Philosophy – Basic Notions, Volume 1

A basic introduction to the world of philosophy, with answers to the deepest questions we all ask ourselves, through the lens of the world’s greatest philosophers, from Plato and Confucius to modern thinkers. A guide to the fundamental nature of existence, society and the way we think.

After an overview of philosophy, with the history of philosophy, branches of philosophy, philosophical concepts and philosophical schools and traditions, specific topics in philosophy are addressed, such as God (religion), good and evil (ethics), animal rights, politics (political philosophy), appearance and reality, science (philosophy of science), mind (philosophy of mind), and art (aesthetics).

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning such matters as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophical methods include questioning, critical discussion, rational argument, and systematic presentation. Classical philosophical questions include both abstract questions (Is it possible to know something and prove it? What is most real?) and more practical and concrete questions (Is there an optimal way to live? Is it better to be just or unjust? Do people have free will?)

Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of approaching these problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and reliance on rational arguments.

Other investigations are closely related to art, science, politics, or other pursuits. For example, is beauty objective or subjective? Are there many scientific methods or just one? Is political utopia a hopeful dream or hopeless fantasy? The main sub-fields of academic philosophy include metaphysics (“concerned with the fundamental nature of reality and being”), epistemology (about the nature and foundations of knowledge andits limits and validity), ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, logic, philosophy of science and the history of Western philosophy.

Many philosophical debates that began in antiquity are still debated today.

CONTENTS:

Introduction
– Origins and boundaries of philosophy
– History of philosophy
1 Philosophy
– Etymology
– What is philosophy?
– Philosophy as a way of life
– Western philosophy
– – The methods of Western Philosophy
– – Negative delimitations of the method
– – Characteristics of the method of the philosophy
– – The branches of Western philosophy
– Western philosophy and society
– History of Western philosophy
– Asian philosophies
– – Chinese philosophy
– – Confucianism
– – Neo-Confucianism
– – Neo-Taoism
– – The Hundred Schools
– – Indian philosophy
– – – The different āstika schools
– – – The different schools nāstika
– – – Cārvāka philosophy
– – – Nyâya
– – – The Vaiçeshika
– – – The Sāṃkhya
– – – The Vedānta
– – – Jaïnism
– – – Buddhism
– – Persian philosophy
– – Japanese philosophy
– African philosophy
– 1.1 Knowledge
– – Definition of knowledge
– – – Knowledge as a true and justified belief
– – – The Gettier problem
– – Other definitions of knowledge
– – – Foundationist definition
– – – Definition as adequacy to the object
– – – Restrictive definitions
– – Knowledge in philosophy
– – Philosophical debates on knowledge
– – – Positivism vs. Constructivism
– – – Foundationism and coherentism
– – – Contextualism and invariantism
– – Tacit and explicit knowledge
– – The sources of knowledge
– 1.1.1 The ory of knowledge
– – Origins of the theory of knowledge
– – – Francis Bacon’s model
– – – Karl Popper’s model
– – – Twenty-first century turning point
– – First introductory step in the theory of knowledge
– – The theoretical model of access to knowledge
– – Creation of knowledge
– – Details of relationships in the specific environment to knowledge
– – – Link between knowledge and belief
– – – Link between knowledge and knowing
– – – Link between knowledge and information
– – – Link between knowledge and technique
2 History of philosophy
– 2.1 Ancient philosophy
– – In Europe
– – – The presocratic philosophers
– – – The “golden age” of Greece
– – – – Socrates
– – In Asia
– – Pre-Columbian philosophy
– 2.2 Medieval philosophy
– – Introduction
– – Characteristics of medieval philosophy
– – – Building the intellectual foundations of knowledge
– – – From the 5th to the 7th century
– – – The High Middle Ages (7th to 10th century)
– – – The Low Middle Ages (11th to 15th centuries)
– – – – 11th century
– – – – 12th century
– – – – 13th century
– – – – Scholastic assessment
– – – – 14th and 15th centuries
– – – Criticism of medieval philosophy
– 2.3 Renaissance philosophy
– – Starting points of the new thinking
– – Reformation
– – Philosophy and natural sciences
– 2.4 Modern philosophy
– – Main features
– 2.5 Contemporary philosophy
– – Two major currents
– – – Analytic philosophy
– – – Phenomenology
– – A minor trend: philosophical practice
– 2.6 Western philosophy
– – Sub-disciplines of Western philosophy
– – Philosophy and other disciplines
– – – Natural history
– – – Theology and religious studies
– – – Mathematics
– 2.6.1 History of Western philosophy
– – Ancient philosophy
– – – Greek period
– – – Roman period and late antiquity
– – Medieval philosophy
– – Modern philosophy
– – – Renaissance
– – – Seventeenth century
– – – Enlightenment
– – Contemporary philosophy
– – – Nineteenth century
– – – Twentieth century
– 2.7 Eastern philosophy
– – Eastern philosophy as a field of study and an academic discipline
– – – Different oriental philosophies
– – – A field of study at the heart of comparative philosophy research
– – – An academic discipline that should not be confused with sectarian practices
– – A philosophical discipline related to history and philology
– – – A discipline governed by rules
– – The great currents of Eastern philosophy are based on the teachings of world-renowned authors
– 2.7.1 Buddhism
– – Origins of Buddhism
– – Historical Buddha
– – Awakening or bodhi
– – – Definition of Awakening in Theravada Buddhism
– – – Definition of awakening in mahāyāna
– – Doctrine
– – – Dharma
– – – Three jewels
– – – Four Noble Truths
– – – Three characteristics of existence
– – – Three poisons
– – – Rebirths
– – – Twelve interdependent links
– – – Noble Eightfold Path
– – – Four immeasurable
– – – Emptiness
– – – Three bodies (kāyas) of Buddha
– – – Buddhist ethics and precepts
– – – Five precepts
– – – Ten precepts
– – – Sangha: community of followers
– – Different schools
– – – Schools of ancient Buddhism
– – – Theravada Buddhism
– – – Mahayana Buddhism
– – – Vajrayana Buddhism
– – – Tibetan Buddhism
– – – Buddhism and Western Philosophy
– – Critics of Buddhism
– – – Criticism by Jainism
– – – Criticism by Hinduism
– – – Scientific criticism
3 Branches of philosophy
– 3.1 Epistemology
– – Definition
– – – In the philosophy philosophical tradition
– – – In the Anglo-Saxon philosophical tradition
– – Field of application of epistemology
– – – Epistemologists
– – Epistemological decomposition of science: the special sciences
– – – Themes of the epistemology of science
– – – Themes of the epistemologies of the special sciences
– – History of epistemology
– – – Great epistemological models
– – – Antiquity
– – – Cartesian epistemology
– – – – Cartesianism and rationalism
– – – Empiricism
– – – Beyond empiricism and rationalism
– – – Analytical theory of scientific knowledge
– – – Kantian epistemology: criticism
– – – The positivist turn and the logical positivism
– – – – The Vienna Circle
– – – Contemporary epistemology
– – – – Criticism of logical positivism
– – – – – Quine and the “naturalized epistemology”
– – – – Criticism of Mach induction
– – – – Bertrand Russell
– – – – Falsifiability of Karl Popper
– – – – The “scientific research programs” of Imre Lakatos
– – – – The “Natural Science” of Thomas Kuhn
– – – – Epistemological holism
– – – – The phenomenology of Husserl
– – – – Systemic and epistemological constructivism
– – – – Structuralism
– – – Complex epistemology
– – – – Examples
– – – – Complexity approach
– – Epistemological questions
– – – Production of scientific knowledge
– – – – Deduction
– – – – Induction
– – – Validation of scientific knowledge
– – – – Verification
– – – – – Nature of knowledge
– – – – – Falsifiability
– – – – Relativism
– – – Knowledge organization
– – – Evolution and dynamics of knowledge
– – – – Continuism and discontinuism
– – – – Internalism and externalism
– 3.2 Philosophy of language
– – History
– – The problems of philosophy of language
– – Two possible approaches
– – Internalism and externalism
– – The philosophy of ordinary language or pragmatics
– – The philosophy of language today
– 3.3 Logic
– – History
– – – Antiquity
– – – Contemporary era
– – The different approaches
– – Major domains of logic
– – – Syllogistic logic
– – – Propositional logic
– – – Calculus of predicates
– – – Modal logic
– – – Philosophical logic
– – Basic notions of formal logic
– – – Syntaxes
– – – Quantification
– – – Equality
– – Non-binary logic
– 3.3.1 Philosophy of logic
– – Etymology
– – Origin and traditional basis of logic
– – Philosophical questions
– 3.3.2 Propositional logic
– – General introduction
– – Definition of a proposition
– – Proposition and predicate
– – Definition of a deductive system
– – Structure
– – Presentation
– – – Syntax
– – – – The constituents of language
– – – – Propositional formulas
– – – – Some syntactic conventions
– – – – Deductive systems
– – – – The natural deduction
– – – – Calculus of sequents
– – – – Examples of theorems
– – – – Comments
– – – Semantics
– – – – Boolean interpretation of connectors
– – – – Complete connector systems
– – Main properties
– – – Decidability, coherence, completeness, compactness
– – – Calculation methods, NP-completeness
– – – Boolean algebra
– – – Conjunctive normal forms, disjunctive normal forms
– – Classical, minimal, intuitionist logic
– – – Absolute logic
– – – Positive logic
– – – Minimal logic
– – – Intuitionist logic
– – Quantified propositional calculus
– 3.3.3 Predicate logic
– – History
– – Syntax
– – – Definition
– 3.3.4 Modal logic
– – Alethic modal logic
– – Different modal logics
– – Axioms of modal logic
– – Modal logic models
– – Classification of modal logic systems
– – – Classic modal logics
– – – Monotonic modal logics
– – – Regular modal logics
– – – Normal modal logic
– – Link with other logics
– 3.4 Metaphysics
– – Etymology
– – Usual questions rightly or wrongly addressed to metaphysics
– – – The soul
– – – God
– – – Immortality
– – Notions of metaphysics
– – – Ideas
– – – – The truth
– – – – Freedom, reason and reality
– – – Concepts
– – – Categories
– – – Judgments
– – – – Synthetic judgment and analytical judgment
– – – – Causality and movement
– – – – Space and time
– – – – Existence
– – Metaphysics and its function
– – – A contested science
– – – A necessary science
– – – Structure of metaphysics
– – – – Dynamic
– – – – Foundations
– – – – Ontotheology
– – – – Analogy
– – Metaphysical systems
– – – The main systems
– – – A line and a destiny: the forgetting of being
– 3.4.1 Ontology
– – Brief history of ontology
– – Ontology as a question addressed to the being of beings
– – – The multiple meanings of being
– – – The impossibility of a unitary science of being
– – – – The question of the foundation
– – – – Ontotheology
– – – – The analogy
– – – The constitutive and permanent features of metaphysical ontology
– – – – Forgetting of being
– – – – The destiny character of metaphysics
– – Ontology as a question addressed to Being as such
– – – Return to the original meaning of the question
– – – The metaphysics of Dasein
– – – Completion and overcoming of metaphysics
– – – Beyond metaphysics, another beginning
– – Other ontologies
– – – Lavelle’s dialectical ontology
– – – Analytical ontology
– – – Hakim Bey’s ontological anarchism
– – – The ontology of Cornelius Castoriadis
– 3.4.2 Philosophy of space and time
– – Greek thought
– – – Heraclitus
– – – Plato
– – – Aristotle
– – – Stoics
– – – Plotinus
– – Christian thought
– – Modern thinking
– – Opposition between Leibniz and Newton
– – – Kant
– – – Bergson
– 3.4.3 Action theory
– – The problem of the explanation of human action
– – Report of the philosophy of action with the other branches of philosophy
– 3.5 Other
– 3.5.1 Axiology
– 3.5.2 Cosmology
– – History of scientific cosmologies
– – Modern cosmology
– – – A few orders of magnitude
– – – – Distances
– – – – Masses
– – – – Durations
– – – Contributions of general relativity
– – Standard model of cosmology
– 3.5.3 Hermeneutics
– – General definition
– – – Fields of hermeneutics
– – – Methodological issues
– 3.6 Practical philosophy
– – Introduction
– – – Aim and nature of practical philosophy
– – Practical rationality
– – New philosophical practices
– 3.7 Theoretical philosophy
– – Logic
– – Epistemology
– – Philosophy of science
– – Metaphysics and ontology
– – Philosophy of language
4 Concepts
– The coin of the notion of concept in antiquity
– The elaboration of concept of concept in scholasticism
– Modern philosophy: from concept to idea
– The question of meaning in analytic philosophy
– – The so-called “classical” theory
– – The causal theory
– – Teleosemantics
– Postmodern philosophy
– 4.1 Conceptualism
– – Origin of ontological conceptualism
– – The quarrel between universals and ontological conceptualism
– – Epistemological conceptualism
– 4.2 Materialism
– – Definition and origin of the concept
– – – Philosophical materialism
– – – Materialism and its monism
– – – An ontological position
– – – The materialist definition of matter
– – Historiography of materialist philosophies
– – – Greek Antiquity and the Modern Age: appearance and resurgence of mechanism
– – – Enlightenment: development of materialist doctrines
– – – 19th century: naturalistic materialism and historical materialism
– – – – Naturalistic materialism
– – – – – Evolutionism
– – – Twentieth century
– – – – The scientific turn of materialism
– – – – The revival of reductionist materialism
– – – – “Eliminativist” materialism
– – – – Materialism and the computer model
– – – – Hedonistic materialism
– – – 21st century
– 4.3 Idealism
– – A multiple concept
– – Idealism in Antiquity
– – Modern idealism
– – Idealism in India
– – Definition
– – – Ontological idealism
– – – Epistemological idealism
– – – Idealism and realism
– – Main precursors (before Kant)
– – – Antiquity
– – – – Plato
– – – – Late antiquity
– – – Modern period
– – – – Descartes
– – – – Leibniz
– – – – Berkeley
– – Major currents
– – – Objective idealism
– – – – Plato and the theory of Ideas
– – – – Leibniz and “monadological” idealism
– – – – “Objective Idealism” in Hegel
– – – Subjective idealism
– – – – Berkeley’s immaterialism
– – – – Kant’s transcendental idealism
– – – – Fichte’s “Absolute Self”
– – – Absolute idealism
– – – – Schelling and the “philosophy of identity”
– – – – Hegel and “speculative philosophy”
– – – – “Absolute Monism” in Britain
– – Idealism today
– – – Thomas Nagel
– – – Bernardo Kastrup
– – – Donald Hoffman
– – Criticisms of idealism
– 4.4 Realism
– – The different versions of realism
– – Historical overview
– – – Antiquity and Middle Ages
– – – – Antiquity
– – – – Middle Ages: Quarrel of Universals
– – – – Middle Ages: Thomistic and Neo-Thomistic Realism
– – – Modern period: the question of scientific realism
– – – – Cartesian mechanism
– – – – Locke: primary and secondary qualities
– – – Contemporary period
– – – – Karl Popper and critical realism
– – – – Kripke, Putnam and externalism
– – “Strong” realism
– – “Minimal” or “structural” realism
– – Realism and anti-realism
– – Realism in Eastern thought
– 4.5 Nominalism
– – The nature of universals
– – Forms of nominalism
– – – Scientific nominalism
– – The challenge of nominalism
– 4.6 Atomism
– – History of atomism
– – – In India
– – – – Nyâya-Vaiśeṣika School
– – – – Jaina School
– – – – Buddhist schools
– – – In Ancient Greece
– – – In medieval Islam
– – – In the middle Ages
– – – In modern times
– – – – The vitalist atomism of Giordano Bruno
– – – – 17th century corpularism
– – – – Scientific atomism
– – – – Is quantum physics an atomism?
– – Criticism
– 4.7 Monism
– – Origin and history of the concept
– – Greek philosophy
– – Spinozism
– – Naturphilosophie, Hegelianism
– 4.8 Relativism
– – History
– – Relativistic arguments
– – Types of relativism
– – – Epistemological relativism
– – – – Cognitive relativism
– – – Cultural relativism
– – – Moral relativism
– – Critics of relativism
5 Philosophical schools and traditions
– 5.1 Major traditions in philosophy
– 5.1.1 Analytic philosophy
– – Place of analytic philosophy in Western philosophy
– – – Relations of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy
– – Tradition, doctrine and method
– – Formalism and natural language
– – – Formalism
– – – Natural language
– – Critics of analytic philosophy
– 5.1.2 Continental philosophy
– – Extension of this concept
– – Use
– – – A classificatory or controversial concept?
– – Debate between analytical and continental philosophies
– 5.2 Philosophical movement
– 5.2.1 Ancient philosophy
– 5.2.1.1 Confucianism
– – Confucian morality
– – – The ren
– – Confucianism and nature
– – The development of Confucianism
– – – Confucius
– – – Before the empire
– – – Official recognition under the Han
– – – From the Three Kingdoms to the Late Tang
– – – From the Song to the end of the Ming
– 5.2.1.2 Platonism
– – History of Platonism
– – – Platonism in Antiquity
– – – Platonism in the Middle Ages
– – – Platonism in contemporary times
– – Platonism and realism
– 5.2.1.3 Aristotelianism
– – Presentation
– – Aristotelian thinkers
– – Commentators of Aristotle
– 5.2.1.4 Pythagoreanism
– – Teaching rules
– – Doctrine
– – – Principles
– – – From mathematics to the harmony of the world
– – – Astronomy
– – – Ethics and metaphysics
– – – Food prohibitions and vegetarianism
– 5.2.1.7 Stoicism
– – Sources
– – Etymology
– – History
– – – Ancient Stoicism
– – – Middle Stoicism
– – – Late Stoicism
– – Wisdom and philosophy
– – – Definitions of wisdom and philosophy
– – – Divisions of philosophy
– – Stoic ontology
– – – Divisions of being
– – – Intangibles
– – The logic
– – – Rhetoric
– – – The dialectic
– – – Sayables
– – – Proposals
– – – Reasoning and demonstration
– – The theory of knowledge
– – – The impressions
– – – The criteria of truth
– – – The critics
– – Ethics
– – Influence of Stoicism
– 5.2.1.6 Cynicism
– – History
– – Main themes
– – – Self-sufficiency
– – – The shortest way to virtue
– – – Nature, universality and cosmopolitanism
– – – Contemporary meaning
– 5.2.2 Medieval philosophy
– 5.2.2.1 Neo-Confucianism
– – Current development
– 5.2.2.2 Neoplatonism
– – Origins
– – Philosophy
– 5.2.2.3 Scholasticism
– – Four periods
– – – Primitive Scholasticism: from the beginning of the 11th century to the end of the 12th century
– – – Great Scholastic: Late 12th Century to Late 13th Century
– – – Late Scholasticism: the 14th century
– – – From the 15th century
– – Posterity of the scholastic conception
– 5.3 Modern period
– 5.3.1 Empiricism
– – History
– – – Antiquity
– – – – Medicine and skepticism
– – – – Epicureanism: prenotions and simulacra
– – – – Aristotle and tabula rasa
– – – – Middle Ages
– – – Renaissance: Francis Bacon
– – Modern empiricism
– – – Developments
– – – Controversy between rationalism and empiricism
– – – Contemporary posterity of empiricism
– – – Relationship to established religion
– – Doctrine
– – – Epistemology
– – – – Theses and problems
– – – – Psychology and history
– – – – Method and logic
– – – Inductive logic
– – Aesthetic
– – – Theory of the sublime versus classicism
– – – The relativism of taste
– – – Kantian criticism
– 5.3.2 Existentialism
– – Context and definitions
– – – The beginnings
– – – German existentialism
– – – Christian existentialism
– – – Sartrian existentialism
– – – Misunderstandings and controversies
– – Concepts
– – – The building of the essence
– – – Freedom
– – – Responsibility
– – – Anguish
– – – Bad faith
– – – Other
– 5.3.3 German idealism
– – A complex genesis
– – – Kant’s influence
– – – Other philosophical influences
– – – Aufklärung, French Revolution and German Idealism
– – – German Idealism and Romanticism
– – – – Idealism and nostalgia for Greece
– – – – The transition to romanticism
– – – German Idealism and the concept of the Absolute
– – General principles
– – – Theoretical principles
– – – – The Principle of Identity
– – – – The question of the system
– – – – The foundation
– – – – The dialectic
– – – – Constructing
– – – Practical guidance
– – – – Naturalism
– – – – Sense of history
– – Criticism
– 5.3.4 Logicism
– – Frege, Russell and Whitehead
– – Neo-logicism
– 5.3.5 Logical positivism
– – The positivist legacy
– – The “logical” dimension of positivism
