The Philosophy Book for Beginners: A Brief Introduction to Great Thinkers and Big Ideas

Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Introduction
	What Is Philosophy?
	Why Philosophy?
	How to Use This Book
Part One: Metaphysics
	Chapter One: What Is Truly Real?
		Adi Shankara—Karma
		Plato—Idealism
		Aristotle—Realism
		Margaret Cavendish—Materialism
		George Berkeley—Subjective Idealism
		Thought Experiment: The Falling Tree
	Chapter Two: Can the Existence of God Be Proven or Disproven?
		Averroes—The Teleological Argument
		Thomas Aquinas—The Cosmological Argument
		Mary Astell—The Ontological Argument
		C. S. Lewis—The Moral Argument
		J. L. Mackie—The Problem of Evil
		Thought Experiment: The Invisible Gardener
	Chapter Three: Who Am I?
		Zeno of Citium—Stoicism
		Simone de Beauvoir—Existentialism
		Daniel Dennett—Reductionism
		David Chalmers—Dualism
		Thought Experiment: The Floating Man
	Chapter Four: Am I Free to Make Choices?
		Epicurus—Atomism
		Elizabeth Anscombe—Indeterminism
		Epictetus—Divine Determinism
		Thomas Hobbes—Physical Determinism
		Jean-Paul Sartre—Existentialism
		Thought Experiment: The Calculating Demon
Part Two: Epistemology
	Chapter Five: Can We Know Anything?
		Zhuang Zhou—Relativism
		Sextus Empiricus—Skepticism
		René Descartes—Rationalism
		John Locke—Empiricism
		Simone Weil—Mysticism
		Thought Experiment: The Butterfly Dream
	Chapter Six: What Makes Something True?
		Nagarjuna—Emptiness
		G. W. Leibniz—Necessity
		David Hume—Skepticism
		Ludwig Wittgenstein—Correspondence
		Susan Haack—Foundherentism
		Thought Experiment: The Stopped Clock
	Chapter Seven: Is Science Really Objective?
		William James—Pragmatism
		Karl Popper—Falsification
		Thomas Kuhn—Paradigms
		Michel Foucault—Power
		Logical Fallacies
		Thought Experiment: The Quantum Cat
Part Three: Axiology
	Chapter Eight: What Makes a Good Life?
		Laozi—Harmony with Nature
		Siddhartha Gautama—Detachment
		Hildegard of Bingen—Enthusiasm
		Albert Camus—Sensual Pleasure
		Alain de Botton—Emotional Intelligence
		Thought Experiment: The Experience Machine
	Chapter Nine: How Do I Decide What’s Right?
		Augustine—Divine Command Theory
		Jean-Jacques Rousseau—Social Contract Theory
		Immanuel Kant—Deontology
		John Stuart Mill—Utilitarianism
		Rosalind Hursthouse—Virtue Ethics
		Thought Experiment: The Runaway Trolley
	Chapter Ten: What Do I Owe to the World?
		Confucius—Inner Propriety
		Søren Kierkegaard—Radical Faith
		Ayn Rand—Rational Egoism
		Peter Singer—Effective Altruism
		Thought Experiment: The Inhospitable Hospital
	Chapter Eleven: What Makes a Society Just?
		Abu Nasr Al-Farabi—Hierarchy
		John Rawls—Fairness
		Karl Marx—Economic Equality
		Martin Luther King Jr.—Racial Equality
		Martha Nussbaum—Gender Equality
		Thought Experiment: The Unconscious Violinist
	Chapter Twelve: What Is Beauty?
		Plotinus—Perfection
		Sen no Rikyū—Imperfection
		George Santayana—The Object of Pleasure
		Iris Murdoch—The Object of Love
		Thought Experiment: The Vermeer Forgeries
	Chapter Thirteen: What Is Art?
		Georg Hegel—Ideal Beauty
		Leo Tolstoy—Shared Emotion
		Friedrich Nietzsche—Inventing Value
		Virginia Woolf—An Infinite Difficulty for Women
		John Dewey—A Meaningful Experience
		Thought Experiment: The Four Red Squares
		Closing Thoughts
Resources
References
Acknowledgment
About the Author