The Handy Philosophy Answer Book

Naomi Zack

Description

<div><b>Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Sartre, and many more. Who were they? What did they say? Why should we care? How did changing philosophical thought affect the history of civilization? How does philosophy affect pop culture, politics and government, and our everyday lives?</b>

<p>

Combining a basic history of philosophical thought with the often quirky personal stories of famous philosophers, <b><i>The Handy Philosophy Answer Book</b></i> introduces the reader to the world of philosophy. This comprehensive survey analyzes the collective effort of philosophers throughout history in the pursuit of truth and wisdom. It explores the tangible significance of philosophical thought to modern society and civilization as a whole, and answers more than 1,000 questions, including …<i> 

<li>What was the Enlightenment? 

<li>Why did the Pythagorians avoid fava beans? 

<li>How was Skepticism related to the scientific revolution?

<li>Was Søren Kierkegaard’s life “cursed”?

<li>How did philosopher A. J. Ayer defeat professional heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson?

<li>What are the current trends in philosophy and how are they related to feminism, environmentalism, and African American studies?

<li>How is Confucianism relevant to contemporary Western philosophy?</i>

<p>

<b><i>The Handy Philosophy Answer Book</b></i> explains philosophical fundamentals. It looks at the various schools of thought. It explores the deep--and sometimes odd--questions posed by philosophers. This comprehensive survey brings us the lives and the impacts of philosophy's greatest thinkers. With more than 130 photos and illustrations, this tome is richly illustrated, and its helpful bibliography and extensive index add to its usefulness.</div>

Sujets

• Philosophie générale
• Philosophie
• Sigmund Freud
• Noam Chomsky
• Aristotle
• Existentialism
• Philosophy
• Reference
• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Visible Ink Press
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781578592852
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

About the Author
Naomi Zack received her Ph.D. from Columbia University, NY, and has taught at the University at Albany, State University of New York. She is currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Her recent publications include: Inclusive Feminism (2005), Thinking about Race (2006), and Ethics for Disaster (2009).
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Managing Editor: Kevin S. Hile Consulting Editor: Ed D’Angelo Art Director: Mary Claire Krzewinski Typesetting: Marco Di Vita ISBN 978-1-57859-226-5
Cover images: iStock
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
  Zack, Naomi, 1944-
The handy philosophy answer book / Naomi Zack.      p. cm.    Includes bibliographical references (pp. 447-466) and index.    ISBN 978-1-57859-226-5  1. Philosophy. I. Title.  B72.Z33  2010  100–dc22                                                   2009042559
Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
I NTRODUCTION
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE BASICS
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Greek Pre-Socratics
The Sophists
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle
Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy
Women Philosophers in Ancient Greece and Rome
NEOPLATONISM THROUGH THE RENAISSANCE
Neoplatonism
Medieval Philosophy
Islam’s Influence
The Scholastics
Maimonides
Thomas Aquinas
Other Important Medieval Philosophers
Renaissance Humanism
SKEPTICAL AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
Michel de Montaigne
The Scientific Revolution
Johannes Kepler’s Influence
Francis Bacon and the Scientific Revolution
Medicine and Philosophy
EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY
Seventeenth Century Rationalism
Francisco Suárez
René Descartes
Benedict de Spinoza
Nicolas Malebranche
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Seventeenth Century Empiricism
Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
The Cambridge Platonists
Gender and Early Modern Women Philosophers
THE ENLIGHTENMENT PERIOD
George Berkeley
David Hume
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Thomas Reid and Jeremy Bentham
Immanuel Kant
Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin
The Philosophes
Counter-Enlightenment Figures
NINETEENTH CENTURY PHILOSOPHY
Nineteenth Century Empiricism
William Whewell
John Stuart Mill
August Comte
Intuitionism
Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic
German Idealism
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Friedrich Schelling
Friedrich Hegel
Arthur Schopenhauer
Bernard Bosanquet
Materialism, Marxism, and Anarchists
Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach
Marxism
Anarchism
Psychology and Social Theory
Franz Brentano
Alexius Meinong
Sigmund Freud
Herbert Spencer
Sociology and Philosophy
CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY
Existentialism
Søren Kierkegaard
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Friedrich Nietzsche
Jean-Paul Sartre
Other Existentialists
Phenomenology
Edmund Husserl
Martin Heidegger
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Critical Theory and Structuralism
Critical Theorists
Structuralists
AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY
Early American Philosophical Strains
St. Louis Hegelians
New England Transcendentalists
Social Darwinism
Pragmatism and Process Philosophy
Charles Sanders Peirce
William James
Josiah Royce
John Dewey
Jane Addams
George Herbert Mead
Ralph Barton Perry
C.I. Lewis
Process Philosophy
ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY
Early Twentieth Century Analytic Philosophy
G.E. Moore
Truth-Functional Logic and Logical Atomism
Bertrand Russell
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Other Logicians
Logical Positivism
The Vienna Circle
Ordinary Language Philosophy
Analytic Ethics
Analytic Political Philosophy
Epistemology and Metaphysics after Logical Positivism
W.V.O. Quine
Hilary Putnam
Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Language
Noam Chomsky
Jerry Fodor
NEW PHILOSOPHY
Postmodern Philosophy
Jacques Derrida and Deconstructionism
Richard Rorty
Jürgen Habermas
More French Postmodernist Philosophers
Other American Philosophies
African American Philosophy
Native American Philosophy
Latin American Philosophy
Other Continental Traditions
Afro-Centrism and African Philosophy
Buddhism and Confucianism
Feminist Philosophy
Environmental Philosophy
Other Trends in New Philosophy
G LOSSARY
B IBLIOGRAPHY
I NDEX
Introduction
What do we really know? What is real? Does life have a meaning? Do you have free will? These are just a few philosophical questions, there are hundreds more. They are called “philosophical questions” because they can’t be answered once and for all and have occupied philosophers for almost three thousand years. You don’t have to be a philosopher to ask questions like these, although you may feel like one if you read this book!
The Handy Philosophy Answer Book has hundreds of entries about specific philosophers and their ideas. Each entry begins with a question about the philosopher, school of thought or time period, which goes to the heart of his, her, or its importance, followed by an answer, which is also a short overview of the main ideas in the chapter. And each section within an entry also begins with a key question. This answer is followed by further questions, and answers. Each question and answer can be read independently, or as part of its broader context.
But you don’t have to read the whole book to answer a question about a philosopher or an idea. If you go to the index and look up a name or a subject, you will know what page to find it on. The main part of the book, a Who’s Who and What’s What in Philosophy, is divided into ten historical chapters, from ancient philosophy to the present day. The table of contents, index, and glossary, can all be used as guides to the chapters.
If you don’t know what a philosophical word or idea means, you can find the answer in the glossary, a series of explanations and definitions of key terms, historical periods, schools of thought, and other “isms” in philosophy.
Philosophy is largely a matter of philosophers’ opinions and they rarely agree, but they do respect each other’s expert opinions. (This book is written by a professor of philosophy.) The bibliography contains a list of sources for the different philosophers, periods of philosophy, main subjects, and other reference material.
You can use this book in different ways. If you want to learn the history of philosophy, you can read through the chapters in order. If you are interested in building a philosophical vocabulary, you can begin with the Glossary, first. If you are just interested in a particular period or school of thought, you can concentrate on that.
If you are interested in all of this material as an introduction to philosophy, or to refresh what you already know, you should read the whole book from cover to cover (at least once) and then track down the material in the bibliography that further interests you.
If you are still interested after you have done all that (that is, if the philosophy bug really bites into you), it might be a good idea to take a philosophy course if you are a student, or enroll in one at a local college, if your formal student days are behind you. A good part of philosophy lies in live conversation, so it’s important to find a context where you can talk to others who share your interests in this subject. If you are not enrolled in a course,