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Thinking Critically About Philosophical Problems
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Book Synopsis Thinking Critically about Philosophical Problems by : Thomas F. Wall
Download or read book Thinking Critically about Philosophical Problems written by Thomas F. Wall and published by Cengage Learning. This book was released on 2001 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cited by one reviewer as "a work of stunning originality," this new text presents philosophy both as a collection of fundamental problems and as a method to solve problems, the method of critical thinking. Students become active participants in doing philosophy, in using the method of philosophy as philosophers do when they are thinking well. The various parts of the text are organized to reflect a recurring pattern of critical thinking, and exercises are provided throughout the text to sharpen these thinking skills in the context of solving philosophical problems. In addition to addressing individual philosophical problems, this text also encourages students to integrate their solutions into a coherent worldview.
Book Synopsis Thinking Critically About Abortion by : Nathan Nobis
Download or read book Thinking Critically About Abortion written by Nathan Nobis and published by Open Philosophy Press. This book was released on 2019-06-19 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces readers to the many arguments and controversies concerning abortion. While it argues for ethical and legal positions on the issues, it focuses on how to think about the issues, not just what to think about them. It is an ideal resource to improve your understanding of what people think, why they think that and whether their (and your) arguments are good or bad, and why. It's ideal for classroom use, discussion groups, organizational learning, and personal reading. From the Preface To many people, abortion is an issue for which discussions and debates are frustrating and fruitless: it seems like no progress will ever be made towards any understanding, much less resolution or even compromise. Judgments like these, however, are premature because some basic techniques from critical thinking, such as carefully defining words and testing definitions, stating the full structure of arguments so each step of the reasoning can be examined, and comparing the strengths and weaknesses of different explanations can help us make progress towards these goals. When emotions run high, we sometimes need to step back and use a passion for calm, cool, critical thinking. This helps us better understand the positions and arguments of people who see things differently from us, as well as our own positions and arguments. And we can use critical thinking skills help to try to figure out which positions are best, in terms of being supported by good arguments: after all, we might have much to learn from other people, sometimes that our own views should change, for the better. Here we use basic critical thinking skills to argue that abortion is typically not morally wrong. We begin with less morally-controversial claims: adults, children and babies are wrong to kill and wrong to kill, fundamentally, because they, we, are conscious, aware and have feelings. We argue that since early fetuses entirely lack these characteristics, they are not inherently wrong to kill and so most abortions are not morally wrong, since most abortions are done early in pregnancy, before consciousness and feeling develop in the fetus. Furthermore, since the right to life is not the right to someone else’s body, fetuses might not have the right to the pregnant woman’s body—which she has the right to—and so she has the right to not allow the fetus use of her body. This further justifies abortion, at least until technology allows for the removal of fetuses to other wombs. Since morally permissible actions should be legal, abortions should be legal: it is an injustice to criminalize actions that are not wrong. In the course of arguing for these claims, we: 1. discuss how to best define abortion; 2. dismiss many common “question-begging” arguments that merely assume their conclusions, instead of giving genuine reasons for them; 3. refute some often-heard “everyday arguments” about abortion, on all sides; 4. explain why the most influential philosophical arguments against abortion are unsuccessful; 5. provide some positive arguments that at least early abortions are not wrong; 6. briefly discuss the ethics and legality of later abortions, and more. This essay is not a “how to win an argument” piece or a tract or any kind of apologetics. It is not designed to help anyone “win” debates: everybody “wins” on this issue when we calmly and respectfully engage arguments with care, charity, honesty and humility. This book is merely a reasoned, systematic introduction to the issues that we hope models these skills and virtues. Its discussion should not be taken as absolute “proof” of anything: much more needs to be understood and carefully discussed—always.
Book Synopsis Philosophical Problems by : Peter Alward
Download or read book Philosophical Problems written by Peter Alward and published by Broadview Press. This book was released on 2017-11-02 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter Alward’s rigorous introductory text functions as a roadmap for students, laying out the key issues, positions, and arguments of academic philosophy. The book covers central topics in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy. An introductory chapter presents the foundations of philosophical discourse and offers a primer on the basics of logic. Those argumentative tools are then employed to address classic philosophical issues such as the relationship between body and mind, skepticism, the possibility of free will, and the existence of God. Later chapters engage issues of morality, justice, and liberty, as well as moral questions concerning abortion and the practice of punishment. Throughout, Alward aims for clarity, providing summaries, diagrams, and reflective questions to assist the student reader.
