Introductions
T. Nagel, What Does it All Mean? (New York and Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1987).
In this very short book Tom Nagel, eschewing all mention of history and aiming straight for the problems, gives the reader a taste of nine different areas: knowledge, other people’s minds, the mind–body relation, language and meaning, freedom of the will, right and wrong, justice, death, and the meaning of life. Just right for your first piece of reading—see what grabs you.
S. W. Blackburn, Think (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
The perfect thing to move on to after Nagel. Takes on several of the same themes as Nagel’s book, plus God and Reasoning, now at greater length and depth; frequent quotation of historical sources, so beginning to communicate a sense of the (Western) philosophical tradition. Very entertainingly written.
B. Russell, The Problems of Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1912).
A classic introductory book, still going a century on. Don’t miss the last chapter—Russell’s claims for the value of philosophy—even though some of it may nowadays seem just a little grandiose and optimistic.
Histories of philosophy
B. Russell, History of Western Philosophy (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1946).
A remarkable book synthesizing a mountain of material in a most engaging way. Enjoy it, but don’t be surprised if you later hear the opinion that Russell’s account of some particular thinker is limited, or misses the main point, or is distorted by his intense dislike of Christianity.
F. Copleston, A History of Philosophy (8 vols; London: Burns & Oates, 1946–66).
Nothing like so much fun as Russell, but comprehensive and reliable and suitable for serious study. With a different publisher (Search Press), Copleston later added a volume on French philosophy from the Revolution onwards, and another on philosophy in Russia.
S. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy (2 vols; Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996; 1st publ. 1929).
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, President of India 1962–7, earlier held professorships in Calcutta and Oxford. The Indian philosophical tradition is deep and sophisticated; the Western reader will often come across familiar thoughts and arguments, fascinatingly transformed by the unfamiliar background.
Reference works
There are now several good one-volume works of this kind: The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, by Simon Blackburn; The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, ed. Ted Honderich; The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, ed. Robert Audi (first two Oxford University Press, the last Cambridge University Press). Also to be recommended is The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, a one-volume selection from the work described immediately below. (Not to be confused with The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, which is quite different.)
The best multi-volume work in English is (though I say it myself—to understand why I say that, take a close look at the photo on p. 132) The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Not, in most cases, for the individual pocket! This is one to read in a big public library or a university library, or via some such institution which subscribes to the internet version.
Index
For the benefit of digital users, indexed terms that span two pages (e.g., 52–53) may, on occasion, appear on only one of those pages.
A
absolutism 52
aesthetic relativism 73–74
afterlife 21
agnosticism 2–3
agreement breaking 18–20
analytic philosophy 82
animals 25–26, 37–38, 55, 128–130
anthropomorphism 129
anti-Semitism 100
Aquinas, St Thomas 128–129
Aristophanes 13
