I. WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
1. The Activity of Philosophy.
2. Philosophy of Everyday Life.
READING: Stewart, Philosophy and Popular Culture.
3. Philosophy's History.
4. Philosophy and the Examined Life.
READING: Socrates, In Defense of Philosophy.
Recent Developments in Philosophy.
II. THINKING ABOUT THINKING (LOGIC).
5. The Life of Reason.
6. Argument Forms.
7. Induction and the Philosophy of Science.
8. Strategies for Philosophical Argument.
READING: Thomas A. Shipka, Are You a Critical Thinker?.
Recent Developments in Logic.
III. WHAT IS REAL. (METAPHYSICS).
9. Introduction to Metaphysics.
10. Materialism.
READING: Epicurus, First Principle of Materialism.
11. Idealism.
READING: George Berkeley, Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous.
12. The Mind-Body Problem.
READING: Richard Taylor, Materialism and Personal Identity.
13. Metaphysics and Language.
READING: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations.
Recent Developments in Metaphysics.
IV. HOW DO WE KNOW? (EPISTEMOLOGY).
14. Introduction to Epistemology.
15. Appearance and Reality.
READING: Plato, The Visible and the Invisible.
16. The Quest for Certainty.
READING: Rene Descartes, Mediations.
17. Trust Your Senses.
READING: David Hume, Skeptical Doubts Concerning the Operations of the Understanding.
18. A Compromise.
READING: Immanuel Kant, Two Sources of Knowledge.
Recent Developments in Epistemology.
V. WHAT OUGHT WE TO DO? (ETHICS).
19. Introduction to Ethical Reasoning.
20. The Need for Morality.
READING: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan.
21. The Morality of Self-Realization.
READING: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics.
22. Morality Depends on the Consequences.
READING: John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism.
23. Morality Depends on Motives.
READING: Immanuel Kant, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals.
Recent Developments in Ethics.
VI. PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION.
24. Introduction to Philosophy and Religion.
25. Religion and Life's Meaning.
READING: Leo Tolstoy, A Confession.
26. Arguments for God's Existence: The Ontological Argument.
READING: St. Anselm, Proslogion.
27. Arguments for God's Existence: The Cosmological Arguments.
READINGS: St. Thomas Aquinas, The Five Ways. William Paley, Natural Theology.
28. The Problem of Evil.
READING: John Hick, The Vale of Soul-Making Theodicy.
Recent Developments in Religion.
VII. PHILOSOPHY OF ART (ESTHETICS).
29. Introduction to Philosophy of Art.
30. The Value of Art.
READING: H. Gene Blocker, The Esthetic Attitude.
31. Art as Ideal.
READING: Kenneth Clark, The Naked and the Nude.
32. Esthetics and Ideology.
READING: Jennifer Jeffers, The Politics of Representation: The Role of the Gaze in Pornography.
Recent Developments in Esthetics.
VIII. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.
33. Social and Political Philosophy.
34. The Liberal, Secular State.
READING: John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration.
35. The Individual and the State.
READING: John Stuart Mill, On Liberty.
36. Individual Happiness and Social Responsibility.
READING: M. Andrew Holowchak, Happiness and Justice in Liberal Society: Autonomy as Political Integration.
37. Minority Group Rights.
Elizabeth Smith and H. Gene Blocker, Minority Groups and the State.
Recent Developments in Social and Political Philosophy.
IX. EASTERN THOUGHT.
38. Philosophy East and West.
39. Chinese Theories of Human Nature.
READINGS: Mencius, The Book of Mencius; Xun Zi, The Nature of Man is Evil; Dong Zhongshu, Man's Nature is Neither Good Nor Evil; Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching.
40. Indian Theories of Human Nature.
READINGS: The Bhagavad Gita; The Upanishads; The Vedanta Sutras, Shandkara; The Vedanta Sutras, Ramanuja.
Recent Developments in Eastern Thought.
Glossary of Terms.
Index.
