The Good Life contains an exposition and critique of the various ideals in living that have been advocated by major philosophers and schools of thought. In addition, the ethical problems of egoism, determinism, and relativism are explained and evaluated in both their classic Greek form and in the deconstruction of post-modernism.The ideals that are discussed include hedonism as described by the Cyrenaics and Epicureans, and the Utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill; the naturalistic ethic of the Stoics, the Transcendentalists, the evolutionists, and the back-to-nature movement; the biblical ethic of Judaism and Christianity as well as the Eastern religions of Confucianism and Buddhism; and the Kantian ideal of duty and virtue ethics, including feminist theory. To illuminate various conceptions of the good life, multiple examples are drawn from contemporary life, including the abortion issue, racism, capital punishment, and multiculturalism.

The Good Life: Alternatives in Ethics

Politics & Social Sciences

Porter, Burton F.

Philosophy

Macmillan Pub. Co.

Philosophy Through Fiction and Film offers a fresh approach to philosophy using literary and film narratives along with standard philosophic works to introduce readers to the basic branches of the field. This book covers the fundamental problems of philosophy including epistemology, physics, ethics, religion, and politics. For anyone interested in a lively, engaging, and complete introduction to philosophy.

Philosophy Through Fiction and Film

Humor & Entertainment

Movies

Pearson College Div

Lively, comprehensive, and contemporary, The Voice of Reason: Fundamentals of Critical Thinking covers three principal areas: thought and language, systematic reasoning, and modes of proof. It employs highly accessible explanations and a multitude of examples drawn from social issues and various academic fields, showing students and other readers how to construct and criticize arguments using the techniques of sound reasoning. The Voice of Reason examines the traditional elements of the field and also explores new ground. The first section of the book elucidates the relationship between thought and language, explaining how words function. It discusses meaning, connotation, vagueness, ambiguity, and definition, identifying the linguistic elements that can produce mistakes in thinking. The next section describes the rules of systematic reasoning, examining such topics as truth, relevance, and adequacy; deductive logic (categorical, hypothetical, and disjunctive); and induction (cause and effect, analogy, generalization, and hypothesis). Sixteen fallacies in thinking are also described through extensive illustrations and applications. The final section of the book offers a unique study of what constitutes proof in several different areas--including politics, advertising, law, and social issues--as well as in the academic disciplines of literature, science, history, and ethics. The author describes the various rules of evidence, using essays by major figures in each field as examples. An ideal text for courses in critical thinking, informal logic, and reasoning and writing, The Voice of Reason offers numerous pedagogical features including a host of examples; assignments, exercises, and puzzles at both the halfway point and at the end of each chapter; cartoons and quotations throughout; and practical applications of theoretical concepts. An extensive Instructor's Manual contains answers to the exercises that appear throughout the text.

The Voice of Reason: Fundamentals of Critical Thinking

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Mental Health

Oxford University Press

This book describes the "naturalistic fallacy", as attributed to Hume, that non-moral premises cannot logically entail a moral conclusion, and distinguishes it from the similarly named though subtly different fallacy identified by Moore in Principia Ethica by comparing and contrasting its presence in a range of ethical or moral systems. A review of Hume’s position elicits the implications to theological naturalism, and how this relates to Kierkegaard’s "paradox of faith" and the doctrine of ineffability. Methods of logical examination of religious language are discussed, leading to the dissection of the analytic proposition that ‘God is Good’ and of the connotations of proper names. Porter concludes from this a solution to the naturalistic fallacy: that "good" is essential to "God" by definition, and therefore that premises relating to God must contain an inherent morality. Originally published in 1968, this book includes topics such as Mediaeval attitudes to deity and morality; Religious myth, images and language; Comparative conceptions of deity.

