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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013
Two complete eBooks for one low price! Created and compiled by the publisher, this Philosophy & Ethics bundle brings together two important titles in one, e-only bundle. With this special bundle, you'll get the complete text of the following two titles: Philosophy For Dummies Philosophy For Dummies is for anyone who has ever entertained a question about life and this world. In a conversational tone, the book's author - a modern-day scholar and lecturer - brings the greatest wisdom of the past into the challenges that we face now. This refreshingly different guide explains philosophical fundamentals and explores some of the strangest and deepest questions ever posed to human beings, such as: * How do we know anything? * What does the word good mean? * Are we ever really free? * Do human beings have souls? * Is there life after death? * Is there a God? * Is happiness really possible in our world? Ethics For Dummies An easy-to-grasp guide to addressing the principles of ethics and applying them to daily life How do you define "good" versus "evil?" Do you know the difference between moral "truth" and moral relativity? Whether or not you know Aristotle from Hume, Ethics For Dummies will get you comfortable with the centuries-old study of ethical philosophy quickly and effectively! Ethics For Dummies is a practical, friendly guide that takes the headache out of the often-confusing subject of ethics. In plain English, it examines the controversial facets of ethical thought, explores the problem of evil, demystifies the writings and theories of such great thinkers through the ages as Aristotle, Confucius, Descartes, Kant, Nietzsche, and so much more. You'll learn how to apply the concepts and theories of ethical philosophy to your everyday life. Whether you're currently enrolled in an ethics course or are interested in living a good life but are vexed with ethical complexities, Ethics For Dummies has you covered! About the Author of Philosophy For Dummies Tom Morris, Ph.D., author of True Success and other books, taught philosophy at Notre Dame University for 15 years and currently heads the Morris Institute for Human Values. About the Authors of Ethics For Dummies Christopher Panza, PhD, is an associate professor of philosophy at Drury University and coauthor of Existentialism For Dummies. Adam Potthast, PhD, is an assistant professor of philosophy at Missouri University of Science and Technology.
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Philosophy & Ethics Bundle For Dummies®
Table of Contents
Philosophy For Dummies®
by Tom Morris, Ph.D.
Philosophy For Dummies®
Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com
Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 99-65870
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Manufactured in the United States of America
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About the Author
Tom Morris has recently become one of the most active business speakers in America due to his unusual ability to bring the greatest wisdom of the past into the challenges we face now. A native of North Carolina, Tom is a graduate of the University of the North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and has been honored, along with Michael Jordan, as a recipient of its “Distinguished Young Alumnus Award.” He holds a Ph.D. in both Philosophy and Religious Studies from Yale University and for 15 years served as a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, where he quickly became its most popular teacher, in many years having as much as an eighth of the entire student body in his classes. He is now Chairman of the Morris Institute for Human Values in Wilmington, NC.
Tom’s twelfth book, True Success: A New Philosophy of Excellence, catapulted him over the walls of academia and launched him into a new adventure as a public philosopher and advisor to the corporate world. Recent audiences include General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Merrill Lynch, GTE, IBM, the U.S. Air Force, Price Waterhouse, Arthur Andersen, Campbell’s Soup, Target Stores, The Dayton Hudson Corporation, Schlotzky’s Delis, NBC Sports, Business Week Magazine, The Bayer Corporation, Deloitte and Touche, Federated Investors, American Funds, Taco Bell, The American Heart Association, the Young Presidents Organization, and the World Presidents Organization, along with many of the largest national and international associations. His most recent book, prior to Philosophy For Dummies, is called If Aristotle Ran General Motors: The New Soul of Business.
Known by his Notre Dame students as “TV Morris,” this modern scholar is a former rock guitarist. He is also the first philosopher in history to appear in network TV commercials, where he has served as the national spokesman for Winnie the Pooh, Disney Home Videos, as well as being the only thinker ever to engage in early morning philosophy with Regis and Kathie Lee. He has appeared on CNBC’s early morning show Business Today, as well as on the NBC Today Show with Matt Lauer. Tom is known for bringing the insights of the great thinkers into the drama of everyday life with high energy and good humor. His message is helping to change lives and revolutionize business practices everywhere.
Dedication
To Mary, Sara, and Matt — the greatest possible family!
Author’s Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank all the many dummies who helped make this book possible. Just kidding. They are all wise people. I’m especially thankful to Tami Booth, who suggested it and Kelly Ewing, who edited it. Reid Boates, my literary agent, encouraged me regularly to write at blinding speed and helped me to get flowers to my acquiring editor when I was late on a deadline.
I thank the thousands of Notre Dame undergraduates who helped me think through all these topics over a period of 15 years with their questions, comments, and loud laughter, as well as their occasional looks of utter perplexity. I’m also grateful to the many people in my business audiences around the country who have told me that they were thrilled that I was writing a book with this title — I think they typically wanted it as a present for their bosses.
I want to give the greatest thanks possible to my family, who supported me every day in a very intensive time of writing. But not even my tight deadlines put a stop to our beach walks, trips to guitar stores, and family snack times. My wife Mary, my daughter Sara, and my son Matt make me glad that I’m a philosopher, with no real schedule whatsoever. They offer me all sorts of fun and make wise comments on whatever subject I bring up. To all of them it is dedicated.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
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Contents
Title
Introduction
About This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
What You’re Not to Read
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I : What Is Philosophy, Anyway?
Chapter 1: Great Thinkers, Deep Thoughts
A Few Nuts Spice the Cake
Socrates on the Examination that Counts
The Questions We’ll Ask
Chapter 2: Philosophy as an Activity
Outward Bound for the Mind
Mapping Our Way Forward
The Extreme Power of Belief
Chapter 3: The Love of Wisdom
The Triple-A Skill Set of Philosophy
Wisdom Rules
The Socratic Quest for Wisdom
Part II : How Do We Know Anything?
Chapter 4: Belief, Truth, and Knowledge
Our Beliefs about Belief
The Importance of Belief
The Ideal of Knowledge
Chapter 5: The Challenge of Skepticism
The Ancient Art of Doubt
Incredible Questions We Cannot Answer
Doubting Your Doubts
Where Do We Go from Here?
Chapter 6: The Amazing Reality of Basic Beliefs
The Foundations of Knowledge
The Principle of Belief Conservation
William James on Precursive Faith
Leaps of Faith
Part III : What Is the Good?
Chapter 7: What Is Good?
A Basic Approach to Ethics and Morality
Defining the Good in the Context of Life
Three Views on Evaluative Language
Teleological Target Practice
Chapter 8: Happiness, Excellence, and the Good Life
Memo to the Modern World
The Idea of Good: A Short Course in Options
Four Dimensions of Human Experience
The Ultimate Context of Good
Chapter 9: Ethical Rules and Moral Character
Commandments, Rules, and Loopholes
Character, Wisdom, and Virtue
Can Goodness Be Taught?
Part IV : Are We Ever Really Free?
Chapter 10: Fate, Destiny, and You
The Importance of Free Will
Foreseeing the Future: The Theological Challenge to Freedom
What Will Be Will Be: The Logical Challenge to Freedom
Robots and Cosmic Puppetry: The Scientific Challenge to Freedom
Chapter 11: Standard Views of Freedom
God, Logic, and Free Will
The Modern Scientific Challenge
Chapter 12: Just Do It: Human Agency in the World
Some Wisdom about Freedom
The Big Picture
How to Be an Agent and Get More than 15 Percent
Part V : The Incredible, Invisible You
Chapter 13: What Is a Person?
Guitars, Ghosts, and People
Glimpses of the Mind
Philosophical Views of the Person
The Contenders
Narrowing the Options
Chapter 14: The Case for Materialism
The Positive Arguments
The Negative Arguments
A Verdict on the Materialist Case
Chapter 15: The Case for Dualism
The Natural Belief in Dualism
I’m a Soul Man
Part VI : What’s the Deal with Death?
Chapter 16: From Dust to Dust: Fear and the Void
The Final Exit and the Four Fears
Chapter 17: Philosophical Consolations on Death
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
Materialist Conceptions of “Immortality”
Chapter 18: Is There Life After Death?
Philosophical Doubts and Denials
Arguments for Survival
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
Part VII : Is There a God?
Chapter 19: Two World Views
The Lost Beach Ball
The Great Divide
The Great Debate
Chapter 20: Theistic Visions
The Ontological Argument
Cosmology and God
A Designer Universe?
Religious Experience
Chapter 21: The Problem of Evil
Expectations of Theism
The Argument from Evil
The Great Theodicies
The Element of Mystery
Part VIII : The Meaning of Life
Chapter 22: What Is the Meaning of Life?
The Questions We Can Ask
Meaning and This World
God and Meaning
Chapter 23: Pascal’s Wager: Betting Your Life
Blaise Pascal: Philosopher-Genius
The Wager
Criticisms of the Wager
Choosing a World View Right for You
Chapter 24: Success and Happiness in Life
What is Enough? The Race for More
True Success
The Universal Conditions of Success
A Concluding Note on Happiness
Part IX : The Part of Tens
Chapter 25: Ten Great Philosophers
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle
Saint Thomas Aquinas
William of Ockham
René Descartes
Immanuel Kant
G.W.F. Hegel
S¨oren Kierkegaard
Bertrand Russell
Chapter 26: Ten Great Questions
Is Philosophy Practical?
Can We Ever Really Know Anything?
Is There Ultimately an Objectivity to Ethics?
Who Am I?
Is Happiness Really Possible in Our World?
Is There, After All, a God?
What Is the Good Life?
Why Is So Much Suffering in the World?
If a Tree Falls in the Forest....
Bishop Berkeley speaks
What’s Stronger in Human Life, Rationality or Irrationality?
Introduction
I only wish that philosophy might come before our eyes in all her unity, just as the whole expanse of the firmament is spread out for us to gaze upon! It would be a sight closely resembling that of the firmament. For then surely philosophy would ravish all mortals with love for her; we should abandon all those things which, in our ignorance of what is great, we believe to be great.
— Seneca (First century Stoic philosopher)
Philosophy For Dummies? What a concept! Is this the ultimate oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, or at least an impossibility in the making, an exercise in futility, on a par with Advanced Calculus For Toddlers, or Neuro-surgery For Nit Wits?
No. Not at all. The ancient philosopher Socrates (fifth century, B.C.) thought that, when it comes to the Ultimate Questions, we all start off as dummies. But if we are humbly aware of how little we actually know, then we can really begin to learn.
In fact, Plato (circa 428–347 B.C.), the close student of Socrates, passed on an interesting story about this. He tells us Socrates had learned that the Oracle at Delphi had proclaimed him to be the wisest man in Athens. Shocked at this announcement, he began to search out the men of Athens known for their wisdom and began to question them closely. He found out very quickly that, on truly important and basic issues, they didn’t really know very much of what they were thought to know, and what they themselves believed that they knew. On the basis of this experience, he slowly came to understand that his own wisdom must consist in realizing how little he really knew about the things that matter most, and how important it was to find out whatever we can about these issues. It’s not the complacent and self-assured intellectual who exemplifies wisdom, but the genuinely curious, open-minded seeker of truth.
Bill, reading aloud about Socrates:
“The only true knowledge is knowing that you know nothing.”
Ted, stunned:
“Dude — That’s US!”
— Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
The word philosophy just means “love of wisdom.” This is easy to understand when you realize that love is a commitment, and wisdom is just insight about living. Philosophy is, at its best, a passionate commitment to pursuing and embracing the most fundamental truths and insightful perspectives about life.
Aristotle (384–322 B.C.) also had an insight we can use here. This great thinker, Plato’s long time student, and tutor to Alexander the Great (way back at a tender young age, when he was still just Alexander the Average) once said “Philosophy begins in wonder.” And he was right. If we allow ourselves to really wonder about our lives, about those things that we take for granted, and about those big questions that we usually manage to ignore during the busyness of our daily schedules, we are beginning to act as true philosophers. If we think hard about these things, and discipline our reasoning in such a way as to make real progress, we are beginning to act as good philosophers. But we can’t really live philosophically without acting in accordance with our insights. To be philosophers in the deepest sense, we must put our wisdom to work.
He is not wise to me who is wise in words only, but he who is wise in deeds.
— St. Gregory
About This Book
I’ve spent a good number of my years on earth wrestling with the questions that I will raise in this book. At the University of North Carolina, as an undergraduate, I majored in religion but took the equivalent of a double major in philosophy, turning my senior honors thesis in the philosophy of religion into my first published book. At Yale, I spent six years becoming only the second person ever to earn two master’s degrees and a joint Ph.D. between the two departments of Philosophy and Religious Studies. I wanted to leave no ultimate intellectual stone unturned. My doctoral dissertation formed the basis of what would become my next two books and launched me into an international adventure of questioning and understanding that form the deep background of what I intend to cover with you in this book.
The 15 philosophical books that I’ve written before this one provide the scholarly side of my preparation for this book. But the intellectual action in the lecture halls and seminar rooms of the University of Notre Dame, where I taught for 15 years, is what really began to rev my philosophical engine and show me the practical effect of great ideas in launching a good life.
In that time as a professor of philosophy at Notre Dame, I sometimes taught as much as an eighth of the student body in a given year. My most popular course was my freshman Philosophy 101, Introduction to Philosophy. It was anything but a death march through the history of philosophy — no plugging along, putting one footnote in front of another, dragging my charges through names and theories, dates, and titles regardless of their relevance or interest to modern life. My students and I took, by contrast, a lively, energetic look, filled with all appropriate drama and humor, at the fundamental issues that pose the ultimate context for the most basic understandings of life.
Philosophical questions often deal with serious issues, but we don’t need to be particularly somber in our approach to them. We can actually have fun thinking about things that matter. In my Notre Dame course, for example, I’d tell as many stories derived from the wild and weird events of everyday life at the end of the century as I’d take from the lives of the great philosophers throughout previous centuries. Personal tales from my own wild trajectory through this world often provided just the right imaginative boost necessary to help first-time philosophers see the importance of a particular philosophical question about life — and even glimpse the best path toward its resolution.
Philosophy is so awesome. Who would have guessed?
— A Notre Dame undergraduate
Since those days in the classroom, I’ve been living an incredible adventure as a public philosopher, engaged in soul searching and world-view building with people from all around the world and in nearly every walk of life. I’ve spoken to thousands of company presidents, military officers, and educators, as well as tens of thousands of managers, small-business owners, and front-line workers. And I’ve gleaned much more from them all than I ever imagined.
Extensive work in the world of business has shown me especially how many extremely smart people live in our time — those who regularly show great intelligence and even brilliance in their professional activities and who don’t want to feel like dummies in dealing with the ultimate issues of life, even though they may never get to think about such concepts in any extended or disciplined way. In these pages, I intend to use everything that I’ve learned to help you bridge some of those huge gaps that too often exist between academic philosophy and the practical concerns of real life that everyone faces daily.
The greatest philosophers always seek to understand life. They want to attain the deepest perspective they can about this world and about any other world that may exist. They take nothing for granted but question and probe in search of illumination, insight, and what some call “enlightenment.” We all want to understand the context within which we live and move and exist. And getting at least a good start on that task is the humble purpose of this book.
In the country of the blind, the one eyed man is king.
— Michael Apostolius
You don’t need to be a world-class visionary to benefit from looking more closely at the fundamental issues of your life. Any new measure of understanding is a move in the right direction.
In our look at the great philosophical questions, we will allow ourselves to ask basic and probing questions about what it is to be a human being in this world, what life is all about, and how we can live in the most satisfying ways. We ponder the most important things in life. We tackle head on some of those most fundamental issues that we too often dance around and never really address.
I love being a philosopher full time. People come up to me and ask me the most amazing questions. Sometimes they tell me the most incredible stories. It is such questions and such stories that will help us make our way forward, as I share them with you throughout this book for both intellectual and emotional leverage on the Big Issues.
