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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
Confused by metaphysics? In a muddle with aesthetics? Intimidated by Kant? Then look no further! Philosophy For Dummies, UK Edition is a complete crash-course in philosophical thought, covering key philosophers, philosophical history and theory and the big questions that affect us today. Tying in with standard UK curricula and including core topics such as logic, ethics and political philosophy, this impartial, expert guide cuts through the jargon to give you the facts. Whether you're a philosophy student or a complete beginner, Philosophy For Dummies, UK Edition will get you thinking and talking about philosophy in no time, and with maximum confidence.
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Seitenzahl: 783
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010
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Philosophy For Dummies®, UK Edtion
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Table of Contents
Philosophy For Dummies®, UK Edition
by Martin Cohen
Philosophy For Dummies®, UK Edition
Published byJohn Wiley & Sons, LtdThe AtriumSouthern GateChichesterWest SussexPO19 8SQEngland
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Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex, England
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, England, or emailed to [email protected], or faxed to (44) 1243 770620.
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-470-68820-5
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, UK.
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About the Author
Martin Cohen is a full-time writer and editor of philosophical books. He has both taught and researched philosophy at a number of universities in the UK and Australia but is best known for his books advocating and developing a method of teaching philosophy sometimes known as modularity. This is a technique, (which is very appropriate to the Philosophy For Dummies style) in which big complex problems are broken down into bits, each part of which is (as much as possible) independent and self-standing. He was originally encouraged in the approach by George MacDonald Ross, for whom he was a researcher on an ambitious project to change the way philosophy is taught in UK universities in the 1980s, and to make it less ‘stuffy’ and more practical.
Martin’s earlier books include: 101 Philosophy Problems, 101 Ethical Dilemmas, Political Philosophy, Wittgenstein’s Beetle and Other Classic Thought Experiments, Philosophical Tales, and Mind Games.
As well as having been a lecturer and researcher, Martin is also a professional school teacher, who in the distant past taught in schools in Yorkshire and Staffordshire, with children from ages as young as seven. He remains an advocate of ‘philosophy for children’ and his ‘101’ books are popular with many teachers.
Although his book Philosophical Tales paints rather an unkind picture of Karl Marx, Martin sees the ‘point of philosophy’, as Marx once said, to be not merely to interpret the world but to change it, and he has been active on many ethical and environmental issues.
Author’s Acknowledgments
For Dummies style does not allow footnotes (which is surely right – out, out damned footnote!) nor even end notes. However, that can be a little bit of an invitation to borrow without acknowledgement. So this section is an effort to catch up with some of the many people who really ought to be acknowledged, as indeed this book is not all my own ideas, but merely my distillation of reading, research, and discussions with others. Here are just some of those philosophical folk whose ideas I have benefited from and attempted to communicate to a new audience:
Brenda Almond, Gideon Calder, Anna Cohen, James Danaher, Pierre-Alain Gouanvic, Wendy Hamblet, Trevor Jordan, Colin Kirk, Mary Lenzi, Yuli Liu, George MacDonald Ross, Tom Morris, Chris Onof, Andrew Porter, John Sellars, Daniel Silvermintz, Dean D’Souza, Stephen Thornton, Zenon Stavrinides and Brad Weslake.
On the production side, I should also like to thank all those ‘professional Dummies’ at Wiley – notably Nicole Hermitage, who introduced me to the idea of For Dummies, and Simon Bell, who coped very patiently with my occasional incredulity at the requirements of ‘Dummies Style’. I would also like to thank the various readers of the manuscript, especially Zenon, for their careful comments, corrections and advice.
Publisher’s Acknowledgements
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Commissioning, Editorial, and Media Development
Project Editor: Simon Bell
Content Editor: Jo Theedom
Commissioning Editor: Nicole Hermitage
Assistant Editor: Ben Kemble
Copy Editor: Charlie Wilson
Technical Editor: Dr Zenon Stavrinides
Publisher: David Palmer
Production Manager: Daniel Mersey
Cover Photos: Sly/Fotolia
Cartoons: Ed McLachlan
Composition Services
Project Coordinator: Kristie Rees
Layout and Graphics: Timothy C. Detrick
Proofreader: Laura Albert
Indexer: Sharon Shock
Introduction
Philosophy For Dummies! How about that! Actually, it doesn’t sound quite right. Philosophy For Thoughtful People, maybe. Philosophy For Geniuses. yes, I like that. But Philosophy For Dummies, no. Because philosophy has a certain cachet: it has a certain, rather grand, status. You don’t think so? How many ancient geographers or chemists or astronomers are lovingly quoted everyday, not just for historical interest, but as authorities? But philosophers certainly are. How many subjects can survive simply reprinting old essays without having to come up with new material? But philosophy is like that. We’d much rather read the words of an ancient philosopher or at least a very highly respected dead one, than listen to the latest ideas of some still living professor who quite likely won’t even be remembered in a thousand years.
So yes, philosophy has a bit of a weighty, serious side, and suits weighty serious types. But that’s just one way to look at it. It’s also a surprisingly sexy subject. After all, how many Geography Cafés are there? Informal gatherings of young people discussing geography in public bars? Not many. But there are philosophy ones. And how many people rush to take courses in teaching, say, chemistry to very young children – calling it Chem4Children, perhaps? But Philosophy for Children (meaning the under sevens by and large) has really taken off – and the little ones love it!
What’s more remarkable, the ‘little ones’ are pretty good at it. And that’s why Philosophy For Dummies is actually not such a Dumb Idea. The real issues, and the real ideas of philosophy belong to everyone, and if philosophy has traditionally been stuck a little bit too much on its pedestal, a little too full of its obscure jargon, Latin terms and so on, then that’s all the more reason to bring it down a peg or two, and return it to where actually it started, the public arena as a pursuit for everyone. I hope by the end of this book to have convinced you that you too can ‘do philosophy’ – and equally importantly, that maybe some of those philosophical experts whose boring books might have put you off before, aren’t quite as on top of the subject as they think they are. Subversive? Well, yes. But that’s philosophy. That’s why it matters. And that’s why everyone should have a go at it.
About This Book
Philosophy For Dummies provides you with two things. First, the essential facts – the nuts and bolts – of 3000 years of people philosophising. And secondly, it provides you with a toolbox of methods and techniques for dealing with problems and tricky questions. These tools are really what makes philosophy valuable. For they can be used equally well throughout life, not just on traditional philosophical problems.
Conventions Used in This Book
To help you get the most from this book, I follow a few conventions:
Italic emphasises and highlights new words or strange terms that I go on to define . . .
Sidebars (the grey boxes you come across from time to time) contain tasty extracts from classic philosophical works, typically based on the standard contemporary translations, but occasionally slightly reworded, to make them read more naturally.
I don’t give dates all the time, for example for philosophers or their books, except where I feel it is directly useful to the passage.
What You’re Not to Read
The book is divided into five parts, plus the usual For Dummies ‘Part of Tens’. These, like the chapters themselves, can be read in any order. Similarly, within each chapter, extensive use of sidebars, headings and sub-headings both invites you and enables you to dip in and out of the text. There’s no need to plough through this book, just take it idea by idea, debate by debate. And do a lot of pausing to think, of course!
You’ll also see plenty of icons above text which you can take or leave: I hope you’ll enjoy the ‘Lousy Idea’ icon, which of course is a little bit tongue-in-cheek, and check out the ‘Thought Experiments’ whenever the icon appears.
Foolish Assumptions
In writing this book, I made a few assumptions about who you are:
You’re curious and motivated to find out more about philosophy, even though you may not be 100 per cent sure how to go about it.
You have an open mind, and have not already filled it up with rigid options – especially philosophical ones.
You’re interested in hearing about the links between different philosophical traditions and ideas.
You’re open to the idea that philosophy is a pretty broad field, sweeping across natural science and sociology as well as the traditional pursuits of standard college courses.
Beyond those, I’ve not assumed too much, I hope. This book is for you whether you’re seven or seventy, a PhD or a Member of Parliament.
How This Book Is Organised
A bit more now about the six parts of Philosophy For Dummies.
Part I: What Is Philosophy?
Great place to start! But honestly, ‘what philosophy is’ is harder to pin down than it really ought to be. My interpretation is not like most other philosophers’ versions, although I’m far from alone in arguing that philosophy is actually a practical tool for dealing with real issues. This part sketches out the overall aims and ‘scope’ of philosophy, making sure that what we now call ‘science’ is put back where it belongs – at the heart of the subject. And Part I closes by setting out some of the techniques you’ll need to actually start ‘doing’ philosophy, practising philosophy as an activity.
Part II: The History of Philosophy
This part covers everything you need to know about what philosophers’ have said and argued and indeed done in the past. From the origins of many of philosophy’s debates in both Ancient Greece and China, to the latest confusing philosophical isms (like existentialism and utilitarianism) this part spells the debates out clearly and puts it all in context.
Part III: The Nuts and Bolts of Philosophy
This is the ‘How to’ section – how to use ‘logic’ effectively, how to find things out (rather than just think you have found something out and be mistaken!) and how to step back from everything you just found out and realise that you still don’t really know it. That might sound more like undoing the nuts and bolts of your philosophical go-kart, but hey, that’s kind of useful too. Trouble is, no one knows (yet) how to put everything ‘we used to know’ back together again.
Part IV: Exploring the Mind, Consciousness and Morality
This is without doubt the most valuable part of the book. Why do I say that? Because it is to do with values. And although that sounds a bit ‘preachy’ – go home Vicar! – by the time you’ve read this, I think you’ll maybe want to call the Vicar back again, sit him down for tea and biscuits and discuss many of the issues raised here, from ‘What is art?’ to whether economic forces always work for the best.
