Index

Page 152 — — — The story of my life The art of philosophizing On what must be	Page 151 The pursuit of happiness The ‘logic’ of Covid-19 denial On the possibility of philosophical enlightenment Split consciousness scenarios and the self Why is my life so important? Reasons to be hopeful
Page 150 Knowledge versus spirituality Plato, Parmenides and the One Becoming a self-taught philosopher Haunted by solipsism On a challenge to the ‘naturalistic fallacy’ What’s the point of knowing anything if I am going to die?	Page 149 Ayn Rand: ‘Principles do not fill the glass’ Platonic ideas compatible with art? The whole and the parts The pursuit of wisdom Gene editing and the dignity of ‘the human’ “Why bother studying ancient philosophy? (2)”
Page 148 Why bother studying ancient philosophy? Morals – where do we stand with them? Ethical egoism On miracles The nature of time and the age of the Earth Space, time and reality	Page 147 The age of the Earth and the reality of time Kant’s critique of Descartes’ theory of knowledge Verificationism and the self-defeating argument Asking the Big Questions (2) Asking the Big Questions Parts and wholes
Page 146 More on too much philosophy Too much philosophy? Death of Socrates Things and their properties Nietzsche on truths and untruths Pitfalls of Young Earth creationism	Page 145 Music and meaning (contd.) Understanding understanding Creationism and scientific evidence Music and meaning William James and acting on ‘rational beliefs’ Social contracts and self-interest
Page 144 Too much knowledge? Gorgias and the morality of rhetoric Cicero and Seneca on god(s) Nietzsche a tyrant? Aristotle vs. Empedokles on change and generation Empedokles and the cosmic cycle	Page 143 Ontological proofs The ontological argument On having a purpose in life Why do I exist? Purpose of existence? What is the purpose of human existence?
Page 142 Heidegger and the grid of meaning Philosophy of language Can it ever be right to hate? The Philosophical quest How many beans make five? What is philosophy?	Page 141 Theory vs practice The concept of malice Plato’s cave and the shadows of reality Solving philosophy once and for all Truth in the Western tradition Solving philosophy
Page 140 What is Truth? Idea of objective truth Paradigm shift Dialectics of Nature or not? Heidegger on ‘What is a thing?’ Simplified Marxist dialectics	Page 139 The two godheads Dialectical materialism – brief explanation Free will and creative reverie Transcendental wake-up call Kant’s dogmatic slumbers ‘Two souls, alas, in my breast’
Page 138 The inner voice What is a ‘thing’? Would the world exist if I did not? The formula of soul Why am I me? Descartes and imagination	Page 137 Memory and personal identity Me and my consciousness How ‘I’ came to be Religion and hypocrisy Ignorance before the law in Ancient Athens Plato and the criteria of knowledge
Page 136 Philosophy of procreation? The story of sex Keeping and breaking promises Where the Platonic forms live Definition of ‘bigot’ Indelibility of consciousness (continued)	Page 135 Indelibility of consciousness Socrates, Plato and Aristotle on wealth in the polis and the soul Doubts about Godel’s theorem Socrates, Plato and Aristotle on the ‘wealth of nations’ Thought experiments Metaphysics and contingent existents
Page 134 Deleuze on change Lao-tse and Western philosophy Are there basic, universal virtues? You can never leave The two truths of solipsism The paradox of anti-solipsism	Page 133 The essence of ‘I’ History, Plato and Marx From a would-be conscientious objector Rawls and justifiable inequality Starting and ending with Hegel Gertler on disembodied ‘facts’
Page 132 Advice to Boris Johnson What makes a chair a chair (2nd opinion) What makes a chair a chair Aristotle’s prime mover Universal virtues? The essence of art	Page 131 Is hot or cold real or…? Knowledge and memory Consciousness and reality Knowledge versus ethics Aristotle’s substance and accident Ontology or epistemology?
