Philosophy

1
Philosophy Philosophy Sources

• LIS413 Brendan Rapple
• Simmons College 30 June, 2009

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What is Philosophy?

• Its a study that seeks to understand the
  mysteries of existence and reality.
• It tries to discover the nature of truth and
  knowledge and to find what is of basic value and
  importance in life.
• Philosophy is thus a form of inquiry a process
  of analysis, criticism, interpretation, and
  speculation.

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What Do Philosophers Study?

• Biology deals with living beings.
• Philosophy asks what being means.
• Political science examines societies and
  political systems.
• Philosophy asks what is justice.
• Artists create art.
• Philosophy asks what is beauty.
• Thus philosophy examines more fundamental beliefs
  and assumptions.

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Origin of Term

• Ancient Greeks were the first known western
  philosophers -- about 500 BC.
• They sought answers about the nature of the world
  and reality.
• Formerly, people had largely relied on magic,
  superstition, religion, tradition, or authority.
• The term philosophy itself comes from the Greek
  philosophia, which means love of wisdom.

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• Non-Western Philosophy long history in China and
  India.
• Western philosophy generally developed
  independently of Eastern philosophy.

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Philosophy in Everyday Lives

• Every institution of society is based on
  philosophic ideas
• the law
• government
• religion
• the family
• marriage
• industry
• business
• education.

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Branches of Philosophy

• Logic
• Logic is the study of the principles and methods
  of reasoning.
• Studies what rules a person must follow in order
  to think correctly.

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Metaphysics

• The study of the fundamental nature of reality
  and existence and of the essences of things.
• Often divided into two areas ontology and
  cosmology.
• Ontology the study of being.
• Cosmology the study of the physical universe, or
  the cosmos, taken as a whole.

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Metaphysics Deals With Such Questions As

• What is reality?
• What is the distinction between appearance and
  reality?
• What are the most general principles and concepts
  by which our experiences can be interpreted and
  understood?
• Do we possess free will or are our actions
  determined by causes over which we have no
  control?

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Epistemology

• Epistemology aims to determine the nature, basis,
  and extent of knowledge.
• Epistemology asks such questions as
• What are the features of genuine knowledge as
  distinct from what appears to be knowledge?
• What is truth, and how can we know what is true
  and what is false?
• Are there different kinds of knowledge, with
  different grounds and characteristics?

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Philosophical Theology

• Is there a God?
• If there is, what is He/She/It like?
• Is man immortal?
• Is Gods goodness a factor in the direction of
  nature and of human life?
• If God does direct mans life, in what sense is
  man free?
• Why is there evil in the world?

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Philosophical Psychology

• What exactly is mans mind?
• Is mind basically a soul or spirit?
• Or is mind a process that depends on the body?
• How are mind and body related?
• Philosophical Psychology also addresses the many
  concepts having an essential mental element
• belief, desire, emotion, feeling, sensation,
  passion, will, personality, and others.

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Ethics

• What makes right actions right and wrong actions
  wrong?
• What is good and what is bad?
• What are the proper values of life?

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Three Views of Ethics

• Relativism
• Objectivism
• Subjectivism

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Some Subfields of Ethics

• Political Philosophy
• Examines the nature and possible arguments for
  various competing forms of political
  organization, such as
• laissez-faire capitalism,
• welfare democracy (capitalistic and socialistic),
  
• anarchism,
• communism,
• fascism, etc.
• Business Ethics
• Explores such questions as
• how moral obligations may conflict with the
  profit motive and how these conflicts may be
  resolved.
• the nature and scope of the social
  responsibilities of corporations, their rights in
  a free society, and their relations to other
  institutions.

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Social Philosophy

• Treats such moral problems with large-scale
  social dimensions as
• the basis of compulsory education,
• the possible grounds for preferential treatment
  of minorities,
• the justice of taxation,
• the appropriate limits, if any, on free
  expression in the arts.

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Philosophy of Law

• Explores such topics as
• what law is
• what kinds of laws there are
• how law is or should be related to morality
• what sorts of principles should govern punishment
  and criminal justice in general.

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Medical Ethics

• Examines such question as
• standards applying to physician-patient
  relationships
• moral questions raised by special procedures,
  such as abortion and ceasing of life-support for
  terminal patients
• ethical standards for medical research, for
  instance genetic engineering and experimentation
  using human subjects.

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Aesthetics

• Aesthetics deals with the creation and principles
  of art and beauty.
• Its wider than Philosophy of Art as it involves
  both works of art created by human beings and the
  beauty found in nature.

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Philosophy of Language

• The nature of language
• The nature of meaning
• The relations between words and things
• The various theories of language learning

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Philosophy and Science

• Science studies natural phenomena and the
  phenomena of society. It does not study itself.
  When science does reflect on itself, it becomes
  the philosophy of science and examines a number
  of philosophic questions, e.g.
• What is science?
• What is scientific method?
• Does scientific truth provide us with the truth
  about the universe and reality?
• What is the value of science?

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Terminology

• Until the 1700s, no distinction was made between
  science and philosophy. For example, physics was
  called natural philosophy.
• Psychology was part of what was called moral
  philosophy.
• Logic has always been considered a branch of
  philosophy. However, logic has now developed to
  the point where it is also a branch of
  mathematics.

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Other Subfields of Philosophy

• Philosophy of History
• Philosophy of Mathematics
• Philosophy of Education
• Philosophy of Feminism
• Philosophy of Linguistics
• Philosophy of Criticism
• Philosophy of Culture
• Philosophy of Film

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Non Western Philosophies

• Especially eastern and southern Asia
• Also the Middle East
• Africa -- indigenous philosophies
• Perhaps unfortunately, "non-Western philosophy"
  has often been used interchangeably with Eastern
  philosophy.
• Some major movements include
• Buddhism, Jainism, Hindu philosophies,
  Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, the
  Chinese Yin-Yang School, Islamic philosophy

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Islamic Philosophy

• Most non-western philosophies have up till
  recently had little connection with that of the
  west.
• However, Islamic philosophy played a crucial role
  in the transmission of Greek thought and Greek
  philosophical texts to Medieval Christendom.

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Western and non-Western Philosophy

• The line between the two is less clear now than
  it once was. Western philosophies have penetrated
  deeply into the non-Western world.
• Marxism may have been for a time the most
  significant.
• Though great interest in non-Western thought
  (often in association with religious interests),
  very few philosophers in the West have come to
  "do philosophy" in a non-Western mode.

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The Study of Philosophy at College/University

• Historical Model
• Field Model
• Problems Model
• Activity Model

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Historical Model

• Emphasizes the history of philosophy -- often
  with attention to the wider cultural setting.

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Field Model

• Stresses coverage of central fields and various
  subfields of philosophical inquiry.

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Problems Model

• Its emphasis is on understanding major
  philosophical issues.

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Activity Model

• Here, "doing philosophy" is primary.
• The process of inquiry is considered more
  important than the results or particular
  conclusions reached.

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Typical Introductory Courses in College

• Perhaps a general introduction to the field
• Maybe an intro. to a subfield, e.g. ethics,
  logic, philosophy of religion.
• Many courses are built around important
  philosophical problems.
• Such courses are often concerned with such topics
  as
• the theory of knowledge, with emphasis on the
  nature and sources of knowledge
• the mind-body problem, with a focus on the nature
  of our mental life in relation to the brain
• the nature of moral obligation, with stress on
  alternative ways of determining what one ought to
  do
• the philosophy of religion, with emphasis on how
  belief in God might be understood and justified.
• General introductions to philosophy may also be
  built around major texts, especially writings by
  great philosophers.
• American Philosophical Association
  http//philosophy.fullcoll.edu/resources/other/und
  ergrad.pdf

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History of Philosophy

• Major figures and periods

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Philosophy and Libraries

• A Caveat Interdisciplinary Nature of
  Philosophy
• A cohesive body of literature exists that may be
  classified as philosophy." However, philosophy
  attached to other subject areas may be spread
  throughout the library, thereby complicating
  access since all works will not be together
  physically.

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The Literature of Philosophy

• Primary Sources (also Translations)
• Most studied Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hume,
  Descartes, Hegel, Marx, Wittgenstein, Heidegger,
  Kant, Husserl, Russell, and Dewey.
• The next most studied are Augustine, Leibniz,
  Locke, Spinoza, Hobbes, Mill, Nietzsche,
  Kierkegaard, James, Freud, Whitehead, Sartre,
  Popper, Quine, Peirce, Moore, Frege, Carnap.

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Philosophy a Living Field

• Philosophers continue to offer new philosophical
  perspectives.
• These works are also primary sources and should
  be represented in the library collection.

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Secondary Sources

• Histories
• Biographies
• Textbooks
• Critical works

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Bibliographic Guides

• For example
• Hans E. Bynagle. Philosophy A Guide to the
  Reference Literature. 2nd ed. (1997)
• A good first step for beginners and advanced
  researchers.
• Textbook 37

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Bibliographic Guides

• Richard T. De George. The Philosopher's Guide
  to Sources, Research Tools, Professional Life and
  Related Fields (1980)
• For the more advanced researcher.
• Textbook p. 30
• Ruben, Douglas H. Philosophy Journals and
  Serials An Analytical Guide (1985)
• Annotated, with geographic and subject indexes.
• Textbook 38

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Bibliographies

• GENERAL for example
• Benjamin Rand. Bibliography of Philosophy,
  Psychology, and Cognate Subjects. 2 vols.
  (1925).
• Attempts comprehensive coverage of major works
  up to about 1900.
• Textbook 40

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Bibliographies Specialized by Topic, Region, or
Period

• For example
• Albert A. Bell and James B. Allis. Resources in
  Ancient Philosophy An Annotated Bibliography of
  Scholarship In English 1965-1989 (1991).
• Books and articles covering philosophy from
  Thales to Augustine.
• Textbook 52
• Luis E. Navia. The Presocratic Philosophers An
  Annotated Bibliography (1993)
• Describes 2,700 books and articles
• Textbook 52 note

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Online Bibliography

• Contemporary Philosophy of Mind An Annotated
  Bibliography
• This is a bibliography of work in the philosophy
  of mind, the philosophy of cognitive science, and
  the science of consciousness.
• It consists of 18460 entries (07/02/2009), and is
  divided into 8 parts, each of which is further
  divided by topic and subtopic.
• Both online and offline material is included,
  with links wherever possible.

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• Hans Daiber. Bibliography of Islamic Philosophy.
  Brill, 1999.
• Covers more than 9500 primary and secondary
  sources for the study of Islamic Philosophy.
• Hans Daiber. Bibliography of Islamic Philosophy.
  Supplement. Brill, 2006.
• Addition of more than 3000 new books and
  articles in the field of Islamic philosophy, its
  Greek sources and its aftermath in European
  philosophy.

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• Meissner, Werner. Western Philosophy in China
  1993-1997 A Bibliography. Lang, 2001.
• This attempts to compile all Chinese
  publications, books as well as articles, on
  Western philosophy in the People's Republic of
  China published 1993-1997.
• The number of titles amounts to approximately
  6000.
• The figures look even more impressive if one
  bears in mind that titles on Marxism-Leninism
  have not been included.

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Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks

• The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. Ed. By
  Robert Audi. 2nd Ed. (1999)
• 381 mostly American contributors and some 4,000
  entries and cross-references. Includes both
  Eastern and Western philosophies, but without
  bibliographies. There are no entries for living
  philosophers.
• Textbook 59
• A Dictionary of Philosophy. 2d ed. Anthony Flew
  and Jennifer Speake (1984)
• A standard one volume resource.
• Textbook 60

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Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks

• The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Paul Edwards,
  (1967 repr. 1996) 8v. in 4.
• Textbook 66
• Dictionary of Marxist Thought. 2nd ed. (1991)
• Textbook 77
• Bell, Albert A., Jr., and Allis, James B.
  Resources in Ancient Philosophy An Annotated
  Bibliography of Scholarship in English,
  1965-1989. (1991)

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Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, And Handbooks

• Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber et al. The Encyclopedia
  of Eastern Philosophy and Religion Buddhism,
  Hinduism, Taoism, Zen (1989)
• 4,000 definitions and biographical sketches.
• Textbook 80
• Vere Chappel. Essays on Early Modern
  Philosophers From Descartes and Hobbes to Newton
  and Leibniz. 1992. 12v.
• 300 essays on 17th cent. philosophers
• Textbook 85 note

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Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks

• Historical Dictionary of Medieval Philosophy and
  Theology. Stephen F. Brown and Juan Carlos
  Flores. Scarecrow, 2007.
• Presents the philosophy of the Christian West
  from the 9th to the early 17th century. This is
  accomplished through a chronology, an
  introduction, appendixes, a bibliography, and
  hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries
  on the philosophers, concepts, issues,
  institutions, and events.
• Historical Dictionary of Ancient Greek
  Philosophy. Anthony Preus. Scarecrow, 2007.
• Presents the history of Greek philosophy. This
  is accomplished through a chronology, an
  introduction, a glossary, a bibliography, and
  hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries
  on important philosophers, concepts, issues, and
  events.

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Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks

• Handbook of World Philosophy Contemporary
  Developments since 1945. John R. Burr, ed. (1980)
• Short essays, organized by country. With short
  bibliographies.
• Textbook 84
• Dictionary of the History of Ideas Studies of
  Selected Pivotal Ideas. 5 vols. Philip P. Wiener,
  ed. (1973-74)
• Interdisciplinary, great variety of subjects.
• Textbook 64

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Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy

• Entries cover the entire span of philosophy, from
  the Vedas to the most recent technical
  terminology, with ample coverage of important
  themes from Chinese, Indian, Islamic, and Jewish
  philosophy.
• The dictionary also includes biographies of
  nearly 500 individuals.
• Also covers relevant terms from disciplines such
  as mathematics, physics, biology, artificial
  intelligence, and linguistics.

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Selected More Recent Dictionaries, Encyclopedias,
and Handbooks

• Bretzke, James T. Bibliography on East Asian
  religion and philosophy. Mellen, 2001.
• Wittgenstein religion A bibliography of
  articles, books, and theses in the twentieth
  century that relate the philosophy of Ludwig
  Wittgenstein to the study of religion and
  theology. Ateneo de Manila University, c2001.
• Bunnin, Nicholas. The Blackwell dictionary of
  Western philosophy. Blackwell Pub., 2004.
• Richter, Duncan. Historical dictionary of
  Wittgenstein's philosophy. Duncan Richter.
  Scarecrow, 2004.
• Historical dictionary of Descartes and Cartesian
  philosophy. Scarecrow, 2003.
• Burbidge, John W. Historical dictionary of
  Hegelian philosophy. Scarecrow Press, 2001
• Iannone, A. Pablo. Dictionary of world
  philosophy. Routledge, 2001.
• Denker, Alfred. Historical dictionary of
  Heidegger's philosophy. Scarecrow Press, 2000.

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Selected More Recent Dictionaries, Encyclopedias,
and Handbooks

• Ellis, B. D. The philosophy of nature A guide to
  the new essentialism. Brian Ellis. McGill-Queen's
  U P, c2002.
• Kupperman, Joel. Classic Asian philosophy A
  guide to the essential texts. Oxford U P,
  2001.                          
• Mansfield, Harvey Claflin. A student's guide to
  political philosophy. ISI, c2001.
• The Blackwell guide to continental philosophy.
  ed. by Robert C. Solomon and David Sherman.
  Blackwell, 2003.
• The Blackwell guide to philosophy of mind. ed. by
  Stephen P. Stich and Ted A. Warfield. Blackwell,
  2003.
•                           
• The Blackwell guide to social and political
  philosophy. ed. by Robert L. Simon. Blackwell,
  2002.

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Selected More Recent Dictionaries, Encyclopedias,
and Handbooks

• The Blackwell guide to the philosophy of
  religion. ed. by William E. Mann. Blackwell,
  2005.
• The Blackwell guide to American philosophy. ed.
  by Armen T. Marsoobian and John Ryder. Blackwell,
  2004.
• Western philosophy an illustrated guide. Ed. by
  David Papineau. Oxford U P, 2004.                
            
• The Oxford handbook of philosophy of biology. Ed.
  by Michael Ruse. Oxford U P, 2008.
• The Oxford handbook of the philosophy of
  language. Ed. by Ernest Lepore and Barry C.
  Smith. Oxford U P, 2006.
• The Oxford handbook of philosophy of religion.
  Ed. by William J. Wainwright. Oxford U P, 2005.
• Phenomenological approaches to moral philosophy
  A handbook. John J. Drummond and Lester Embree.
  Kluwer, c2002.
• Handbook of phenomenology and medicine. Ed. by S.
  Kay Toombs. Kluwer, c2001.

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• Blackwell Reference Online
• This web resource comprises over 350 full-text
  reference titles in the disciplines of Business
  Economics, History, Language Linguistics,
  Literature Cultural Studies, Philosophy
  Religion, and Sociology and Psychology.
• Titles include the Blackwell companions,
  handbooks, guides, dictionaries, encyclopedias
  and concise companions.
• Some examples of companions and guides in
  philosophy are The Blackwell Guide to Continental
  Philosophy, A Companion to Kant, and A Companion
  to Philosophy in the Middle Ages.

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Directories/Biographical Sources

• Directory of American Philosophers 24th
  ed.(2008/2009) Bowling Green, Ohio  Philosophy
  Documentation Center, Bowling Green State
  University.
• Includes geographic section of philosophy
  departments and department members by state (and
  Canada by province), and lists of assistantships,
  centers, institutes, and societies.
• Journal and publisher lists helpful for
  identifying potential publishers of manuscripts.
• Largest section alphabetic listing of
  philosophers by name /address.
• Textbook 88

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Directories/Biographical Sources

