Summary of Peter Gibson's A Degree In A Book: Philosophy

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The study of reasons for opinions is at the center of philosophy. However, many other disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, statistics, biology, literature, geography and history, seek the same thing.
#2 Continental philosophy is more concerned with broad concepts, while analytic philosophy is more concerned with precision and clarity.
#3 Philosophy is a discipline that attempts to understand reality and human life in general terms by studying key concepts in our thinking. It is a picture guided by good reasons.
#4 The Age of Reason was a period in European history from the 1680s to the 1800s when philosophy acquired great prestige. It was an age of classicism in architecture, and a new mechanical inventiveness in industry.

Sujets

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Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 08 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669350958
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Peter Gibson's A Degree in a Book Philosophy
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11 Insights from Chapter 12 Insights from Chapter 13 Insights from Chapter 14
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The study of reasons for opinions is at the center of philosophy. However, many other disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, statistics, biology, literature, geography and history, seek the same thing.

#2

Continental philosophy is more concerned with broad concepts, while analytic philosophy is more concerned with precision and clarity.

#3

Philosophy is a discipline that attempts to understand reality and human life in general terms by studying key concepts in our thinking. It is a picture guided by good reasons.

#4

The Age of Reason was a period in European history from the 1680s to the 1800s when philosophy acquired great prestige. It was an age of classicism in architecture, and a new mechanical inventiveness in industry.

#5

The history of philosophy is, without a doubt, dominated by men. However, when women gained the right to study at universities, they became major contributors to philosophy.

#6

The subject of philosophy has always had its critics. Typical criticisms come from theologians, poets, scientists, feminists, interested laymen, and practical people.

#7

The major religions have had a love-hate relationship with philosophy. Once a religion becomes established, it usually seeks a consistent and comprehensive theological system to answer all of its followers’ questions. This is what philosophy offers, with techniques for eliminating contradictions and finding a secure framework of concepts.

#8

Theology and science have always been separate disciplines, and the gap between them has become wider since the seventeenth century. Modern theologians are more concerned with the nature of God than with the validity of the formal arguments for God’s existence.

#9

The three new criticisms of philosophy are that it fails to make progress, it lacks precision, and it pays too little attention to evidence. Some philosophers have become pessimistic about their own subject and have suggested that it may be more important to keep up with modern research than to sit speculating.

#10

The charge that philosophy is imprecise is met by the use of logic as a tool of enquiry. This gives precision and strict proof, but there is disagreement about whether such an exact tool is appropriate for such difficult and imprecise problems.

#11

Modern philosophers have responded to the romantic view of philosophy by acknowledging the importance of emotion within their theories of the mind and ethics.

#12

The field of philosophy has been largely dominated by men, and women are now major players in all the standard areas of the discipline. There seems to be no reason why the field of philosophy should not become gender-blind in the near future.

#13

The field of philosophy is known for its difficulty, because it requires people to think much harder about everything. The style of expression used in philosophy books has become more difficult over the past century, and the specialized jargon has increased.

#14

The charge of irrelevance is most in need of an answer. Most academics have withdrawn from the practical world, but that does not mean they are irrelevant.

#15

The history of modern society is the history of the gradual adoption of ideas developed by philosophers. These ideas developed as a combination of responses to practical situations in the world and the influence of dominant thinkers from previous generations.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

Truth is at the center of human life and philosophy. It is the supreme value of philosophy, according to Plato, if we believe his remark that Truth heads the list of all things good for gods and men alike.

#2

The standard view is that if there were no minds in the universe, there would be lots of facts. However, truth is understood as a relationship between a mind and the facts. Truth is the greatest of all virtues, according to Plato.

#3

The crisis of knowledge occurred when Protagoras observed that the arguments and counter-arguments of his students canceled each other out. If the opposing sides of every argument are equal in strength, then knowledge of the correct answer will always be out of reach.

#4

The Enlightenment was a period in which optimism about the truth and optimism about the prospects of rational agreement went hand in hand. The challenges, however, were far from over.

#5

The Coherence Theory of truth says that it is nothing more than fitting into a conceptual scheme. But this theory seems wrong when the scheme of thought is very restricted, such as fitting well with claims that the Earth is flat, or with fictional worlds, such as the Sherlock Holmes stories.

#6

The Correspondence Theory of Truth