Table of Contents

Preface
CHAPTER 1. PHILOSOPHY AND YOU
1.1 PHILOSOPHY: THE QUEST FOR UNDERSTANDING
The Good of Philosophy
Philosophical Terrain
1.2 SOCRATES AND THE EXAMINED LIFE
PLATO: The Republic
1.3 THINKING PHILOSOPHICALLY
Reasons and Arguments
Reading Philosophy
Fallacious Reasoning
Argument Exercises:
Narrative: Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates
CHAPTER 2. GOD AND RELIGION
2.1 OVERVIEW: GOD AND PHILOSOPHY
Why Religion Matters
Overview: The Philosopher's Quest
Belief and Disbelief
2.2 ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
Cosmological Arguments
AQUINAS: Summa Theologica
CRAIG: Reasonable Faith
Design Arguments
PALEY: Natural Theology
HUME: Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Ontological Arguments
ANSELM: Proslogium
KANT: Critique of Pure Reason
2.3 GOD AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
Rowe's Argument from Evil
ROWE: Philosophy of Religion
The Free Will Defense
SWINBURNE: Is There a God?
The Soul-Making Defense
HICK: Evil and the God of Love
2.4 THEISM AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
ST. TERESA OF AVILA: The Life of Teresa of Jesus
MACKIE: The Miracle of Theism
ROWE: Philosophy of Religion
SWINBURNE: The Existence of God
2.5 BELIEF WITHOUT REASON
James: Pragmatic Faith
JAMES: "The Will to Believe"
MARTIN: Atheism: A Philosophical Justification
Pascal: Betting on God
PASCAL: Pensées and Other Writings
2.6 EASTERN RELIGIONS
Buddhism
SUMEDHO: Buddha-Nature
RAHULA: What the Buddha Taught
Hinduism
Daoism
CHUANG TZU: All Things Are One
LAO-TZU: Tao-te ching
Fiction: Arthur C. Clarke, "The Star"
CHAPTER 3. MORALITY AND THE MORAL LIFE
3.1 OVERVIEW: ETHICS AND THE MORAL DOMAIN
Ethics and Morality
Moral Theories
Religion and Morality
SHAFER-LANDAU: Whatever Happened to Good and Evil?
3.2 MORAL RELATIVISM
Subjective Relativism
Cultural Relativism
3.3 MORALITY BASED ON CONSEQUENCES
Utilitarianism
MILL: "What Utilitarianism Is"
Ethical Egoism
3.4 MORALITY BASED ON DUTY AND RIGHTS
KANT: Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals
3.5 MORALITY BASED ON CHARACTER
ARISTOTLE: Nicomachean Ethics
SHAFER-LANDAU: The Fundamentals of Ethics
3.6 FEMINIST ETHICS AND THE ETHICS OF CARE
JAGGAR: "Feminist Ethics"
CROSTHWAITE: "Gender and Bioethics"
HELD: The Ethics of Care
BAIER: "The Need for More Than Justice"
3.7 ALBERT CAMUS: AN EXISTENTIALIST VOICE
CAMUS: The Myth of Sisyphus
3.8 CONFUCIANISM
CONFUCIUS: Analects
NOSS: A History of the World's Religions
Fiction: Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"
CHAPTER 4. MIND AND BODY
4.1 OVERVIEW: THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM
4.2 SUBSTANCE DUALISM
DESCARTES: Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason
SCHICK: Doing Philosophy
DESCARTES: Meditations on First Philosophy
SEARLE: Mind
4.3 MIND-BODY IDENTITY
SMART: "Sensations and Brain Processes"
CHALMERS: The Conscious Mind
NAGEL: "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?"
4.4 THE MIND AS SOFTWARE
FODOR: "The Mind-Body Problem"
BLOCK: "Troubles with Functionalism"
SEARLE: Mind
4.5 THE MIND AS PROPERTIES
CHALMERS: The Conscious Mind
Fiction: Terry Bisson, "They're Made out of Meat"
CHAPTER 5. FREE WILL AND DETERMINISM
5.1 OVERVIEW: THE FREE WILL PROBLEM
5.2 DETERMINISM AND INDETERMINISM
D'HOLBACH: "Of the System of Man's Free Agency"
JAMES: "The Dilemma of Determinism"
5.3 COMPATIBILISM
LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
STACE: Religion and the Modern Mind
ROWE: "Two Concepts of Freedom"
5.4 LIBERTARIANISM
VAN INWAGEN: An Essay on Free Will
TAYLOR: Metaphysics
5.5 SARTRE'S PROFOUND FREEDOM
SARTRE: "Existentialism Is a Humanism"
Fiction: Thomas D. Davis, "A Little Omniscience Goes a Long Way"
CHAPTER 6. KNOWLEDGE AND SKEPTICISM
6.1 OVERVIEW: THE PROBLEM OF KNOWLEDGE
6.2 THE RATIONALIST ROAD
Plato's Rationalism
PLATO: Meno
Descartes' Doubt
DESCARTES: Meditations on First Philosophy
Descartes' Certainty
DESCARTES: Meditations on First Philosophy
6.3 THE EMPIRICIST TURN
Locke
LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Berkeley
BERKELEY: Of the Principles of Human Knowledge
Hume
HUME: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
6.4 THE KANTIAN COMPROMISE
KANT: Critique of Pure Reason
6.5 A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE ON KNOWLEDGE
AINLEY: "Feminist Philosophy"
ANTONY: "Embodiment and Epistemology"
ANDERSON: "Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science"
COLE: Philosophy and Feminist Criticism
Fiction: Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
* CHAPTER 7. AESTHETICS
* 7.1 OVERVIEW: PHILOSOPHY OF BEAUTY
* 7.2 WHAT IS ART?
*BELL: Art
* 7.3 AESTHETIC VALUE
* 7.4 PLATO, ARISTOTLE, AND HUME
*ARISTOTLE: The Poetics
*HUME: Of the Standard of Taste
*Fiction: Edgar Allan Poe, "The Oval Portrait"
CHAPTER 8. THE JUST SOCIETY
8.1 OVERVIEW: JUSTICE AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
8.2 PLATO'S THEORY: JUSTICE AS MERIT
PLATO: The Republic
8.3 SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORIES
Hobbes
HOBBES: Leviathan
Locke
LOCKE: Second Treatise of Government
Rawls
RAWLS: A Theory of Justice
8.4 SOCIALIST THEORIES
MARX AND ENGELS: Manifesto of the Communist Party
8.5 FEMINISM AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
OKIN: Justice, Gender, and the Family
MILLER: Political Philosophy
Fiction: William Golding, "Lord of the Flies"
CHAPTER 9. THE MEANING OF LIFE
9.1 OVERVIEW: PHILOSOPHY AND THE MEANING OF LIFE
9.2 PESSIMISM: LIFE HAS NO MEANING
TOLSTOY: My Confession
SCHOPENHAUER: "On the Sufferings of the World"
BAGGINI: What's It All About?
9.3 OPTIMISM: LIFE CAN HAVE MEANING
Meaning from Above
TOLSTOY: My Confession
BAGGINI: What's It All About?
Meaning from Below
EDWARDS: The Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Fiction: Voltaire, "The Good Brahmin"