• International Directory of Philosophy and
  Philosophers 15th ed. (2007/2008)
• Coverage is world-wide except for the U.S. and
  Canada. Included are lists of universities,
  centers, institutes, societies, and journal and
  publisher information with manuscript submission
  requirements. Largest section alphabetic listing
  of philosophers by name / address. All but the
  individual philosopher listing are organized
  alphabetically by country.
• Textbook 92

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Directories/Biographical Sources

• Great Thinkers of the Eastern World The Major
  Thinkers and the Philosophical and Religious
  Classics of China, India, Japan, Korea, and the
  World of Islam. Ian P. McGreal, ed. (1995)
• Furnishes biography, major ideas, major works,
  and bibliography.
• Excellent undergraduate resource.
• Textbook 90

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Histories

• W. K. C. Guthrie. A History of Greek Philosophy
  (1962-1981). repr. 1986. 6 vols.
• Pre-Socratics to Aristotle.
• Textbook 95
• Frederick Charles Copleston. A History of
  Philosophy (1945--) Multi-volume
• Textbook 96

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Histories

• Bertrand Russell. A History of Western
  Philosophy. 2d ed. 1961 repr. 1995.
• A very readable, idiosyncratic, and important
  one-volume history of philosophy.
• Textbook 97 note

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Indexes, Abstracts

• Philosopher's Index (1940--)
• http//proxy.bc.edu/login?urlhttp//www.csa.com/h
  tbin/dbrng.cgi?usernamebostonaccessboston23db
  philosopher-set-cadv1   
• Coverage includes journal articles, books,
  contributions to anthologies, and book reviews.
• Over 480 journals are cited, from 38 countries.
• Subjects indexed include aesthetics,
  epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics, as
  well as the philosophical aspects of related
  disciplines like education, political science,
  history, theology, and law.
• Coverage  1940-present
• Textbook 57

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Indexes, Abstracts

• International Philosophical Bibliography (1991-)
  quarterly. Continues Repertoire Bibliographique
  de la Philosophie (1949-1990).
• Useful for finding non-English language books
  not included in the Philosopher's Index. Focuses
  on publications in Catalan, Dutch, English,
  German, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, and Spanish.
  Each year, issue numbers 1-3 cover articles and
  books number 4 covers book reviews and includes
  an index of names and an index of anonymous
  publications.
• Textbook 56

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Indexes, Abstracts

• FRANCIS (1984--)
• http//proxy.bc.edu/login?urlhttp//www.csa.com/h
  tbin/dbrng.cgi?usernamebostonaccessboston23db
  francis-set-cadv1
• FRANCIS covers a wide range of multilingual,
  multidisciplinary information in the humanities
  (67), social sciences (30), and economics (3).
  FRANCIS is strong in religion, the history of
  art, and literature, with particular emphasis on
  current trends in European and world literature.
  Updated monthly.
• Textbook 55

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Online Companions

• Cambridge Collections Online
• http//proxy.bc.edu/login?urlhttp//cco.cambridge
  .org/login2?dest2F
• Intended to serve as reference works for an
  inter-disciplinary audience of students and
  non-specialists.
• Addressing topics and figures ranging from Plato
  through Kant to Habermas, and philosophical
  movements such as the Scottish Enlightenment and
  German Idealism.
• Contains over 1100 downloadable essays (more than
  120 volumes related to Philosophy, Religion and
  Culture).

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Full Text Databases

• Augustine
• http//ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine.html
• Primary texts in Latin and English along with
  secondary material. An excellent resource which
  also includes images.

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Full Text Databases

• Past Masters
• http//proxy.bc.edu/login?urlhttp//library.nlx.c
  om/   
• A developing collection of electronic texts in
  philosophy (and other disciplines) taken from
  scholarly editions and translations.

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Encyclopedias Full Text

• Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online)
• http//proxy.bc.edu/login?urlhttp//www.rep.routl
  edge.com/index.html
• The basis for REP Online is the ten volume
  Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Including over 2000 original articles from over
  1300 experts across the discipline of philosophy,
  this web version is regularly updated.
• Over 25,000 hot-linked cross-references between
  articles and new links to other editorially
  reviewed websitesTextbook 70

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Encyclopedias Full Text

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Each entry is maintained and kept up to date by
  an expert or group of experts in the field.

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LAnnée Philologique

• An index to 1500 periodicals, essay collections,
  book reviews, and conference proceedings in
  Classical Studies. Subjects covered include
  ancient Greek and Latin language and linguistics,
  Greek and Roman history, literature, philosophy,
  art, archaeology, religion, mythology, music,
  science, early Christian texts, numismatics,
  papyrology, and epigraphy.

69
Numerous Good WWW Sites

• See, for example
• http//www2.bc.edu/rappleb/philosophysites.html