Philosophical issues are all connected with each other in interesting ways. But I’ve written this book so that you can start anywhere or read different chapters independently of each other. Of course, if you start here and read on you’ll be following the order of my own thinking. But the point is that you need not. This is a reference guide that is for your convenience and is intended to answer at least many of the questions you might have about philosophy and philosophical thought.
Conventions Used in This Book
I’ve put quotes from great philosophers and other insightful thinkers throughout the text as a spice to our stew. You don’t have to read them to get what is going on in the body of the book, but, boy, you’d miss some great wisdom nuggets if you didn’t. You can turn this book open to almost any page and get wisdom that doesn’t come from me, but that I’m happy to bring you. You can also skip the boxed inserts that are shaded, if you want. They add subsidiary information or perspective on what I’m presenting, and are often lots of fun, but they are not absolutely necessary either. Also, be on the lookout for icons that will guide you to stories, great ideas, and things you might particularly want to think about.
I use the word “we” a lot in this book, and that’s not often done in the other ...For Dummies books. It’s for a special reason. In philosophy, ultimately, there are no authoritative experts. We are all in this together. I often ask you to consult your intuitions about something, and I sometimes suggest what we human beings usually arrive at when we do so. I sketch out the deep contours of experiences we all have. And I ask you to think through many issues for yourself. We are on a journey of understanding together. So feel free to talk back to me if you ever think I’m getting something wrong.
What You’re Not to Read
Sidebars, summaries, and bullet points are all for your convenience. They are not essential parts of what we have here, but are just helpful extras. Read them as you choose. And feel free to skip over them if time demands. You’ll still get the main ideas, but you’ll miss a lot of good stuff if you don’t check in to them at some point.
Also, catch yourself if you spend too much time staring blankly at a page, mesmerized. Philosophy can sometimes have that effect. And, please, try not to ever fall asleep with this book in your hands. It might give other people the wrong idea about the exciting, rousing, exhilarating enterprise of philosophy.
Foolish Assumptions
I am assuming that you are new to philosophy. You’re not new to all the questions of philosophy — you’ve been asking some of them since you were little. But I’m assuming that you are new to the discipline of philosophical thinking. I don’t take for granted that you’ve ever sat in a philosophy classroom, or even that you’ve ever donned a toga. I assume only that you sometimes wonder about life and this world, and want to get your bearings a little better.
In philosophy, it’s dangerous to make any foolish assumptions, so play along with me here. Hold on to your questions, use them to challenge this text, and be prepared to employ your own insights about life to evaluate what I say. If you are that rare reader who already has had a philosophy course, or proudly hold a (non-income generating) degree in philosophy, temporarily suspend everything you thought you knew, and let’s go at this afresh. If you did once have a philosophy course and have forgotten it all, it won’t be too hard for us to start anew. Welcome to my world of philosophy.
How This Book Is Organized
This book is divided into eight parts. Each part introduces you to an important area of philosophical thinking.
Part I: What Is Philosophy, Anyway?
This part gives you a basic orientation to what philosophy is and what philosophers do. Who were the great philosophers, and why have many of them been so controversial as well as influential?
We look at the importance of asking philosophical questions about your life, and see the role that beliefs can play in determining our experience of the world. This part launches us on the philosophical quest for wisdom.
Part II: How Do We Know Anything?
What is a belief? What is knowledge? How can we be sure that we get the real truth as we go through life? Our beliefs are the map by which we steer through life. It’s very important that they be accurate and guide us well.
In this part, I introduce you to some of the most important questions in the area of philosophy known as epistemology, or theory of knowledge. We ask what the role of rationality is in life, and what it takes for a belief to be rational. We examine some of the strangest and deepest questions ever posed to human beings by the ancient skeptic philosophers. And, finally, we look at the nature of evidence and proof and ask whether it is ever rational to believe anything without good evidence.
In this part of the book, we develop some tools that it will be helpful to have as we tackle some of the most controversial big issues of philosophy.
Part III: What Is the Good?
What is the status of ethics in this world of ours? Are right and wrong just subjective, or are there objective standards for human conduct? In this part, we take a look at a few basic issues for understanding the role of ethics or morality in life.
If you aren’t sure how ethical concerns relate to the rest of life, this is where I hope you’ll be able to get your bearings. We look at what character is and see the role of the Golden Rule in a good life.
Part IV: Are We Ever Really Free?
Morality presupposes freedom. You can’t be really praised or blamed for something that was not up to you. Many of our attitudes and emotions take it for granted that human beings have the freedom to chart their own way in life, or at least through the day. Do we? Or is free will an illusion?
In this part, we examine some of the most interesting challenges to the common belief that we are, at some fundamental level, free. We look at different philosophical views on freedom and try to work our way toward something that can make sense of our experience.
Part V: The Incredible, Invisible You
Are you just a complex organic body, or do you also have a nonphysical mind or soul? Is there more to human beings than meets the eye, even the eye aided by microscopes and MRI machines?
In this part, we address the age old question of whether there is a soul. We look at philosophical arguments on both sides of the question, and we try to evaluate what has been said. Am I a soul man or not? And what about you? This part can help you decide.
Part VI: What’s the Deal with Death?
In this part, we confront one of the most difficult topics we ever have to think about. We examine the fear of death in its many forms and then look at what philosophers have had to say to help calm us down when we contemplate the ultimate off-ramp from life.
