Classic Philosophical Questions, 14th edition

Published by Pearson (November 15, 2011) © 2012

  • Robert J. Mulvaney University of South Carolina

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Classic and Contemporary Primary Source Readings.

Classic Philosophical Questions has presented decades of students with the most compelling classic and contemporary primary source readings on the most enduring and abiding questions in philosophy.
Classic Philosophical Questions is a longstanding and highly respected anthology of basic readings in philosophy, taken from ancient, modern, and contemporary sources.  Issues are treated in a fundamentally open manner with arguments pro and con for the various positions covered.  All selections are taken from primary sources, with introductions and study guides to facilitate reading for the beginning student. 

Teaching and Learning Experience

Personalize Learning - MySearchLab delivers proven results in helping students succeed, provides engaging experiences that personalize learning, and comes from a trusted partner with educational expertise and a deep commitment to helping students and instructors achieve their goals.

Improve Critical Thinking - Philosophical issues, "To Think About" questions and quotations, biographical sketches, and more, all help to encourage students to examine their assumptions, discern hidden values, evaluate evidence and assess their conclusions.

Engage Students - The selections within Classic Philosophical Questions contain explanatory introductions, study questions and a glossary of terms to facilitate easier reading for the beginning student.

Support Instructors- Teaching your course just got easier!  You can create a Customized Text or use our PowerPoint Presentation Slides. Plus, Classic Philosophical Questions maintains the independence of each work.  It does not make the assumption that a student has previously read the material when it presents issues of knowledge, metaphysics, ethics, etc. - thus allowing you to arrange the order of topics to your course needs.

CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY PRIMARY SOURCE READINGS

  • Classic Philosophical Questions offers a comprehensive, first-hand experience of all the major fundamental branches of Philosophy, as opposed to volumes dealing with specialized topics. It provides a well-rounded introduction to philosophy without requiring separate, specialized volumes. (ex. p. 42)

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IMPROVE CRITICAL THINKING

  • Philosophical issues are treated in a fundamentally open manner, offering at least two pieces on most questions representing different views. This treatment provides students with different ways of thinking about the same issue. (ex. p. 195)
  • Classical Philosophical Questions is the only text on the market that starts with a question at each section, allowing students to write out their answers to the questions before reading further. (ex. p. 64)
  • Unique "To Think About" questions and quotations provide material for spirited debates or for written assignments, promoting new ways of thinking about various themes. (ex. p. 68)
  • Each reading contains a biographical sketch of the author, and a group of further readings for the student wishing to pursue their philosophical issues in greater depth. (ex. p. 86)

ENGAGE STUDENTS

  • All selections within Classic Philosophical Questions are taken from ancient, modern, and contemporary primary sources with introductions and study guides, facilitating easier reading for the beginning student. (ex. p. 48)
  • Explanatory introductions accompany each section within Classic Philosophical Questions, guiding students to what is important and central in each section.
  • A Glossary of Terms at the end Classic Philosophical Questions defines unfamiliar terms for students. (ex. p. 529)
  • Study Questions for each selection within Classic Philosophical Questions allows students to immediately review their comprehension of key arguments. (ex. p. 196)

SUPPORT INSTRUCTORS

  • Classic Philosophical Questions maintains the independence of each work.  It does not make the assumption that a student has previously read the material when it presents issues of knowledge, metaphysics, ethics, etc. - thus allowing you to arrange the order of topics to your course needs.
  • PowerPoint Presentation Slides for Classic Philosophical Questions, 14/e (0205096824): These PowerPoint slides help you convey philosophical principles in a clear and engaging way. For easy access, they are available within the instructor section of MySearchLab for Classical Philosophical Questions, 14/e, or at www.pearsonhighered.com/irc.

Found in this section:
1. Overview of Changes2. Chapter-by-Chapter Changes

1. Overview of changes

 

CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY PRIMARY SOURCE READINGS

  • Additional pages from Plato's Phaedo, developing the general psychological and moral profile of Socrates in its relationship to his most fundamental philosophical positions. (ex. p. 36)
  • A reading on the problem of evil drawn from Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, considered by many the first formal theodicy or argument for the justice of God. (ex. p. 64)
  • A brief reading by John Dewey underscoring the necessary employment of philosophical discourse in the maintenance of educational and political growth. (ex. p. 525)

PERSONALIZE LEARNING

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  • A personalized study plan for each student helps them succeed in the course and beyond.

