Designed to help students evaluate their beliefs on basic issues, this book helps them understand philosophy as a process of discovering and examining the paradoxes inherent in those issues. It includes forty-one readings along with chapter introductions that supply background material and stimulate critical thinking.

This text-reader has been designed to help students evaluate their beliefs on basic issues and to understand philosophy as a process of discovering and examining the paradoxes inherent in those issues. The forty-one readings included, both classic and contemporary, are drawn together by part and chapter introductions that supply background material and stimulate critical thinking.

PrefaceINTRODUCTIONWhat is Philosophy?Are You a Critical Thinker?
A TestIntroductory Reading: W. K. Clifford, The Ethics of BeliefFurther StudyPART ONE: PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGIONThe Paradoxes of ReligionCHAPTER 1: IS THERE A GOD?Problem IntroductionThomas Aquinas, The Five Ways (from Summa Theologica)Thomas Jefferson, God as the Designer of the Universe (from a letter to John Adams)William James, The Will to BelievePaul Kurtz, A Skeptic's Reply (from The New Skepticism and The Transcendental Temptation)Kenneth Miller, Finding Darwin's GodCHAPTER 2: THE PROBLEM OF EVILProblem IntroductionMark Twain, Letters from the EarthJohn Hick, Free Will, Character Building, and Evil (from The Philosophy of Religion)J. L. Mackie, Evil and OmnipotenceFurther StudyPART TWO: KNOWLEDGE The Paradoxes of AppearanceCHAPTER 3: DOUBTING, PERCEIVING, AND THE SELFProblem IntroductionRene Descartes, MeditationsGilbert Ryle, The Myth of the Ghost in the Machine (from The Concept of Mind)Plato, The Allegory of the Cave (from The Republic)Theodore Schick, Jr. and Lewis Vaughn, The Limits of Personal Experience (from How to Think about Weird Things)CHAPTER 4: TRUTHProblem IntroductionWilliam James, The Pragmatic Test (from Pragmatism)Bertrand Russell, Truth as Correspondence: A Reply to James (from Philosophical Essays)Brand Blanshard, Truth as Coherence (from The Nature of Thought)Further StudyPART THREE: FREE WILL AND DETERMINISMThe Paradoxes of FreedomCHAPTER 5: FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITYProblem IntroductionClarence Darrow, Leopold and Loeb: The Crime of CompulsionJean-Paul Sartre, Existence Precedes EssenceWilliam James, The Dilemma of DeterminismBruce Waller, Chanelle, Sabrina and the OboeSidney Hook, Moral Freedom in a Determined World (from The Quest for Being) Further StudyPART FOUR: MORALITYThe Paradox of Moral ExperienceCHAPTER 6: RELIGION, SOCIETY AND MORALITYProblem IntroductionRichard Furman and Thomas Dew, A Religious Defense of Slavery Paul Kurtz, The Ethics of Humanism Without ReligionJames Rachels, The Challenge of Cultural Relativism(from The Elements of Moral Philosophy)CHAPTER 7: THE SEARCH FOR OBJECTIVITYProblem IntroductionTara Smith, Principled Egoism: The Only Way to Live(from Viable Values)Immanuel Kant, The Primacy of Duty: The Categorical Imperative (from Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals)John Stuart Mill, The Greatest Happiness Principle (from Utilitarianism)Further StudyPART FIVE: POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY: GOVERNMENT--THE FOUNDATIONS AND THE CHALLENGESThe Paradoxes of Government CHAPTER 8: THE LAW AND THE INDIVIDUAL Problem IntroductionPlatO, Our Duty to the Law (from The Crito)Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham JailCHAPTER 9: DEMOCRACY, DICTATORSHIP, AND COMMUNISMProblem IntroductionJohn Locke, Limited Government: The Natural Rights Approach (from The Second Treatise of Government)John Stuart Mill, Limited Government: The Utilitarian Approach (from On Liberty)Carl Cohen, Unlimited Government: The Legacy of Plato(from Four Systems)Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, CommunismCHAPTER 10: 9/11 AND BEYONDProblem IntroductionInstitute for American Values, What We're Fighting For: A Letter from AmericaDavid Luban, The War on Terrorism and the End of Human RightsJames P. Sterba, Terrorism and International JusticePeter Singer, Navigating the Ethics of GlobalizationFurther StudyIndex of Authors and Titles