Philosophy Notes - Pages 1-9
LEARNING MADE EASY
2nd Edition
Philosophy
dummies
A Wiley Brand
Dig Into life's ultimate questions
Take amazing insights from
the great philosophers
Build your own personal
worldview
Tom Morris, PhD
Author of Plato's Lemonade Stand
and If Aristotle Ran General Motors
Philosophy
2nd Editon
by Tom Morris, PhD
dummies
A Wiley Brand
Philosophy For Dummies® 2nd Edition
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com Copyright © 2022 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced…
Contents at a Glance
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Part 1: What Is Philosophy, Anyway? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
CHAPTER 1: Great Thinkers, Deep Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
CHAPTER 2: Philosophy as an Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
CHAPTER 3: The Love of Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Part 2: How Do We Know Anything? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
CHAPTER 4: Belief, Truth, and Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
CHAPTER 5: The Challenge of Skepticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
CHAPTER 6: The Amazing Reality of Basic Beliefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Part 3: What Is the Good? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
CHAPTER 7: What’s Good? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
CHAPTER 8: Happiness, Excellence, and the Good Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
CHAPTER 9: Ethical Rules and Moral Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Part 4: Are We Ever Really Free? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
CHAPTER 10: Fate, Destiny, and You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
CHAPTER 11: Standard Views of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
CHAPTER 12: Doing: Human Agency in the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Part 5: The Incredible, Invisible You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
CHAPTER 13: What Is a Person? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
CHAPTER 14: The Case for Materialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
CHAPTER 15: The Case for Dualism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Part 6: What’s the Deal with Death? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
CHAPTER 16: From Dust to Dust: Fear and the Void . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
CHAPTER 17: Philosophical Consolations on Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
CHAPTER 18: Is There Life after Death? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Part 7: Is There a God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
CHAPTER 19: Two Worldviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
CHAPTER 20: Theistic Visions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
CHAPTER 21: The Problem of Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Part 8: The Meaning of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
CHAPTER 22: What Is the Meaning of Life? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
CHAPTER 23: Pascal’s Wager: Betting Your Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
CHAPTER 24: Success and Happiness in Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Part 9: The Part of Tens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
CHAPTER 25: Ten Great Philosophers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
CHAPTER 26: Ten Great Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Introduction
About This Book
This book is for those who ponder life's big questions and seek guidance. It's also helpful for students new to philosophy, clarifying confusing concepts and aiding in independent thought. The aim is to make philosophy accessible and engaging, even for complex topics. The goal is to approach philosophy with clarity and enjoyment.
Foolish Assumptions
This book assumes no prior knowledge of philosophy but acknowledges that readers have likely pondered philosophical questions from a young age. The aim is to introduce the discipline of philosophical thinking carefully. It welcomes both newcomers and those with prior knowledge, encouraging a fresh perspective and a willingness to rethink assumptions.
Icons Used in This Book
Tip: Suggestions to aid thinking.
Remember: Important information to keep in mind.
Technical Stuff: More complex info that can be skipped initially.
Warning: Cautionary notes to avoid confusion or fallacies.
Beyond the Book
Dummies.com offers additional online resources, including cheat sheets.
Where to Go from Here
Readers can start anywhere in the book, as chapters are designed to be independent. However, reading from Chapter 1 provides a gradual introduction to the material and tools for philosophical thinking. The book is a reference guide to answer questions about philosophy and encourage exploration.
PART 1: WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY, ANYWAY?
CHAPTER 1: Great Thinkers, Deep Thoughts
Philosophy hasn't enjoyed a strong reputation but it's the deepest, most exciting, and practical activity of the mind. The chapter introduces criticisms of philosophy and aims to reveal the real truth about this way of thinking.
Listening to the critics
Critics have described philosophy as:
Unintelligible answers to insoluble problems (Henry Adams)
Doubt (Michael de Montaigne)
An explosive, in the presence of which everything is in danger (Friedrich Nietzsche)
philosophy clips an angel’s wings (John Keats)
There is nothing so absurd that it hasn’t been said by some philosopher (Cicero)
Critics often paint philosophers as crazy, otherworldly, and gloomy academics, but Cicero saw Socrates as the first man to bring philosophy into the marketplace. Done right, philosophy is musical, a feast of nectar'd sweets. All the same Cicero who loudly voiced his irritation with bad philosophers didn’t shrink from praising a good one. I must admit that I know of at least a few great thinkers I’m glad I don’t have as neighbors. And some of their books can be . . . well, should I say, “less than scintillating”?