– – – The verificationist theory of meaning
– – – Translate theoretical vocabulary into observational vocabulary
– – – The emotivism of Alfred Ayer
– – – The instrumental design of scientific theories
– – – Logic status
– – Critique of logical empiricism
– 5.3.6 Marxism
– – Communism, Marxism and Marx’s Socialism
– – – Marx and communism
– – – Marx’s Marxism
– – – Scientific socialism
– – Concepts and main abstract notions of Karl Marx
– – – Marx, observer of the evolution of human societies
– – – Productive forces, social relations of production and mode of production
– – – Accumulation of capital, labor and surplus labor, alienation
– – – Marxist labor theory
– – – Class struggle
– – Criticism of Marxism
– – – Critics of economists
– – – Political criticism
– – – The shortcomings of the Marxist model of the analysis of capitalism
– 5.3.7 Structuralism
– – Etymology
– – Term
– – Structural differences as a basic assumption
– – Structure as a property of systems
– – Segmentation as a method
– – The structure in the humanities
– – Structuralism and systemic
– 5.3.8 Post-structuralism
– – Positioning in the history of philosophy
– – Socio-historical background
– – Different approaches of post-structuralism
– – – Jacques Derrida’s writing theory
– – – Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalysis
– – – Michel Foucault’s discourse analysis
– – Criticism
– 5.3.9 Pragmatism
– – General presentation
– – History of pragmatism
– – – Birth 1870-1898
– – – – The beginnings
– – – – The appearance of the word and the Peirce/James opposition
– – – The influence of pragmatism during the Dewey period (interwar period)
– – – Pragmatism during the period of domination of logical empiricism
– – Pragmatism and philosophy
– – – An original conception of philosophy
– – – Darwinism
– – – Belief, fallibilism and reason
– – – – A philosophy of belief, not ideas
– – – – Questioning Beliefs: Fallibilism
– – – The Theory of Truth: The Peirce/James Opposition
– – – – Truth in Peirce’s Scholastic Realism
– – – – The Truth in William James
– – The main features of classical pragmatism in the social sciences
– – – The inquiry theory
– – – – The inquiry as fixation of belief in Peirce
– – – Democracy
– – – – Process, ethics and personality
– – – – Social hope
– – Pragmatism and art
– – Neo-pragmatism
– – – The pragmatism of Richard Rorty
– – – Pragmatism applied to environmental ethics
– – – Pragmatism in France
– – Pragmatism: reception and criticism
– – – Reception in Germany
– – – Reception in France
– 5.3.10 Rationalism
– – Terminological clarifications
– – Sources in ancient Greece
– – Modern rationalism
– – – Origin and characteristics of modern rationalism
– – – Rationalism and empiricism
– – – Rationalism and irrationalism
– – – Rationalism and revelation
– – Critical rationalism
– – – Kantian synthesis
– – – Abandonment of metaphysical claims
– – – Experimental dialectic
– – – Historicity of reason
– – Contemporary critique of modern rationalism
6 God (Religion)
– Etymologies and designations
– – Etymology
– – Difficulty of definition
– Philosophy
– – First or only principle
– – Explanatory principle or active being
– – Arguments for the existence of God
– – – Classical arguments in favor of the existence of God
– – – Position of the major religions
– – – Critique of ontological proof
– – – Question redesigned at new expense
– – Contemporary philosophies
– – – Masters of suspicion and “God’s Death”
– – – Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity, 1841
– – – Philosophy and theologies of the process
– – – Christian phenomenology
– 6.1 Philosophy of religion
– – Essentialism
– – Functionalism
– – Belief
– – Reflexivity
– – Nominalism
– – Basic questions
– – What does ‘God’ mean?
– – – Believers perspective
– – – Marx
– – – Durkheim
– – – Feuerbach
– – – Freud
– – Is God knowable?
