Reading for Philosophical Inquiry

[Pages:433]Reading for Philosophical Inquiry

A Brief Introduction to Philosophical Thinking ver.

0.21 An Open Source Reader

Lee Archie John G. Archie

Reading for Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction to Philosophical Thinking ver. 0.21; An Open Source Reader by Lee Archie

by John G. Archie

Version 0.21 Edition Published January, 2004 Copyright ? 2004 by Lee Archie; John G. Archie

Comments--The current version of this open source textbook in philosophy is a work-in-progress and is being released only in draft form. The collaborators would be grateful for corrections or other suggestions to this preliminary draft. Please address comments to

philbook@philosophy.lander.edu

.

GNU Free Documentation License--? Lee Archie and John G. Archie. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is available at the GNU Free Documentation License () Website.

Image Credits--The following images are either in the public domain or are open-sourced for this publication.

Antiquities Project (). Aristotle; John Stuart Mill. H?l?ne Brown (). Camus's Graveside, Lourmarin Cemetery. Balestrini, Bruno. The Erechtheion and Parthenon, (420-440 B.C.), Acropolis; Acropolis (about 500 B.C.) view from northwest. thais.it (). By kind permission. British National Space Centre ().Solar System. BNSC ? HMG. Goodrich, S. G. A History of All Nations, (New York: J. C. Derby & N. C. Miller, 1854). A Greek Galley. 710 Guillemin, Am?d?e. The Heavens: An Illustrated Handbook of Popular Astronomy, Ed. by J. Norman Lockyer, New York: G. P. Putnam & Sons, 1871. Plate IV: The Earth as Viewed from Space.

Hopkins, George M., Experimental Science. New York: Munn & Co.,1902. Detail of Mount of Newton's Rings for the Microscope. IIHR, University of Iowa--photographic detail from Pascal's Traitez de l'Equilibre des Liqueurs et de la Pesanteur de la Masse de l'Air. IIHR--Hydroscience and Engineering: History of Hydraulics Collection (). India Post. Bertrand Russell, stamp commemorating 100 years birth-anniversary. Oct. 16, 1972 Library of Congress: P&P Online Catalog (). Photographs of Road to Nicholson Hollow, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia (LC-USF34-T01-000355-D); Cathedral, Marseilles, France (LC-DIG-ppmsc-05106); Ullswater and Eamont from Pooley Bridge, River District, England; Dartford, Messrs. Burroughs, Wellcome &'s Factory, London and suburbs, England (LC-DIG-ppmsc-08610); Socrates standing before seated group, engravings by L. P. Boitard (LC-USZ61-1502 and LC-USZ61-1502); Trinity College, Cambridge (LC-DIG-ppmsc-08091); L.N. Tolstoi v kabinetie V IAsnoi polianie (LC-DIG-prok-01970); Peasants Haying, Russian Empire (LC-P87-5273); Dom L.N. Tolstogo, V IAsnoi polianie (LC-DIG-prok-01974); Kabinet L. N. Tolstogo, V IAsnoi polianic (LC-USZ62-69862); Albert Camus (LC-USZ62-108028); The Cemetery, Algiers, Algeria (LC-DIG-ppmsc-0552); General View from Mustapha, I, Algiers, Algeria (LC-DIG-ppmsc-00510); The Place Snamjensky, St. Petersburg, Russia (LC-DIG-ppmsc-03886); Ft. Defiance, Arizona (PAN US GEOG-Arizona no.2); Canterbury Cathedral, Norman Staircase ?Detroit Publishing (LC-D4-73175); Canterbury Cathedral ?Detroit Publishing (LC-D428-8770; Il Posillipo, Naples, Italy (LC-DIG-ppmsc-06566); Fish and Vegetable Market, K?nisberg, Exat Prussia (LC-DIG-ppmsca-00741); University and Royal Gardens, K?nigsberg, East Prussia (LC-DIG-ppmsca-00738); Siberian Convict Colony (LC-USZ62-95043); Four Children in Hay Field, Russia (LC-USZ62-107826); Kasan Cathedral, St. Petersburg (LC-DIG-ppmsc-03396); As Auctioner Knocks Down, Douglas Georgia (LC-USF34-D18709-E); Crowds at Squires (PAN SUBJECT Sports no. 16); Hollis Hall, Harvard College (HABS,MASS,9-CAMB,3D-); The Parthenon, far view, Athens, Greece (LC-USZ262-44291); Athens, Greece, 400 BC, Book illustration by Theodor Horydczak (LC-H814-2654-002x); The Parthenon, far view, Athens, Greece (LC-USZ262-44292); A Tea Resale Establishment near Lincoln's Inn Fields (LC-USZ62-77448-E); The Royal Gallery, House of Lords, London, England (LC-USZ62-77448); High Street, Oxford, England (LC-DIG-ppmsc-08764); Houses of Parliment from the River (LC-DIG-ppmsc-08560); The University of Bonn, the Rhine (LC-DIG-ppmsc-00789); Paris, France, Refugee Camp (LC-USW33-042487); Seven Bridges, Paris, France (LC-DIG-ppmsc-05162); Chemistry Laboratory at Howard University, Washington, D.C. (LC-USZ62-97168); Merton and Christ's Church College, Oxford, England (detail) (LC-DIG-ppmsc-08766; The Boat Landing, Lake Chautauqua, New York (Lot 12006); Switchtender on Pennsylvania Railroad (LC-USW33-025829-C); Three Peasants Walking to Market, Hungary (LC-USZ62-113783); Steelworker with Daughter, Ambridge, Pennsylvania (LC-USF34-062196-D); Harvard Gate,

Harvard College (Lot 12003); Harvard Medical College, Boston, Mass. (LC-D4-34452); Library at Greenhills School, Greenhills, Ohio (LC _USF33-T01-OO1183-M3); Scene from "Othello" with Paul Robeson and Margaret Webster (LC-USW33- 054945-C) College of the City of New York (LC-D4-500724). Library of Congress Rare Book & Special Collections Division (). Isaac Newton, Philosophiciae naturalis principia mathematica, London: Royal Society, 3rd. ed., 1726 (123.1). Metropolitan Museum of Art (). The Death of Socrates (1787), Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748-1825) Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Collection; Wolf Fund, 1931 (31.45). NASA--Jet Propulsion Laboratory (). National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-- California Institute of Technology Messier 81, Spitzer Space Telescope, JPL (SSC2003-06c); Gravity Wave Measurements over North America, JPL; Earth from Space, JPL (PIA-00232); Mosaic of Saturn's Rings, JPL (P-23953C); Jupiter's Great Red Spot and Surrounds, JPL (P-21151). National Institutes of Health () U. S. National Library of Medicine. ["Pragmatic Theory of Truth"] William James [15230]; Harvard Medical School (detail), Ernest David Roth [A02092]. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (). Tabulae Rudolphinae: quibus astronomicae. . . by Johannes Kepler, 1571-1630 (Treasures Collection libr0312); Louis Agassiz (People Collection theb 3381); Chatham Strait (Corps Collection, John Bortnaik, corp1901); H?mulon elegans, Drawing by H. L. Todd (NMFS Collection, Plate 145), [Island] (Corps Collection, John Bortnaik, corp2743); Wheel Barometer, from Edward J. Dent, A Treatise on the Aneroid (Library Collection); Title Page to Edward Saul's A Historical and Philosophical Account of the Barometer1735, (Library Collection); Building the John N. Cobb (Ship Collection, ship0049). National Park Service () Clock Mechanism (detail), Jamie L. Clapper and Laura E. Schmidt, Livingston County Courthouse, Amaudville, Illinois [4112bxl.gif]. Fridtjof Nansen, Farthest North, Harper & Row, 1897. Engraving of Nansen, frontspiece; (detail) photograph of Fram, Nansen's ship. Smith, William. A History of Greece. Boston: Hickling, Swan, and Brown, 1855. The Bema of the Pnyx at Athens, xxv; Homer Enshrined, 38; Coin of Athens, 107; The Propyl?a of the Acropolis Restored, 255; Centaur from the Metopes of the Parthenon, 301; Erechthe?um Restored, from Southwest, 356; Side View of These?um, 593. State Museum of Victoria. Philosophi? Naturalis Principia Mathematics, title page, pages 354-355. State Treyakov Gallery--detail from Portrait of Dostoevsky by Vasily Perov. State Tretyakov Gallery (http:treyakov.ru) Russian National Art Gallery.