Consulting Socrates on what Counts
The original public philosopher Socrates engaged people in philosophical dialogue. To him, philosophy was not a dry subject, but a requirement for living well. He proclaimed that the unexamined life is not worth living.
The unexamined life involves routine without reflection.
It lacks deep personal understanding and self-directed positive change.
The cost of such a life is your entire life, as it is spent without careful choice.
Philosophy involves investing life energies in something worthwhile.
Asking The Deeper Questions
This book explores questions about belief, knowledge, good and evil, free will, death, God, and the meaning of life. These topics touch epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion, emphasizing the practical application of theory. Questions include:
How can we really know anything?
What is the importance of rationality to a good life?
What does the word “good” really mean?
Are people really free?
What is death?
Does a God really exist?
What is the meaning of life?
CHAPTER 2: Philosophy as an Activity
Philosophy is not a theory but an activity. It can be a little like a version of the wilderness adventure trekking of Outward Bound for the mind. It’s an important navigational tool for life that too many modern people try to do without. The ultimate goal is a firmer grip on who we are and what our place in the world really is. It may even act as a path for living well.
Mapping Our Way Forward
Consulting great thinkers is like asking for directions. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that young men forget that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote books. Philosophy is an adventure, benefitting from the thinking of others while exploring your own vistas and making your own way.
Understanding the Power of Belief
Our beliefs and imaginations, along with hidden assumptions, govern our thinking, acting, and feeling. False beliefs can have a big impact on us, we can be asphyxiated by it.
The Image of Plato’s Cave
Plato wrote that we are like prisoners living in a cave, mistaking shadows for reality. Philosophy is about escaping the cave of illusions, liberating us to live in broader, brighter realities. Think about any illusions you could be living under right now. The true philosopher tries to free as many of his fellow captives as possible, liberating them to live in the broader, brighter realities that lie beyond the narrow confines of their customary perceptions. And when you do good philosophy right, I like to think you make Plato and his mentor Socrates proud.
CHAPTER 3: The Love of Wisdom
Philosophy promotes wisdom by cultivating intellectual skills such as analysis, assessment, and the use of argument. Wisdom brings depth and practicality.
Identifying Some Skills of Philosophy
Philosophy can cultivate skills of analysis, assessment, and argument that are important for anyone to possess in the modern world. It can cultivate genuine wisdom. Philosophy is a way of thinking about things that matter that involves a set of distinctive mental tools, a way of living connected with that path of thought.
Mastering Analysis
Philosophy cultivates the ability to analyze complicated problems. Lawyers, physicians, detectives, business people, and parents need this skill to untie mental knots and get to the core of an issue. A major trend of 20th-century thought is known as analytic philosophy because of its emphasis on the centrality of this skill.
Improving Assessment
Philosophy also trains us to assess competing claims by asking for evidence and evaluating how one proposal fits with existing beliefs. Caution and discernment are necessary. Discernment is a skill nurtured by philosophy through tools for evaluating hypotheses.
Using Argument
In philosophy, an argument is a reasoned presentation of ideas with evidence supporting a conclusion. It's not a shouting match. It's a tool to persuade or discover truth. Good arguments promote progress in understanding. Learn to reason well to see the truth and convince others. Remember that some intelligent people believe different viewpoints, so always look for the truth in opposing claims.
Seeing How Wisdom Rules
Philosophy enhances skills of analysis, assessment, and argument. The name indicates its most important feature. Wisdom involves insight about living. It's insight that penetrates beneath appearances and latches onto realities. As the Roman Lawyer and Stoic philosophy Seneca put it: “Wisdom is the perfect good of the human mind; philosophy is the love of wisdom and the endeavor to attain it.” Philosophy is one of the noblest activities in which we can engage because it promotes wisdom in our lives. And wisdom brings with it two benefits: depth and practicality. Philosophy, on the other hand, as an activity of reflection giving rise to a wiser way of life, involves investing your life energies in something that may prove worth the cost. But it’s not easy. The activity of self-examination and developing the self-knowledge that results from it can be quite hard.
Embarking on the Socratic Quest for Wisdom
Socrates was walking the streets and engaging people in philosophical dialogue. He didn’t write books and did his philosophizing orally, thinking, probing, testing, and rethinking. Philosophy is a meant to be an activity for intellectual self-defense as well as discovery.
