Philosophy for Life: Teach Yourself: The Ideas That Shape Our World and How To Use Them

280 Pages·2017·1.14 MB·English

by  Mel Thompson

Philosophy for Life
Mel Thompson
For my daughter, Rebecca
Contents
Acknowledgements
Taking it further
Meet the author
Introduction: Thinking to Enhance Your Life
Take back control!
Different styles of argument
Definite answers and progress?
Philosophy as therapy
Worth the hemlock?
Why ‘Philosophy for Life’?
1 The What and How of Knowing
Knowledge and justification: are you certain?
The external world: appearance and reality
Starting with experience
Intuitive knowledge
Scepticism
The genealogy of ideas
The proof of the pudding…
The philosophy of education
Creative and personal knowing
A personal postscript
2 Existentialism, Integrity and Happiness
Existentialism
A feminist perspective
The quest for happiness
Altruism
3 The Philosophy of Science
A historical overview
From evidence to theory: scientific method
Experiments and objectivity
Right, wrong or what?
The social sciences
What counts as science?
Science and philosophy
4 Language and Communication
Language and certainty
Language and perception
Linguistic philosophy
Formal logic
Structuralism and the media
5 Minds, Bodies and Brains
Ancient minds: Plato and Aristotle
‘I think, therefore I am’
The relationship between mind and body
The concept of mind
Survival?
Knowing me, knowing you
Cognitive science and artificial intelligence
Neuroscience and consciousness
A personal postscript
6 Art and Creativity
The philosophy of art
So what is art?
What does art do?
Aesthetics and the sublime
Postmodernism
The self as art
Nietzsche, art and religion
7 The Philosophy of Religion
Faith, reason and belief
Religious language
Religious experience
Does God exist?
The origin and design of the universe: religion or science?
Miracles
The problem of evil
Psychological and sociological explanations of religion
Locating what is most real?
8 Ethics
Facts, values and choices
Am I free to choose?
Ethical language
Natural law
Virtue ethics
Utilitarianism
The categorical imperative
Absolute or relative morality?
The values and life you choose
Applying ethical theories
Environmental ethics
9 Political Philosophy
Only individuals?
The social contract
The general will
Marx and materialism
Justice
The banality of evil
Homo economicus
Freedom and rights
The philosophy of history
Enframing in a complex world
10 The Philosophy of Everything
Glossary
Acknowledgements
The author and publishers would like to thank the following for their permission
to use copyright material in this book:
The Observer for the newspaper extract on page 37; Chatto and Windus for the
quotation from Iris Murdoch’s Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals; Penguin
Books Ltd for the quotation from Descartes’ Discourse on Method and
Chambers Concise Dictionary (2nd edition, 2009), for its definition of
philosophy.
Taking it further
Many books, both classic and modern, have been referred to within the text, and
they may serve as a next step for those wanting to deepen their understanding of
the subject.
However, books, articles and websites are constantly appearing and changing,
and it is therefore unrealistic to attempt to list here all the material that may be of
value to those wanting to follow up on issues raised in this book.
Those wanting to explore the subject further should therefore visit the
Philosophy for Life website, which provides a range of suitable material and
web-links. It also gives you an opportunity to leave comments, ask questions or
recommend material for inclusion. Just log on to: www.philosophyforlife.co.uk.
You can also visit the author’s website at: www.philosophyandethics.com
Meet the author
Welcome to Philosophy for Life!
We’re all philosophers. When there’s a tough choice to be made, when faced
with the facts of birth, love or death, or simply when thinking about what we
want to do with our lives or what we hold dear, we all tend to ask fundamental
questions and to use our reason to try to make sense of our situation. Work is no
escape from it; whether it’s examining the logic of a business decision, sifting
the relevance of scientific data, or trying to express oneself as clearly as possible
in an email, we are exercising our philosophical muscles. To me, philosophy is
doing what comes naturally, but doing it in a rigorous and systematic way, and
not opting out when the mental going gets tough. It’s a wonderful discipline for
clearing the mind; a skill like no other. It’s also a point of entry into the history
of ideas, perusing the wisdom of the past to aid our decisions for the future.
That’s why, for me, philosophy is ‘for life’. It goes beyond taking an interest in
academic arguments and the history of ideas, presenting us with an essential tool
for rational living, sharpening up our ability to think, to listen to the arguments
of others, to weigh evidence and to examine reasons. We live in a time
(sometimes labelled ‘post-truth’) when emotional appeals and unquestioned
assumptions too often dominate the media. Philosophy does not deny the power
of emotion or intuition, but it sets it in context. To live life to the full requires
balance, empathy, reason and the development of a purposeful sense of what life
is for. Philosophy therefore contributes not just a body of wisdom, but an
essential set of skills for living well.
Mel Thompson, 2017