Page 130 More on atheism Christopher Hitchens and religion Life is not a dream Religion is neither irrational nor just infantile superstition Aristotle’s potential infinity Is separation an illusion?	Page 129 Doubting scientific realism Solipsistic idealism? Physics vs feeling: Can I really touch anything? Sport and philosophy Thinking in words – or not? Occam’s Razor
Page 128 Principlist approach to bioethics: works in medical practice Conceptions of justice Creationism vs. emanationism Moral ‘isms’ and relevance The dilemma of Euthyphro Karl Jaspers on the ‘axial’ view of history	Page 127 Are there moral facts? On the Avoidance of Becoming Victor Meldrew Footnotes to Plato: in a manner of speaking Footnotes to Plato? Anaximander and his apeiron Anaximander’s enigmatic Apeiron
Page 128 The ways of Aquinas Time Philosophical novels Philosophy and science (2) Philosophy and science Meaning of life	Page 127 Time travel Socrates and Mill on the unexamined life Animals, humans and personal identity Animals as persons Gilbert Ryle contra Descartes Questioning Avicenna’s cosmological proof of God’s existence
Page 126 Causal theory of perception vs naive realism Spinoza’s mind-body paralellism More on Descartes’ watermark argument God’s ‘Watermark’ Is my banana snack free or determined? Willing and striving	Page 125 Are thoughts made of atoms? Brexit blues Robin Hood’s moral tendencies Arendt on thinking and speaking Does a hidden object exist? Where do my words come from?
Page 124 Is metaphysics still a valid philosophy? What is metaphysics? Who is doing the talking? Was Fichte a solipsist? (contd.) Leibniz on why there is something rather than nothing Was Fichte a solipsist?	Page 123 Looking for a philosophical name for my chess project Another view of the Enlightenment Hoyle’s ‘junkyard tornado’ revisited Pointless suffering cant be justified Descartes and the Causal Principle: talking relics Getting straight about truth
Page 122 Socrates a decadent? How enlightened was the Enlightenment? What is duty and what is instinct? Utilitarianism and moral choices John Stuart Mill on unreasoned belief I need to learn how to stop thinking	Page 121 Logical and non-logical justification Morality and moralities Faith, reason and ancient philosophy Is having lots of money wrong? Locus of mind-body interaction Can philosophy be defined?
Page 120 Divine command theory and the sinking lifeboat Is randomness mind-dependent? Robbing Peter to pay Paul Visual appearance and illusion Houses in the sky Sartre on radical freedom	Page 119 Thinking too much Thought and language Classic texts for the beginning student Better to never have been Metaphysical necessity Causation and necessary connection
Page 118 Kant on organ donation Is it worth reading Plato’s dialogues? I want to be a Superman Advice to a newbie Buridan’s ass revisited Memento mori	Page 117 Socrates on virtue and the cosmic order I may be a Brain in a Vat Nozick’s libertarianism and self-ownership Locke, Berkeley and Ockham’s Razor A little more on Hoyle’s ‘junkyard tornado’ argument On Fred Hoyle’s ‘junkyard tornado’
Page 116 Flukes or simulants? Are we all ultimately the same consciousness? Evidential argument against God trumped Questioning the appearance/ reality distinction Sins of the nihilist J.S. Mill and the definition of ‘harm’	Page 115 The examined life Plato, Parmenides and Heraclitus Consciousness, nous and the demiurge A fate worse than death Physicalism bad, panpsychism good Materialism, thought, infinity
Page 114 Acting dutifully and acting well Doubts about materialism Is religion superstition? No Marx for Positivism On a purported objection to Hempel’s D-N model Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ and philosophy	Page 113 Evaluating the Kalam Cosmological Argument Proving the existence of the soul Is philosophy dead? Forgive me for my failures Is Achilles still chasing that tortoise? I am 65 and struggling with philosophy
Page 112 Telling patients the truth Between Jesus and Hitler Kant and the Category of Relation Morality and one’s own desires I want to live forever P.F. Strawson’s critique of Hume’s bundle theory of the ‘self’	Page 111 Can water turn into wine? Can we (literally) perceive value? Materialism, immaterialism and Ockham’s Razor What is a moral environment? Define a ‘pen’ Is it sometimes OK to jump the queue?
Page 110 Problems with J.S. Mill’s Harm Principle Regretting my decision not to invest in Bitcoin Believing things into existence Writing an essay on the Crito Extracurricular activities of a Philosophy major Russell, Pascal and betting on God	Page 109 Do panpsychists have a moral obligation to rocks? What’s the difference between rule-based utilitarianism and deontology? THE most important philosopher Jobs for philosophers revisited The case for Mystery The awareness of plants
Page 108 Philosophical zombies How old am I really? Aristotle on reason and emotion Ethics and potentially harmful foodstuffs Is contradiction an objective reality? Sartre’s ‘Being and Nothingness’	Page 107 Philosophy as eschatology Ouroboros, birth and death God and Lucifer Location of the soul I want to study philosophy on my own Why is there something rather than nothing?
Page 106 Parmenides’ One Politicians’ expert-led fallacies Personal identity and the Eternal Recurrence Facts and alternative facts Virtue ethics and social context Aristotelian Virtue and Kantian Duty	Page 105 Are some human beings zombies? On wanting to live forever I dreamt I was a brain in a vat How to apply the Categorical Imperative? The ethics of immigration raids Michael Dummett’s ‘Truth’
Page 104 Descartes, doubt and God Puzzle about objects and identity Could an AI ever be a philosopher? The consequences of cultural relativism Descartes and the resurrection of the body Are psychology and materialism compatible?	Page 103 What do we owe to future generations? Solving Meno’s paradox Mental sanity The Brexit Case and modus ponens Dangerous professors and sparing the rod Finding your significant other
Page 102 Negative attitudes to the world Evolution of bright colours in birds Losing arguments gracefully The actor and the spectator Justifying a war of aggression Conceivability arguments	Page 101 Mill and higher pleasures Infatuated with philosophy Rawls’ principles of justice Is history of philosophy bunk? Saying goodbye to religion Greek philosophers on mathematical truth
Page 100 Deduction, induction and abduction What’s so bad about an infinite regress? An invisible God? Why did Marxism fail? Fear of death Marrying a horse or another man	Page 99 Man is semi-autonomous Socrates and the ‘physikoi’ Definition of ‘definition’ Logical determinism and fatalism Naturalism vs. Materialism Ronnie O’Sullivan and metaphysics
Page 98 An entity to worship Semantics of ‘so gay’ The meaning of ‘the’ ‘If God made it, it must be good’ puzzle What’s so bad about suffering? Challenging the law of excluded middle	Page 97 Perplexing questions The good Brahmin When the Devil plays with us Monkey’s under the skin Cartesian dualism and consciousness Sartre on freedom and evil
Page 96 The meaning of life Ethics of shark culling What is ‘the’ question? (Who) is a philosopher? Socrates ‘not all pleasures are the same’ After the EU Referendum	Page 95 Who is greater, Aristotle or Kant, and why British EU Membership Referendum (continued) The disjunctivist theory of perception Putting up with bad language British EU Membership Referendum ‘Ignore all rules’ paradox
Page 94 Metaphysics and epistemology of science Cartesian mind-body interactionism revisited Trusting our senses and our reason Heidegger on the entity-ness of an entity Real and nominal definitions revisited Should I be worried that the world is not as it seems?	Page 93 Things I might have been born ‘as’ Objections to emotivism ‘Hard’ determinism revisited Defending Cartesian mind-body interactionism Time travel in a dream machine ‘Real’ and ‘nominal’ definitions
Page 92 Is it pointless to have regrets about the past? Arthur C. Clarke and the prospect of superintelligence Paradox of the heap and the messiness of language Bertrand Russell on appearance and reality Can a computer running an algorithm be conscious? Questions on hard determinism	Page 91 Philosophical zombies Being a good person and being a good friend Relation between science and philosophy Infinite being Lies, damned lies, and statistics Not seeing philosophical questions
Page 90 Gilbert Ryle contra Descartes Leibniz on necessity and compossibility Ethics, epistemology and ontology of Buddhism Slippery slope principle simply explained Question about God’s power Dr Johnson and the stone revisited	Page 89 When Dr Johnson kicked the stone ‘The world is all that is the case’ Are all beautiful paintings good paintings? Implications of the theory of parallel universes Would the world be a better place without religion? Question about Jeremy Corbyn and political philosophy
Page 88 Philosophy, psychiatry and anti-psychiatry Role of the muses in Hesiod’s Theogony Philosophy of decapitation Kant versus Hume on the nature of causation Friendship and intellectual elitism Heraclitus on change and permanence	Page 87 Philosophy versus theology Philosophy as a way of life True contradictions and the Liar paradox Descartes versus the evil demon Kant on lies and the axe man Free will and destiny
Page 86 What will happen to me when I die? What is direct realism? Do scientists need help from philosophers? Newton ‘I frame no hypotheses’ Do ethical propositions have an objective reference? Does a cloned human have a soul?	Page 85 Philosophers on the nature of philosophy Euthyphro’s dilemma revisited Implications of the disappearance of religion How did Socrates know he was wise? What is the age of the Earth if time does not exist? Puzzle about BCE and CE dating
Page 84 Aristotle on the ‘proper function’ of an object Hume’s problem of induction Parmenides and Zeno on the impossibility of change and motion Marx on ‘alienation’ and Heidegger on ‘deworlding’ Is Russell right that ethics is not a branch of philosophy Which came first: the individual or society?	Page 83 Immaterial substances in a natural world Personal identity and tele-transportation Adding premisses to a valid inference in traditional and modern logic How does philosophy progress? (continued) Descartes and the challenge of scepticism Deciding to burn your hand on the stove
Page 82 Why? Difference between happiness and pleasure How does philosophy progress? Making sense of Kant in easy steps What do you think of my views about the soul? On the need to convince people to agree with us	Page 81 Secular view on the meaning of life Could God make it the case that I passed the exam that I failed? Is truth just a logical property? In what manner (if at all) do numbers exist? What questions did Thales ask? Aristophanes on Socrates
Page 80 Could we be merely characters in a galactic video game? How different might the laws of nature have been? Invalid arguments with logically true conclusions Guidance for someone interested in metaphysics Looking at an argument for the unreality of time Could there be a Turing Test for aesthetic experience?	Page 79 The philosophy of Chairman Mao Is life meaningless? How Hume woke Kant from his ‘dogmatic slumber’ Nietzsche’s breakdown and his view on pity Kant on space and time Divine command theory revisited
Page 78 The central questions of philosophy Locke’s view on just/ legitimate government Good and bad arguments vs non-arguments Where is time? God and morality: Euthyphro’s dilemma Fallacy of ‘we are only human’	Page 77 Do philosophers have a duty to heal human suffering? The direction of time Descartes’ case for doubt in the First Meditation Does anything matter if nothing’s real? The possibility of body duplication What is the number one?
Page 76 What if the human race screws up? Plato’s allegory of the cave The Matrix and philosophy Does it matter if nothing’s real? Practical philosophies Philosophy as classic liberal education	Page 75 Philosophical views about love Personal identity and brain swapping Difference between concepts and words Descartes and the ontological proof of God’s existence More on Heidegger’s ‘Dasein’ Questions about evil
Page 74 Slavery and moral progress What does Heidegger mean by ‘Dasein’? Virtue and hubris in Ancient Greece Confused about the external world Puzzle about listening to a tune Thought experiments revisited	Page 73 The philosophy of Max Stirner Bernard Williams ‘The Idea of Equality’ Passion in a post-postmodern society Thought experiments in philosophy David Hume’s missing shade of blue Artificial intelligence and the Turing Test
Page 72 On a possible form of faster-than-light travel Am I here? On omniscience and immutability Consequences of the argument from illusion Free will problem revisited Kant and Mill on the golden rule	Page 71 Keeping a philosophical notebook Utility of academic philosophy Locke on personal identity Is there free will? Is Baudrillard a philosopher? Discriminating on the basis of homosexuality
Page 70 Donald Trump conundrum What is the meaning of a proper name? Can a good Confucian be selfish? Tree in the forest revisited Quine’s attack on the analytic-synthetic distinction Things or processes as fundamental?	Page 69 Is metaphysics possible? Demarcating science from pseudoscience What is holism? Do we use only 10 per cent of our brain? The time before the Big Bang Are all philosophic truths objective, rational and universal?
Page 68 Descartes on self-knowledge and Leibniz on indiscernibles Does God believe in himself? Solipsism as a practical possibility Descartes’ cosmological and ontological arguments What is life? Choosing Philosophy as a major	Page 67 Hobbes’ case for an absolute monarch Bringing about the past Scepticism and the Cogito of Descartes Berkeley vs Descartes and the beeswax Materialism and the fallibility of sense perception Leibniz’s theory of monads revisited
Page 66 Moral dilemmas and moral theory Leibniz’s theory of monads for the perplexed Puzzle about absent time travellers Knowledge of truth and the nature of illusion Reason and imagination J.S. Mill on higher and lower pleasures	Page 65 Is Kant a naturalist or a non-naturalist? Strawson vs Russell on analysing definite descriptions Are the self and material objects illusory? Love and sex in Ancient Greek philosophy Determinism, compatibilism and libertarianism Is Aristotle an ethical relativist?
Page 64 How much intelligence does a philosophy student need? Kant and free will Philosophy and the nature of knowledge The Glass Bead Game and philosophy Nietzsche’s theory of the eternal recurrence What is your favourite paradox?	Page 63 Chess and philosophy Inverted spectrum hypothesis Greatest 20th century philosopher Total recall? forget it Philosophical pecking order Are all questions philosophical?
Page 62 Is the world all there is? Knowing when an act is done from duty Descartes’ method of doubt Thinking before you speak Gödel’s Incompleteness theorem Denying the consequent	Page 61 Would ‘I’ still exist if I was conceived one hour later? Claims about what ‘most’ philosophers believe Moral dilemma over career vs family Heraclitus on change revisited Intelligence and levels of consciousness Kant on intentions and consequences
Page 60 Heraclitus on temporal flow,identity and change Four basic questions of existence On an attempted proof of mind-body dualism Cosmology vs ontology in Eastern and Western philosophy Buddhist philosophy of mind and self A syllogism named Celaront	Page 59 Descartes and the principle of egocentricity Does objectivity exist? Descartes on imagination and intellect Fatalism and knowledge of the future Knock-down refutation of skepticism Latter day Latin
Page 58 Can philosophy help me in my confusion? AI and the answer to the task of life What kind of animal is homo sapiens? Looking for a first cause One approach to the meaning of life Scientific laws without a lawmaker	Page 57 Karma for robots Ending the debate of materialism vs. idealism Is morality inherent? Why should I be moral? A different look at free will Dating with a Kantian ethicist
Page 56 David Hume and the sensible knave Who will check my claim about alternate electricity? Meaning of an artwork to the artist Free will versus determinism Big bang holds steady Confused about Leibniz’s theory of monads	Page 55 What keeps a philosopher interested? Explaining the differentiation of the universe Quantum theory and the free will problem What is the mind-body problem and why is it important? Wittgenstein on the definition of a ‘game’ What’s the point of philosophy?
Page 54 Nietzsche on the will to power and the Ubermensch A philosopher’s view of the future of religion Wittgenstein’s view of philosophy How our view of reality is shaped by theory Could two identical objects occupy the same space? (revisited) Hume’s is-ought problem and its application to morality	Page 53 Contrasting The Matrix and Descartes Meditation One The three-way cake division problem David Lewis on the logical possibility of time travel An eight year old’s question about the external world (contd.) Experiencing a ‘temporary epiphany’ On a proposed argument for theism
Page 52 What makes someone a philosopher? When is a question about religion philosophical? Hegel, Marx and historical materialism Can you call an invalid argument ‘unsound’? An eight year old’s question about the external world What would Nietzsche say about today’s society?	Page 51 Is time travel possible? Short answer to a question about evil What’s the most interesting philosophical argument you have come across? Descartes on the insufficiency of sense experience to determine what is real Will there come a day when philosophy no longer exists? David Hume’s view on personal identity
Page 50 Could two identical objects occupy the same space? Role of philosophy in the postmodern era Do laws actually make a difference? Descartes’ argument for God’s existence in the 3rd Meditation More on ‘must everything that evolves have intelligence/ consciousness?’ More on ‘can a perfect being create something imperfect’?	Page 49 Locke on personal identity Is human free-will compatible with God’s omnipotence/ omniscience? What right do we have to be happy when things are so bad? Reading Hegel’s ‘Geist’ as equivalent to ‘God’ Proving the existence of a teapot Philosophy in the 21st century
Page 48 How does Hume justify belief in an external world? What is Hegel’s dialectical process composed of? What does the soul look like? Must everything that evolves have intelligence/ consciousness? Is Nietzsche an ethical egoist? Can a perfect being create something imperfect?	Page 47 How a good empiricist gets to grips with gravity The science and the philosophy of colours One day all human life will be extinguished – so why are we here? Explaining Kant’s ‘transcendental unity of apperception’ Question on knowledge, faith and certainty What do you think of my theory that everything is motion?
Page 46 What is a metaphysical explanation of a phenomenon? On the value of studying philosophy Can our feelings be our sole guide to morality? Difference between being philosophical and being a philosopher Questions on the philosophy of time Are some acts morally obligatory regardless of consequences?	Page 45 Nietzsche on pity and the death of God Plato’s allegory of the cave Philosophy of mathematics and the nature of numbers More on Mill’s understanding of higher and lower pleasures Distinction between concrete and abstract particulars Descartes on the divisibility of mind (contd.)
Page 44 Why dissatisfied Socrates is better than a satisfied pig Was there a time before the universe existed? Descartes on the indivisibility of mind Difference between reality and illusion Question on human evolution Logic puzzle about trees and leaves	Page 43 There is no TV in your head – true or false? Nietzsche on truth, lies and interpretation Paradox of the tattoo artist Descartes’ attempt to prove the existence of an external world What use is formal logic to philosophy? Why were my comments deleted?
Page 42 What do we want from answers? Which of these statements did Plato hold? Kant on why one should not make a false promise Analyzing Descartes’ ontological argument for the existence of God Was Hegel a scientologist? Defining informational content	Page 41 What is a philosopher? Existence of the external world Geniuses versus idiots Can there be certainty outside my currently observed world? Thales versus Anaximander How to use a logic diagram
Page 40 Kant on empty thoughts and blind intuitions Moral philosophies of Kant and Aristotle compared Plato’s allegory of the cave and his political views Frege on thoughts, truth, and facts Cutting Aristotle (and a few other philosophers) short Science, philosophy and the possibility of free will	Page 39 Benefits of understanding the abstract world The notorious case of Debora Rodriguez How did Socrates break the conventions of Athenian society? On an attempted critique of postmodernism What’s the use of philosophy? Aren’t we happier not knowing that our ‘real’ world isn’t real?
Page 38 Is there such a thing as darkness? Descartes’ method of systematic doubt Is scepticism self-refuting? Achieving fellowship with Dionysus Does mere existence imply causal efficacy? Worried about the universe	Page 37 Why is death a comparative evil? Determinism and Laplace’s demon Existentialist view of free will and responsibility Removing life support from a patient in persistent vegitative state Question from a fan of Diogenes The difference between concepts and propositions
Page 36 Nagel’s example of the infant and the brain-damaged man Did Berkeley really ask the question about the tree in the forest? Is artificial intelligence posisble? Which is most real: the chair or its molecules? On knowledge, theory and the unknowable Struggling with Gödel’s incompleteness theorem	Page 35 Comparing the Buddha to Socrates, Plato and Descartes Utilitarianism versus deontology Reading original philosophical texts Aristotle’s conception of eudaimonia A Theory of Justice by John Rawls Recommendations for an introductory book on philosophy
Page 34 Why are we so scared of death? How can earth and water produce a live frog? Does the verification principle fail by its own criterion? Thomas Nagel on why life is absurd What makes the cosmological argument of God’s existence an impure argument? Does the panel understand the meaning of hubris?	Page 33 The Ionians’ contribution to philosophy Cartesian scepticism and the ontological argument for God’s existence Descartes and Hume on seeing a red bird Kant and the idea of empty space Counterfactual statements and the London Marathon Casting two shadows with one object and one light source
Page 32 General laws and the notion of causality Idea of a universal aesthetic Brain, mind and soul What is theism? What is philosophy? Berkeley as solipsist	Page 31 Leibniz and the zombie hypothesis Justification for Plato’s ideal Republic Confucius: virtue is not left to stand alone The point of studying the Presocratics ‘Transcendental’ in Kant, Husserl, Heidegger etc. Basic tenets of transcendentalism and challenge to the idea of a soul
Page 30 Problem of understanding an illogical reality David Hume’s contribution to the debate on God Why have children when life is so hard? The thought of Epictetus the Stoic Problem of understanding an illogical reality (contd.) How does Plato define ‘eros’?	Page 29 Machiavelli’s notion of truth God and objective morality revisited Is lying always wrong? Intelligence of cheats and non-cheats compared Are we all victims of cause and effect? Trying to explain personal identithy
Page 28 Prejudices that prevent you from finding the truth Understanding Ryle’s ‘Concept of Mind’ Is it more ethical to let the starving die? Nagel’s notion of ‘what it is like to be a…’ On the plurality of religions, moralities and political ideals Definitions of ‘scientifically impossible’	Page 27 Who invented philosophers? Is God necessary or sufficient for objective morality? The philosopher who says we are a bundle of neurons What is time? How Descartes attempts to explain the union of body and mind Wittgenstein on the true battle of philosophy
Page 26 Questions on mind and materialism Heraclitus versus Parmenides Mill’s argument for the greatest happiness principle Leibniz’s theory of monads Questions on Plato and Confucius Proving to a solipsist that you exist	Page 25 A question of business ethics? Aristotle on the meaning of life Does education undermine the authenticity of the student? Hobbes on the state of nature and the social contract Origin of our notions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Kant for beginners
Page 24 Reality of the chair, its molecules, and the perception Should we have a child? Startup time for your physical identity Foundation of environmental responsibility Invalid argument with true premisses and a true conclusion What use is philosophy for flipping burgers?	Page 23 Plato’s aim in the Republic Nature of scientific explanation Does time exist? Do criminals ‘deserve’ to be punished? What is the soul made of? Question about same sex marriage
Page 22 Is there a legitimate debate over climate change? The possibility of time travel The possibility of reincarnation Determinism, prediction and human agency Confused about Hegelian logic Asking ‘why’ and ‘why not’	Page 21 Why should I be moral? Nietzsche’s analogy of the eagles and lambs Is alcoholism a self-inflicted illness? Saying what is true about truth Question about the ‘one mind’ theory and Aristotle The meaning of Taoism
Page 20 Is physician-assisted suicide morally justifiable? So the big bang theory is only a theory? Must we obey our parents? Rationalist, empiricist and Kantian views of Plato’s forms Logic puzzle about knights and knaves What is the essence of a question?	Page 19 Philosopher who believed we find new laws by guessing Kant on our ignorance of things in themselves Bravery as an example of an Aristotelian mean Is morality dependent on religion? Question about truth and knowledge Can anyone be a philosopher?
