Resources for ‘Introduction to Philosophy’, Michaelmas Term 2014
Andrea Lechler
Introductory philosophy books
Simon Blackburn, Think (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
James Garvey and Jeremy Stangroom, The Story of Philosophy: A History of Western Thought (Quercus, 2012).
Thomas Nagel, What Does It All Mean?: A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).
Nigel Warburton, Philosophy: The Basics (London: Routledge). Various editions.
Nigel Warburton, A Little History of Philosophy (Yale University Press, 2011).
Selections of texts with helpful introductions for each text
John Cottingham (ed.), Western Philosophy: An Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996 / 2007).
Guttenplan, Hornsby and Janaway (eds.), Reading Philosophy: Selected Texts with a Method for Beginners (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003).
1)Do we need the state? Are we obliged to follow its laws?
•Max Weber, ‘Politics as a vocation’, in M. Weber,Essays from Max Weber, trans. H. Gerth and C. W. Mills (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1948).
•Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651, in particular chapters XIII and XIV.[A free version of the original text can be found here: The following is a translation into modern English by Jonathan Bennett:
•Robert Paul Wolff, In Defence of Anarchism (New York: Harper & Row, 1970).
•John Locke, Two Treatises of Civil Government, 1689: Bennett’s translation:
•David Hume, Of the Original Contract, 1742:
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•Jonathan Wolff, Introduction to Political Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), Chapters 1 and 2.
•David Miller, Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), Chapter 2.
•David Lefkowitz, ‘The Duty to Obey the Law’, Philosophy Compass 1(6), 2006, 571-598.
Podcasts:
•The following is a course in political philosophy that contains relevant sessions on Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau:
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2)What is the best type of government?
•Free translation of Plato’s Republic:
•John Stuart Mill, Considerations on Representative Government, 1861:
•John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859:
•Jonathan Wolff, Introduction to Political Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), Chapter 3.
•David Miller, Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), Chapter 3.
•Jeremy Waldron, ‘Democracy’, in Estlund (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).
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Podcasts:
• sessions on Plato, Rousseau and Tocqueville)
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3)What is happiness?
•John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, 1861:
•Aristotle,Nicomachean Ethics:
A very useful recent edition is: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics: Translation, Introduction, and Commentary, Sarah Broadie and Christopher Rowe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
•Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (Blackwell, 1974).
•Russ Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, 2nd ed. (New York: OUP, 2012), Chapters 1 to 4 and 17.
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Podcast:
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4)Should I try to make everyone happy?
•John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, 1861:
•Henry Sigwick, The Methods of Ethics, 7th edition, 1907. (Available for free here:
•Peter Singer, ‘Famine, Affluence and Morality’, Philosophy and Public Affairs 1(3), 1972,
pp. 229-243.
•J.J.C. Smart and Bernard Williams, Utilitarianism: For and Against (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973).
•Richard Yetter Chappell, ‘Value Receptacles’, Noȗs, 2013.
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All ethics / moral philosophy textbooks have chapters on utilitarianism / consequentialism. I particularly recommend:
•Julia Driver, Ethics. The Fundamentals (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007).
•Russ Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, 2nd ed. (New York: OUP, 2012).
•Mark Timmons, Moral Theory. An Introduction (Plymouth: Rowman and Littlefield, 2013).
Podcasts:
• (just start from the beginning)
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5)Can I know for certain that there is a world outside my mind?
•John Veith’s translation of Descartes’ Meditations:
•Audio recording of Veith’s translation:
•Jonathan Bennett’s free and more modern translation of the Meditations:
•Gary Hatfield, Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Descartes and the Meditations (2003).
•Bertrand Russell,The Problems of Philosophy (1912), first chapters:
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Podcasts:
6)What is good reasoning?
•Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy (1912):
•David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature(1739), Book I, Part II, Section VI: (Jonathan Bennett’s translation into modern English:
•Laurence BonJour, Epistemology: Classic Problems and Contemporary Responses (Rowman and Littlefield, 2009), Chapter 4.
•James Van Cleve, ‘Reliability, Justification, and the Problem of Induction’, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, IX, 1984, pp. 555-567.
•Simon Blackburn, Think, Chapter 6.
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•Marianne Talbot‘s Critical Reasoning for Beginners lecture series:
•Marianne Talbot, Critical Reasoning: A Romp Through the Foothills of Logic for Complete Beginners (Metafore, 2014).
•Tracy Bowell and Gary Kemp, Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide, 4thedition (Routledge, 2014).
•Critical Thinking Web module on argument analysis:
•Chris Swoyer, Critical Reasoning: A User’s Manual:
•Phil Stokes, Essential Thinking:
•Free online course on reasoning:
7)Does God exist?
•Alvin Plantinga, ‘Is Belief in God Properly Basic?’,Noûs, 15(1), 1981, pp. 41-51.
•Alvin Plantinga, Warranted Christian Belief (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).
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Videos:
8)What is the relationship between mind and body?
•Descartes’ Meditations (see Week 5).
•Thomas Nagel, ‘What is it like to be a bat?’,Philosophical Review, 83(4), 1974, pp. 435-450.
•Frank Jackson, ‘What Mary Didn't Know’,Journal of Philosophy,83, 1986, pp. 291–295
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Podcasts and videos:
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9)Are my actions ever truly free?
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Richard Holton’s ‘The Act of Choice’:
Videos and podcasts:
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10)What is art?
•Hanfling, O. 1995. ‘Art, Artifact, and Function’. Philosophical Investigations 18(1), 31-48.
•Hanfling, O. 1992. ‘The Problem of Definition’. In: Philosophical Aesthetics. An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
•Dickie, G. 1984 / 1997,The Art Circle.
•Weitz, Morris, 1956, “The Role of Theory in Aesthetics,”Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 15: 27–35.
•Free versions of Clive Bell’s Art:
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Lecture on defining art by James Grant: