Philosophy For Dummies, UK Edition

428 Pages·2012·5.2 MB·English

by  Martin Cohen

Spine: 22.525 mm
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Philosophy
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
UK EDITION
by Martin Cohen
A John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, Publication
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Philosophy For Dummies®, UK Edition
Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
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West Sussex
PO19 8SQ
England
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ISBN: 978-0-470-68820-5
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, UK.
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About the Author
Martin Cohen is a full-time writer and editor of philosophical books. He has
both taught and researched philosophy at a number of universities in the
UK and Australia but is best known for his books advocating and developing
a method of teaching philosophy sometimes known as modularity. This is a
technique, (which is very appropriate to the ‘Philosophy for Dummies’ style)
in which big complex problems are broken down into bits, each part of which
is (as much as possible) independent and self-standing. He was originally
encouraged in the approach by George MacDonald Ross, for whom he was a
researcher on an ambitious project to change the way philosophy is taught in
UK universities in the 1980s, and to make it less ‘stuffy’ and more practical.
Martin’s earlier books include: 101 Philosophy Problems, 101 Ethical
Dilemmas, Political Philosophy, Wittgenstein’s Beetle and Other Classic Thought
Experiments, Philosophical Tales, and Mind Games.
As well as having been a lecturer and researcher, Martin is also a profes-
sional school teacher, who in the distant past taught in schools in Yorkshire
and Staffordshire, with children from ages as young as seven. He remains an
advocate of ‘philosophy for children’ and his ‘101’ books are popular with
many teachers.
Although his book Philosophical Tales paints rather an unkind picture of
Karl Marx, Martin sees the ‘point of philosophy’, as Marx once said, to be
not merely to interpret the world but to change it, and he has been active on
many ethical and environmental issues.
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Author’s Acknowledgments
For Dummies style does not allow footnotes (which is surely right – out, out
damned footnote!) nor even end notes. However, that can be a little bit of an
invitation to borrow without acknowledgement. So this section is an effort
to catch up with some of the many people who really ought to be acknowl-
edged, as indeed this book is not all my own ideas, but merely my distilla-
tion of reading, research, and discussions with others. Here are just some of
those philosophical folk whose ideas I have benefi ted from and attempted to
communicate to a new audience:
Brenda Almond, Gideon Calder, Anna Cohen, James Danaher, Pierre-Alain
Gouanvic, Wendy Hamblet, Trevor Jordan, Colin Kirk, Mary Lenzi, Yuli
Liu, George MacDonald Ross, Tom Morris, Chris Onof, Andrew Porter,
John Sellars, Daniel Silvermintz, Dean D’Souza, Stephen Thornton, Zenon
Stavrinides and Brad Weslake.
On the production side, I should also like to thank all those ‘professional
Dummies’ at Wiley – notably Nicole Hermitage, who introduced me to the
idea of For Dummies, and Simon Bell, who coped very patiently with my occa-
sional incredulity at the requirements of ‘Dummies Style’. I would also like to
thank the various readers of the manuscript, especially Zenon, for their care-
ful comments, corrections and advice.
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Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration
form located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Commissioning, Editorial, and Composition Services
Media Development
Project Coordinator: Lynsey Stanford
Project Editor: Simon Bell
Layout and Graphics: Ashley Chamberlain,
Content Editor: Jo Theedom Joyce Haughey, Stephanie Jumper
Commissioning Editor: Nicole Hermitage Proofreader: Laura Albert
Assistant Editor: Ben Kemble Indexer: Sharon Shock
Copy Editor: Charlie Wilson
Technical Editor: Dr Zenon Stavrinides
Publisher: David Palmer
Production Manager: Daniel Mersey
Cover Photos: © Sly/Fotolia
Cartoons: Ed McLachlan
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction ................................................................ 1
Part I: What Is Philosophy? .......................................... 7
Chapter 1: What’s Philosophy All About? .......................................................................9
Chapter 2: Discovering Why Philosophy Matters .......................................................25
Chapter 3: Becoming a Philosophical Thinker .............................................................41
Part II: The History of Philosophy ............................... 55
Chapter 4: Looking at Ancient Philosophies ................................................................57
Chapter 5: Moving from the Dark Ages to the Modern Day .......................................69
Chapter 6: Looking at Eastern Philosophy ..................................................................95
Chapter 7: Understanding the ‘Isms’ ...........................................................................109
Part III: The Nuts and Bolts of Philosophy ................. 127
Chapter 8: Seeing the Limits of Logic ..........................................................................129
Chapter 9: Understanding Knowledge ........................................................................149
Chapter 10: Separating Fact from Fiction ...................................................................161
Chapter 11: Interpreting Language ..............................................................................177
Part IV: Exploring the Mind, Consciousness and
Morality .................................................................. 195
Chapter 12: Exploring the Strange Notion of Mind ...................................................197
Chapter 13: Looking at Ethics and Morality ...............................................................213
Chapter 14: Political Philosophy..................................................................................245
Chapter 15: Looking Out for Liberty ...........................................................................271
Chapter 16: Aesthetics and Human Values ................................................................287
Part V: Philosophy and Science ................................ 309
Chapter 17: From Ancient Science to Modern Philosophy.......................................311
Chapter 18: Investigating the Science of Society .......................................................323
Chapter 19: Exploring Scientifi c Truth and Scientifi c Fashions ...............................343
Part VI: The Part of Tens .......................................... 361
Chapter 20: Ten Famous Philosophical Books – and What They Say .....................363
Chapter 21: Ten Philosophical Puzzles to Keep You Thinking ................................371
Index ...................................................................... 381
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