Part V: Philosophy and Science
Philosophers are a bit sniffy about science. In fact, most philosophy introductions and quite a few universities consider philosophy of science to be not proper philosophy at all – and maybe to belong in a separate book (or classroom) a long, long way away. That’s a pretty dumb view, as this part will show. And indeed, science is increasingly at the cutting edge of philosophy, with trad philosophers struggling to join in with their supposedly practical colleagues. Don’t get left behind – read this and join in the big new debates!
Part VI: The Part of Tens
Every For Dummies book has one. The Part of Tens offers two bite-sized chapters filled with tempting philosophical puzzles and tasty morsels of philosophical texts.
Icons Used in This Book
Sprinkled through the book you’ll see various icons to guide you on your way. Icons are a For Dummies way of drawing your attention to important stuff, interesting stuff, and stuff you really need to know to watch out for.
Key pieces of information which repay, well, a closer look.
This is stuff you may want to add to your memory bank – the very best bits of philosophy.
Philosophers love their obscure terminology and exclusive lingo. This icon points you to clear, straightforward translations.
And the other side of the coin – this is stuff you may want to delete from your memory bank – but don’t be tempted to do so, these ideas are still influential and still part of the history of philosophy.
These are imaginary scenarios that investigate philosophy problems in a more scientific manner.
Little nuggets of information to smooth your understanding.
Take careful note of the advice under this icon, and you’ll avoid calamities.
Where to Go from Here
I’ve organised this book so that you can just dip in and out of it as you like. It isn’t specifically written to be read from start to finish, although you can do that if you want. In general, though, you’ll probably find that you look up what you want to read about in the Table of Contents or the index and dive straight in at that section. Or, if you prefer to read in a more conventional way, reading Part I will give you the basics for getting started in philosophy from scratch, and point you towards places later in the book where you can hop to for more detailed information on topics in which you’re particularly interested.
Best of luck, and . . . happy philosophising!
Part I
What Is Philosophy?
In this part . . .
Philosophy is a pretty posh name for a pretty posh subject. Not one most of us need know anything about, you’d think. Gardening, how to drive cars, maybe a bit of computers these days – but philosophy? Wake me up when the professor’s gone!
But philosophy’s not boring or useless at all. This part explains why you actually just might find it incredibly useful to read the rest of the book, and why you really might enjoy finding out all about those strange philosophical questions, puzzles and ideas. Ready? Now get stuck in!
Chapter 1
What’s Philosophy All About?
In This Chapter
Making light work of some common misunderstandings of philosophy
Getting a handle on some of the big ideas
Delving back into ancient history and exploring the origins of key philosophical texts
In this chapter we find out ‘what philosophy is’ – and what it used to be too (which are not quite the same thing). We immediately solve one of philosophy’s biggest problems – the problem of knowledge – and we look at the experiences of a greedy chicken and a sock with a hole in it.
Defining the Job
Philosophy is the ‘no-man’s land’ between science and theology, under attack from both sides.
– Bertrand Russell
Or, as philosophers might prefer to put it, science and religion are really two slices of bread, with philosophy the tasty bit in the middle. Scientists reduce the world to ‘matter’, make the world into a machine and destroy free will and purpose. On the other hand, spiritual types, who are searching for a purpose and the freedom to find it, are attracted to religions and to all those ‘irrational’ activities, such as astrology and watching TV. And they don’t feel the need to get anything done. Between the two camps, it seems there’s not much room left for philosophy!
From the outside, philosophy seems to be a rather peculiar, not to say pointless, subject full of unanswerable riddles and questions like ‘Is the King of France bald?’ or ‘Does that table exist?’ that no one in their right minds would ask anyway.
Indeed, philosophy courses often start off (as if determined to disprove the point, but inadvertently just reinforcing it) by asking, ‘What is philosophy?’ – a question that no self-respecting study would normally need to ask. What is chemistry? What is cooking? What is geography? Yet philosophers certainly seem to like asking these ‘what is’ questions, and asking it about their own subject seems to them to be quite the right thing to do. The point for them, after all, is to ask questions, not to answer them.
So what is philosophy?
Philosophy is a subject that has no particular content and covers no particular area. It is, rather, a kind of intellectual cement that attempts to stick the rest of the (rather grand sounding) intellectual edifice together.
Or put another way (less grand sounding), philosophy is a kind of manure. Pile it high, in a few places, and it simply rots and stinks. But spread it around and it becomes surprisingly useful. That was the view of some of philosophy’s defenders at the end of the last century. At the same time, people all over the Western World were asking the question ‘What’s the point of philosophy?’ and had decided there wasn’t one. People were beginning to see philosophy departments that were training people to ask strange unanswerable questions or to repeat obscure chunks of ancient texts as wasting their time. In the cold light of economic downturns, critics considered the efforts of serious philosophers to investigate the following sacred problems of philosophy and the like as a waste of money:
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