I introduce you in this part to the arguments for and against there being life after death. Do we survive bodily death, or is it an absolute end? We see what philosophers have said, and we try to get our own bearings on this crucial issue.
Part VII: Is There a God?
Some have called this the biggest issue of all. What is the most basic reality there is? Is it material, or could it be spiritual? We look at the great debate over this issue and examine the major arguments pro and con.
One thing that we begin to see in this part is how all the major issues of philosophy connect up with each other. We are each constructing a world view as we live our lives. Is it accurate and insightful or not? This part can help you contemplate what the cornerstone of your world view ought to be.
Part VIII: The Meaning of Life
See, we don’t mess around in this book — we get straight to the big issues. I give you the major positions on the question of whether this life has a meaning, and then I give you answers. I actually say what I think the meaning of life is. Curious? You can skip straight to this, but I bet that, if you do, you’ll backtrack to put it all in perspective.
In this part, we also look at one of the most fascinating and controversial arguments ever devised by a philosophical seeker, Pascal’s Wager. Pascal claimed centuries ago that life is a wager. Are you making the right bet? Read this part to see.
Part IX: The Part of Tens
This is the part of the book that will put you on a fast track for impressing your friends with how much you know about philosophy. Are you in the need for weekend, party-size nuggets of wisdom and nibblets of historical insight about the great thinkers? Read this part. But after you’ve used what you discover here, be prepared to quickly go refresh your drink and reload your plate, leaving your conversation partners alone for a few moments to admire your unexpected erudition.
Icons Used in This Book
Throughout the book, I place icons to direct your attention to particular points of interest.
Next to this icon you can find information about some great philosopher.
This icon points the way to some great concept or brainstorm that can help you break through an issue or think about it differently.
A story from my life or reading accompanies this signpost. Expect vivid mental pictures. Or a concern over my sanity. Just remember, I am a philosopher.
This icon guides you to a piece of advice for thinking through a difficult issue.
This is our hazard sign. When you see it, beware of jumping to conclusions, or jumping off a bridge. This icon signals a philosophical fallacy or false step.
Where to Go from Here
This book is chock full of all those questions you may have long wanted to think about and talk with someone about, but have never had the time or opportunity to tackle head on. The best way to absorb all that I will be giving you is to share it with a friend or spouse. Talk about the issues you find here, share perspectives, compare thoughts and feelings with someone you respect. We all have to make our way in this world. And none of us is sure of all the answers. But if we can help each other think through the most fundamental questions, we can make amazing progress in gaining clarity about our lives.
I am giving you the perfect excuse to bring up topics that you may never get to talk to anyone about, on a normal daily basis. Tell them you’re reading a strange book on philosophy and that the philosopher has given you an assignment to ask someone else their opinion on any topic you feel the least bit puzzled about. And when they get intrigued by your newfound wisdom, and ask to borrow this book, just smile and tell them where to buy their own copy. You’ll want it around to go back over.
And tell me what you think. E-mail me your philosophical reactions at my own philosophical website, www.MorrisInstitute.com, where I and my band of merry philosophers can be reached at any time. I want to know what you are thinking about these issues. We’re all in this together!
Part I
What Is Philosophy, Anyway?
In this part . . .
In this part, we look at what philosophy is. What did all those bearded guys in togas actually start? And how should we view the philosophical search for wisdom now?
Chapter 1
Great Thinkers, Deep Thoughts
In This Chapter
Hearing some common misunderstandings of philosophy, courtesy of history’s illustrious thinkers
Examining the importance of the examined life — the life worth living
Looking at the questions we consider in our quest for understanding
Conversation you’re not likely to hear in the 20th century:
Him: “Hey, Honey, what do you want to do tonight?”
Her: “How about some philosophy?”
Him: “Sounds great!”
Her: “Invite the neighbors!”
Okay , let’s face it. For at least a hundred years, philosophy hasn’t exactly enjoyed the most appealing reputation in our culture. But that situation’s about to change. This deepest, most exciting, and ultimately most practical activity of the mind has been misunderstood for long enough. We’re going to do something about that. You and I. In this book.
A Few Nuts Spice the Cake
There may be no intellectual activity more misunderstood and wrongly maligned as philosophy. The great American historian Henry Adams once characterized the entire enterprise of philosophy as consisting of nothing more than “unintelligible answers to insoluble problems.” As far back as the 16th century, the prominent French essayist Michael de Montaigne proclaimed that “philosophy is doubt.” And, of course, who enjoys doubt? Doubt is often uncomfortable. Doubt can even be scary.
The 19th-century philosophical wild man, Friedrich Nietzsche, took it one more step and even went so far as to characterize philosophy as “an explosive, in the presence of which everything is in danger.” So, then, it really comes as no surprise to see Nietzsche’s predecessor, the English poet John Keats, asking, “Do not all charms fly at the mere touch of cold philosophy?”
In ancient times, the famous Roman statesman and author Cicero complained, “There is nothing so absurd that it hasn’t been said by some philosopher.” Of course, he, too, was “some philosopher.” But what about the other human beings who bear that label? What’s our view of them?
More fans of philosophy
The following quotes show what some prominent historical individuals have had to say about philosophy and philosophers:
Philosophy is such an impertinently litigious lady that a man had as good be engaged in lawsuits as have to do with her.
— Sir Isaac Newton
It has been said that metaphysics is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe on instinct.
— W. Somerset Maugham
Wonder is the foundation of all philosophy, inquiry the progress, ignorance the end.
