Philosophy: The Classics
Nigel Warburton
Language: English
Pages: 320
ISBN: 0415534666
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Now in its fourth edition, Philosophy: The Classics is a brisk and invigorating tour through the great books of western philosophy. In his exemplary clear style, Nigel Warburton introduces and assesses thirty-two philosophical classics from Plato’s Republic to Rawls’ A Theory of Justice. The fourth edition includes new material on:
- Montaigne Essays
- Thomas Paine Rights of Man
- R.G. Collingwood The Principles of Art
- Karl Popper The Open Society and Its Enemies
- Thomas Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
With a glossary and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, this is an ideal starting point for anyone interested in philosophy.
eudaimonia. You choose what you know to be worse for you. Aristotle, inlluenced by Plato, sees a problem in the idea that you might really know what would be tbe best course of action yet not choose it.. For Plato, if you really know the Good, that is, have knowledge of the Form , then you automatically act in accordance with it. According to Plato, genuine akrasia cannot ex ist: any apparent instance of it must really be a case of ignorance of the Good. In contrast Aristotle maintains that the
law-g iver or la w-keeper, no co-operatio n between individuals is possible. Without suc h power no o ne need keep any promjses they make since it is always in their interest to break the promises when it suit:s them. Assuming that you have a sh·ong desire to survive, it is simple prudence to break agreements whe n it suits you in the state of nature. If you don't seize what 62 Copyrighted material HOBBES you need when you can get away with it, you run the risk of someone else stealing what
deductio n and its conclu sion remain hopelessly obscure. This is unfortunate. lf Kant had succeeded in refuting sceptici sm about o ur experience and its sources, and had done this in a way intell ig ible to mortals, then this would have been of immense significance. Inconsistent about metaphysics Much of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason is directed agai nst rationalist metaphysics, that is, speculation about reality based o n the assumption that you can g lean know ledge a bout a transcendent
Some people's actions conform outwardly with their duties, but inwardly they are acting o nly from self-i nterest. So, for example, a shrewd shopkeeper won 't overcharge an inexperienced customer because he knows that ultimately this is bad for business. This is not acting from d uty, but only from prudence: enlightened self-interest. Acting from a motive of duty is acting simply because you know that this is the rigbt thing to do, uot from auy otller motive. Duty stands in contrast to mere
conditio ns of the pro le tariat become sufficiently impoverished and precarious, this is the time for them to rise up a nd rebel agai nst the system that enslaves them. After tbe revolution, private property would be banned, leaving the way open for communal ownership. Tbis vision of the future was. according to Marx a nd Engels, a predic tion based on hard empirica l evidence a bout the patterns of history aod tbe et'fects of alienation. It follows d irectly from their historical materialism: