Read an Excerpt

PREFACE:

Preface

From our years of experience in teaching the introductory philosophy course, we have concluded that such a course should do two things: (1) introduce students to the major themes and thinkers in the philosophic tradition and (2) show how the issues they encounter in the great thinkers apply to concerns they encounter in their life experiences. A beginning philosophy course can attempt to do too much and, as a consequence, accomplish too little. However, we think that an introductory philosophy course should contribute to students' general education by helping them develop a conceptual framework and vocabulary for discussing important intellectual and social issues.

Philosophy has something to say when people become upset over a controversial art exhibit or groups complain about art works that critics say degrade a religious or ethnic group. It also has something to say when people are misled by specious arguments and faulty reasoning. It can assist us in understanding that claims to absolute knowledge are not to be taken at face value, and it can guide us through the perplexing issues raised in public policy debates, such as the ongoing tugs of war about the protection of minority groups or life styles. Students probably first begin to think philosophically about matters of ethics and religion, though they may not be fully aware that they are doing philosophy when they encounter such problems in their own thinking. And with the increased awareness of other countries and cultures, students today need to have an understanding of non-Western thought systems.

At the same time, we do not intend this book to be just aboutphilosophy, that is, a second-hand recounting of philosophical positions. We believe that students need to encounter the great thinkers directly. Therefore we offer here the best features of the reader and the expository text. The readings themselves have been selected to represent a wide range of philosophical styles and temperaments—from Kant, Berkeley, Hume, and Descartes to Tolstoy, Mencius, Wittgenstein, and Kenneth Clark. The readings are no mere snippets but are solid chunks of material that form relatively self-contained units, ranging from five to ten pages in length.

The book is divided into forty chapters (arranged under nine topics), and within each part users may select some readings and omit others without loss of pedagogical effectiveness. Since the book contains more material than can be covered in a single academic term, instructors may pick and choose those chapters that best suit their own philosophical dispositions. The book offers a wide array of selections from classic as well as contemporary philosophers so that students can understand philosophy as a living discipline that draws from its past in order to deal with current issues.

The fifth edition has allowed us to make several changes in response to readers' suggestions. The first part dealing with the nature of philosophy has been completely rewritten. Several readings were removed and a new chapter dealing with philosophy's history added, since users felt that students needed an introduction to the history of ideas. New in the section on logic is a selection on critical thinking, and the philosophy of religion section now includes the "Vale of Soul-Making" theodicy by the noted philosopher of religion, John Hick. The more "existential" selection from Tolstoy has been set off in its own separate chapter rather than being included as an introduction to the entire section. The discussion of issues in esthetics now connects modernism with the issues raised by postmodernism (featured in the section on epistemology). Finally, the section on social and political philosophy has been recast by adding one old classic (Mill, On Liberty) and two new readings dealing with the relationship between the individual and the state and the rising political reality of minorities within a state who call for independent nation status or demand special treatment just because of their minority status.

It is regrettable that any revision cannot incorporate all the good suggestions made by reviewers, but we hope that enough of them have been made to increase the usefulness of this text. In its production we wish to thank Ross Miller, philosophy editor at Prentice Hall, and assistant editor Katie Janssen, who was a constant source of help and encouragement. We would also like to acknowledge the work of David Bruce and thank him for his proofreading and indexing skills.

D.S.
H.G.B.