— Montaigne
Philosophy will clip an angel’s wings . . .
— John Keats
All philosophies, if you ride them home, are nonsense; but some are greater nonsense than others.
— Samuel Butler
Philosophy consists largely of one philosopher arguing that all the others are jackasses. He usually proves it, and I should add that he also usually proves that he is one himself.
— H.L. Mencken
If I wished to punish a province, I would have it governed by philosophers.
— Frederick the Great
There is only one thing that a philosopher can be relied on to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers.
— William James
When he who hears doesn’t know what he who speaks means, and when he who speaks doesn’t know what he himself means — that is philosophy.
— Voltaire
There is nothing so strange and so unbelievable that it has not been said by one philosopher or the other.
— Descartes (the Father of Modern Philosophy, strange and unbelievable as that may seem)
I have tried, too, in my time to be a philosopher but, I don’t know how, cheerfulness was always breaking through.
— Oliver Edwards (18th century)
Philosophers? Crazy! Philosophers? Otherworldly! Philosophers? Gloomy! When we hear the word, we tend to have this modern image come to mind of badly groomed academics, carelessly dressed in tweed sport coats, wrinkled shirts, and rumpled pants, who go through life coated with chalk dust, stroking their beards, bearing scowls on their faces and arcane thoughts in their heads, all the while writing on blackboards in capital letters such weighty words as “DEATH,” and “DESPAIR.”
In 1707, Jonathan Swift wrote the following comment:
The various opinions of philosophers have scattered through the world as many plagues of the mind as Pandora’s box did those of the body; only with this difference, that they have not left hope at the bottom.
In our own era, the widely read American journalist and literary critic H.L. Mencken even once went so far as to announce, “There is no record in human history of a happy philosopher.” (But, hey, remember that these guys never met me!)
So what’s the deal here? Philosophy, done right, should be the opposite of all this gloom and doom stuff. It should be exciting, liberating, provocative, illuminating, helpful, and fun. Philosophers themselves should be great company, the life of any party, a hoot and a half. (Okay, so maybe I’m getting a little carried away here.)
If Wisdom be attainable, let us not only win but enjoy it.
— Cicero
I must admit that I know of at least a few great thinkers in human history I’m glad I don’t have as neighbors. And some of their books can be . . . well, should I say, “less than scintillating”? And, all right, as long as I’m trying to be as candid here as possible, I should be willing to acknowledge — without naming any names, of course — that I have actually met a few exceedingly peculiar social misfits who seem to be fish out of water in ordinary life, and whose only discernible accomplishment appears to be an academic doctoral degree in philosophy from a major university. Along with, perhaps, a few unintelligible publications bearing their names. And, unfortunately, a teaching position that places them as ambassadors of philosophy in front of classrooms full of bewildered and yet sometimes bemused undergraduates. But things are not always what they seem.
There is often wisdom under a shabby cloak.
— Caecilius Statius
The enterprise of philosophy itself, philosophy as a genuine human activity, can and should be great. Not to mention the fact that philosophers can be our friends. On this topic, I should perhaps quote the great poet John Milton, who wrote:
How charming is divine philosophy!
Not harsh, and crabbed as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is Apollo’s lute,
And a perpetual feast of nectar’d sweets,
Where no cruel surfeit reigns.
In other words, good stuff indeed.
The same Cicero who voiced his irritation at bad philosophers didn’t shrink from praising a good one. He once described Socrates as “the first man to bring philosophy into the marketplace.” In many ways, it is Socrates’ example that we are following in this book. I want to bring philosophy back into the marketplace of ideas that are seriously contending for your attention. I plan to bring some pretty lofty ideas down to earth and examine their relevance for our day-to-day lives. My goal is to help you get clearer on some of the issues that matter the most, but that we ordinarily tend to think about the least. In this book, I hope that together we’ll be explorers of the spirit, charting our way forward as we go. We’ll take a close look at some exciting ideas, quite a few amazing questions, and several new perspectives for everything we do. We won’t be able to nail down a definitive answer for every question that may arise, but if you stick with me, you’re likely to find yourself making more progress in appreciating — and understanding — these topics than you may at first imagine. I might sometimes ask some nutty-sounding questions, but I promise you that, as you consider the answers, those queries are going to help you obtain some pretty amazing perspectives on this life that we’re living. Our goal, throughout, is nothing less than the quest for wisdom itself.
Life is a festival only to the wise.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Socrates on the Examination that Counts
Socrates liked to walk the streets and go to parties, engaging anyone he could in philosophical dialogue. For him, philosophy was not a dry, intellectual subject, a game for pedants and scholars, but a requirement for living well. He even went so far as to famously proclaim the following axiom:
The unexamined life is not worth living.
But what in the world does this statement mean? Everyone knows what it means to say, “This car isn’t worth $40,000,” or “This shirt isn’t worth $150,” or “The tickets to this concert aren’t worth $80 each.” But what exactly does it mean to say about a certain form of life, a certain lifestyle — what Socrates is calling “the unexamined life” — that it’s “not worth living”?
Essentially, an item is “worth” what it costs if the value or benefits that you derive from it are equal to or greater than the price you pay for it — which is ultimately the same value as the underlying effort or energy that you put into obtaining the resources you need to pay that price. Whenever I think about making a certain purchase, I always ask myself whether the item is truly worth the asking price: Is it worth that amount of money? Is it worth the work it took for me to earn that amount?
A pair of shoes that a wealthy person could see as a “good deal” might be perceived by a poorer individual as far too expensive. The less well-off shopper may need to work far too hard or too long to provide that same amount of money. He may then conclude that the shoes aren’t worth the cost.
But how exactly does this commonplace sort of judgment relate to Socrates’ famous claim? What is the cost — the worth — of the “unexamined life”? Well, first we need to understand what Socrates means by this phrase.
What is “the unexamined life”? Unfortunately, it’s the form of life that far too many people live: Getting up, dressing, eating, going to work, breaking for lunch, working some more, going home, eating again, watching TV, leafing through magazines, exchanging a few words with fellow family members in the house or with friends on the phone, changing for bed, and falling to sleep — just to repeat the same routine all over, and over, and over, without ever thinking about what it all means or how life should be really lived.
We wake up already in motion in this life. The raft is already out on the river, and the current simply carries us forward.
When we’re young, other people decide what we wear, what we eat, and when we can play. All too often, even after we’re older, other people still decide what we do during the day. We make choices, lots of them, but often from a limited selection of options that our environment, our friends, families, and employers, and simple habit, present to us. Rarely, if ever, do we stop to reflect on what we truly want in life, on who we are and want to become, on what difference we want to make in the world, and thus on what’s really right for us. And that is the unexamined life — the life that is lived at some level almost as a sleepwalker, somnambulating away the hours, days, and years. It’s a life that is experienced on automatic pilot — a life based on values and beliefs that we’ve never really looked at, never really tested, never examined for ourselves.
Many people seem to fear self-examination, as if looking at and evaluating their most basic beliefs and values is somehow a threat. But a philosophically reflective examination of our most basic assumptions and commitments doesn’t necessarily have a corrosive effect. It may, by contrast, have a purifying effect. The fundamental goal of philosophical examination isn’t criticism in a negative sense, or any sort of rejection or abandonment. The true goal is understanding. And yet a greater level of understanding often results in a refocusing, a shedding of unnecessary or unimportant activities and an adopting of others — rebalancing and changing our lives in a positive way.
The unexamined life, on the other hand, isn’t one of deep personal understanding. It’s not a life of self-directed positive change.
And you pay a big price for living such a life. What’s the price you pay? What’s the cost? Socrates identifies it when he states that this form of life, the unexamined life, is not worth what you have to pay for it — when he, in fact, plainly says that this form of life simply is not worth living.
The price that you pay for an unexamined life, therefore, is precisely that — your entire life. And you can pay no greater price for anything. Notice, however, that Socrates didn’t say that the unexamined life is not worth anything. He wisely left open the viewpoint that some positive value exists in any life, however unreflective that life may be. This great philosopher said only that the unexamined life isn’t worth the high price that you must pay for it — the investment of all your energies in a direction that’s not of your own choosing.
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. Is the examined life, then, guaranteed to be worth living? Is such a life, alone, worth living? Well, Socrates never actually said so. His statement about the unexamined life does seem to imply, by contrast, such a conclusion. But the wise philosopher left us to draw that ultimate conclusion on our own, by examining ourselves and our own lives. And I hope that what you find in this book helps show you the way to such an examination.
Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world.
— Cervantes
The Questions We’ll Ask
In this book, as in my Notre Dame philosophy course, we look at questions dealing with issues of belief, skepticism, and knowledge; good and evil; free will and determinism, death and life after death; the existence of God; and the meaning of life.
We touch on most of the main fields of philosophy — epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion. And we consult many of the great thinkers of history. Throughout, I intend to keep the orientation of the discussion as practical as it is theoretical, because I believe that the best use of theory is in better practice. With each issue, we ask what difference it makes in our lives and how it helps us to chart our way forward in this world.
There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men, who talk in a road, according to the notions they have borrowed and the prejudices of their education.
— John Locke
Here are some of the questions you can expect to find in these pages:
How can we really know anything?
What is the importance of rationality to a good life?
What does the word good really mean?
Is ethics just a matter of opinion, or do objective moral rules exist that are binding on every person?
Why should we be moral?
Why do people disagree so much on ethics?
Are people really free, or are our actions all determined by genetics and environment?
Can anyone predict the future, in principle, in every detail?
What’s the difference between a human being and a robot?
Do people have souls, or are we just physically complex organisms?
What is death?
Why is death so feared by so many people?
Do we somehow still exist after death?
Where does the concept of God come from?
Does God really exist?
Why does the world contain so much evil?
Can anyone prove what the truth is on such ultimate issues, or must we accept them just as matters of faith?
What, for that matter, is faith?
What is the meaning of life?
How can people be happy?
These questions cover only a few of the basic concepts that I will consider with you throughout this book.
It is better to ask some of the questions than to know all of the answers.
— James Thurber
Chapter 2
Philosophy as an Activity
In This Chapter
Seeing what philosophy as an activity is
Finding out how to do philosophy yourself
Appreciating the power of belief
Peering into Plato’s Cave
Philosophy is not a theory but an activity.
— Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
Philosophy at its best is an activity more than a body of knowledge. In an ancient sense, done right, it is a healing art. It’s intellectual self-defense. It’s a form of therapy. But it’s also much more. Philosophy is map-making for the soul, cartography for the human journey. It’s an important navigational tool for life that too many modern people try to do without.