Deity and Morality: With Regard to the Naturalistic Fallacy

Reference

Routledge

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

The Good Life: Options in Ethics

A primer in ethics focusing on ultimate aims in living as proposed throughout philosophic history. Preliminary chapters cover the relation between ethics and science, religion, and psychology, as well as the challenge of relativism and determinism. The central section explores the ethical theories of hedonism, from the Greeks to the Utilitarians; self-realization, both of the individual and of our humanness, naturalism, including the Stoics and Transcendentalists; evolutionism as presented by both Darwin and Spencer; the ethic of duty of Immanuel Kant; religious systems including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism; virtue ethics in traditional and feminist forms; and existentialism from Nietzsche to Sartre. At various points, key concepts are introduced such as egoism and altruism, hard and soft determinism, deontology vs. teleology, and act and rule approaches to ethics. In addition, the "standard of reasonableness" is discussed as a means of evaluating the ethical options.

A primer in ethics focusing on ultimate aims in living as proposed throughout philosophic history. Preliminary chapters cover the relation between ethics and science, religion, and psychology, as well as the challenge of relativism and determinism. The central section explores the ethical theories of hedonism, from the Greeks to the Utilitarians; self-realization, both of the individual and of our humanness, naturalism, including the Stoics and Transcendentalists; evolutionism as presented by both Darwin and Spencer; the ethic of duty of Immanuel Kant; religious systems including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism; virtue ethics in traditional and feminist forms; and existentialism from Nietzsche to Sartre. At various points, key concepts are introduced such as egoism and altruism, hard and soft determinism, deontology vs. teleology, and act and rule approaches to ethics. In addition, the 'standard of reasonableness' is discussed as a means of evaluating the ethical options.

This book describes the "naturalistic fallacy", as attributed to Hume, that non-moral premises cannot logically entail a moral conclusion, and distinguishes it from the similarly named though subtly different fallacy identified by Moore in Principia Ethica by comparing and contrasting its presence in a range of ethical or moral systems. A review of Hume’s position elicits the implications to theological naturalism, and how this relates to Kierkegaard’s "paradox of faith" and the doctrine of ineffability. Methods of logical examination of religious language are discussed, leading to the dissection of the analytic proposition that ‘God is Good’ and of the connotations of proper names. Porter concludes from this a solution to the naturalistic fallacy: that "good" is essential to "God" by definition, and therefore that premises relating to God must contain an inherent morality. Originally published in 1968, this book includes topics such as Mediaeval attitudes to deity and morality; Religious myth, images and language; Comparative conceptions of deity.

Deity and Morality: With Regard to the Naturalistic Fallacy (Routledge Library Editions: Philosophy of Religion)

What the Tortoise Taught Us offers a lively, concise journey through western philosophy that explores the lives of major philosophers, their ideas, and how their thinking continues to influence our lives today. Using a chronological approach, Burton Porter shows how various philosophers address life's big questions. By putting each philosopher and their ideas into historical context, he helps us understand how certain ideas developed based on the thinking of the time, and how those ideas have influenced our modern perceptions. Using familiar language and interesting anecdotes, Porter provides us with an extremely readable and lively history that takes themes that characterize each age to reflect on the greater human experience. The book includes the philosophies and lives of the ancient philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and continues through time into the Middle Ages with St. Thomas Aquinas, to the Renaissance, and beyond. Porter explores the metaphysics of Descartes and Hobbs; the epistemology of Hume and Berkeley, and the ethics of Kant and Mill among others. Finally he concludes with contemporary issues, including racism, abortion, and modern feminism. Porter is able to explain these complex ideas in a clear, simple, and straightforward way. What the Tortoise Taught Us is a balanced and approachable look at life's basic questions through the eyes of the philosophers that have helped shape modern thought.

What the Tortoise Taught Us: The Story of Philosophy

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Porter, Burton F.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Porter, Burton F.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Porter, Burton F.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Good Life: Alternatives in Ethics

Philosophy Through Fiction and Film

The Voice of Reason: Fundamentals of Critical Thinking

Deity and Morality: With Regard to the Naturalistic Fallacy

The Good Life: Alternatives in Ethics

The Good Life: Options in Ethics

The Good Life: Options in Ethics

Deity and Morality: With Regard to the Naturalistic Fallacy

Deity and Morality: With Regard to the Naturalistic Fallacy (Routledge Library Editions: Philosophy of Religion)

What the Tortoise Taught Us: The Story of Philosophy