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Voices of Wisdom: A Multicultural Philosophy Reader, 9th Edition

Gary E. Kessler

  • Copyright 2016
  • {{checkPublicationMessage('Published', '2015-01-01T00:00:00+0000')}}
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Voices of Wisdom: A Multicultural Philosophy Reader 9th Edition by Gary E. Kessler
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Overview

VOICES OF WISDOM: A MULTICULTURAL PHILOSOPHY READER, 9E introduces students to the core philosophical questions in ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics through a collection of engaging and culturally diverse readings. Both classic and contemporary in its approach, this revised and updated Ninth Edition includes key texts from the Buddha, Plato, Immanuel Kant, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Rawls, Martha Nussbaum, Nelson Mandela and others. Using these landmark writings, VOICES OF WISDOM: A MULTICULTURAL PHILOSOPHY READER, 9E takes students on a transformative journey through such topics as terrorism, civil disobedience, homosexuality, human rights, animal rights, language, truth, and power.

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Meet the Authors

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Gary E. Kessler

Gary E. Kessler received his Ph.D. from Columbia University where he studied philosophy and comparative religions. After teaching at Bard College, he accepted a position at California State University, Bakersfield where he taught for over thirty years. His most recent research centers on religion and violence. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including VOICES OF WISDOM, which, when first published in 1992, was the first multicultural textbook and reader intended for use in an introductory philosophy class.

What's New

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  • Eighteen new or revised readings include selections from Jesus of Nazareth, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nelson Mandela, Emmanuel Levinas, Martha Nussbaum, Peter Singer, Grace Jantzen, and others.
  • New introductions stimulate student thinking on each topic.
  • Expanded color images and captions highlight key ideas and interconnect important themes.
  • Revised Learning Objectives and Critical Questions hone in on significant topics.
  • Contemporary continental philosophy receives increased emphasis so as to familiarize students with this influential school of thought.

Features

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  • Readings from different genres and eras, including essays, fiction, dialogue, and poetry, expose students to both the classics and the major contemporary works.
  • Two chapters dedicated to foundational skills help students prepare for philosophical reasoning and writing.
  • Pedagogical tools such as learning objectives, reading questions, and critical thinking exercises make classroom instruction more effective.
  • Technical terms are boldfaced at their first appearance, and matched to a glossary that helps students understand key concepts.
  • Appendix 2 assists students in pronouncing difficult Chinese, Sanskrit, and Arabic terminology.