Aristotelianism 71–72, 76–77
Aristotle 4–5
Arjuna 40
artificial selection 89–90
ascetic priest, figure of the 99–100
astronomy 75–76, 116–117
ataraxia (peace of mind) 72–73
Athena, goddess 40
atomism 64–65
B
Beauvoir, Simone de 126–128
beer 54–55
beliefs 53–56, 95–96
religious 25–34, 65, 87–88
scepticism 71–72
Bentham, Jeremy 129
Berkeley, George
idealism 62–63, 65–67
opinions 9–10
Bible 75–76
blame 102, 105, 108–113
body, status of 57–58
Boethius 6
Brahmins 120
Buddhism 4–5, 11, 35–44
animals 128–129
body, status of 57–58
five aggregates of 37–39, 41–44, 56–58
nirvana 38, 47–48
self 35–44
bundle theory of the mind 56–57
C
capitalists 124
Cartesian see Descartes, René
caste system 38
Catholicism 27
causal chains 107–113
chariot analogy 39–43
choice 53
Christianity 26–27, 95, 99–100, 128–129
citizens 50–53, 118–119
civic duty 18–20, 45–46
class struggle 123–124
Cogito ergo sum (Descartes) 79
cognitive science 58
common sense 71–72
compassion 97
compatibilism 110–113
Confucius 11
consciousness 37, 43, 66–67, 84–88, 106
consent, tacit 20, 51
consequentialism 45–50, 62
contract theory 50–53, 118–119
control 110–112
Copernicus 75–76
corporate philosophy 8
cosmology 14–15, 75–76
Crito dialogue (Plato) 12, 14–21, 38, 45–47, 51–52, 75, 118
cyclical rebirth 38, 44, 64, 128–129
D
Darwin, Charles 88–94
Darwinism 95
death 116–117
democracy 117
Democritus 64–65
Descartes, René 4–5, 93–95, 103
Discourse on the Method 77–82
dualism 63, 79, 104
free will 101–105, 107–112
scepticism 71–72, 77
determinism 101, 106–110, 112
dialectic 86–87
dialectical materialism 65, 86–87
dispositions 37
dualism 63–64, 67, 107–108
Descartes 63, 79, 104
scientific theory and 63–64
E
education 48–49, 77–78, 125
ego 42–43
empiricism 67–71
Epicureanism 4, 47–48, 65
atomism 64–65
family 52–53
free will 101, 108–109
individual and 115–117
epistemology 55, 62, 67–71
Estienne, Henri 15
ethical consequentialism 45–49
ethical questions 12, 14–15
Evil, Problem of 102
existentialism 82, 126–127
experiences 57
experimental animals 129
eyewitness accounts 29–31
F
falsehoods 28
families 52–53, 124
Fates 85
feelings 37, 43
feminism 4–5, 126–128
five aggregates of Buddhist doctrine 37–39, 41–44, 56–58
Forms (Plato) 70
free will 101
compatibilism 110–113
Descartes 101–105
determinism 107–110
Hegel 105–107
Freud, Sigmund 94
friendship 15–18, 20, 115
G
Galileo 75–76, 80
‘gastronomic’ relativism 73–74
Geist (Spirit) 84–88, 106–107
Genealogy of Morals (Nietzsche) 94–100
God 25–28, 42–43, 79–80, 84–85, 87–88, 93, 102–104
good/goodness
consequentialism 45–49
happiness 48–49, 117–118, 125
Nietzsche 96
relative 73
Greek philosophy 11–23, 55, 64–65, 72–73
H
happiness 50
ataraxia 72–73
Epicureanism 115
Mill, John Stuart 48–49, 117–118, 125
Harm Principle 117–118
hate 97
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich 62–63, 67, 90
free will 101, 105–109, 111–112
Marx and 123–124
Philosophy of History 82–88
reason 70–71
self-knowledge 84, 106, 127
Hercules 40
‘herd morality’ 97–99
Hinduism 4–5, 38, 128–129
history 84–88
History of England (Hume) 24
Hobbes, Thomas 4–5, 103–104, 121
contract theory 52–53, 118–119
human beings 24–26
human suffering 99–100
Hume, David 113, 128–129
on Berkeley’s arguments 67
bundle theory of the mind 56
miracles 24–34
rationality 53
self 57–59
I
Idea
Hegel 83–88, 106–107
reason and 70–71
idealism 62–67
Indian philosophy 4–5, 11, 64–65, 68–69, 120–123
individual, the
Epicureanism and 115–117
Hegel on 87–88
relativism and 74
industrialization 123
integrity 49–50
J
job satisfaction 124–125
Johnson, Dr 65–66
justice 12
K
Kant, Immanuel 4–5, 105–106
morality 18–19, 23
power of reason 53
reason and perception 70
karma 42–43
Katha Upanishad 41
Kierkegaard, Søren 82
knowledge see epistemology
Krishna 40
L
laws of nature 27–28, 30, 32–33
