Metaphysics and Epistemology: A Guided Anthology presents a comprehensive introductory overview of key themes, thinkers, and texts in metaphysics and epistemology. Presents a wide-ranging collection of carefully excerpted readings on metaphysics and epistemology Blends classic and contemporary works to reveal the historical development and present directions in the fields of metaphysics and epistemology Provides succinct, insightful commentary to introduce the essence of each selection at the beginning of chapters which also serve to inter-link the selected writings

Table of Contents:
Source Acknowledgments x Preface and Acknowledgments xv Introduction xvii Part I The Philosophical Image 1 1 Life and the Search for Philosophical Knowledge 3 Plato, Republic 2 Philosophical Questioning 14 Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy 3 Philosophy and Fundamental Images 20 Wilfrid Sellars, “Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man” 4 Philosophy as the Analyzing of Key Concepts 27 P.F. Strawson, Analysis and Metaphysics 5 Philosophy as Explaining Underlying Possibilities 33 Robert Nozick, Philosophical Explanations Part II Metaphysics: Philosophical Images of Being 41 How Is the World at all Physical? 43 6 How Real Are Physical Objects? 43 Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy 7 Are Physical Objects Never Quite as They Appear To Be? 48 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 8 Are Physical Objects Really Only Objects of Thought? 54 George Berkeley, The Principles of Human Knowledge 9 Is Even the Mind Physical? 60 D.M. Armstrong, “The Causal Theory of the Mind” 10 Is the Physical World All There Is? 66 Frank Jackson, “Epiphenomenal Qualia” How Does the World Function? 74 11 Is Causation Only a Kind of Regularity? 74 David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding 12 Is Causation Something Singular and Unanalyzable? 81 G.E.M. Anscombe, “Causation and Determination” How Do Things Ever Have Qualities? 88 13 How Can Individual Things Have Repeatable Qualities? 88 Plato, Parmenides 14 How Can Individual Things Not Have Repeatable Qualities? 95 D.M. Armstrong, Nominalism and Realism How Are There Any Truths? 102 15 Do Facts Make True Whatever Is True? 102 Bertrand Russell, “The Philosophy of Logical Atomism” 16 Are There Social Facts? 107 John Searle, Mind, Language and Society 17 Is There Only Personally Decided Truth? 114 Plato, Theaetetus How Is There a World At All? 120 18 Has the World Been Designed by God? 120 David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion 19 Is God’s Existence Knowable Purely Conceptually? 131 St. Anselm, Proslogion 20 Has This World Been Actualized by God from Among All Possible Worlds? 145 G.W. Leibniz, Monadology 21 Does This World Exist Because It Has Value Independently of God? 149 Nicholas Rescher, Nature and Understanding 22 Can Something Have Value in Itself? 158 Plato, Euthyphro How Are Persons Persons? 161 23 Is Each Person a Union of Mind and Body? 161 René Descartes, “Meditation VI” 24 Is Self-Consciousness what Constitutes a Person? 164 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 25 How Strictly Does Self-Consciousness Constitute a Person? 170 Roderick M. Chisholm, “Identity through Time” 26 Are Persons Constituted with Strict Identity At All? 177 Derek Parfit, Reasons and Persons 27 Are We Animals? 187 Eric T. Olson, “An Argument for Animalism” How Do People Ever Have Free Will and Moral Responsibility? 196 28 Is There No Possibility of Acting Differently To How One Will in Fact Act? 196 Aristotle, De Interpretatione 29 Could Our Being Entirely Caused Coexist with Our Acting Freely? 200 David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding 30 Would Being Entirely Caused Undermine Our Personally Constitutive Emotions? 206 P.F. Strawson, “Freedom and Resentment” 31 Is a Person Morally Responsible Only for Actions Performed Freely? 213 Harry G. Frankfurt, “Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility” 32 Is Moral Responsibility for a Good Action Different to Moral Responsibility for a Bad Action? 