Intro to Philosophy

To teach how to live without certainty, and yet without being paralysed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can still do for those who study it. 

Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy

Overview

In this series we will explore some of the most basic themes of philosophy. We’ll begin with the most common understandings of the word “philosophy.” The second part expands upon what is traditionally known as metaphysics. Here we’ll discuss the question of reality. In the third section, we will examine the grounds, possibility and limits of human knowledge. We will continue with a general survey of ethics as another distinct discipline of philosophy. Here we will discuss, amongst others, the problem of human mortality and the meaning of life. Aesthetics (or the philosophy of beauty) and political philosophy will be our final subjects. 

BEGIN

Part 01

I begin with an overview of the reasons and goals of the entire series. I also explain who this is for.

Contents

  1. Welcome;
  2. Reasons for this series;
  3.  Main goal;
  4. Who is this for?
  5. Overall plan.

Part 02

Here I expand upon three specific meanings of the word ‘philosophy’ in its more common usage. 

Contents

  1. Welcome;
  2. Philosophy as worldview & examples;
  3. Philosophy as theory on a sphere of human activity & examples;
  4. Philosophy as serene acceptance or resignation.

Suggested readings

Cambridge Dictionary Definition
Collins Dictionary Definition

References

Merriam-Webster Dictionary Definition

Part 03

In this session I explain the etymological meaning of the word ‘philosophy’ as love of wisdom. I identify several meanings of wisdom, which I then clarify by several examples. I conclude by explaining why many philosophers encourage a wise life.

Contents

  1. Welcome;
  2. Introduction;
  3. What is etymology?
  4. Etymology of “philosophy”;
  5. Meaning of philia;
  6. Sophia as wisdom;
  7. First kind of wisdom;
  8. “Faster” ways to acquire wisdom;
  9. Wisdom concerns you;
  10. Second kind of wisdom;
  11. Wisdom & proverbs;
  12. Wisdom as successful social integration;
  13. Third kind of wisdom;
  14. Summary: the threefold structure of wisdom;
  15. Conclusion: the etymological definition of philosophy.

Suggested Readings

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Entry “Wisdom”

References

Collins Dictionary Definition of Wisdom

Part 04

Before moving on to the full-blown analysis of philosophy as a discipline, I recapitulate the customary and etymological meanings of the word. Specifically, I draw five different conclusions regarding philosophy’s intrinsic relation to meaning, truth, group integration and cohesion, personal happiness, and courage.

Contents

  1. Welcome;
  2. Recap: four definitions;
  3. Conclusion 01: philosophy’s multiple meanings;
  4. Conclusion 02: we’re all philosophers;
  5. Conclusion 03: philosophy’s search for meaning & well-being;
  6. Conclusion 04: the drama of philosophy;
  7. Conclusion 05: philosophy’s abstract nature.

Suggested Readings & Other Materials

Robert C. Solomon, The Joy of Philosophy. Thinking Thin versus the Passionate Life, Oxford University Press, 1999, Introduction.

Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, The Big Questions. A Short Introduction to Philosophy, Cengage Learning, 2013, Introduction.

Simon Blackburn, Think. A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 1999, Introduction.

James L. Christian, Philosophy. An Introduction to the Art of Wondering, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009, pp. xix-xxii.

Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, Routledge, 2004, Introduction.

Frederick Copleston, S.J., A History of Philosophy, vol. 1, New York/London: Image Books, Doubleday, 1962, ch.1 (Introduction).

Isaiah Berlin, Why Philosophy Matters (1976)

Part 05

In Part 5, I overview the meaning and structure of metaphysics. I identify, define, and analyze three expressions of metaphysics understood as the study of: being, final causes (or principles), and reality. I also, very briefly discuss the relation between metaphysics and science, religion, popular culture (movies), and personal meaningfulness.

Contents

  1. Welcome;
  2. My method & goals;
  3. (I) Metaphysics as ontology;
  4. (II) Metaphysics as study of ultimate causes/principles;
  5. Materialism;
  6. Spiritualism;
  7. Science & metaphysics;
  8. (III) Metaphysics as theory of reality;
  9. Plato’s metaphysics: brief overview;
  10. The universal relevance of metaphysics;
  11. What’s next?

Suggested Readings & Other Materials

Ontology (Introductions)

Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology, Polity, 2013.

James K. Feibleman, Ontology, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1951.

Étienne Gilson, Being and Some Philosophers, Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1949.

Amie Thomasson, Ontology Made Easy, New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Metaphysics

Introductions

Academy of Ideas – What is Metaphysics?

Big Questions: The Ultimate Building Blocks of Matter

Keith Campbell, Contemporary Metaphysics: An Introduction, Encino, CA: Dickenson, 1976.

John Carroll and Ned Markosian, An Introduction to Metaphysics, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Michael J. Loux, Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction, New York: Routledge, 2001.

Stephen Mumford, Metaphysics: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Jan Westerhoff, Reality: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Primary Sources

Anselm, Proslogium and Monologium, trans. by S. N. Deane, La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1962.

Thomas Aquinas, Concerning Being and Essence, trans. by George C. Leckie, New York: Appleton, 1937.

Aristotle, Metaphysics, trans. by Richard Hope, New York: Columbia University Press, 1952.

Augustine, Confessions, trans. by Henry Chadwick, Oxford University Press, 2009. See esp. Books X-XI.

Averroes
Ibn Rushd’s Metaphysics, ed. by Charles Genequand, Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1984.

Avicenna
La métaphysique du Shifa’, trans. by M. M. Anawati, Quebec, 1952.

Classical and Contemporary Metaphysics: A Source Book, ed. by Richard T. De George, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962.

John Duns Scotus, A Treatise on God as the First Principle, trans. by Allan Wolter, Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1966.

Duns Scotus, Philosophical Writings, trans. by Allan B. Wolter, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1987.

Kathleen Freeman, Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1948.

Georg W.F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. by A.V. Miller, Oxford University Press, 1977

Immanuel Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, ed. by Lewis White Beck, New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1951.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, The Monadology and Other Philosophical Writings, ed. by Robert Latta, London, 1948.

Moses Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed, trans. by M. Friedlander, Digireads.com Publishing, 2018.

Metaphysics: An Anthology, ed. by Jaegwon Kim and Ernest Sosa, Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1999.

Metaphysics: The Big Questions, ed. by Peter van Inwagen and Dean W. Zimmerman, Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1998.

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, trans. by Anthony M. Ludovici, Sterling Publishing, 2006.

Plato, Parmenides, in F.M. Cornford, Plato and Parmenides, New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1957.

Plato, Republic, trans. by A.D. Lindsay, London: Deat, 1976. See especially Books VI–VII.

Plato, Sophist, in Plato’s Theory of Knowledge, ed. by F.M. Cornford, New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1957.

Plato, Timaeus, in Plato, Timaeus and Critias, trans. by R. Waterfield, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation, 2 vols., trans. by E.F.J. Payne, Dover Publications, 1966.

Baruch Spinoza, Ethics in The Collected Works of Spinoza, 2 vols., trans. by Edwin Curley, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985 and 2016.

A. N. Whitehead, Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1929.

Part 06

Part 6 overviews the distinct philosophical field of epistemology (which means the study or theory of knowledge). First, I mention some of the key questions of epistemology. Second, I explore five different views of knowledge put forward by Plato, Rene Descartes, John Locke, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant, respectively.  Thirdly, I offer tentative answers to the questions: why does epistemology matter and who is it for?

Contents

  1. Welcome;
  2. Recap & some caveats;
  3. Etymological definition;
  4. Key questions;
  5. Plato: knowledge as recollection;
  6. Modern vs. ancient epistemology;
  7. Descartes’ epistemology.

Contents

  1. Welcome;
  2. Basic assumption of empiricism;
  3. John Locke’s epistemology;
  4. David Hume’s epistemology.

Contents

  1. Welcome;
  2. Kant’s epistemology;
  3. How knowledge occurs;
  4. On space & time;
  5. On causality; 
  6. Kant’s evaluation of Descartes and Locke;
  7. The insurmountable limits of human knowledge (phenomena vs. noumena);
  8. Kant’s legacy;
  9. Why epistemology matters;
  10. Who is epistemology for?
  11. Beyond epistemology.

Suggested Readings & Other Materials

Introductions

Alfred Ayer, Hume: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford Paperbacks, 2000

Simon Blackburn, How to Read Hume, Granta, 2009

Patrick J. Connolly, “John Locke”, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, section 2

Georges Dicker, Descartes: An Analytical and Historical Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993

John Dunn, J.C. Urmson, A.J. Ayer, The British Empiricists: Locke, Berkeley, Hume, New York: Oxford, 1992

Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy. The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers, New York: Time Incorporated, 1962, chapter VI.3

James Fieser, “David Hume”, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, sections 3-4

Greg Ganssle, Epistemology (videos)

Tim Jankowiak, “Immanuel Kant”, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, section 2

E.J. Lowe, Locke, New York: Routledge, 2005

A.J. Pyle, Locke, London: Polity, 2013

S. Rickless, Locke, Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2014

Michael Rohlf, “Immanuel Kant”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, sections 2-3

Roger Scruton, A Short History of Modern Philosophy. From Descartes to Wittgenstein, Routledge, 1995, chapters 3, 7, 9, 10

Roger Scruton, Kant: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, chapters 3-4

Paul Strathern, Hume in 90 minutes

Paul Strathern, Kant in 90 minutes

Nicholas White, Plato on Knowledge and Reality, Indianapolis: Hackett, 1976

Richard Dien Winfield, On Epistemology (free online course)

Primary Sources

Contemporary Debates in Epistemology, ed. by Ernest Sosa and Matthias Steup, Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell, 2004

René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy: with Selections from the Objections and Replies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008

David Hume, An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett, 1977

Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason, trans. by F. Max Mueller, (online)

Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, trans. by Paul Guyer and Allen W. Wood, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997

Immanuel Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, trans. by Paul Carus, Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett, 1977

John Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, Oxford: Clarendon, 1975.

