An Introduction to Philosophy | Page 2

the
significance of purposes and ends are not without justification. It is
indicated that theism is a reasonable doctrine, and it is held that the
human will is free in the only proper sense of the word "freedom."
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.