An Introduction to Philosophy | Page 2

Throughout it is taken for granted that the philosopher has no private system of weights and measures, but must reason as other men reason, and must prove his conclusions in the same sober way.
I have written in hopes that the book may be of use to undergraduate students. They are often repelled by philosophy, and I cannot but think that this is in part due to the dry and abstract form in which philosophers have too often seen fit to express their thoughts. The same thoughts can be set forth in plain language, and their significance illustrated by a constant reference to experiences which we all have--experiences which must serve as the foundation to every theory of the mind and the world worthy of serious consideration.
But there are many persons who cannot attend formal courses of instruction, and who, nevertheless, are interested in philosophy. These, also, I have had in mind; and I have tried to be so clear that they could read the work with profit in the absence of a teacher.
Lastly, I invite the more learned, if they have found my "System of Metaphysics" difficult to understand in any part, to follow the simple statement contained in the chapters above alluded to, and then to return, if they will, to the more bulky volume.
GEORGE STUART FULLERTON.
New York, 1906.

CONTENTS






PART I
INTRODUCTORY






CHAPTER I
THE MEANING OF THE WORD "PHILOSOPHY" IN THE PAST AND IN THE PRESENT
1. The Beginnings of Philosophy. 2. The Greek Philosophy at its Height. 3. Philosophy as a Guide to Life. 4. Philosophy in the Middle Ages. 5. The Modern Philosophy. 6. What Philosophy means in our Time.





CHAPTER II
COMMON THOUGHT, SCIENCE, AND REFLECTIVE THOUGHT
7. Common Thought. 8. Scientific Knowledge. 9. Mathematics. 10. The Science of Psychology. 11. Reflective Thought.






PART II
PROBLEMS TOUCHING THE EXTERNAL WORLD






CHAPTER III
IS THERE AN EXTERNAL WORLD?
12. How the Plain Man thinks he knows the World. 13. The Psychologist and the External World. 14. The "Telephone Exchange."





CHAPTER IV
SENSATIONS AND "THINGS"
15. Sense and Imagination. 16. May we call "Things" Groups of Sensations? 17. The Distinction between Sensations and "Things." 18. The Existence of Material Things.





CHAPTER V
APPEARANCES AND REALITIES
19. Things and their Appearances. 20. Real Things. 21. Ultimate Real Things. 22. The Bugbear of the "Unknowable".





CHAPTER VI
OF SPACE
23. What we are supposed to know about It. 24. Space as Necessary and Space as Infinite. 25. Space as Infinitely Divisible. 26. What is Real Space?





CHAPTER VII
OF TIME
27. Time as Necessary, Infinite, and Infinitely Divisible. 28. The Problem of Past, Present, and Future. 29. What is Real Time?






PART III
PROBLEMS TOUCHING THE MIND






CHAPTER VIII
WHAT IS THE MIND?
30. Primitive Notions of Mind. 31. The Mind as Immaterial. 32. Modern Common Sense Notions of the Mind. 33. The Psychologist and the Mind. 34. The Metaphysician and the Mind.





CHAPTER IX
MIND AND BODY
35. Is the Mind in the Body? 36. The Doctrine of the Interactionist. 37. The Doctrine of the Parallelist. 38. In what Sense Mental Phenomena have a Time and Place. 39. Objections to Parallelism.





CHAPTER X
HOW WE KNOW THERE ARE OTHER MINDS
40. Is it Certain that we know It? 41. The Argument for Other Minds. 42. What Other Minds are there? 43. The Doctrine of Mind-stuff.





CHAPTER XI
OTHER PROBLEMS OF WORLD AND MIND
44. Is the Material World a Mechanism? 45. The Place of Mind in Nature. 46. The Order of Nature and "Free-will." 47. The Physical World and the Moral World.






PART IV
SOME TYPES OF PHILOSOPHICAL THEORY






CHAPTER XII
THEIR HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
48. The Doctrine of Representative Perception. 49. The Step to Idealism. 50. The Revolt of "Common Sense." 51. The Critical Philosophy.





CHAPTER XIII
REALISM AND IDEALISM
52. Realism. 53. Idealism.





CHAPTER XIV
MONISM AND DUALISM
54. The Meaning of the Words. 55. Materialism. 56. Spiritualism. 57. The Doctrine of the One Substance. 58. Dualism. 59. Singularism and Pluralism.





CHAPTER XV
RATIONALISM, EMPIRICISM, CRITICISM, AND CRITICAL EMPIRICISM
60. Rationalism. 61. Empiricism. 62. Criticism. 63. Critical Empiricism. 64. Pragmatism.






PART V
THE PHILOSOPHICAL SCIENCES






CHAPTER XVI
LOGIC
65. Introductory; the Philosophical Sciences. 66. The Traditional Logic. 67. The "Modern" Logic. 68. Logic and Philosophy.





CHAPTER XVII
PSYCHOLOGY
69. Psychology and Philosophy. 70. The Double Affiliation of Psychology.





CHAPTER XVIII
ETHICS AND AESTHETICS
71. Common Sense Ethics. 72. Ethics and Philosophy. 73. Aesthetics.





CHAPTER XIX
METAPHYSICS
74. What is Metaphysics? 75. Epistemology.





CHAPTER XX
THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
76. Religion and Reflection. 77. The Philosophy of Religion.





CHAPTER XXI
PHILOSOPHY AND THE OTHER SCIENCES
78. The Philosophical and the Non-philosophical Sciences. 79. The study of Scientific Principles and Methods.






PART VI
ON THE STUDY OF PHILOSOPHY






CHAPTER XXII
THE VALUE OF THE STUDY OF PHILOSOPHY
80. The Question of Practical Utility. 81. Why Philosophical Studies are Useful. 82. Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Religion.





CHAPTER XXIII
WHY WE SHOULD STUDY THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
83. The Prominence given to the Subject. 84. The Especial Importance of Historical Studies to Reflective Thought. 85. The Value of Different Points of View. 86. Philosophy as Poetry and Philosophy as Science. 87. How to read the History of Philosophy.





CHAPTER XXIV
SOME PRACTICAL ADMONITIONS
88. Be prepared to enter upon a New Way of Looking