Page 18 Questioning the ideal of the wise man Puzzle about the big bang Aristotle on why the highest good is happiness Philosophy as astonishment Criticisms of the ontological argument Putting effort into the self and into society	Page 17 What would Thales have thought of Sagan and Hawking? Socrates’ view of applied ethics vs ethical theory Aristotle on the highest good Books to get started in philosophy Proving the existence of God How do I know that my ‘yellow’ isn’t your ‘green’?
Page 16 Philosophical perspectives on Occupy Wall Street Karl Popper and the creationist debate revisited Why do women exist? Who claimed that forms reside in physical objects? Should abortion be legalized? Difference between melted cheese and grilled cheese	Page 15 Can we apply Karl Popper’s ideas to the creationist debate? Do you agree with Nietzsche that God is dead? Deciding who should get a heart transplant Who can call himself a spiritual philosopher? Confused about Plato’s theory of forms Thomas Aquinas on the existence of God
Page 14 If you replace all the parts of a car is it still the same car? How do philosophers decide which answers are worth considering? Why are most philosophical works linguistic? Is psychology a pseudo-science? When was the Big Bang? How do philosophical questions fit in with modern life?	Page 13 Understanding Kant Western vs eastern philosophy Influences of Aristotle on Thomas’s philosophy Difference between real and perceived space Anselm’s aims in the ontological argument Why is science materialistic in its metaphysical assumptions?
Page 12 Why do people have crushes on other people? Socrates’ view that moral truth is personal Feelings as a guide to morality Plato and Descartes on the nature of the mind Hume’s scepticism about induction Problem of evil revisited	Page 11 Where to pursue the quest for truth What is philosophy? Why do we dream? Descartes’ First Meditation Problem of mind-body interaction Defining logic
Page 10 Pythagoreans and the problem of irrational numbers Digging beyond the obvious Advice on reading philosophy What is reality? What is beauty? What is life?	Page 9 Difference between objective and subjective valuation Socrates and the Oracle of Delphi Why Socrates held that everything is water What did Nietzsche mean when he claimed that God is dead? Does it matter if an artist expresses racist views? What colour is a blank canvas?
Page 8 Finding the story of Genesis in other cultures Why is there something rather than nothing? Good livelihood for a pessimistic misanthrope How do you know the other person is not a robot? What is the ancient Greek paradox “catch 22”? What is a holotes and its parts?	Page 7 Advice on a philosophy self-study program Why shouldn’t my father take his own plate to the kitchen? Teacher help with biology practical Quid est ergo tempus? On presentism and the cosmos Taking 300 pages to say what can be said in one page
Page 6 What is time? The masochist problem in hedonistic utilitarianism Philosophical advice to a yoyo dieter What is a possible world? Ethics for nonbelievers Chomsky and Plato compared	Page 5 Did U.S.A. pick the right side in WWII? Descartes versus Leibniz Berkeley’s arguments for idealism Opinions about God The theory of phenomena and noumena Anselm’s ontological argument
Page 4 What is philosophy? Theory of evolution The last philosopher Churchland’s eliminative materialism Nature of philosophy and the purpose of Plato’s guardians Descartes’ argument for mind-body dualism	Page 3 Kant on acting from duty and acting in accordance with duty Is induction ultimately circular? How Plato’s epistemological assumptions shape his metaphysics Descartes’ argument for mind-body dualism Should children have the right to vote? Do the objects of philosophical inquiry change with time?
Page 2 Am I a sceptic about the external world? Philosophers question answers Appearance and reality in the 21st century When did the big bang happen? Are WE God? If this is a question…	Page 1 Does it matter if an artist expresses racist views? Plato’s answer to Heraclitus and Parmenides Kant and Aristotle on ‘why be moral?’ Best soccer team — the objective truth? Limits on God What’s the point of philosophy?

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