Book Synopsis The Nature of Philosophical Problems by : John Kekes
Download or read book The Nature of Philosophical Problems written by John Kekes and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2014-05-08 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We must all make choices about how we want to live. We evaluate our possibilities by relying on historical, moral, personal, political, religious, and scientific modes of evaluations, but the values and reasons that follow from them conflict. Philosophical problems are forced on us when we try to cope with such conflicts. There are reasons for and against all proposed ways of coping with the conflicts, but none of them has been generally accepted by reasonable thinkers. The constructive aim of The Nature of Philosophical Problems is to propose a way of understanding the nature of such philosophical problems, explain why they occur, why they are perennial, and propose a pluralist approach as the most reasonable way of coping with them. This approach is practical, context-dependent, and particular. It follows from it that the recurrence of philosophical problems is not a defect, but a welcome consequence of the richness of our modes of understanding that enlarges the range of possibilities by which we might choose to live. The critical aim of the book is to give reasons against both the absolutist attempt to find an overriding value or principle for resolving philosophical problems and of the relativist claim that reasons unavoidably come to an end and how we want to live is ultimately a matter of personal preference, not of reasons.
Book Synopsis Critical Thinking and Logic by : Todd M. Furman
Download or read book Critical Thinking and Logic written by Todd M. Furman and published by Gegensatz Press. This book was released on 2014-09-22 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inexpensive but comprehensive introduction. Examples and homework problems touch on philosophical issues much more so than standard texts, providing instructors an opportunity to ease into philosophical discussions as desired and piquing student interest. Homework assignments are on tear-out pages for ease of use. While Critical Thinking and Logic: A Philosophical Workbook covers standard issues of critical thinking such as argument types and fallacies, it also provides a solid foundation for an advanced course in formal logic. The final chapter includes a complete translation of Descartes’s Meditations, allowing students to put their newly acquired skills to work on a classic work of philosophy.
Book Synopsis Thinking Critically about Moral Problems by : Thomas F. Wall
Download or read book Thinking Critically about Moral Problems written by Thomas F. Wall and published by Cengage Learning. This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In contrast to most texts designed to introduce students to contemporary moral problems, this book is designed to present students with a method for how to think for themselves in a morally reasoned fashion. Honing students' critical thinking skills through continuous reference to a step-by-step method of moral analysis, this text covers not only many timely moral problems associated with life and death, social justice, and sex and reproduction, but many major ethical theories as well, such as utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, and egoism. Building on the methodology and critical successes of his THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEMS (Wadsworth 2002), Wall's new book provides students with clear and readily accessible models of rigorous moral analysis to guide their own deliberations about the most crucial moral issues of our time.
Book Synopsis Artistic License by : Darren Hudson Hick
Download or read book Artistic License written by Darren Hudson Hick and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-04-26 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The art scene today is one of appropriation—of remixing, reusing, and recombining the works of other artists. From the musical mash-ups of Girl Talk to the pop-culture borrowings of Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, it’s clear that the artistic landscape is shifting—which leads to some tricky legal and philosophical questions. In this up-to-date, thorough, and accessible analysis of the right to copyright, Darren Hudson Hick works to reconcile the growing practice of artistic appropriation with innovative views of artists’ rights, both legal and moral. Engaging with long-standing debates about the nature of originality, authorship, and artists’ rights, Hick examines the philosophical challenges presented by the role of intellectual property in the artworld and vice versa. Using real-life examples of artists who have incorporated copyrighted works into their art, he explores issues of artistic creation and the nature of infringement as they are informed by analytical aesthetics and legal and critical theory. Ultimately, Artistic License provides a critical and systematic analysis of the key philosophical issues that underlie copyright policy, rethinking the relationship between artist, artwork, and the law.
Book Synopsis Thinking Things Through - An Introduction to Philosophical Issues and Achievements by : Clark N Glymour
Download or read book Thinking Things Through - An Introduction to Philosophical Issues and Achievements written by Clark N Glymour and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Tetralogue written by Timothy Williamson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "For those new to philosophy, 'Tetralogue' is a marvellous way into the subject. For those who are old hands, it neatly poses serious questions about truth and falsity, relativism and dogma."--Dust jacket flap.