  • New! Ebsco's ContentSelect - With Ebsco's ContentSelect, students get 24-hour access to abstracts and full-text articles from thousands of scholarly and popular periodicals, including Newsweek, National Review and USA Today's Magazine -- all grouped and organized by subject area.

  • New! Research Tutorial — When students click on the research button in MySearchLab, they get a step-by-step tutorial for the entire research process, including understanding the assignment, finding a topic, creating effective notes, how to form a paradigm, understanding and finding source material, etc.

IMPROVE CRITICAL THINKING

  • An expanded section on free will, including a reading by John Stuart Mill defending a compatibilist position and balancing the traditional determinist and free will positions found in earlier editions of this book. (ex. p. 331)
  • A concluding brief reading by John Dewey underscoring the necessary employment of philosophical discourse in the maintenance of educational and political growth.

ENGAGE STUDENTS

  • A new section devoted to issues of personal identity and their relation to the problem of immortality, with pages from Plato, Joseph Butler and David Hume. (ex. p. 355)
  • Readings from Simone de Beauvoir on women's liberation, Benjamin Barber on the nature of democracy, and Brand Blanshard on the criterion of truth. (ex. p. 233)

SUPPORT INSTRUCTORS

  • New! Create a Custom Text: For enrollments of at least 25, create your own textbook by combining chapters from best-selling Pearson textbooks and/or reading selections in the sequence you want.  To begin building your custom text, visit www.pearsoncustomlibrary.com. You may also work with a dedicated Pearson Custom editor to create your ideal text–publishing your own original content or mixing and matching Pearson content. Contact your Pearson Publisher's Representative to get started


2. Chapter-by-Chapter changes

Part 1:    Socrates and the Nature of Philosophy

  • New! Reading - The Phaedo:  Virtue and Socrates' View of Death

Part 2:    Philosophy of Religion

  • New! Reading - Boethius:  God Can Allow Some Evil
  • New! Reading - John Hick: Evil, Human Freedom and Moral Development

Part 5:    Metaphysics

  • New! Reading - John  Stuart Mill:  Determinism and Freedom Are Compatible
  • New! Reading - Richard Taylor:  Humans Are Free
  • New! Reading - Plato:  The Soul is Immortal and Imperishable
  • New! Reading - Joseph Butler: Human Beings Survive Death
  • New! Reading - David Hume:  Life After Death Is Philosophically Unprovable

Part 6:     Social and Political Philosophy

  • New! Reading - Benjamin Barber:  ‘Strong Democracy' Is Best

IN THIS SECTION:

  1. BRIEF
  2. COMPREHENSIVE

BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS:

  • Part 1: Socrates and the Nature of Philosophy
  • Part 2: Philosophy of Religion
  • Part 3: Ethics
  • Part 4: Knowledge
  • Part 5: Metaphysics
  • Part 6: Social and Political Philosophy
  • Part 7: Aesthetics
  • Part 8: Philosophy and the Good Life

COMPREHENSIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Part 1: Socrates and the Nature of Philosophy

  • What is Philosophy?
    • The Euthyphro: Defining Philosophical Terms
    • The Apology: Socrates’ Trial and Defense
    • The Crito: Socrates’ Refusal to Escape
    • The Phaedo: Virtue and Socrates’ View of Death

Part 2: Philosophy of Religion

  • Can We Prove That God Exists?
    • St. Anselm: The Ontological Argument
    • St. Thomas Aquinas: The Cosmological Argument
    • William Paley: The Teleological Argument
    • Blaise Pascal: It is Better to Believe in God's Existence Than to Deny it.
  • Does the Idea of a Good God Exclude Evil?
    • Boethius: God Can Allow Some Evil.
    • David Hume: A Good God Would Exclude Evil.
    • John Hick: Evil, Human Freedom and Moral Development

Part 3: Ethics

  • Are Ethics Relative?
    • Ruth Benedict: Ethics Are Relative
    • W. T. Stace: Ethics Are Not Relative
  • Are Humans Always Selfish?
    • Humans Are Always Selfish: Glaucon's Challenge to Socrates
    • James Rachels: Humans Are Not Always Selfish
  • Which is Basic in Ethics: Happiness or Obligation?
    • Aristotle: Happiness Is Living Virtuously
    • Jeremy Bentham: Happiness Is Seeking the Greatest Pleasure for the Greatest Number of People
    • Immanuel Kant: Duty Is Prior to Happiness
    • Friedrich Nietzsche: Happiness Is Having Power
    • Jean-Paul Sartre: Existentialist Ethics
    • Virginia Held: Feminist Ethics Are Different

Part 4: Knowledge

  • What is Knowledge?
    • Plato: Knowledge Is “Warranted True Belief”
  • What Method is Best For Acquiring Knowledge?
    • Charles Sanders Peirce: Four Approaches to Philosophy
  • How Do We Acquire Knowledge?
    • René Descartes: Knowledge Is Not Ultimately Sense Knowledge
    • John Locke: Knowledge is Ultimately Sensed
    • Immanuel Kant: Knowledge Is Both Rational and Empirical.
  • How Is Truth Established?
    • Bertrand Russell: Truth Is Established By Correspondence
    • Brand Blanshard: Truth Means Coherence
    • William James: Truth Is Established by Pragmatic Means
  • Can We Know the Nature of Causal Relations?
    • David Hume: Cause Means Regular Association
    • David Hume: There Are No Possible Grounds for Induction

Part 5: Metaphysics

  • Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
    • Parmenides: Being Is Uncaused
    • Lao-Tzu: Non-Being Is the Source of Being
  • Is Reality General Or Particular?
    • Plato: Universals Are Real
    • David Hume: Particulars Are Real
  • Of What Does Reality Consist?
    • René Descartes: Reality Consists of Mind and Matter
    • Paul Churchland: Reality Consists of Matter
    • George Berkeley: Reality Consists of Ideas
    • John Dewey: Reality Consists of Mental and Physical Qualities
  • Are Humans Free?
    • Holbach: Humans Are Determined
    • John Stuart Mill: Determinism and Freedom Are Compatible
    • Richard Taylor: Humans Are Free
  • Do Humans Have an Identical Self?
    • John Locke: Humans Beings Have an Identical Self
    • David Hume: Human Beings Have No Identical Self
  • Is There Life After Death?
    • Plato: The Soul is Immortal and Imperishable
    • Joseph Butler: Human Beings Survive Death
    • David Hume: Life After Death Is Philosophically Unprovable

Part 6: Social and Political Philosophy

  • What is Liberty?
    • Fyodor Dostoevski: Liberty and Authority
    • John Stuart Mill: Liberty is Independence from the Majority's Tyranny
    • Martin Luther King Jr.: Liberty and Racial Prejudice
    • Simone de Beauvoir: Women's Liberation.
  • Which Government is Best?
    • Thomas Hobbes: Monarchy Is Best
    • John Locke: Democracy Is Best
    • Karl Marx: Communism and Nonalienated Labor Is Best
    • Benjamin Barber: ‘Strong Democracy’ Is Best

Part 7: Aesthetics

  • What Constitutes The Experience of Beauty?
    • Plotinus: Beauty, Sensuous and Ideal
  • What is the Function of Art?
    • Aristotle: The Nature of Tragedy
    • Henri Bergson: The Nature of Comedy

Part 8: Philosophy and the Good Life

  • Two Classic Views of the Good Life
    • Epicurus and the Pleasant Life
    • Epictetus and the Life of Self-Control
  • What Gives Life Meaning?
    • Leo Tolstoy: Faith Provides Life's Meaning
    • Albert Camus: Life's Meaning Is Determined by Each Individual
  • What Is the Value Of Philosophy?
    • Bertrand Russell: The Value of Philosophy to Individual Life.
    • John Dewey: The Value of Philosophy to Society

Glossary

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