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm 42
Lewis, C. S. 92–93
Locke, John 118–119
Lokāyatas 64–65, 68–69
love 14–15, 97
Lucretius 64–65
M
Mahabharata 40
majority opinion 15, 17
Marx, Karl 4–5, 62–63, 65, 67, 86–87, 123–124
material goods 48–49
materialism 64–65, 67–69, 107–108
memory 31
mental formations 37, 43
metaphysics 42–43, 62, 67
dualism 63–64, 67
idealism 64–67
materialism 64–65, 67–69, 107–108
meteorology 116–117
Mill, John Stuart 47–49, 117–118, 129
women 125–128
miracles 26–34
moksha 38
Moore, G. E. 82
morality
Kant 18–19, 23
Nietzsche 94–99
religion and 21
moral obligations 105–106
moral relativism 73
N
Nagasena (Buddhist monk) 35–44
natural sciences 8
natural selection 87–93
Nature 27–28, 30, 32–33, 83–84, 92–93, 106
Newton, Isaac 80–81
Nietzsche, Friedrich 2–3, 94–100
nirvana 38, 47–48
no-self doctrine see five aggregates of Buddhist doctrine
O
obligations 21–23
opinions 9–10, 15, 17
original sin 92–93
Origin of Species, The (Darwin) 88–94
Other, the (Beauvoir) 127
P
pain 129
absence of 47–48
parental authority 51–52
perception 37, 43, 56–57, 64, 67–70
Phaedo (Plato) 38, 70
philosophy
definition of 5
historical context of 58–61
history of 123–124
professionalized 130–132
terminology 62–63
physics 80–81, 107–108, 116–117
physiology 80–81
pigeons, and artificial selection 89–90
Plato 60, 118–119
chariot analogy 41
Crito dialogue 12, 14–21, 38, 45–47, 51–52, 75, 118
emphasis on the soul 57–58
on the family 52–53
Forms 70, 83
pleasure 46–48, 115–116, 129
political authority 50–53
power
Harm Principle 117
of priests within their community 119–120
will to 97–98
praise 105, 108–110
preferences 111–112
priesthood 99–100, 119–123
Providence 84–85
psychoanalysis 94
pyrrhonism 71–73
Q
Quintessence 76
R
rationalism 67–71
rationality 53–56
reality 70–71, 82–84
Reason 84, 106–107
Cunning of 85
Descartes 93
goals and 53
Hume 26
Ideas and 70–71
reincarnation 38, 44, 128–129
relativism 73–74
religion
belief 25–34, 65, 87–88, 95–96
morality and 21
Republic (Plato) 11–12, 52–53
reputations 15–18, 20
responsibility 110–111
retaliation 18–20
revelations 27–28
ruling class 96, 99–100, 120
Russell, Bertrand 82
S
salvation 4, 38
Sanchez, Francisco 71
scepticism 2–3, 55, 71–73
Descartes 71–72, 77, 80
Nietzsche 94–95
scientific knowledge 32–34, 63–64, 116–117
Scientific Revolution 76–77
self 37–44, 56–58
self-knowledge 84, 94, 106, 127
Sextus Empiricus 71–72
sexual drive 92–93
‘situated’ thought 58–59
social contracts 50–53
Social Darwinism 92
social reform 47–48
social value systems 97–99
Socrates 45–47, 118
Crito dialogue 12, 14–21, 51–52
historical and literary character 12
integrity of 49
soul 38
trial of 14
Sophist, The (Plato) 11–12
soul 57–58, 64, 70
sovereignty 118–119
specialization 8–9
Spencer, Herbert 90–92
Spinoza, Baruch de 105
state, the 118–119
contract theory and 50–53
state of nature 118
Stephanus numbering 15
Stoics 72
suffering
alleviation of 42–43
animal 129
human 99–100
suicide 16–17
supernatural 7
superstitious fear 116–117
survival of the fittest 90–92
T
taxation 50–51
testimonial evidence 28–30
totalitarianism 50–51
transmigration of souls 128–129
tropes 72
U
undergraduate courses 8–9
university philosophy departments 8–9, 131
Upanishads 11, 120–123
utilitarianism 47–50, 117–118, 129
V
value-systems 97–99
Vedas 11, 120, 122
vegetarianism 129–130
virtue 12
W
wholes 42
will to power 97–99
wisdom 15–16
Wittgenstein, Ludwig 82
women 125–128
Woolston, Thomas 26–27
working class 123–125
Z
Zen Buddhism 3
Existentialism
Very Short Introduction
Thomas Flynn
Existentialism was one of the leading philosophical movements of the twentieth century. Focusing on its seven leading figures, Sartre, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, de Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty and
