The Big Questions: A Short Introduction to Philosophy, International Edition - Softcover

Solomon, Robert; Higgins, Kathleen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1133611346 ISBN 13: 9781133611349

Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing, 2013

Synopsis

Solomon and Higgins’s engaging text covers philosophy’s central ideas in an accessible, approachable manner. You’ll explore timeless "big questions" about the self, God, justice, and other meaningful topics, gaining the context you need for an understanding of the foundational issues, as well as the confidence to establish your own informed positions on these "big questions."

About this title

Review:

Preface. INTRODUCTION: DOING PHILOSOPHY. Beyond Buzzwords. Articulation and Argument: Two Crucial Features of Philosophy. Concepts and Conceptual Frameworks. A LITTLE LOGIC. Deduction. Induction. Criticizing Arguments. Closing Questions. Suggested Readings. 1. PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS. Philosophical Questions. Opening Questions. Suggested Readings. 2. THE MEANING OF LIFE. Opening Questions. The Meaning of Meaning. The Meanings of Life. Closing Questions. Suggested Readings. 3. GOD. Opening Questions. Believing in God. Gods and Goddesses. The Traditional Western Conceptions of God. The Problem of Evil. Faith and Reason: Ways of Believing. Religious Tolerance: Ritual, Tradition, and Spirituality. Doubts. Closing Questions. Suggested Readings. 4. THE NATURE OF REALITY. Opening Questions. The Real World. What Is Most Real? The First Metaphysicians. Early Nonphysical Views of Reality. Plato's Forms. Aristotle's Metaphysics. Mind and Metaphysics. Idealism. Teleology. Metaphysics and the Everyday World. Closing Questions. Suggested Readings. 5. THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH. Opening Questions. What Is True? Two Kinds of Truth. Rationalism and Empiricism. The Presuppositions of Knowledge. Skepticism. Knowledge, Truth, and Science. The Nature of Truth. Rationality. Subjective Truth and the Problem of Relativism. Closing Questions. Suggested Readings. 6. SELF. Opening Questions. The Essential Self. The Self and Its Emotions. The Mind-Body Problem. The Self as a Choice. Closing Questions. Suggested Readings. 7. FREEDOM. Opening Questions. Freedom and the Good Life. Free Will and Determinism. Closing Questions. Suggested Readings. 8. MORALITY AND THE GOOD LIFE. Opening Questions. The Good Life. Egoism Versus Altruism. Morality and Theories of Morality. Duty-Defined Morality. Consequentialist Theories. Aristotle and the Ethics of Virtue. Morality--Relative or Absolute? Friedrich Nietzsche and the Attack on Morality. Closing Questions. Suggested Readings. 9. JUSTICE AND THE GOOD SOCIETY. Opening Questions. Morals and Society. The Nature of Society. Who Should Rule? The Question of Legitimacy. Anarchism, the Free Market, and the Need for Government. What Is Justice? The Meaning of Equality. The Origins of Justice and the Social Contract. Rights and the Self. Closing Questions. Suggested Readings. 10. PHILOSOPHY, SEX, RACE, AND CULTURE. Opening Questions. Expanding the Philosophical Canon. Beyond the Western Tradition. Other Cultures, Other Philosophies. Sexual Politics: The Rise of Feminist Philosophy. The Revival of African American Philosophy. Closing Questions. Suggested Readings. 11. BEAUTY. Opening Questions. Beauty and Truth. Enjoying Tragedy. Arguing About Taste. Art, Ethics, and Religion. The Aesthetics of Popular Culture and Everyday Life. Closing Questions. Suggested Readings. APPENDIX A. WRITING PHILOSOPHY. Opening Questions. The Rules of Good Writing in Philosophy. Indirect Styles. APPENDIX B. DEDUCTIVE LOGIC VALID ARGUMENT FORMS. APPENDIX C. COMMON INFORMAL FALLACIES. Glossary. Index.

About the Author:

Robert C. Solomon (1942-2007) was internationally renowned as a teacher and lecturer in philosophy. He was Quincy Lee Centennial Professor and Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and over the course of his career taught at numerous institutions, including Princeton University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Auckland, and the University of California, in addition to the University of Texas. He authored more than 40 books, including Introducing Philosophy, A Short History of Philosophy (with Kathleen Higgins), The Passions, In the Spirit of Hegel, About Love, Above the Bottom Line, Fourth Edition (with Clancy Martin), Ethics and Excellence, The Joy of Philosophy, and True to Our Feelings, and he was co-editor of Twenty Questions, Fifth Edition (with Lee Bowie and Meredith Michaels), and Since Socrates (with Clancy Martin).

About this edition

• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1133611346
• ISBN 13: 9781133611349
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464