218 Susan Wolf, “Asymmetrical Freedom” How Could a Person Be Harmed by Being Dead? 224 33 Is It Impossible To Be Harmed by Being Dead? 224 Epicurus, “Letter to Menoeceus” 34 Is It Impossible To Be Harmed by Being Dead at a Particular Time? 226 Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 35 Would Immortality Be Humanly Possible and Desirable? 229 Bernard Williams, “The Makropulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality” 36 Can a Person be Deprived of Benefits by Being Dead? 236 Fred Feldman, Confrontations with the Reaper Further Readings for Part II 240 Part III Epistemology: Philosophical Images of Knowing 245 Can We Understand What It Is to Know? 247 37 Is Knowledge a Supported True Belief? 247 Plato, Meno 38 When Should a Belief be Supported by Evidence? 251 W.K. Clifford, “The Ethics of Belief ” 39 Is Knowledge a Kind of Objective Certainty? 256 A.J. Ayer, The Problem of Knowledge 40 Are All Fallibly Supported True Beliefs Instances of Knowledge? 260 Edmund L. Gettier, “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?” 41 Must a True Belief Arise Aptly, if it is to be Knowledge? 264 Alvin I. Goldman, “A Causal Theory of Knowing” 42 Must a True Belief Arise Reliably, if it is to be Knowledge? 268 Alvin I. Goldman, “Discrimination and Perceptual Knowledge” 43 Where is the Value in Knowing? 273 Catherine Z. Elgin, “The Epistemic Efficacy of Stupidity” 44 Is Knowledge Always a Virtuously Derived True Belief? 279 Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski, Virtues of the Mind Can We Ever Know Just through Observation? 287 45 Is All Knowledge Ultimately Observational? 287 David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding 46 Is There a Problem of Not Knowing that One Is Not Dreaming? 292 René Descartes, “Meditation I” 47 What Is It Really to be Seeing Something? 295 David Lewis, “Veridical Hallucination and Prosthetic Vision” 48 Is There a Possibility of Being a Mere and Unknowing Brain in a Vat? 302 Hilary Putnam, Reason, Truth and History 49 Is It Possible to Observe Directly the Objective World? 311 John McDowell, “The Disjunctive Conception of Experience as Material for a Transcendental Argument” Can We Ever Know Innately? 317 50 Is It Possible to Know Innately Some Geometrical or Mathematical Truths? 317 Plato, Meno 51 Is There No Innate Knowledge At All? 325 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Can We Ever Know Just through Reflection? 335 52 Is All Knowledge Ultimately Reflective? 335 René Descartes, Discourse on Method 53 Can Reflective Knowledge Be Substantive and Informative? 340 Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason 54 Is All Apparently Reflective Knowledge Ultimately Observational? 349 John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic 55 Is Scientific Reflection Our Best Model for Understanding Reflection? 355 C.S. Peirce, “Some Consequences of Four Incapacities” and “How To Make Our Ideas Clear” 56 Are Some Necessities Known through Observation, Not Reflection? 363 Saul A. Kripke, Naming and Necessity Can We Know in Other Fundamental Ways? 369 57 Is Knowing-How a Distinct Way of Knowing? 369 Gilbert Ryle, “Knowing How and Knowing That” 58 Is Knowing One’s Intention-in-Action a Distinct Way of Knowing? 376 G.E.M. Anscombe, Intention 59 Is Knowing via What Others Say or Write a Distinct Way of Knowing? 383 Jennifer Lackey, “Knowing from Testimony” 60 Is Knowing through Memory a Distinct Way of Knowing? 391 Bertrand Russell, The Analysis of Mind Can We Fundamentally Fail Ever To Know? 399 61 Are None of our Beliefs More Justifiable than Others? 399 Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism 62 Are None of Our Beliefs Immune from Doubt? 407 René Descartes, “Meditation I” 63 Are We Unable Ever To Extrapolate Justifiedly Beyond Our Observations? 410 David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding Can Skeptical Arguments Be Escaped? 417 64 Can We Know at Least Our Conscious Mental Lives? 417 René Descartes, “Meditation II” 65 Can We Know Some Fundamental Principles by Common Sense? 422 Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man 66 Do We Know a Lot, but Always Fallibly? 434 Karl R. Popper, “On the Sources of Knowledge and of Ignorance” 67 Is It Possible to have Knowledge even when Not Knowing that One Is Not a Brain in a Vat? 444 Robert Nozick, Philosophical Explanations Further Readings for Part III 452