Be a Bat?, Thomas Nagel
The Qualia Problem, Frank Jackson
Knowing What It's Like, David Lewis
Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Alan Turing
Do Computers Think?, John Searle
The Body Problem, Barbara Montero
Historical Source
Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes
5. FREE WILL
Free Will, Thomas Nagel
Free Will and Determinism, W. T. Stace
Free Will or Determinism?, Steven M. Cahn
The Principle of Alternative Possibilities, Harry Frankfurt
The Capacities of Agents, Neil Levy
Historical Sources
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume
The Dilemma of Determinism, William James
6. IDENTITY
A Case of Identity, Brian Smart
The Problem of Personal Identity, John Perry
The Unimportance of Identity, Derek Parfit
Historical Sources
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke
A Treatise of Human Nature, David Hume
Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, Thomas Reid
7. GOD
Does God Exist?, Ernest Nagel
Why God Allows Evil, Richard Swinburne
Pascal's Wager, Simon Blackburn
Pascal's Wager: An Assessment, Linda Zagzebski
The Problem of Hell, Marilyn McCord Adams
Faith and Reason, Michael Scriven
God and Morality, Steven M. Cahn
Historical Sources
The Ontological Argument, Anselm and Gaunilo
Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, David Hume
The Wager, Blaise Pascal
Natural Theology, William Paley
The Will to Believe, William James
8. MORAL THEORY
How Not to Answer Moral Questions, Tom Regan
Moral Isolationism, Mary Midgley
Kant's Ethics, Onora O'Neill
Assessing Utilitarianism, Louis P. Pojman
* Virtue Ethics, Julia Driver
The Ethics of Care, Virginia Held
* Egoism and Moral Skepticism, James Rachels
Happiness and Morality, Christine Vitrano
Existentialism, Jean-Paul Sartre
Historical Sources
Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant
Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill
9. MORAL PROBLEMS
A Defense of Abortion, Judith Jarvis Thomson
On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion, Mary Anne Warren
Why Abortion Is Immoral, Don Marquis
Virtue Theory and Abortion, Rosalind Hursthouse
Active and Passive Euthanasia, James Rachels
The Intentional Termination of Life, Bonnie Steinbock
Famine, Affluence, and Morality, Peter Singer
* A Reply to Singer, Travis Timmerman
The Case for Animal Rights, Tom Regan
Speaking of Animal Rights, Mary Anne Warren
10. SOCIETY
Two Concepts of Citizenship, Jean Hampton
Democracy, John Dewey
What Is a Liberal Education?, Sidney Hook
Cultivating Humanity, Martha Nussbaum
Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Historical Sources
Crito, Plato
On Liberty, John Stuart Mill
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Karl Marx
11. SOCIAL JUSTICE
A Theory of Justice, John Rawls
Distributive Justice, Robert Nozick
Non-contractual Society: A Feminist View, Virginia Held
Historical Sources
The Republic, Plato
Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes
Second Treatise of Government, John Locke
12. ART
The Role of Theory in Aesthetics, Morris Weitz
* Aesthetic Concepts, Frank Sibley
* Speaking in Parables, Sallie McFague
Fearing Fictions, Kendall Walton
Historical Sources
The Republic, Plato
Poetics, Aristotle
13. LIFE AND DEATH
The Trolley Problem, Judith Jarvis Thomson
Turning the Trolley, Judith Jarvis Thomson
Death, Thomas Nagel
The Badness of Death, Shelly Kagan
Historical Sources
Phaedo, Plato
Writings, Epicurus
The Handbook, Epictetus
14. THE MEANING OF LIFE
The Meaning of Life, Richard Taylor
Meaning in Life, Susan Wolf
Meaningful Lives?, Christine Vitrano
* 15. ASIAN OUTLOOKS
* The Buddha's Message, Christopher W. Gowans
* The Confucian Way, Henry Rosemont, Jr.
* The Tao, Ray Billington
* Twelve Zen Stories
Index