Book Synopsis The Problems of Philosophy by : Bertrand Russell
Download or read book The Problems of Philosophy written by Bertrand Russell and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2001 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This classic work, first published in 1912, has never been supplanted as an approachable introduction to the theory of philosophical enquiry. It gives Russell's views on such subjects as the distinction between appearance and reality, the existence and nature of matter, idealism, knowledge by acquaintance and by description, induction, truth and falsehood, the distinction between knowledge, error and probable opinion, and the limits and value of philosophical knowledge.
Book Synopsis Philosophy for Kids by : David A. White
Download or read book Philosophy for Kids written by David A. White and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-09-03 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inspire animated discussions of questions that concern kids—and all of us—with this innovative, interactive book. Open your students' minds to the wonders of philosophy. Allow them to grapple with the questions philosophers have discussed since the ancient Greeks. Questions include: “Who are your friends?,” “Can computers think?,” “Can something logical not make sense?,” and “Can you think about nothing?” Young minds will find these questions to be both entertaining and informative. If you have ever wondered about questions like these, you are well on your way to becoming a philosopher! Philosophy for Kids offers young people the opportunity to become acquainted with the wonders of philosophy. Packed with exciting activities arranged around the topics of values, knowledge, reality, and critical thinking, this book can be used individually or by the whole class. Each activity allows kids to increase their understanding of philosophical concepts and issues and enjoy themselves at the same time. In addition to learning about a challenging subject, students philosophizing in a classroom setting, as well as the casual reader of Philosophy for Kids, will sharpen their ability to think critically about these and similar questions. Experiencing the enjoyment of philosophical thought enhances a young person's appreciation for the importance of reasoning throughout the traditional curriculum of subjects. The book includes activities, teaching tips, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for further reading. Grades 4-12
Book Synopsis Introduction to Logic by : Harry J Gensler
Download or read book Introduction to Logic written by Harry J Gensler and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-08-06 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction to Logic combines likely the broadest scope of any logic textbook available with clear, concise writing and interesting examples and arguments. Its key features, all retained in the Second Edition, include: • simpler ways to test arguments than those available in competing textbooks, including the star test for syllogisms • a wide scope of materials, making it suitable for introductory logic courses (as the primary text) or intermediate classes (as the primary or supplementary book) • engaging and easy-to-understand examples and arguments, drawn from everyday life as well as from the great philosophers • a suitability for self-study and for preparation for standardized tests, like the LSAT • a reasonable price (a third of the cost of many competitors) • exercises that correspond to the LogiCola program, which may be downloaded for free from the web. This Second Edition also: • arranges chapters in a more useful way for students, starting with the easiest material and then gradually increasing in difficulty • provides an even broader scope with new chapters on the history of logic, deviant logic, and the philosophy of logic • expands the section on informal fallacies • includes a more exhaustive index and a new appendix on suggested further readings • updates the LogiCola instructional program, which is now more visually attractive as well as easier to download, install, update, and use.
