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Reason and Responsibility: Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy, 16th Edition

Joel Feinberg, Russ Shafer-Landau

  • Copyright 2017
  • {{checkPublicationMessage('Published', '2016-01-01T00:00:00+0000')}}
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Reason and Responsibility: Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy 16th Edition by Joel Feinberg/Russ Shafer-Landau
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Overview

This bestselling text has long been the standard by which other introductory philosophy anthologies are judged. REASON AND RESPONSIBILITY: READINGS IN SOME BASIC PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY, 16th Edition, provides a comprehensive anthology of high-quality primary readings, organized topically and drawn from historical and contemporary sources. The scope of the text's readings—90 in all—covers the central issues in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, and ethics. Each section has been updated and expanded for this edition. It also upholds the anthology's traditional emphasis on high-quality translations and full-length articles. Newly revised, concise introductions provide students with reading tips and background information that allow them to engage directly and meaningfully with the primary sources. With REASON AND RESPONSIBILITY, you don't have to spend valuable time assembling material for your introductory philosophy class. This proven collection offers a comprehensive selection of essential, engaging readings that instructors have turned to for decades.

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Meet the Authors

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Joel Feinberg

Joel Feinberg (Professor Emeritus, late of University of Arizona) was widely recognized as one of America's leading political and social philosophers. Acclaimed both for his ground-breaking scholarship and his exemplary teaching skills, Feinberg published widely on topics such as individual rights, legal theory, capital punishment, the treatment of the mentally ill, civil disobedience, and environmental ethics. Before joining the University of Arizona faculty, he taught at Brown, Princeton, and Rockefeller universities. Feinberg was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1987–88 to work in Japan and served as chairman of the National Board of Officers in the American Philosophical Association in the mid-1980s. Some of the royalties from Reason and Responsibility have been used to establish the Regents Professor Joel Feinberg Dissertation Fellowship in Philosophy at the University of Arizona.

Russ Shafer-Landau

Russ Shafer-Landau received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona and currently teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he focuses on ethical theory and philosophy of the law. He is the author of THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ETHICS; MORAL REALISM; A DEFENCE; AND WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GOOD AND EVIL? He also serves as series editor for Oxford Studies in Metaethics.

What's New

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  • Part II, "Reason and Religious Belief", includes new translations of work by Aquinas, Anselm and Gaunilo. It also includes two new articles written expressly for this edition: Lawrence Shapiro's assessment of belief in miracles, and Michael Ruse's piece on the Design Argument for God's existence. Also new in this Part: a systematic presentation and sympathetic reconstruction of various theodicies and defenses of God's existence in the face of the problem of evil by Michael Murray and Michael Rea.
  • Part III, "Human Knowledge: Its Grounds and Limits," now includes an appraisal of skepticism by Robert Audi and a selection on the Value of Knowledge by Linda Zagzebski.
  • Part IV, "Mind and its Place in Nature," now offers David Papineau's defense of materialism about the mind, and Shelly Kagan's thoughts about death and personal identity.
  • Part V, "Determinism, Free Will, and Responsibility," now features James Rachel's arresting piece "The Case against Free Will," and Galen Strawson's "Luck Swallows Everything." This Part also includes a new essay, written by Helen Beebee expressly for this edition of REASON AND RESPONSIBILITY, on the merits of compatibilism.
  • Part VI, "Morality and its Critics," now includes a new selection on ethical relativism by Mary Midgley, Kwame Anthony Appiah’s: "What Will Future Generations Condemn Us For? ", Peter Singer’s "Famine, Affluence and Morality," Mary Anne Warren’s "On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion," Richard Taylor’s "The Meaning of Life," Richard Kraut’s "Desire and the Human Good," and Susan Wolf’s "Happiness and Meaning."

Features

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  • The introductory section "The Nature and Value of Philosophy" now includes readings from Joel Feinberg -- a substantial logic primer, "A Logic Lesson"—and Plato—"Apology," designed to provide a classic statement of the importance of the nature and value of philosophy.
  • Specially commissioned articles by Lawrence Shapiro, Michael Ruse and Helen Beebee (all new to this edition), William Rowe, Wesley Salmon, John Perry, Robert Kane, and both editors, Joel Feinberg and Russ Shafer-Landau, are included. These readings, which address important topics in philosophy, were written with introductory students in mind.
  • Comprehension questions for each reading, critical thinking questions for every selection, videos, reading guides. MindTap® Philosophy for REASON AND RESPONSIBILITY, 16th Edition, is a personalized teaching experience with relevant assignments that guide students to analyze, apply, and improve thinking, allowing you to measure skills and outcomes with ease. It offers a variety of learning tools, ranging from reading guides to quizzes and videos.

Table of Contents

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Joel Feinberg (1926-2004): In Memoriam.
Preface.
Part I: INTRODUCTION TO THE NATURE AND VALUE OF PHILOSOPHY.
1. Joel Feinberg: A Logic Lesson. 2. Plato: "Apology." 3. Bertrand Russell: The Value of Philosophy.
PART II: REASON AND RELIGIOUS BELIEF.
1. The Existence and Nature of God.
1.1 Anselm of Canterbury: The Ontological Argument, from Proslogion. 1.2 Gaunilo of Marmoutiers: On Behalf of the Fool. 1.3 L. Rowe: The Ontological Argument. 1.4 Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Five Ways, from Summa Theologica. 1.5 Samuel Clarke: A Modern Formulation of the Cosmological Argument. 1.6 William L. Rowe: The Cosmological Argument. 1.7 William Paley: The Argument from Design. 1.8 Michael Ruse: The Design Argument. 1.9 David Hume: Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
2. The Problem of Evil.
2.1 Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Rebellion. 2.2 J. L. Mackie: Evil and Omnipotence. 2.3 Peter van Inwagen: The Argument from Evil. 2.4 Michael Murray and Michael Rea: The Argument from Evil. 2.5 B. C. Johnson: God and the Problem of Evil.
3. Reason and Faith.
3.1 W. K. Clifford: The Ethics of Belief. 3.2 William James: The Will to Believe. 3.3 Kelly James Clark: Without Evidence or Argument. 3.4 Blaise Pascal: The Wager. 3.5 Lawrence Shapiro: Miracles and Justification. 3.6 Simon Blackburn: Infini-Rien.
Part III. HUMAN KNOWLEDGE: ITS GROUNDS AND LIMITS.
1. Skepticism.
1.1 John Pollock: A Brain in a Vat. 1.2 Michael Huemer: Three Skeptical Arguments. 1.3 Robert Audi: Skepticism.
2. The Nature and Value of Knowledge.
2.1 Plato: Knowledge as Justified True Belief. 2.2 Edmund Gettier: Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? 2.3 James Cornman, Keith Lehrer, and George Pappas: An Analysis of Knowledge. 2.4 Gilbert Ryle: Knowing How and Knowing That. 2.5 Plato: "Meno". 2.6 Linda Zagzebski, Epistemic Good and The Good Life.
3. Our Knowledge of the External World.
3.1 Bertrand Russell: Appearance and Reality and the Existence of Matter. 3.2 René Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy. 3.3 John Locke: The Causal Theory of Perception. 3.4 George Berkeley: Of the Principles of Human Knowledge. 3.5 G. E. Moore: Proof of an External World.
4. The Methods of Science.
4.1 David Hume: An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding. 4.2 Wesley C. Salmon: An Encounter with David Hume. 4.3 Karl Popper: Science: Conjectures and Refutations. 4.4 Philip Kitcher: Believing Where We Cannot Prove.
Part IV: MIND AND ITS PLACE IN NATURE.
1. The Mind-Body Problem.
1.1 Brie Gertler: In Defense of Mind–Body Dualism. 1.2 Frank Jackson: The Qualia Problem. 1.3 David Papineau: The Case for Materialism. 1.4 Paul Churchland: Functionalism and Eliminative Materialism.
2. Can Non-Humans Think?
2.1 Alan Turing: Computing Machinery and Intelligence. 2.2 John R. Searle: Minds, Brains, and Programs. 2.3 William G. Lycan: Robots and Minds.
3. Personal Identity and the Survival of Death.
3.1 John Locke: The Prince and the Cobbler. 3.2 Thomas Reid: Of Mr. Locke's Account of Our Personal Identity. 3.3 David Hume: The Self. 3.4 Derek Parfit: Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons. 3.5 Shelly Kagan: What Matters. 3.6 John Perry: A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality.
Part V: DETERMINISM, FREE WILL, AND RESPONSIBILITY.
1. Libertarianism: The Case for Free Will and Its Incompatibility with Determinism.
1.1 Roderick M. Chisholm: Human Freedom and the Self. 1.2 Robert Kane: Free Will: Ancient Dispute, New Themes.
2. Hard Determinism: The Case for Determinism and its Incompatibility with Its Incompatibility with Any Important Sense of Free Will.
2.1 James Rachels: The case against Free Will. 2.2 Derk Pereboom: Why We Have No Free Will and Can Live Without It. (Modified in this edition)
3. Compatibilism: The Case for Determinism and Its Compatibility with the Most Important Sense of Free Will.
3.1 David Hume: Of Liberty and Necessity. 3.2 Helen Beebee: Compatibilism and the Ability to do Otherwise.
4. Freedom and Moral Responsibility.
4.1 Galen Strawson: Luck Swallows Everything. 4.2 Harry Frankfurt: Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility. 4.3 Thomas Nagel: Moral Luck. 4.4 Susan Wolf: Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility.
Part VI: MORALITY AND ITS CRITICS.
1. Changes to Morality.
1.1 Joel Feinberg: Psychological Egoism. 1.2 Plato: The Immoralist's Challenge. 1.3 Friedrich Nietzche: Master and Slave Morality. 1.4 Richard Joyce: The Evolutionary Debunking of Morality.
2. Proposed Standards and Right of Conduct.
2.1 Russ Shafer-Landau: Ethical Subjectivism. 2.2 Mary Midgley: Trying Out One's New Sword. 2.3 Aristotle: Virtue and the Good Life. 2.4 Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan. 2.5 Plato: Euthyphro. 2.6 Immanuel Kant: The Good Will and the Categorical Imperative. 2.7 J.S. Mill: Utilitarianism, Chapters 2 and 4. 2.8 W. D. Ross: What Makes Right Acts Right? 2.9 Hilde Lindemann: What Is Feminist Ethics?
3. Ethical Problems.
3.1 Kwame Anthony Appiah: What Will Future Generations Condemn Us For? 3.2 Peter Singer: Famine, Affluence and Morality. 3.3 John Harris: The Survival Lottery. 3.4 James Rachels: Active and Passive Euthanasia. 3.5 Mary Anne Warren: The Moral and Legal Status of Abortion. 3.6 Don Marquis: Why Abortion Is Immoral.
4. The Meaning of Life.
4.1 Epicurus: Letter to Menoeceus. 4.2 Richard Taylor: The Meaning of Life. 4.3 Richard Kraut: Desire and the Human Good. 4.4 Leo Tolstoy: My Confession. 4.5 Susan Wolf: Happiness and Meaning. 4.6 Thomas Nagel: The Absurd.

