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Resources for ‘Introduction to Philosophy’, Michaelmas Term 2014Andrea LechlerIntroductory philosophy booksSimon Blackburn, Think (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).James Garvey and Jeremy Stangroom, The Story of Philosophy: A History of Western Thought (Quercus, 2012).Thomas Nagel, What Does It All Mean?: A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).Nigel Warburton, Philosophy: The Basics (London: Routledge). Various editions.Nigel Warburton, A Little History of Philosophy (Yale University Press, 2011).Selections of texts with helpful introductions for each textJohn Cottingham (ed.), Western Philosophy: An Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996 / 2007). Guttenplan, Hornsby and Janaway (eds.), Reading Philosophy: Selected Texts with a Method for Beginners (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003).Do we need the state? Are we obliged to follow its laws?Max Weber, ‘Politics as a vocation’, in M. Weber,?Essays from Max Weber, trans. H. Gerth and C. W. Mills (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1948).Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651, in particular chapters XIII and XIV. [A free version of the original text can be found here: . The following is a translation into modern English by Jonathan Bennett: ]Robert Paul Wolff, In Defence of Anarchism (New York: Harper & Row, 1970).John Locke, Two Treatises of Civil Government, 1689: . Bennett’s translation: Hume, Of the Original Contract, 1742: Wolff, Introduction to Political Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), Chapters 1 and 2.David Miller, Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), Chapter 2.David Lefkowitz, ‘The Duty to Obey the Law’, Philosophy Compass 1(6), 2006, 571-598. Podcasts:The following is a course in political philosophy that contains relevant sessions on Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau: What is the best type of government? Free translation of Plato’s Republic: Stuart Mill, Considerations on Representative Government, 1861: Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859: Wolff, Introduction to Political Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), Chapter 3.David Miller, Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), Chapter 3.Jeremy Waldron, ‘Democracy’, in Estlund (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012). (especially sessions on Plato, Rousseau and Tocqueville) is happiness?John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, 1861: , Nicomachean Ethics: very useful recent edition is: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics: Translation, Introduction, and Commentary, Sarah Broadie and Christopher Rowe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (Blackwell, 1974).Russ Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, 2nd ed. (New York: OUP, 2012), Chapters 1 to 4 and 17. Should I try to make everyone happy?John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, 1861: Sigwick, The Methods of Ethics, 7th edition, 1907. (Available for free here: )Peter Singer, ‘Famine, Affluence and Morality’, Philosophy and Public Affairs 1(3), 1972, pp. 229-243. J.J.C. Smart and Bernard Williams, Utilitarianism: For and Against (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973).Richard Yetter Chappell, ‘Value Receptacles’, No?s, 2013. ethics / moral philosophy textbooks have chapters on utilitarianism / consequentialism. I particularly recommend:Julia Driver, Ethics. The Fundamentals (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007).Russ Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, 2nd ed. (New York: OUP, 2012).Mark Timmons, Moral Theory. An Introduction (Plymouth: Rowman and Littlefield, 2013).Podcasts: (just start from the beginning) I know for certain that there is a world outside my mind? John Veith’s translation of Descartes’ Meditations: recording of Veith’s translation: Bennett’s free and more modern translation of the Meditations: Hatfield, Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Descartes and the Meditations (2003). Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy (1912), first chapters: is good reasoning?Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy (1912): David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Book I, Part II, Section VI: (Jonathan Bennett’s translation into modern English: )Laurence BonJour, Epistemology: Classic Problems and Contemporary Responses (Rowman and Littlefield, 2009), Chapter 4.James Van Cleve, ‘Reliability, Justification, and the Problem of Induction’, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, IX, 1984, pp. 555-567.Simon Blackburn, Think, Chapter 6. Talbot‘s Critical Reasoning for Beginners lecture series: Marianne Talbot, Critical Reasoning: A Romp Through the Foothills of Logic for Complete Beginners (Metafore, 2014).Tracy Bowell and Gary Kemp, Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide, 4th edition (Routledge, 2014).Critical Thinking Web module on argument analysis: Swoyer, Critical Reasoning: A User’s Manual: Stokes, Essential Thinking: Free online course on reasoning: God exist?Alvin Plantinga, ‘Is Belief in God Properly Basic?’, No?s, 15(1), 1981, pp. 41-51. Alvin Plantinga, Warranted Christian Belief (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). is the relationship between mind and body?Descartes’ Meditations (see Week 5).Thomas Nagel, ‘What is it like to be a bat?’, Philosophical Review, 83(4), 1974, pp. 435-450.Frank Jackson, ‘What Mary Didn't Know’,?Journal of Philosophy,?83, 1986, pp. 291–295 and videos: my actions ever truly free? Holton’s ‘The Act of Choice’: and podcasts: is art?Hanfling, O. 1995. ‘Art, Artifact, and Function’. Philosophical Investigations 18(1), 31-48.Hanfling, O. 1992. ‘The Problem of Definition’. In: Philosophical Aesthetics. An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.Dickie, G. 1984 / 1997,?The Art Circle.Weitz, Morris, 1956, “The Role of Theory in Aesthetics,”?Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 15: 27–35.Free versions of Clive Bell’s Art: on defining art by James Grant: ................
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