In this chapter, we see exactly what that activity is, as well as how to do it well. I show you the power that belief can have in human life, and I bring you a distinction that Plato drew so vividly that it has echoed down the centuries, helping to free people from illusion and lead them into truth.
Outward Bound for the Mind
Philosophy can be a little like Outward Bound for the mind. Intellectual spelunking, mental rock climbing, cognitive rapelling, rafting, and reconnoitering. Sometimes it can seem like a conceptual version of Extreme Sports.
On those occasions when we push philosophical inquiry to the very limits of our world views, we find ourselves temporarily letting go of our customary assumptions, intellectually free falling and hoping the chute will open when we need it. When we do that, the point is to experience the outer boundaries of our ordinary beliefs, to come to understand the status of our most important presuppositions, those background convictions that support the perspectives and decisions governing our day-to-day actions, and that we normally just take for granted.
We question things as deeply as we can, in order to understand as deeply as possible. The ultimate goal is a firmer grip on who we are and what our place in the world really is.
But more often, philosophy can be thought of as a package of existential survival skills, along with the determined application of those skills in a sort of a search-and-rescue mission for the soul. Philosophy is not just a game. It’s not just a mental sport. It is the most vital use of our minds for getting our bearings in life.
Mapping Our Way Forward
Consulting the great thinkers of the past, as we draw our own philosophical maps for the present and future, is like stopping to ask a cabbie or a cop for directions, rather than just wandering around lost. It’s getting the advice of those who know, people who have been in the neighborhood before and can find their way around. We inevitably do a little exploring of your own, but any good advice and direction we get can help.
In any expedition into unfamiliar terrain, it pays to have a native guide to lead us, but ultimately we all have to pull ourselves up the side of the hill. We partner with the great thinkers who have gone before us and, with their help, try to see our own vistas and make our own way.
The popular American essayist and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson at one point wrote
Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duties to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given; forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote these books.
“Who am I to think about these things?” each of us is tempted to ask. Well, who did Socrates think he was to be tackling such ideas? Who was Plato? In the first century, Seneca wrote,
Philosophy did not find Plato already a nobleman; it made him one.
It is every bit as much our business to ask about these things as it was theirs. But because they have already started the process, we can benefit from their thinking.
Who consorts with the wise will wise become.
— Menander
We consult the writings of the great dead philosophers not for any final word on the ultimate questions of philosophy, but rather to help get us started, using the insights and avoiding the pitfalls already discovered by those who have gone before us. Early in this century, William Ralph Inge explained,
The object of studying philosophy is to know one’s own mind, not other people’s.
So when we are doing philosophy, we go to the books of past thinkers not to take inventory of their thoughts, or to gather up from them all the answers we might want, but, rather, we go for the assistance and inspiration we need to do our own jobs as thinkers.
Emerson comments,
Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use? What is the one end which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire.
I hope in this book to begin to inspire you as I have been inspired by the books of others to look into these matters for yourself and fight to attain a bit of your own wisdom for life. Likewise, I’ll be your guide, as I use many guides myself, to make our way forward together.
The Extreme Power of Belief
Right up front, let me pass on an important lesson I’ve learned about the role of assumption and belief in our lives. It demonstrates our need for the discipline of philosophy, in an unusual way.
For a long time, my family had wanted to own a gas grill, the kind that has a fat tank of propane under it. But people had warned me about the dangers of propane gas. It’s really combustible. And, breathed, they said, it’s toxic. I seemed to remember that I had heard or read somewhere that in its natural state, propane gas is without odor, but that refiners added a smell so that any leaking gas could be detected immediately and avoided.
Socrates wasn’t the only philosopher who enjoyed being involved in a good grilling (bad joke: his relentless questioning of people), so when my family offered to get me the long-discussed gas grill for Father’s Day, I agreed with enthusiasm to do my part in making all their charred dreams come true. My wife called Sears and ordered a deluxe model. She also offered to pay to have it assembled and delivered. Philosophers are often not the best at assembling anything other than ideas.
Some days later, we received a call from the store that the grill was in, assembled, and “ready to go.” My wife bought the burgers and hot dogs, and all the other normal cookout stuff, and prepared for a feast. When the delivery guys arrived, they pointed out that I would have to hook up the gas tank to the grill itself when I was ready to use it. They explained that they were required to deliver it unattached. I assumed it was dangerous to transport the tank hooked up. Poisonous gas might take out the delivery guys.
They drove away, and with the assistance of written instructions and diagrams, I went to work trying to hook up the tank. I fumbled with the hose and connectors, and kept getting it wrong, and I felt myself getting short of breath. I was doing all this outside so that any leaking propane would dissipate quickly, but obviously there wasn’t enough breeze and I was getting too much of it into my lungs. My family watched as I adopted a new rhythm of action. I’d take a deep breath, run up to the grill, feverishly bolt and twist and hammer, and dash back to a chair 20 feet away, gasping for fresh air. I did this quite a few times until I thought the connection was complete. But when I tried to light the grill, there was no fire. As I hung over it inspecting all the connections, I could feel myself getting light-headed and nauseous from the gas.
We decided to call Sears. I explained what I had done, and that I was obviously breathing too much propane at this point, I was so sick. Mental confusion was starting to set in. As a philosopher, I feared I was losing precious brain cells. My lungs ached. In my mental fog, I could hear the Sears guy asking me a question.
“Where did you take the tank to get your propane?”
“What do you mean? The grill was just delivered this afternoon, and the guy said it was ready to go.”