Thoemmes Press: History of Ideas (). Socrates, Plato, Thomas Aquinas (detail), William Paley, David Hume, Blaise Pascal, Baruch Spinoza, William James, Relief of Plato, The Parthenon/ , Aristotle, Jeremy Bentham, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ren? Descartes, Immanuel Kant. Centre for Social Philosophy (). University of Pavia Galleries. Jean-Paul Sartre. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive (). University of St. Andrews. Plato. Portraits of Well-known Economists (). The Warren J. Samuels Portrait Collection at Duke University. Jeremy Bentham; August Comte.

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Table of Contents

1. "Preface" .............................................................................................1

Why Open Source? ...........................................................................1 A Note about Selections ...................................................................2

Part I. Personal Uses of Philosophy .......................................................1

2. The Nature of Learning: Recognition of Different Perspectives ..4 Ideas of Interest From "The Nature of Learning"....................4 The Role of Facts In Understanding ........................................5 "In the Laboratory With Agassiz," by Samuel H. Scudder......7 Facts and Theories..................................................................13 Facts Are Often Theory-Dependent .......................................14 Related Ideas ..........................................................................18 Topics Worth Investigating.....................................................18

3. The Nature of Philosophical Inquiry ..........................................19 Ideas of Interest From "Nature of Philosophical Inquiry" .....19 Characterization of Philosophy ..............................................20 "The Barometer Story" by Alexander Calandra ....................25 Main Divisions of Philosophy................................................27 Epistemology: the Study of Knowledge........................29 Metaphysics (Ontology): the Study of Reality..............31 Axiology: the Study of Value ........................................32 Related Ideas ..........................................................................36 Topics Worth Investigating.....................................................37

4. "Just Do What's Right" by Plato ................................................38 Ideas of Interest from the The Apology, I...............................39 Reading Selection from The Apology, I .................................40 [Socrates Requests a Just Listening] .............................40 [Charges of the Older Accusers] ...................................41 [Defense Against Older Accusations] ...........................42 [Delphic Oracle] ............................................................43 [Socrates Cross-examines Others].................................44 [Why Socrates is Wise] .................................................46 [Prejudice Against Socrates] .........................................46 [Defense Against Corruption of the Youth] ..................47 [Defense Against Atheism] ...........................................50 [Do What's Right, Regardless]......................................54 [Socrates, a Gadfly] .......................................................56 [Socrates' Divine Sign] .................................................57

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[Doing What's Right, Regardless of Threat].................57 [The Defense Concluded]..............................................61 Related Ideas ..........................................................................61 Topics Worth Investigating.....................................................62 5. "Seek Truth Rather Than Escape Death," by Plato ....................64 Ideas of Interest from the The Apology, II .............................65 Reading from The Apology, II................................................66 [Response to the Verdict] ..............................................66 [Why Exile Is Not Acceptable] .....................................67 [Truth, More Important Than Life] ...............................69 [Socrates' Advice].........................................................70 [Argument That Death Is a Good].................................71 Related Ideas ..........................................................................73 Topics Worth Investigating.....................................................74 6. "Enlargement of Self" by Bertrand Russell ................................77 Ideas of Interest From Russell's Problems of Philosophy......78 The Reading Selection from Problems of Philosophy ...........78 [Indirect Values of Philosophy].....................................79 [The Practical Person] ...................................................79 [Philosophy and Science] ..............................................80 [Philosophical Questions]..............................................81 [The Values of Philosophy] ...........................................82 [Enlargement of Self] ....................................................83 [Freedom of Contemplation] .........................................85 Related Ideas ..........................................................................86 Topics Worth Investigating.....................................................86 7. "Only Faith Can Give Truth" by Leo Tolstoy .............................89 Ideas of Interest from A Confession .......................................90 The Reading Selection from A Confession ............................91 [Everyday Life] .............................................................91 [Being Undermined]......................................................92 [Truth of Death].............................................................95 [Art Is a Decoy].............................................................96 [Science Renders Life Meaningless].............................97 [Four Common Solutions].............................................99 [Rational Knowledge Is Indefinite] .............................101 [Faith's Solution].........................................................103 Related Ideas ........................................................................104 Topics Worth Investigating...................................................105

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Reading For Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction

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