PREFACE IX INTRODUCTION: PHILOSOPHY 1 A. Socrates 1 B. What Is Philosophy? 10 C. A Modern Approach to Philosophy 15 D. A BriefIntroduction to Logic 20 1. Deductive Arguments 21 2. Inductive Arguments 26 3. Argument by Analogy 29 4. Argument by Counter-Example 30 5. Reductio ad Absurdum 32 6. The Worst Kind of Fallacies 32 Glossary 37 Bibliography and Further Reading 41 PART ONE THE WORLD AND BEYOND 43 CHAPTER 1 REALITY 45 A. "The Way The World Really Is" 46 B. The First Philosophers: The "Turning Point of Civilization" 47 C. The Early Greek Philosophers 49 1. The Ionian Naturalists 49 2. Monism, Materialism, and Immaterial "Stuff" 51 3. Heraclitus 51 4. Democritus, Atoms, and Pluralism 52 5. Animism 53 6. Pythagoras 53 xvi
xvii 7. The AppearanceiReality Distinction 54 8. Parmenides 54 9. The Sophists 56 10. Metaphysics 56 D. Ultimate Reality in the East: India, Persia and China 58 1. Reality as Spirit: The Upanishads 58 2. Reality, Good, and Evil: Zarathustra 61 3. Confucius 62 4. Lao Tsu, or the Poets of Tao Te Ching 63 5. Buddha 64 E. Two Kinds of Metaphysics: Plato and Aristotle 67 1. Plato 68 2. Aristotle 80 F. Modern Metaphysics: Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz 88 1. Rene Descartes 90 2. Benedictus de Spinoza 95 3. Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz 105 Summary and Conclusion 116 Glossary 117 Bibliography and Further Reading 121 CHAPTER 2 + RELIGION 123 A. What is Religion? 123 B. The Western Religions 130 1. The Traditional Conception of God 130 2. Can We Know That God Exists? 132 C. Religion, Morality, and Evil 147 1. Religion and "Practical Reason" 147 2. The Problem of Evil 152 3. Hinduism, Buddhism, Karma, and Compassion 158 D. Reason and Faith 161 E. Faith and Irrationality 165 1. God as Experience 166 2. The Leap of Faith 168 3. God as Ultimate Concern 173 F. The Attack on Religion: Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud 175 Summary and Conclusion 181 Glossary 181 Bibliography and Further Reading 183
xviii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 3 KNOWLEDGE 184 A. The Rationalist's Confidence: Descartes 190 B. Innate Ideas Concerning Human Understanding: John Locke 201 C. The Empiricist Theory of Knowledge 206 D. Common Sense Undone: Bishop Berkeley 214 E. The Congenial Skeptic: David Hume 222 F. An Ancient Skeptic: Niigiirjuna 237 G. Double Vision: A Non-Western Feminist Perspective 238 Summary and Conclusion 243 Glossary 244 Bibliography and Further Reading 246 CHAPTER 4 TRUTH 248 A. Two Kinds of Truth 251 1. Analytic Truths 252 2. Truths about the World 256 B. Theories of Truth 259 1. The Coherence Theory 259 2. The Pragmatic Theory 261 3. The Semantic Theory 268 C. Kant's Revolution 271 D. The Battle in Europe after Kant: Relativism and Absolutism 279 1. Hegel 279 2. Schopenhauer 289 3. Nietzsche 291 E. Phenomenology 295 F. Hermeneutics, Pragmatism, and Feminism: Relativism Reconsidered 298 Summary and Conclusion 313 Glossary 314 Bibliography and Further Reading 318 PART TWO KNOW THY SELF 319 CHAPTER 5 SELF 321 A. Consciousness and the Self From Descartes to Kant 323 B. Existentialism: Self-Identity and the Responsibility of Choice 340
xix C. The Individual and the Community 348 1. Voices of Protest 354 2. Beyond "Individualism" 360 D. One Self? Any Self? Questioning the Concept of Personal "Essence" 364 Summary and Conclusion 374 Glossary 375 Bibliography and Further Reading 376 CHAPTER 6 MIND AND BODY 377 A. What Is Consciousness? 377 B. The Problem of Dualism 383 C. The Rejection of Dualism 389 1. Radical Behaviorism 389 2. Logical Behaviorism 390 3. The Identity Theory 397 4. Eliminative Materialism 403 5. Functionalism: The Mind and the Computer 407 6. Connectionism 409 D. The Problem of Consciousness 410 1. Changing Our Minds: Holism and Consciousness 414 Summary and Conclusion 418 Glossary 419 Bibliography and Further Reading 420 CHAPTER 7 FREEDOM 421 A. Fatalism and Karma 422 B. Predestination 427 C. Determinism 435 1. Hard Determinism 436 2. Determinism versus Indeterminism 439 3. The Role of Consciousness 442 4. Soft Determinism 444 D. Compulsion and Ignorance 452 1. Conditioning 460 E. Freedom in Practice 467 F. Radical Freedom: Existentialism 475 Summary and Conclusion 482 Glossary 482 Bibliography and Further Reading 484
xx TABLE OF CONTENTS PART THREE. THE GOOD AND THE BEAUTIFUL 485 CHAPTER 8 ETHICS 487 A. Morality 489 B. Is Morality Relative? 491 C. Egoism and Altruism 498 D. Morality as Virtue: Aristotle 504 E. Morality and Sentiment: Hume and Rousseau 518 F. Morality and Practical Reason: Kant 526 G. Utilitarianism 541 H. The Creation of Morality: Nietzsche and Existentialism 553 1. Ethics and Gender 565 Summary and Conclusion 574 Glossary 574 Bibliography and Further Reading 577 CHAPTER 9 JUSTICE 579 A. The Problem ofjustice 581 1. Two Ancient Theories of Justice: Plato and Aristotle 582 2. Two Modern Theories of Justice: Hume and Mill on Utility and Rights 588 3. The Social Contract 594 4. Two Contemporary Theories of Justice: Rawls and Nozick 607 5. Justice or Care: A Feminist View 615 B. Individual Rights and Freedom 617 C. Fighting for Rights and Justice 624 D. On the Origins of Good and Evil 641 Summary and Conclusion 646 Glossary 646 Bibliography and Further Reading 648 CHAPTER 10 BEAUTY 649 A. Plato and the Transcendence of Beauty 650 B. Aristotle and the Self-Sufficiency of Art 659 C. The Dispute about Tastes 663 D. Kant: Disputes about Taste Resolved 667 E. After Kant: Art, Society, and Self-Awareness 670 1. G. W. F. Hegel 671
xxi 2. Arthur Schopenhauer 674 3. Friedrich Nietzsche 675 F. Art and Reality in the Twentieth Century 677 G. The Other Half ofthe Picture-Feminist Aesthetics 681 H. Art and Culture: Japan and Africa 685 Summary and Conclusion 691 Glossary 691 Bibliography and Further Reading 692 Brief Biographies 693 Literary Credits 705 Index 715