Table of Contents

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PREFACE.
Part I: INTRODUCTION.
1. What Is Philosophy?
A Definition of Philosophy.
What Is Rationality?
Reading Philosophy.
BERTRAND RUSSELL: On the Value of Philosophy.
2. Thinking and Writing Philosophically.
A Little Logic.
How to Write Philosophy.
Part II: VALUE THEORY (AXIOLOGY).
3. How Should One Live?
Introduction.
The Buddha and the Middle Way.
THE BUDDHA: The Four Noble Truths.
Confucius and the Life of Virtue.
CONFUCIUS: The Analects.
Socrates on Living the Examined Life.
PLATO: The Apology.
Aristotle on Happiness and the Life of Moderation.
ARISTOTLE: Nicomachean Ethics.
The Song of God.
VED VYASA: Bhagavad-Gita.
Jesus on the Right Way to Live.
JESUS: Sermon on the Mount.
What Is the Meaning of Life?
FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY: Notes from Underground.
4. How Can I Know What Is Right?
Introduction.
Kant and the Categorical Imperative.
IMMANUEL KANT: Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals.
Utilitarianism.
JOHN STUART MILL: What Utilitarianism Is.
Virtue Ethics.
MARTHA NUSSBAUM: The Virtues.
The Divine Command Theory.
AL-ASHARI: The Theology of Al-Ashari.
JACK HERNANDEZ: What If.
The Ethic of Care.
NEL NODDINGS: Caring.
Moral Relativism.
LOUIS P. POJMAN: A Critique of Ethical Relativism.
5. What Makes a Society Just?
Introduction.
God and Justice.
KHALED ABOU EL FADL: Islam and Democracy.
Capitalism and Exploitation.
KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS: Manifesto of the Communist Party.
Political Liberalism.
JOHN RAWLS: Political Justice.
Our Obligation to the State.
PLATO: Crito.
Civil Disobedience.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: Letter from Birmingham Jail.
God is Red.
VINE DELORIA, JR.: Sacred Places and Moral Responsibility.
6. Is Justice for All Possible?
Introduction.
Sexism, Racism, and Homophobia.
bell hooks: Ain’t I a Woman.
CORNEL WEST: Race Matters.
SUZANNE PHARR: Homophobia as a Weapon of Sexism.
Illegal Immigration.
REGINALD WILLIAMS: A Case for Residency.
A Solution to Poverty.
PETER SINGER: Our Obligation to the Poor.
Fighting injustice.
NELSON MANDELA: I am Prepared to Die.
Violence.
HANNAH ARENDT: On Violence.
Is it Too Late to Save Mother Earth?
BILL MCKIBBEN: Earth.
Animal Rights.
TOM REGAN: The Case for Animal Rights.
Part III: EPISTEMOLOGY.
7. Is Knowledge Possible?
Introduction.
Sufi Mysticism.
AL-GHAZALI: Deliverance from Error.
Is Certainty Possible?
RENE DESCARTES: Meditations I and II.
Empiricism and Limited Skepticism.
DAVID HUME: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.
Should We Believe Beyond the Evidence?
WILLIAM K. CLIFFORD: The Ethics of Belief.
WILLIAM JAMES: The Will to Believe.
Classical Indian Epistemology.
JOHN M. KOLLER: Knowledge and Reality.
Feminist Epistemology.
ISHANI MAITRA: The Nature of Epistemic Injustice.
8. Does Science Tell Us the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth?
Introduction.
How Do We Come to Believe?
CHARLES SANDERS PIERCE: The Fixation of Belief.
The Growth of Scientific Knowledge.
KARL POPPER: Conjectures and Refutations.
Scientific Revolutions.
THOMAS S. KUHN: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
Science and Traditional Thought.
KWAME ANTHONY APPIAH: Old Gods, New Worlds.
Feminism and Science.
HELEN E. LONGINO: Can There Be a Feminist Science?
Part IV: METAPHYSICS.
9. What Is Really Real?
Introduction.
The Dao.
LAOZI: Dao De Jing.
Platonic Dualism.
PLATO: The Republic.
Nondualism.
SHANKARA: The Crest-Jewel of Discrimination.
Subjective Idealism.
GEORGE BERKELEY: The Principles of Human Knowledge.
Time and the Other.
EMMANUEL LAVANAS: The Solitude of Existing.
10. Are We Free or Determined?
Introduction.
We Are Determined.
ROBERT BLATCHFORD: Not Guilty.
We Are Free.
JEAN-PAUL SARTRE: Existentialism.
Karma and Freedom.
SARVEPALLI RADHAKRISHNAN: Karma and Freedom.
We Are Both Free and Determined.
BRUCE N. WALLER: Chanelle, Sabrina, and the Oboe.
11. What Am I? Who Am I?
Introduction.
You Are Your Mind.
RENE DESCARTES: Meditation VI.
Are You Are a Machine?
JOHN SEARLE: The Chinese Room.
You Are Meat.
TERRY BISSON: They’re Made Out of Meat.
There Is No Self.
THE BUDDHA: False Doctrines about the Soul.
The Simile of the Chariot.
Where Am I?
DANIEL DENNETT: Brainstorms.
Social Identity.
JORGE J. E. GRACIA: Identities: General and Particular.
Gender Identity.
DEIRDRE (DONALD) N. MCCLOSKEY: Crossing.
12. Are Religious Claims True?
Introduction.
Arguments for God’s Existence.
ANSELM OF CANTERBURY: The Ontological Argument.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: The Five Ways.
Can Evil and God Co-Exist?
J. L. MACKIE: Evil and Omnipotence.
Are Mystical Experiences Evidence for Religious Truth?
GRACE M. JANTZEN: Feminists, Philosophers, and Mystics.
Conflicting Truth Claims of Different Religions.
JOHN H. HICK: Conflicting Religious Truth Claims.
What is the purpose of religion?
THE DALAI LAMA: The Role of Religion in Modern Society.
APPENDIX ONE GLOSSARY.
APPENDIX TWO PRONUNCIATION GUIDES.

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  • ISBN-10: 1285874331
  • ISBN-13: 9781285874333
  • RETAIL $223.95
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Students: Buy now