The Handy Western Philosophy Answer Book

Ed D’Angelo

Description

Philosophy made accessible with fascinating questions, fun facts and enlightening answers.

More than 700 answers to common historical, practical, and philosophical questions in plain English

Written and aimed at general audiences

An easily read overview of philosophy basics

Ideal as an authoritative reference for nagging questions

Ideal as a primer on western philosophy

Logical organization makes finding information quick and easy

Clear and concise answers

Numerous black-and-white photographs

Thoroughly indexed

Authoritative resource

Written to appeal to anyone interested in philosophy, including students, teachers, and researchers

Publicity and promotion aimed at the wide array of websites devoted to history, philosophy, learning or students

Back-to-school promotion targeting more mainstream media and websites on a popular topic

Promotion targeting magazines and newspapers

Promotion targeting local radio looking for knowledgeable guests
Difficult philosophy made easy. The universe and our place in it, the meaning of life, the nature of justice and the good society, and the powers of reason. All these topics explored, questioned, and explained.

Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Stoicism, Skepticism, Cynicism, Continental philosophy, ethics, government and governing, virtue, love, life, and death. Heidegger, Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, Bertrand Russell, and Michel Foucault…. From famous figures in the history of philosophy to the deepest questions of religion to the relationship between knowledge and power, The Handy Western Philosophy Answer Book: The Ancient Greek Influence on Modern Understanding makes esoteric ideas and the jumble of names easy to understand, enriching readers’ lives and answering the question, What does philosophy have to teach us about life and society?

Today many people experience a loss of trust in government and organized religion. There's increased social isolation and a rise in insult politics. Seeking an alternative, some have experimented with new forms of politics, social organization, and spirituality. All these developments have led to a great deal of confusion and puzzlement. Who and what can we believe, and how can we know it is correct? From its beginning, philosophy was conceived as a conversation or dialogue, and The Handy Western Philosophy Answer Book raises and offers answers to questions like these …

What is philosophy?

What is metaphysics?

What is logic?

How is ethics different than morality?

How did Pre-Socratic philosophy get started?

What is the arrow paradox?

Who was Pythagoras?

How did Stoicism inspire modern cognitive psychotherapy?

Who was the founder of Western philosophy?

What is a harmonic sequence in music?

What are the four cardinal virtues?

Was pederasty condoned in ancient Greece?

How, according to Plato, is philosophy like making love?

What are the three parts of the soul?

How does democracy degenerate into tyranny?

What is the history of Alexander the Great’s military campaigns?

How did Alexander the Great change the course of the history of philosophy?

What did Aristotle say about the social nature of human beings?

What is Aristotle’s conception of the soul?

What is the soul of a plant?

What is virtue?

What is an emotion?

Why do we need friends?

Why did Aristotle believe that the state has a responsibility to educate its citizens?

What did Aristotle think about money?

What is the meaning and origin of the Serenity Prayer?

What impact did the Epicureans have on the modern world?

What was the museum of Alexandria?

How did Stoicism inspire modern cognitive psychotherapy?

What is the problem with the sentence “The present king of France is bald”?

What is the postmodern condition?

Philosophy is the pursuit of answers to big questions about the purpose of life, death, and existence. Philosophy is about how to reason and find the answers for yourself. Philosophy is a puzzle. You collect clues. You make connections. The Handy Western Philosophy Answer Book is a perfect companion for anyone seeking wider truths and happiness. It is an informative, accessible, easy-to-understand guide to the big questions about living. With more than 120 photos and graphics, it is richly illustrated. Plus, its helpful bibliography, glossary of terms, and extensive index add to its usefulness.
What are the historical roots of the written traditions in philosophy?