About the Author

Lewis Vaughn is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including The Power of Critical Thinking, Fifth Edition, (2015), Living Philosophy: A Historical Introduction to Philosophical Ideas (2014), Philosophy: The Quest for Truth, Ninth Edition (2013), The Moral Life, Fifth Edition (2013), and Bioethics: Principles, Issues, and Cases (2012), all published by Oxford University Press.

Reviews

"Vaughn has chosen the most important topics in philosophy. His menu cannot be improved upon. With a beautiful opening chapter on the nature of philosophical thinking and remarkably concise chapters on the most engaging issues in philosophy, and with a nice mix of classic and contemporary philosophers, this is a terrific text. It is visually appealing as well."--Paul Herrick, Shoreline Community College
"Philosophy Here and Now is written in a clear, engaging, and lively style. The author does an excellent job of explaining abstract and conceptually intricate material to novices. The book introduces students to philosophy as a living enterprise, full of intellectual surprises and relevance to everyday human concerns."--Philip Robbins, University of Missouri
"With Philosophy Here and Now, students consistently have a contemporary voice to get them interested in the philosophical issues. The text supplements that voice with excerpts from original texts that are manageable and do not overly test the attention of students."--Joseph A. Baltimore, West Virginia University
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disciplines."--Maria Guadalupe Rojas-Heaton, Cerro Coso Community College