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ISBN: 9781305502482
MindTap Philosophy for Feinberg's Reason and Responsibility: Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy, 16th Edition is the digital learning solution that powers students from memorization to mastery. It gives you complete control of your course—to provide engaging content, to challenge every individual, and to build their confidence. Empower students to accelerate their progress with MindTap. MindTap: Powered by You. MindTap gives you complete ownership of content and the learning experience as you focus on the most relevant material while lowering costs for students. Select from videos quizzes and essay questions on specific readings, reader's guides with comprehension and critical-thinking questions, guided learning tutorials with an auto-graded homework solution, a philosophy blog, Questia supplemental readings, and discussion questions.

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MindTap Philosophy, 1 term (6 months) Instant Access for Feinberg's Reason and Responsibility: Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy

ISBN: 9781305502482
MindTap Philosophy for Feinberg's Reason and Responsibility: Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy, 16th Edition is the digital learning solution that powers students from memorization to mastery. It gives you complete control of your course—to provide engaging content, to challenge every individual, and to build their confidence. Empower students to accelerate their progress with MindTap. MindTap: Powered by You. MindTap gives you complete ownership of content and the learning experience as you focus on the most relevant material while lowering costs for students. Select from videos quizzes and essay questions on specific readings, reader's guides with comprehension and critical-thinking questions, guided learning tutorials with an auto-graded homework solution, a philosophy blog, Questia supplemental readings, and discussion questions.