The historical roots of European, Middle Eastern, North African, and West Asian philosophy lie in ancient Greece. The traditions of India and East Asia developed independent of Greece. Most of the major philosophical traditions of India and East Asia, with the notable exception of Jainism in India and Confucianism in China, can be traced back to the Rig Veda, which was written in the second millennium B.C.E. in the Punjab region of northwestern India. The traditions rooted in the Rig Veda include Hinduism and Buddhism in all their varieties. An important distinguishing feature of ancient Greek philosophy is that it was secular. All of the philosophical traditions of India and East Asia were religious. However, Greek philosophy provided the foundations for philosophical thinking in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

What are the major content areas of philosophy?

No matter what the tradition, philosophy must answer certain basic questions: What is reality? What is knowledge? What is the purpose of life? Consequently, philosophy may be divided into three major areas: metaphysics, which is the study of reality or of what is; epistemology, which is the study of knowledge; and value theory, which may be divided into ethics and aesthetics.

What is metaphysics?

Metaphysics is the theory of reality. What is real? What is illusion? What’s the difference between reality and dreams or imagination? Is reality one or is it many? Is the world composed of atoms? What kind of things are real? What is mind? What is matter? Is mind real? Is matter real? How are mind and matter related to one another? What is space? What is time? Is time real? Does change really exist or is reality ultimately unchanging? Is space real? What do universal terms like “blue” or “good” or “beautiful” refer to? Does anything exist other than particular blue things or particular good things or particular beautiful things? Do universals exist? If not, then what makes them real?

What is epistemology?

Epistemology is the theory of knowledge. Epistemology asks questions such as these: What is knowledge? Is knowledge a true proposition, such as the proposition “Socrates is a man”? Or is knowledge more like “seeing”—in other words, a direct apprehension of what is real? Or is knowledge an idea in our minds that accurately represents what is real? Or is knowledge knowing how to do something, like knowing how to ride a bicycle? Or is knowledge whatever a given community agrees is knowledge? Is knowledge dependent on social context, so that what is knowledge in one society may not be knowledge in another society, or must knowledge be universally true in order to count as knowledge at all? Does the language we speak condition what we know, or can we know independent of language? How do we know if we really know, or if we’re mistaken? Are there any reliable criteria we can use to determine the authenticity of our knowledge? Are there any reliable methods we can use to acquire knowledge? What are the sources of knowledge?

What is empiricism?

Empiricism is the theory that perception is our only source of knowledge. According to empiricists, the mind can only rearrange knowledge obtained through the senses. It cannot create knowledge. The mind is capable of logical reasoning but logic is not a source of new knowledge. Logic only draws out the implications of what we already know.

What is rationalism?

Rationalism is the theory that the mind has other sources of knowledge besides the senses. Rationalists have supposed that mathematical truths and ethical truths, for example, are grasped by the mind alone, without the aid of the senses.

What is philosophy of science?

Philosophy of science is a subfield of epistemology that studies science as a type of knowledge. It asks questions such as these: What is the scientific method? Do different sciences use different methods? Are scientific methods a reliable source of knowledge? How do we know that science is reliable? What makes it reliable? Does science accumulate facts over time so that it is always gradually increasing its store of knowledge? Does science periodically go through periods of revolutionary upheaval when its basic models of reality are challenged by anomalous facts? During periods of revolutionary upheaval, are there rational standards for determining which way science will proceed, or is the course of science determined only by power struggles between competing groups of people? Does science discover knowledge or construct it?

What is logic?

Logic is a subfield of epistemology that studies arguments that are composed of propositions that make knowledge claims. Logic is the study of what we can infer from a given set of propositions. For example, given the propositions “Socrates is a man” and “All men are mortal,” we can infer that “Socrates is mortal.” If the given propositions are true, and we follow the rules of logic, then the inferred proposition will also be true. Thus logic gives us rules for reliably making inferences from what we know to what we didn’t explicitly know before those inferences were made.

What is ethics?