– – – Religions and science
– 6.2 Existence of God
– – Arguments for the existence of God
– – – Metaphysical and logical arguments
– – – – Ontological argument
– – – – Cosmological argument or first cause argument
– – – – The Leibnizian variant
– – – Empirical arguments
– – – – Teleological argument or the argument from design
– – – – Moral argument
– – – – Universal consensus argument
– – – – Argument from revelation
– – Arguments against the existence of God
– – – Metaphysical and logical arguments
– – – – The existence of God is unverifiable and therefore meaningless
– – – – Argument from infinite regress
– – – – God faced with a logical paradox
– – – Epistemic argument: Argument from superfluity
– – – – Validity of the first premise
– – – Empirical arguments
– – – – Arguments of the indigence of Creation
– – – – Argument for the invention of the idea of ​​God
– 6.3 Teleological argument
– 6.4 Fine Tuning Argument
– – Fine tuning argument and theological explanation
– – – Intelligent design
– – Fine Tuning examples
– – – The adjustment of the constants of the Universe
– – – – Density of the universe and speed of expansion
– – – – The masses of the neutron and proton
– – – Appearance of heavy elements in the Universe
– – – – Heavy elements
– – – – Carbon
– – – Tuning the fundamental forces of our universe
– – – – Ratio of electromagnetic and gravitational forces
– – – – Other forces
– – Criticism of fine tuning argument
– – Presentation of the problem
– – Theodicies
– 6.5 Cosmological argument
– 6.6 Ontological argument
– – How the argument works
– – Canterbury
– – Descartes
– – – Discourse on the Method, IV
– – – Meditations on First Philosophy, V
– – – – Objections and rebuttals
– – Spinoza
– – Leibniz
– – Hegel
– – Bochensky’s ontological argument
– – Criticisms of the argument
– – – Refutation by Kant
– – Contemporary refutation
– 6.7 Problem of Evil
– – Theodices
– 6.8 Free will
– – History
– – – Augustinian origin of the concept
– – – Scholastic elaboration
– – Rationalist philosophy
– – – Maimonides
– – – Spinoza
– – How do we ask the question of free will again today?
– – – From the philosophy of science
– – – The impossibility of free will according to Donald Hebb
– – – Free will and the Everett hypothesis
– – – The Free Will Theorem
– – – Free will and precognition
– – Criticism
– – – Sociological criticism: determinism
– – – Theological criticism: The predestination controversy
– – – Philosophical criticism: The problem of freedom from indifference
– 6.9 Argument from miracles
– – Catholic theology
– – Muslim theology
– – Philosophy of science
– 6.10 Pascal’s Wager
– – Excerpt from Pensées
– – Explanations
– – Presentation in the form of a table
– – Critics of wager
– – – Gambling may displease God
– – – Multiple Gods objection
– – – Belief is not a voluntary act
– 6.11 Faith
– – Philosophical analysis
– 6.12 Death
– – Philosophy of death
– – Religions
– – – Animism
– – – Atheism
– – – Buddhism
– – – Christianity
– – – Hinduism
– – – Islam
– – – Jainism
– – – Jehovah’s Witnesses
– – – Judaism
– – – Latter-day Saints
– – – Spiritism
– – Symbolism
– 6.13 Epicureanism
– – Ancient Epicureanism
– – – The success of the doctrine
– – – Causes of this success
– – – Characters of the Epicurean school
– – Modern reception
– – – Criticism
– – – Influences and posterity
– 6.13.1 Hedonism
– – Possible meanings
– – – Philosophical thought
– – History
– – Criticism
– 6.14 Immortality
– – History
– – Immortality of the soul and religious traditions
– – – Buddhism
– – – Christianity
– – – Islam
– – – Mormonism
– – Contemporary perception of the immortality of the body
– – – Observation in the animal kingdom
– – – Perspectives for mankind
– – Immortality in science
– – – Alexis Carrel
– – – Jean Rostand
– – – Hayflick limit
– – – Étienne-Émile Baulieu and DHEA
– – – Aubrey de Grey
– – – Professor Skulachev
– – – Regenerative medicine
– – – Professor Christopher Jaeger
About the author
– Nicolae Sfetcu
– – Contact
Publishing House
– MultiMedia Publishing

MultiMedia Publishing
– Digital: EPUB (ISBN 978-606-033-752-2), Kindle (ISBN 978-606-033-753-9) PDF (ISBN 978-606-033-754-6)
06.12.2022

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