Provides a selection of classical and contemporary readings on nineteen key problems in philosophy. This book covers topics such as the nature of philosophy, the existence of God, immortality, knowledge, the mind-body question, personal identity, free will and determinism, ethics, political philosophy, and the meaning of life.

In addition, each of the seventy-six readings is accompanied by an individual introduction with a biographical sketch of the philosopher, study questions, and reflective questions that challenge students to analyze and critique the material. Short bibliographies following each major section and a detailed glossary further enhance the text's pedagogical value. Invaluable for introductory courses in philosophy, this highly acclaimed text inspires and guides students' quest for wisdom. New to the Sixth Edition are: Six selections: "William Lane Craig: The Kalam Cosmological Argument and the Anthropic Principle"; "William Rowe: An Analysis of the Ontological Argument"; "Daniel Dennett: Postmodernism and Truth"; "William James: The Dilemma of Determinism"; "Harry Frankfurt: Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person"; "John Rawls: The Contemporary Liberal Answer"; a student Online Resource Centre featuring study and review questions, discussion questions, chapter overviews and summaries, topical links, suggestions for further reading, and PowerPoint lecture aids; and more exercises in the excursus on logic.

*=NEW TO THIS EDITION
EACH PART OPENS WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND ENDS WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Preface
I. WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
1. Plato: Socratic Wisdom
2. John Locke: Of Enthusiasm and the Quest for Truth
3. Bertrand Russell: The Value of Philosophy
Excursus: A Little Bit of Logic
II. PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
II.A. IS BELIEF IN GOD RATIONALLY JUSTIFIED? ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
4. Thomas Aquinas: The Five Ways
5. WILLIAM LANE CRAIG: THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT AND THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE
6. Paul Edwards: A Critique of the Cosmological Argument
7. William Paley: The Watch and the Watchmaker
8. David Hume: A Critique of the Teleological Argument
9. St. Anselm and Gaunilo: The Ontological Argument
10. WILLIAM ROWE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
II.B. WHY IS THERE EVIL?
11. Fyodor Dostoevsky: Why Is There Evil?
12. B.C. Johnson: Why Doesn't God Intervene to Prevent Evil?
13. John Hick: There Is a Reason Why God Allows Evil
II.C. IS FAITH COMPATIBLE WITH REASON?
14. Blaise Pascal: Yes, Faith Is a Logical Bet
15. W.K. Clifford: The Ethics of Belief
16. William James: The Will to Believe
17. Antony Flew, R.M. Hare, and Basil Mitchell: A Debate on the Rationality of Religious Belief
18. Alvin Plantinga: Religious Belief Without Evidence
III. KNOWLEDGE
III.A. WHAT CAN WE KNOW? CLASSICAL THEORIES OF KNOWLEDGE
19. Rene Descartes: Cartesian Doubt and the Search for Foundational Knowledge
20. John Locke: The Empiricist Theory of Knowledge
21. George Berkeley: An Idealist Theory of Knowledge
22. David Hume: The Origin of Our Ideas and Skepticism about Causal Reasoning
23. John Hospers: An Argument Against Skepticism
III.B. TRUTH, RATIONALITY, AND COGNITIVE RELATIVISM
24. Bertrand Russell: The Correspondence Theory of Truth
25. William James: The Pragmatic Theory of Truth
26. Richard Rorty: Dismantling Truth: Solidarity versus Objectivity
27. DANIEL DENNETT: POSTMODERNISM AND TRUTH
IV. PHILOSOPHY OF MIND: THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM
IV.A. WHAT AM I? A MIND OR A BODY?
28. Rene Descartes: Dualistic Interactionism
29. Gilbert Ryle: Exorcising Descartes' "Ghost in the Machine"
30. J.P. Moreland: A Contemporary Defense of Dualism
31. Paul Churchland: On Functionalism and Materialism
32. Thomas Nagel: What Is It Like to Be a Bat?
33. John Searle: Minds, Brains, and Computers
IV.B. WHO AM I? DO WE HAVE PERSONAL IDENTITY?
34. John Locke: Our Psychological Properties Define the Self
35. David Hume: We Have No Substantial Self with Which We Are Identical
36. Derek Parfit and Godfrey Vesey: Brain Transplants and Personal Identity: A Dialogue
IV.C. IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH? AM I IMMORTAL?
37. Plato: Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul
38. Paul Edwards: An Argument Against Survival: The Dependence of Consciousness on the Brain
39. John Hick: In Defense of Immortality
V. FREEDOM OF THE WILL AND DETERMINISM
40. Baron d'Holbach: We Are Completely Determined
41. WILLIAM JAMES: THE DILEMMA OF DETERMINISM
42. Corliss Lamont: Freedom of the Will and Human Responsibility
43. W.T. Stace: Compatibilism
44. HARRY FRANKFURT: FREEDOM OF THE WILL AND THE CONCEPT OF A PERSON
45. Richard Taylor: Fate
VI. ETHICS
VI.A. ARE THERE ANY MORAL ABSOLUTES OR IS MORALITY COMPLETELY RELATIVE?
46. Ruth Benedict: Morality Is Relative
47. James Rachels: Morality Is Not Relative
VI.B. ETHICS AND EGOISM: WHY SHOULD WE BE MORAL?
48. Plato: Why Should I Be Moral?: Gyges' Ring and Socrates' Dilemma
49. Ayn Rand: In Defense of Ethical Egoism
50. Louis P. Pojman: A Critique of Ethical Egoism
VI.C. WHICH IS THE CORRECT ETHICAL THEORY?
51. Aristotle: The Ethics of Virtue
52. Immanuel Kant: The Moral Law
53. John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism
54. Jean-Paul Sartre: Existentialist Ethics
VII. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
WHY SHOULD I OBEY THE GOVERNMENT? WHAT IS THE JUSTIFICATION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY?
55. Robert Paul Wolff: In Defense of Anarchism
56. Thomas Hobbes: The Absolutist Answer
57. John Locke: The Democratic Answer
58. John Stuart Mill: A Classical Liberal Answer
59. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: The Communist Answer
60. JOHN RAWLS: THE CONTEMPORARY LIBERAL ANSWER
VIII. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?
61. Epicurus: Moderate Hedonism
62. Epictetus: Stoicism: Enchiridion
63. Albert Camus: Life is Absurd
64. Lois Hope Walker: Religion Gives Meaning to Life
65. Thomas Nagel: The Absurd
66. Bertrand Russell: Reflections on Suffering
IX. PHILOSOPHY IN ACTION
IX.A. IS ABORTION MORALLY PERMISSIBLE?
67. John T. Noonan, Jr.: Abortion Is Not Morally Permissible
68. Mary Anne Warren: Abortion Is Morally Permissible
69. Jane English: The Moderate Position: Beyond the Personhood Argument
IX.B. IS THE DEATH PENALTY MORALLY PERMISSIBLE?
70. Thurgood Marshall: The Death Penalty Is a Denial of Human Dignity
71. Burton Leiser: The Death Penalty Is Permissible
72. Hugo Adam Bedau: No, the Death Penalty Is Not Morally Permissible
IX.C. DO ANIMALS HAVE RIGHTS?
73. Peter Singer: The Case for Animal Liberation
74. Carl Cohen: The Case Against Animal Rights
IX.D. IS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION MORALLY JUSTIFIED?
75. Albert Mosley: The Case for Affirmative Action
76. Louis P. Pojman: The Case Against Affirmative Action
Appendix: How to Read and Write a Philosophy Paper
Glossary