Ethics is the study of what is good or right, and its opposite, what is bad or wrong. There are many different ethical theories about what is good or right, bad or wrong. According to some, our actions themselves are good or bad, right or wrong. According to others, our actions can be judged only according to their consequences. According to yet others, only the will or intention to act is good or bad, right or wrong. Still others assert that it is only our character or disposition to act that is good or bad. Some ethical theories hold only the individual morally accountable, whereas others make moral judgments about entire communities, collectively. Ethics is not only about social behavior. The ancient Greeks believed that how you care for yourself is also a matter of ethical concern.

How is ethics different than morality?

Philosophers often use the terms ethics and morality interchangeably. However, sometimes “morality” is used to refer to a specific set of beliefs about what is good or right, whereas “ethics” refers to the philosophical reasons for those beliefs.

What is political philosophy?

Political philosophy is a subfield of ethics because it is concerned with good and bad, right and wrong, in political matters. Is government good, or would anarchy be better? Why should we or why should we not have a government? What is a good government? What is the best form of government? What is justice? What is injustice?

What is social philosophy?

Social philosophy is the ethics of social institutions, customs, and cultures. Insofar as social philosophy is distinguished from political philosophy, it is concerned primarily with non-political social institutions, customs and cultures. However, since it is often impossible to separate the political from the non-political, social and political philosophy are often combined together into one field of study.

What is aesthetics?

Aesthetics is the philosophical study of beauty and art. Since beauty is found in nature as well as in art, aesthetics is not only the study of art. And since not all art is beautiful, aesthetics is not only the study of beauty. In fact, one question asked in aesthetics is whether the value of art derives only from its beauty or if its value might derive from some other purpose, such as to express or evoke an idea or an emotion. A related question in aesthetics is whether the meaning of a work of art is due only to its own form or if it depends on something referred by the work of art outside itself. The theory that the meaning of a work of art is due only to its own form is known as formalism.
About the Author

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

I. The Basics

II. Philosophy before Socrates

III. Socrates and Plato

IV. Aristotle and the Age of Alexander the Great

V. Hellenistic Philosophy

VI. Philosophy since the Twentieth Century

Bibliography

Glossary

Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie antique
• History
• Ancient
• Classical
• Aristotle
• Philosophy
• Philosophie et théologie
• Surveys

Informations

• Publié par: Visible Ink Press
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781578597260
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 15 Mo

Extrait

Table of Contents
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
P HOTO S OURCES
I NTRODUCTION
THE BASICS
Major Subdivisions of Philosophy
PHILOSOPHY BEFORE SOCRATES
Thales
Anaximander
Anaximenes
Heraclitus
Empedocles
Anaxagoras and Archelaus
The Atomists: Leucippus and Democritus
The Eleatic School: Parmenides, Zeno, and Melissus
Pythagoras
The Sophists
SOCRATES AND PLATO
Socratic Ethics
The Socratic Method
Plato s Academy
Plato s Theory of Knowledge
Plato s Theory of Forms
The Analogies of the Sun and the Divided Line
Plato s Theory of the Cosmos
Plato s Mathematical and Musical Theory of the Cosmos
Plato s Ethics
Platonic Love
Plato s Theory of Justice
Plato s Model of an Ideal Society
Plato s Philosophy of Education
Plato s Theory of the Just City-State
Plato s Theory of the Soul
The Allegory of the Cave
The Inevitable Degeneration of the Just City-State
It Is Better to Be Just than Unjust
ARISTOTLE AND THE AGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Greek History in the Age of Aristotle and Alexander the Great
Aristotle s Political Views
Plutarch, Arrian, and Eratosthenes
Alexander the Great and Greek Philosophy
Aristotle s Life after His Departure from Plato s Academy
Aristotle s Theory of Knowledge
Aristotle s Writings
Aristotle s Revision of Plato s Theory of Forms
Aristotle s Logic
Aristotle s Theory of the Cosmos
Aristotle s Theory of Change and the Four Causes
Aristotle s Theory of the Soul
Aristotle s Ethics
Aristotle s Concepts of Love and Friendship
Aristotle s Social and Political Philosophy
HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY
The Museum of Alexandria
The Stoic Theory of the Cosmos and of What Exists
The Epicurean Theory of Physics and of What Exists
The Epicurean Theory of Knowledge
Epicurean Ethics
The Epicurean Theory of the Soul
The Epicurean Theory of Religion and the Gods
Epicurean Psychiatry
The Cyrenaic School of Hedonism
Cynicism
The Megarian and Dialectical Schools of Philosophy
Stoicism
Stoic Logic
Stoic Theory of Knowledge
The Stoic Theory of the Soul or Psyche
Stoic Ethics
The Social and Political Philosophy of the Stoics
Academic Skepticism
Pyrrhonist Skepticism
PHILOSOPHY SINCE THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
The Main Schools of Philosophy
Analytic Philosophy
Continental Philosophy

G LOSSARY
F URTHER R EADING
I NDEX
Acknowledgments
Since ancient times philosophy has been practiced in dialogue with one s friends, and this book is no exception. I would like to thank each of my following friends for reading my manuscript, for talking with me about it, and for giving me the emotional support I needed to make it through the most difficult times: Rolando Perez, Sharin N. Elkholy, John M. Koller, Naomi Zack, Roger Smith, Michael Spataro, and Scott E. Weiner. Most of all I would like to thank my wife, Lisa J. Cohen, for her enduring love and for our dinnertime conversations that contributed in no small way to the writing of this book. Finally, I would like to thank Roger Janecke and Visible Ink Press for conceiving of the Handy Answer Series and giving me the opportunity to publish this book. A special thanks goes out to Kevin Hile for his professionalism in editing the book.
Photo Sources
ABC Television: p. 298 .
Ian Alexander: p. 152 .
Erik Anderson: p. 203 .
Austrian National Museum: p. 302 .
Jeremy Bentham: p. 317 .
Biblioteca Europea di Informazione e Cultura: p. 250 .
cole nationale sup rieure des Beaux-Arts: p. 215 . Rosique Espinosa: p. 313 .
Galilea (German Wikipedia): p. 29 .
Generic Mapping Tools (http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu/): p. 103 .
Getty Images: pp. 301 , 305 .
Martin Grandjean: p. 26 .
Kevin Hile: pp. 143 , 147 , 159 , 165 . Jossifresco (Wikicommons): p. 32 .
Theresa Knott: p. 87 .
Landesarchiv Baden-W rttenberg: p. 306 . Denis Langlois: p. 315 .
Louvre Museum: pp. 99 , 128 .
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: p. 297 . Miranche (Wikicommons): p. 27 .
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: p. 116 . Municipal Library of Trento: p. 248 .
Museo del Prado: p. 254 .
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens: p. 19 .
NBC Television: p. 4 .
Nobody60 (Wikicommons): p. 201 . Rijksmuseum Amsterdam: p. 23 .
Bibi Saint-Pol: p. 284 .
Science History Institute: p. 204 .
Shakko (Wikicommons): p. 239 .
Shutterstock: pp. 3 , 6 , 17 (bottom), 38 , 39 , 43 , 54 , 56 , 62 , 64 , 65 , 69 , 74 , 77 , 80 , 81 , 84 , 92 , 98 , 108 , 110 , 114 , 118 , 140 (modified by Kevin Hile), 162 , 164 , 168 , 173 , 175 , 180 , 183 , 185 , 187 , 189 , 192 , 194 , 218 , 221 (modified by Kevin Hile), 224 , 225 , 228 , 230 , 232 , 236 , 255 , 256 , 262 , 265 , 270 , 273 , 275 , 278 , 279 , 304 .
Slicata (Wikicommons): p. 268 .
Paul Stevenson: p. 102 .
Vatican Museum: p. 45 .
Villa Farnesina, Museo delle Terme, Rome: p. 245 . Walters Art Museum: pp. 241 , 243 . Wikicommons: pp. 51 , 126 .
Public domain: pp. 10 , 12 , 15 , 17 (top), 21 , 25 , 34 , 57 , 59 , 68 , 71 , 105 , 123 , 130 , 133 , 148 , 149 , 150 , 156 (modified by Kevin Hile), 178 , 207 , 209 , 212 , 233 , 251 , 282 , 287 , 291 , 293 , 308 , 310 , 311 .
Introduction
I was first drawn to philosophy in high school. Though my high school, like most high schools in the United States, did not offer classes in philosophy, they did offer advanced classes in science and mathematics that provoked in me philosophical questions about the nature of space, time, and logic. For example, I wondered about the mysterious notion that space itself is curved and that time travel might be possible. So called black holes, whose gravitational field is so strong that even light cannot escape from them, are like funnels in space that suck anything that crosses the event horizon into oblivion-or through a wormhole to another point in space or time.