Plato, Meno, in Plato: Five Dialogues, Hackett, 2002

Plato, Phaedrus, trans. by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff, Hackett Publishing Company, 1995

Plato’s Theory of Knowledge: The Theatetus and The Sophist, trans. by Francis M. Cornford, Dover Publications, 2003

Part 07

Part 7 expands upon ethics (or morality) as a philosophical discipline. In the opening session, we cover the limitations of epistemology from an ethico-existential standpoint; the key questions of ethics; and the typological structure of ethics. In the same session we briefly overview the following subfields: virtue, deontological, utilitarian, bio-, feminist, business, and environmental ethics. The remaining four sessions are dedicated to critical surveys of virtue ethics (Aristotle and Nietzsche), deontological ethics (Kant), and utilitarian ethics (John-Stewart Mill). These theories will be analyzed chronologically.

Contents

  1. Welcome;
  2. Limitations of epistemology;
  3. Preliminary provisos;
  4. Key questions of ethics;
  5. Typology:
    – virtue ethics;
    – deontological ethics;
    – utilitarian ethics;
    – bioethics;
    – feminist ethics;
    – business ethics;
    – environmental ethics.

Suggested Readings & Other Materials

Introductions

Academy of Ideas, Introduction to Nietzsche (video)

A Companion to Ethics, edited by Peter Singer, Oxford: Blackwell, 1991

Applied Ethics: A Reader, ed. by Earl Winkler and Jerrold R. Coombs, Wiley-Blackwell, 1993

Chris Beasley, What is Feminism? An Introduction to Feminist Theory, Sage Publications, 1999

Simon Blackburn, Ethics. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003

Alain de Botton, Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness. “Nietzsche on Hardship” (documentary)

Cambridge Applied Ethics Series

Deborah Cameron, Feminism: A Brief Introduction to the Ideas, Debates, and Politics of the Movement, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019

Arthur Danto, Nietzsche as Philosopher, New York: Columbia University Press, 2005

Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy. The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers, New York: Time Incorporated, 1962, chapters II.7 & IX.5

David Feldman, Introduction to Environmental Ethics (video)

Feminism in Our Time: The Essential Writings, World War II to the Present, ed. by Miriam Schneir, Vintage, 1994

Lorna Finlayson, An Introduction to Feminism, Cambridge University Press, 2016

Tamar Szabó Gendler, Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature (Yale University, free online course. On utilitarianism see lectures 12-18)

Human, All Too Human. Nietzsche (BBC documentary)

Walter Kaufmann, Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974

Brian Leiter, Nietzsche on Morality, London: Routledge, 2002

Michael Pakaluk, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. An Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005

Mark Clarence Phillips, Ethics (University of New Orleans free course)

Michael J. Sandel, Justice (free Harvard College online course)

Kenneth Sayre, Environmental Philosophy, OpenCourseWare

Miriam Schneir, Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings, Vintage, 1994

The School of Life, “Nietzsche” (video)

Roger Scruton, Kant. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, chapter 5

Roger Scruton, A Short History of Modern Philosophy. From Descartes to Wittgenstein, Routledge, 1995, chapters 11, 13, 16 

J. P. Stern, Interview on Friedrich Nietzsche

Robert Stufflebeam, Ethics, University of New Orleans free course

Chris Surprenant, Aristotle’s, Kant’s, & Nietzsche’s ethics (videos)

Chris Surprenant, Ethics (videos)

Marianne Talbot, Bioethics: An Introduction (University of Oxford Podcasts)

Margaret Walters, Feminism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005

Dale Wilkerson, “Friedrich Nietzsche”, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, sections 4-7

Primary Sources

Aristotle, Metaphysics, translated by W. D. Ross (online)

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, translated by D. P. Chase (online)

Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, trans. by Lesley Brown and David Ross, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. by Roger Crisp, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000

The Nicomachean Ethics Of Aristotle, translated by J.E. C. Welldon (online)

Aristotle, De Anima [On the Soul], translated by J. A. Smith (online)

Ethics. The Essential Writings, edited by Gordon Marino, Modern Library, 2010

Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, trans. by Mary Gregor, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015

Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, trans. by Mary Gregor and Jens Timmermann, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012

John-Stewart Mill, Utilitarianism (online)

Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, Penguin Classics, 2003

Friedrich Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morality, Hackett Publishing Company, 1998