Philosophy Made Simple [1 ed.] 0385012179, 9780385012171

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Phloso|3hy

Made Simple

Only $1.95 A comprehensive course for seif-study

and review

Richard H. Popkin

and Avrum

Stroll

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2012

http://archive.org/details/isbn_0385012179

PHILOSOPHY IVIADE

SIMPLE

PHILOSOPHY

MADE SIMPLE BY

RICHARD

H.

POPKIN

Professor

AND

AVRUM STROLL Professor

Department of Philosophy University of California, San Diego

MADE SIMPLE BOOKS DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC. GARDEN

CITY,

NEW YORK

Since this book is the result of the collaboration of two authors, and since philosophers notoriously disagree with one another, the publisher wishes to attribute to each of them his own contributions. Although the work remains a collaboration each author

bears

full responsibility for

the sections of his authorship.

Richard H. Popkin:

INTRODUCTION:

WHAT

IS

PHILOSOPHY?

METAPHYSICS PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY: PRAGMATISM, EXISTENTIALISM Avnun

Stroll:

(Author

of:

The Emotive Theory of Ethics)

ETHICS POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY LOGIC

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS

Copyright

© 1956 by Doubleday ^

Company,

All Rights Reserved

Printed in the United States of America

Inc.

ABOUT The motive

force behind the philosophical quest

Socrates’ great utterance: for that reason that it

BOOK

TfflS

“The unexamined hfe

we have used

not worth hving.”

is

as

man’s special dispensation. There

that great line:

Man

is

by

best expressed

It is

as a motif for this book, intending that

it

be regarded by the reader as a kind of banner for

mind

is

is

all

those

who

see man’s

a relentless, prophetic ring in

the abihty to “examine” his

life;

without that he

is

nothing. Only as a result of that quality does he achieve his high estate, can

he claim his humanity. This book, then,

is

an attempt to explore the major problems in the

his-

tory of philosophy and to present the major systems which undertook to

deal with them. of the

been

Our emphasis has not been

book observes a sense of

to divide the field of

historical (although

Rather our strategy has

historical sequence).

philosophy iuto

its

each section

principal constituent areas—

ethics, logic, metaphysics, epistemology, pohtics,

and so on— and

to

examine

the basic problems in each from the point of view of the great philosophers

who

confronted them and whose names are forever associated with them.

It is

from the systems of ideas which they devised that we derive an im-

portant part of the intellectual and cultiiral heritage of Western civilization. It is, inevitably,

we

through their minds (whether

ourselves confront the great questions of

we are aware of it or not) that human existence— for it is im-

possible to think of those questions apart from the legacy the philosophers

have

left us.

PHILOSOPHY MADE SIMPLE

is intended for everyone— general puband student alike— who shares the Socratic conviction. We have attempted to present it in such a way as to make philosophical ideas and

lic

systems available to everyone. tact

We

have assumed no previous formal con-

with philosophy on the reader’s part.

better; but

it is

not required.

AU

that

is

If

he has had contact, so

necessary

about ideas— the things of the mind; and

all

that

is

much

the

respect for and curiosity

we

ask of the reader

is

his

serious attention.

The Publisheb

I

-V

».

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