There are many reasons that people are drawn to philosophy, and my own interests soon expanded beyond my early questions about the foundations of math and science. For several generations now, our culture has been rapidly changing, and some of us have been questioning older beliefs and ways of life. There have been intractable political differences and endless culture wars. Many of us on both sides of the cultural divide have lost trust in government and organized religion. Seeking an alternative, some have experimented with new forms of politics, social organization, and spirituality. All of these developments have led to a great deal of confusion and puzzlement. Who and what can we believe, and how can we know it? Philosophy offers answers to questions like these, and some people are drawn to philosophy for that reason.
Yet another reason that people are drawn to philosophy is that they enjoy solving a good puzzle. Philosophy is a lot like detective work. There is a mystery to be solved. You collect clues. You make connections. Suddenly you enjoy a flash of insight and all the pieces fit together. Like Archimedes (c. 287-c. 212 B.C.E. ), who suddenly discovered how water is displaced by submerged bodies while he was taking a bath, you shout, Eureka! (I have found it!)
Philosophy in general is the attempt to use the reasoning powers of our own minds to answer our own questions. It is the pursuit of answers to questions about the universe and our place in it, the nature of justice and the good society, the purpose of life, and our own powers of reasoning themselves that enable us to answer these questions. However, because philosophy is just as much about learning how to use your own mind as it is about the answers, you cannot learn philosophy by just memorizing the answers. You must also learn the reasons behind those answers so that you can learn how to use your own mind to find the answers for yourself.
This book can be used as a ready reference to answer specific questions that you may have about philosophy. There are a particularly large number of answers to questions about ancient Greek philosophy and philosophy since the twentieth century. To find answers to your questions, just search the index for the topics that interest you or browse through the relevant chapter. But if you want to learn the reasons behind the answers and improve your own powers of reasoning in doing so, it is best to read this book in sequential order from the first page to the last.
The history of philosophy itself did not develop in a haphazard fashion but in a logical order such that each successive philosophy built upon the ones that came before it. Thus, to completely understand philosophy as it is done today, it is necessary to trace the entire history of philosophy back to its beginning in ancient Greece. Unfortunately, it is not possible to adequately cover the entire history of philosophy in one volume. Instead, I focus on the beginning and the end of that history. The end of that history is of interest because it includes our own time. The beginning is of interest because that is when some of the best philosophy was done and when the foundations for all that came after were laid.
Once the reader has mastered ancient Greek philosophy, they will be well positioned to study medieval philosophy, the Renaissance, and the modern philosophy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Medieval philosophy was the application of Neoplatonism and the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle to questions in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic theology. The Renaissance was inspired by the discovery of new texts by Plato and other classic authors and their translation into Latin. And modern philosophy was based in large part on a renewed interest in the ancient Greek philosophy of the Hellenistic period and its application to philosophical problems in modern science.
Because so much philosophy is written in a technical language for a specialized audience, it can appear to be intimidating to the general reader. A glossary at the back of this book can assist the reader with some of these important terms. It is my firm belief, however, that ph