Book Synopsis The New Critical Thinking by : Jack Lyons
Download or read book The New Critical Thinking written by Jack Lyons and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-08-09 with total page 607 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why is it so hard to learn critical thinking skills? Traditional textbooks focus almost exclusively on logic and fallacious reasoning, ignoring two crucial problems. As psychologists have demonstrated recently, many of our mistakes are not caused by formal reasoning gone awry, but by our bypassing it completely. We instead favor more comfortable, but often unreliable, intuitive methods. Second, the evaluation of premises is of fundamental importance, especially in this era of fake news and politicized science. This highly innovative text is psychologically informed, both in its diagnosis of inferential errors, and in teaching students how to watch out for and work around their natural intellectual blind spots. It also incorporates insights from epistemology and philosophy of science that are indispensable for learning how to evaluate premises. The result is a hands-on primer for real world critical thinking. The authors bring over four combined decades of classroom experience and a fresh approach to the traditional challenges of a critical thinking course: effectively explaining the nature of validity, assessing deductive arguments, reconstructing, identifying and diagramming arguments, and causal and probabilistic inference. Additionally, they discuss in detail, important, frequently neglected topics, including testimony, the nature and credibility of science, rhetoric, and dialectical argumentation. Key Features and Benefits: Uses contemporary psychological explanations of, and remedies for, pervasive errors in belief formation. There is no other critical thinking text that generally applies this psychological approach. Assesses premises, notably premises based on the testimony of others, and evaluation of news and other information sources. No other critical thinking textbook gives detailed treatment of this crucial topic. Typically, they only provide a few remarks about when to accept expert opinion / argument from authority. Carefully explains the concept of validity, paying particular attention in distinguishing logical possibility from other species of possibility, and demonstrates how we may mistakenly judge invalid arguments as valid because of belief bias. Instead of assessing an argument’s validity using formal/mathematical methods (i.e., truth tables for propositional logic and Venn diagrams for categorical logic), provides one technique that is generally applicable: explicitly showing that it is impossible to make the conclusion false and the premises true together. For instructors who like the more formal approach, the text also includes standard treatments using truth tables and Venn diagrams. Uses frequency trees and the frequency approach to probability more generally, a simple method for understanding and evaluating quite complex probabilistic information Uses arguments maps, which have been shown to significantly improve students’ reasoning and argument evaluation
Book Synopsis Philosophical Problems of Classical Film Theory by : Noël Carroll
Download or read book Philosophical Problems of Classical Film Theory written by Noël Carroll and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an analytical inquiry into classical film theory (that is, film theory before the advent of the semiotics and poststructuralism that began to dominate academic film literature in the 1970s). The author brings his training and experience as both an analytical philosopher and a film scholar to bear on its chief tenets. Using Rudolf Arnheim, Andre Bazin, and V. F. Perkins as representatives of major types of thinking about film, he provides clear and concise overviews of their work and locates their thought against the critical and theoretical currents of their times, the historical development of the cinema, and the prevalent issues in philosophical aesthetics. This closely reasoned book characterizes the structure of classical film theory, attempts to diagnose its shortcomings, and suggests avenues of inquiry for postclassical film theory. In addition, it includes many illuminating discussions of particular films and cinematic techniques. Arnheim and Bazin represent opposing positions on the nature of photographic recording that are so deeply entrenched in our intellectual culture that these arguments seem to return over and over whenever discussion of the photographic arts is broached. Professor Carroll offers a uniquely penetrating appraisal of their work. Perkins, a more contemporary thinker, has not been subjected to any detailed analysis until now.
Book Synopsis Philosophy and Temporality from Kant to Critical Theory by : Espen Hammer
Download or read book Philosophy and Temporality from Kant to Critical Theory written by Espen Hammer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-03-31 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a critical analysis of how key philosophers in the European tradition have responded to the emergence of a modern conception of temporality. Espen Hammer suggests that it is a feature of Western modernity that time has been forcibly separated from the natural cycles and processes with which it used to be associated. In a discussion that ranges over Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Heidegger and Adorno, he examines the forms of dissatisfaction which result from this, together with narrative modes of configuring time, the relationship between agency and temporality, and possible challenges to the modern world's linear and homogenous experience of time. His study is a rich exploration of an enduring philosophical theme: the role of temporality in shaping and reshaping modern human affairs.
Book Synopsis Thinking Critically: What Does It Mean? by : Dariusz Kubok
Download or read book Thinking Critically: What Does It Mean? written by Dariusz Kubok and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyses of the dynamics of change present in Europe are not complete without taking into account the role and function of the critical approach as a founding element of European culture. An appreciation of critical thinking must go hand-in-hand with reflection on its essence, forms, and centuries-long tradition. The European philosophical tradition has thematized the problem of criticism since its appearance. This book contains articles on the history of philosophical criticism and ways that it has been understood in European thought. Individual chapters contain both historical-philosophical and problem-oriented analyses, indicating the relationships between philosophical criticism and rationalism, logic, scepticism, atheism, dialectic procedure, and philosophical counseling, among others. Philosophical reflection on critical thinking allows for an acknowledgment of its significance in the fields of epistemology, philosophy of politics, aesthetics, methodology, philosophy of language, and cultural theory. The book should interest not only humanities scholars, but also scholars in other fields, as the development of an anti-dogmatic critical approach is a lasting and indispensible challenge for all disciplines.
Book Synopsis The Problems of Philosophy by : Bertrand Russell
Download or read book The Problems of Philosophy written by Bertrand Russell and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: