Classic Questions and Contemporary Film : An Introduction to Philosophy with PowerWeb : Philosophy

Preface

CHAPTER 1: PHILOSOPHY, PHILOSOPHERS AND ARGUMENTS: What Is Philosophy?

1.1 Introduction
What Is Philosophy?
1.2 Some Deductive Arguments
How Does One Achieve Logical Analysis?
What Are Some Common Deductive Arguments?
How Are Deductive Arguments Evaluated?
Doesn't the Content of the Argument Matter?
1.3 Logic Exercises I: Deductive Arguments
1.4 Some Inductive Arguments
How Do Inductive Arguments Compare to Deductive Arguments?
What Are Some Common Inductive Argument Forms?
1.5 Logic Exercises II: Inductive Arguments
1.6 Philosophical Analysis and Objectivity
Aren't Philosophical Believes Just Peoples' Opinions?
Is All Truth Subjective?
Is All Philosophical Truth Subjective?
Why Is Subjectivism So Initially Attractive?
Is the Law of Non-Contradiction a Universal (Objective) Truth?
1.7 Readings and Movies (and Further Exercises)
Exercise A: Extracting and Recasting Arguments
Movie #1: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Scene 5: 1974)
1. Plato: The Apology
Exercise B: Extracting and Assessing Socratic Arguments
2. Bertrand Russell: The Value of Philosophy
Exercise C: Extracting and Recasting a "Russellian" Argument
1.8 Synthesis and Analysis
1.9 Additional Narratives Pertaining to Critical Reasoning or the Value of Philosophy

CHAPTER 2: EPISTEMOLOGY AND SKEPTICISM: What Can We Know?

Movie #2: The Matrix (1999)
2.1 A Definition of Knowledge
What Can We Know?
What Does it Mean to Know that Something Is the Case?
2.2 Justification and Perception
What Is the Problem with Being Completely Justified?
Are Our Senses Adequate Sources for Knowledge?
2.3 Conclusion and Summary
Why Should Anyone Care About Any of This?
2.4 Readings and Movies
3. Plato: The Theaetetus
4. Chuang Tzu: Butterflies,
5. Sextus Empiricus: The Criterion Problem,
6. Rene Descartes: Meditations I, II and VI
Movie #3: Twelve Angry Men (1957, 1998)
7. John Hospers: An Argument Against Skepticism
8. Jack S. Crumley II: Responding to the Skeptic
9. Lorraine Code: Gender and Knowledge
2.5 Synthesis and Analysis
2.6 Alternative Narratives with Epistemological Themes

CHAPTER 3: GOD, CREATION AND EVIL: Does God Exist?

Movie #4: Bruce Almighty (2003)
3.1 Philosophy and Religion
How Does One Do Philosophy About Religion?
Can We Know Anything About God?
3.2 Ineffability and the Divine Nature
Is it Possible for God to Be Literally Ineffable?
What if the Ineffability Theses Were True?
So, What Can We Know About God?
How Do We Know God?
What Is God Like?
Must We Refer to God as "He" or "Him"?
3.3 The Ontological Argument
Do We Have Any Reasons for Thinking God Exists?
Is it Impossible for God Not to Exist?
Are There Any Ontological Argument Detractors?
3.4 The Cosmological Argument
Is the Universe Evidence of God's Existence?
How Does Aquinas Argue for God's Existence?
Can Aquinas Appeal to PSR Versions?
Must the First Cause Be God?
3.5 The Design Argument
Does Nature Provide Evidence of a Designer?
Why Think that the Designer Is God?
Is the Designer Argument Successful?
How Is Darwinian Evolution Relevant to the Design Argument?
Has the Design Argument Been Defeated?
3.6 The Problem of Evil
Does Evil Provide Evidence Against God's Existence?
Is the Argument from Evil Sound?
How Do Theists Respond to the Problem of Evil?
What Kind of Theodicies Are There?
What Is the Inductive Problem of Evil?
3.7 Readings and Movies
10. Anselm and Gaunilo: The Greatest Possible Being
11. Thomas Aquinas: The First Three Ways
12. William Paley: The Argument from Design
Movie #5: Inherit the Wind (1999)
13. Charles Darwin: The Origin of Species
Movie #6: Schindler's List (1993)
14. John Hick: The Irenaean Theodicy
15. William Rowe: The Evidential Problem of Evil and Friendly Atheism
3.8 Synthesis and Analysis
3.9 Alternative Narratives Pertinent to the Philosophy of Religion

CHAPTER 4: MIND, BODY AND CONSCIOUSNESS: What Kind of Thinking Thing Are We?

Movie #7: Being John Malkovich (1999)
4.1 The Mind/Body Problem
Where Can We Find How Much You Love Your Mom?
What Does This Have to Do with the Mind-Body Problem?
Can Science Help Answer the Problem?
What Are the Options?
4.2 Leibniz's Law
What Is Leibniz's Law?
Could We Go Over That Again?
4.3 Substance Dualism
What Are Descartes' Arguments for Dualism?
How Does the Argument from Doubt Fail?
What About Descartes' Divisibility Argument?
What Is Interactionism?
Is Interactionism Intelligible?
4.4 Eliminative Materialism
What Is the Case for Materialism?
What Is the Case for Eliminativism Materialism?
What Should We Think About Eliminative Materialism?
4.5 Reductive Materialism
So Why Not Reduce the Mental Without Eliminating It?
What Is the Case Against Reductive Materialism?
What's a Mental Event and Why Are They Important?
What Does the Data Tell Us About the "Insideness" of Our Experiences?
4.6 Functionalism
Must Conscious Experience Be Limited to Biological Entities?
What Are Functional Concepts?
Yes, But Isn't This Behaviorism Again?
Can Machines Be Persons?
4.7 Concluding Remarks
Where Does This Leave Us?
4.8 Readings and Movies
16. Jeffrey Olen: Reductive Materialism
17. Thomas Nagel: What Is it Like to Eat a Chocolate Bar?
Movie #8: Bicentennial Man (1999)
18. William Lycan: Robots and Minds
19. John Searle: The Myth of the Computer
20. Dean A. Kowalski: Some Cartesian Rejoinders
4.9 Synthesis and Analysis
4.10 Additional Narratives Pertaining to the Philosophy of Mind

CHAPTER 5: FREEDOM, DETERMINISM AND FOREKNOWLEDGE: Are We Free to Choose?

Movie #9: The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
5.1 Fate and Determinism
Are We Ever Free to Choose?
"Do You Believe in Fate, Neo?"
Does Everything Have a Cause?
Doesn't This Mean That We Aren't Free?
5.2 Compatibilism
Aren't There Alternatives to Hard Determinism?
So, Why Isn't Everyone a Compatibilist?
5.3 The Dilemma of Human Freedom
Why Not Simply Deny Determinism?
So Now What?
Must We give Up Our Beliefs in Freedom and Responsibility?
What Are the Options Again?
5.4 Libertarianism
What Is Agent Causation?
How Do We Explain the Uniqueness of Agents?
5.5 The Threat of Theological Determinism
Are There Other Threats to Our Freedom?
Can We Make Sense of the Divine Nature?
5.6 Readings and Movies
21. Baron D'Holbach: How We Lack Free Will
22. Walter T. Stace: How We Can Be Free
Movie #10: Run, Lola, Run (1998)
23. Roderick Chisholm: Human Freedom and the Self
Movie #11: Minority Report (2002)
24. Dean A. Kowalski: Reconciling Freedom and Foreknowledge
5.7 Synthesis and Analysis
5.8 Additional Narratives Exploring Themes of Freedom, Determinism and Foreknowledge

CHAPTER 6: FOUNDATIONS OF ETHICS: Is Ethics Objective?

Movie #12: Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
6.1 Subjectivity and Objectivity
What Are Ethical Foundations?
Is Ethics Objective?
How Is Ethics Subjectively True?
6.2 Readings and Movies
25. David Hume: Ethics as Sentiment
Movie #13: The Joy Luck Club (1994)
26. William G. Sumner: Folkways, Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism
27. Plato: The Euthyphro
28. Dean A. Kowalski: Three Conventionalist Theories of Ethics
6.3 Synthesis and Analysis
6.4 Alternative Narratives with Metaethical Themes

CHAPTER 7: ETHICS AND MORAL THEORY: What Ought I to Do?

Movie #14: Life Is Beautiful (1998)
7.1 Ethics and "Oughts"
What Is Ethics?
Are All "Ought Statements" Ethical?
7.2 Moral Reasoning
Can Morality Be Equated with Legality?
Must We Study Philosophy When Thinking Ethically?
What Is So Important About Ethics?
7.3 The Basics of Moral Theory
What Is a Moral Judgment?
What Is a Moral Theory?
What Are Some Examples of a Moral Theory?
But Why Ought I to Act Morally in the First Place?
7.4 Readings and Movies
29. Plato: Gyges and the Ring
Movie #15: Groundhog Day (1993)
30. Aristotle: Virtue Ethics
Movie #16: Extreme Measures (1996)
31. John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism
32. Immanuel Kant: Respect for Persons Ethic
33. Friedrich Nietzsche: Master and Slave Morality
34. Nel Noddings: The Ethics of Caring
7.5 Synthesis and Analysis
7.6 Additional Narratives with Themes Pertinent to Ethics

CHAPTER 8: HUMAN NATURE, SOCIETY AND JUSTICE: What Is the Nature of a Just State?

Movie #17: Lord of the Flies (1990)
8.1 Hobbes, Locke and Social Contract Theory
Why Do We Need Government at All?
How Do We Avoid Hobbes's State of Nature?
Aren't Hobbes's Views Rather Extreme?
What About Democracy?
8.2 King, Socrates and Civil Disobedience
What Is Civil Disobedience?
What Morally Justified the Civil Rights Movement?
What Is the Relationship Between King and Locke?
Is it Ever Permissible to Break the Law?
Should We Follow King or Socrates?
Shouldn't One Practice Civil Disobedience Only as a Last Resort?
8.3 Marginalized Voices
Who Is Malcom X?
What of Women in Society?
What of the Plight of Women in Non-Fictional Society?
Has the Plight of Minorities Improved?
8.4 Readings and Movies
35. Thomas Hobbes: Tyranny Before Anarchy and War
36. John Locke: A Democratic View of Government
37. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Letter from the Birmingham City Jail
Movie #18: Malcolm X (1992)
38. Malcolm X: The Harvard Speeches
Movie #19: The Handmaid's Tale (1990)
39. Mary Wollstonecraft: The Vindication of Women's Rights
8.5 Synthesis and Analysis
8.6 Additional Narratives Pertaining to Social and Political Philosophy