PART 2: HOW DO WE KNOW ANYTHING?
CHAPTER 4: Belief, Truth, and Knowledge
This part explores belief, truth, and knowledge to clarify fundamental concepts for philosophical analysis.
Understanding Belief
Beliefs are our inner map of reality. What we value stems from belief, and even feelings and attitudes are dependent on beliefs. Thus, examining our beliefs is important. This is an ideal most want. You may hold millions of beliefs, both major and minor.
Subjective belief is the mental state of conviction.
Objective belief is a proposition or claim about reality.
Philosophy focuses on what philosophers call truth claims. Occasionaly comments may be needed about the subjective side of belief, on the mental states of people who typically accept or affirm certain propositions about the world, but for the most part, the philosophical concern here is with the ultimate claims themselves.
The Importance of Belief
Beliefs influence actions and relationships among people. They are so important that we want our beliefs to be reliable, true, and count as real knowledge. Everyone has false beliefs, but philosophers want to help us avoid them. If Chekov was right to believe that we are what we believe, then perhaps everyone needs to examine the assumptions for which they have no solid evidence at all. Wars are fought over them. Deals are made or broken because of them. People gather together due to important beliefs they have in common. They also separate from each other because of divergent beliefs.
The Ideal of Knowledge
We want our beliefs to be reliable and true, connecting to reality. Knowledge is properly justified true belief breaking down.
Belief is necessary for knowledge. You can’t know something unless you believe it.
Truth is critical for knowledge. False beliefs cannot be knowledge.
Remember: Knowledge always tracks truth. Truth, however, requires exploration of skepticism and relativism. Any viewpoint which calls for relativism can be shown to be incoherent.
Truth and Rationality
Irrational belief lacks a reliable tie to truth and guidance in life. Therefore, it's vital to value rationality as a road to truth and knowledge. Logic is the study of human reasoning. Protagoras may have been the first to affirm that every major question has more than one side. A well reasoned argument, along with imagination and emotion, can provide part of a total case for enlisting the whole person in seeing or acting on an important truth. Rational argument is one of the most distinctive of genuinely human abilities, and it’s one strongly cultivated by philosophy. As to the relation between our minds and the world, our mental and physical capabilities, well may often say you must follow “the way, the truth, and the light”.
CHAPTER 5: The Challenge of Skepticism
Skepticism questions the reliability of sources for any beliefs and raises radical questions about each category of belief. Here is a consideration of three categories of beliefs to address:
Past-Oriented: Beliefs about history and personal experience.
Present-Oriented: Beliefs about the immediate world.
Future-Oriented: Beliefs about expectations. This discussion reveals our reliance on memory, testimony, and sense experience. Introduction to the art of doubt and skepticism may not be for some, but can lead to questioning without losing one’s grip on reality.
Two Distinct inquiries for Beliefs
The skeptic has questions, and there seem to be no good answers. Those inquiries may be broken down into two parts.
The Questions of Source Skepticism
The skeptic wants to ask the source of those beliefs for both past and present beliefs.
Memory: Does memory reliably represent the past?
Testimony: Can we trust what others tell us?
Sense Experience: Is sense experience ever reliable?
The Questions of Radical Skepticism
Radical skepticism goes further, pointing out that you can’t find any single shred of evidence at all to refute or even dislodge an array of crazy-sounding radical hypotheses that are logically incompatible with your current beliefs about vitally important things.
With past oriented belief they ask about time as a factor.
With present they ask, what if this isn't real.
The future-oriented focus asks about an existence of that future all together.
Philosophical enlightenment and philosophical liberation helps in making us better thinkers. There may be things you value that really lack the importance you attribute to them. There could be matters you’re ignoring that are really of immense value.
What the skeptics show us
They showed that you can’t come up with any good evidence that your most basic belief-forming mechanisms are ever reliable. It shows that in order to appreciate philosophical truths we are better off when not imprisoned in Plato’s cave.
Where Do You Go From Here?
Although this entire process might have been extremely unpleasant and has made you just want to give up it is important to remember that proper skeptism done right can have benefits. Skepticism can teach you an important lesson, but it need not shut you down as a believer. There is something to build on, but we have to discover what exactly it is.
CHAPTER 6: The Amazing Reality of Basic Beliefs
After all there should be no settling for less, after all is thought of wisdom is also to be enjoyed.
The Foundations of Knowledge
It has caused people to ask, what are they exactly? What is so amazing about basic beliefs? Answering those questions might just require looking at where knowledge comes from in general.
Empiricism: Where the senses provide all the raw data about the world.
Rationalism: Where prior categories and principles supply reason.
So do these have a role and how do they help answer the challenge in the following chapter with skeptism?
What’s lurking at the foundations
The key to answering the skeptic lies in understanding that skepticism is demanding, but it is demanding too much. It asks more than we could possibly ever provide. Perhaps there is a new option or some sort of revisioning that can account for what they have called into question. It remains however, there are also some great things that go wrong in life; And many times those are not explained by someone's lack of reason.
The Principle of Belief Conversation
The way to get across anything from the sceptic is the principle of belief conservation. In which, the ultimate guide is for you not to take a potential cognitive stance on something if you have a strong personal reason.
In a Nutshell
The proper response to skepticism will not be the suspension of all judgment. Instead: the goal need be that for to see and take all of one’s intellectual tools and to use it to the best of your ability. And in that that means that you can always be careful to keep your eye on issues of depth and practicality in each turn, but, you can always know that good or some small dose of it. At least is coming along to help you find a new balance to your life and to bring out what you have already.
PART 3: WHAT IS THE GOOD?
CHAPTER 7: What’s Good?
What is good, ethics, and morality? These can be questions philosophers have asked for centuries, as it's not as easy to define one thing to another one but to another degree, what do they all have in common.
Looking at Ethics and Morality
Ethics and morality are used interchangeably from a point of view. Therefore, both mean not trying to understand things one on one another more deeply.
Defining The Good
People try to define what is good but cannot due to the fact that even though they mean something to one person they don't mean to another. That's why the most profound things are difficult to find. Some would actually say that wisdom in one form of the other is the only liberty.
Evaluating Three Views on Evaluation:
#### Philosophy of noncognitivism. Or what is better known as the boo/yay theory.
##### Ethical subjectivism
##### Moral objectivism
So, what would you do to come up with answers? Is it the best to have any kind of strong intellectual power or just be able to understand a bit about the objective world.
Taking Teleological Target Practice
Moral evaluation isn’t often considered a human goal, yet often most of us forget about what this life is actually about.
The best advice is easy to find in knowing and remembering a few things.
CHAPTER 8: Happiness, Excellence, and the Good Life
Do all well mean the same things? Or does this involve only 4 fundamental dimensions that we have to each try and use our energy to improve ourselves and to attain something of true worth?
Memo to the Modern World
Ethics is not primarily about staying out of trouble. It’s about creating strength and so much relies on moralities rules. Is ethics in this life going to be always the same or will it vary from situation to situation?
Exploring The Idea of Good
A look at different views may help this to be answered.
#### Divine command theory
#### Social contract theory
Utilitarianism
#### Deontological theory
#### Sociobiological theory
*The best and brightest virtue theory.
Four Dimensions of Human Experience
Four important dimensions of human experiences that can make you ask at first what your place is in this world.
#### The intellectual realm
#### The aesthetic dimension
#### The more dimension
#### The spiritual dimension
The great minds through all ages may be able to help with the questions that may linger.
The Ultimate Context of Good
The word Good is, like nature, an immense landscape in which a man advances through centuries of exploration. It has been suggested that each can provide as each other that we try to bring into the questions of our life. And the very reason which makes that more to explore to be given to us along the way.
CHAPTER 9: Ethical Rules and Moral Character
There may be one that you were always going to run into at some point in time where there is more than just shared wisdom. Character and what to do may be what can lead to an easy and a great amount.
Weighing Rules and Virtues
That leads to an ethical and better question of how to create an actual way to understand how to create such an ethical point of view. There may be a reason why everyone acts one way or another, you must always use the various points and check for and identify all qualities to really see the way it is. It is with all that a person must try to examine and then be on the constant outlook.
The Golden Rule and what it means
You must never want to make it all seem like some positive and give us this point of view.
Character, wisdom, and virtue.
That should always be there and has always been there in the past for what every human life will do as a result. What happens when the amount of influence is for the greater being. We have the chance here and now it is what is with me though this book for it is something that made people say there can’t be people here in an every week.
Teaching the Path of Goodness
The key word to remember is not to avoid argument, we must and never be what has to go at that as such. If so, please remain and look around and find out and don’t for such a thing like it has all in 10 the way.