Reason and Culture: An Introduction to Philosophy
PrefacePhilosophy has undergone important shifts in the last few decades. Perhaps the most striking change is that it has come to pay more attention to human practices. Less confident in its ability to offer a priori justifications or substantive critiques of the core beliefs of religion, morality, and science, philosophy now seeks to understand them in the context of human fife generally as well as to evaluate their most basic claims.Sensitive to the richness and detail of human social and cultural life, philosophy has thus become to some extent interpretive, taking human practices as given. Philosophy of religion attends more closely to actual religious practices, rituals, and language, while political philosophy and ethics are more sensitive to the workings of legal and political institutions. Much of this reflects both a new modesty and a new appreciation (following the later Wittgenstein) of the importance of language as used and practices as discovered.Another implication of this shift is that the boundary between philosophy and other disciplines has become more porous and philosophy itself more interdisciplinary. Philosophers are more attuned to developments in cognate disciplines as well as to culture generally. Philosophy of mind closely follows research in cognitive science, philosophy of science is sensitive to the history of science and to developments in the natural sciences, and moral philosophy is often informed by moral psychology and anthropology.Finally, some philosophers have embraced a Deweyian ideal of public philosophy. They focus more of their energy on issues of the day, and they explore a richer array of topics. Many areas of applied philosophy are flourishing.We hope instructors will find this book useful in different contexts, mainly as an introductory text or in courses about values and society. Texts such as this ordinarily take one of two approaches. Some are primarily historical, while others treat the field as a series of problems or topics. Each of these approaches has its advantages and disadvantages. We believe that we have found a better way to introduce students to the discipline.We have sought in this book to reflect philosophy's growing interest in practices by directing attention to the three practices of morality, science, and religion, and thus to the fact that they can be studied from the dual perspectives of reason and culture. We integrate historical figures because the history of philosophy is important, and students often enjoy reading major figures in Western thought. We also think that a course should be thematic and coherent, and perhaps most important, it should bring students into the discipline by showing its importance to their interests and concerns.We chose morality, science, and religion carefully. All are infused with philosophical issues, arguments, and concepts. In our experience, students are interested in all three, often before they have taken any philosophy courses. As instructors we have found that these topics engage our students while also providing a good grounding for future work in the discipline. Indeed, we believe that everyone's life is fashioned in large measure from these three practices and so cannot be disentangled from the philosophical issues found in these readings.With these objectives in mind, we have tried to provide an introductory text that maintains the critical, rational edge of traditional philosophical writing while at the same time incorporating a more interdisciplinary perspective that broadens the focus to include the interactions among the practices as well as their cultural implications. The book discusses each practice from three perspectives: the nature of the practice, its relation to culture, and the role reason plays in the practice.The first collection of readings offers a variety of perspectives on the nature of the practice and then turns to the relationship between the practice and the problems of human meaning and purpose. Since students often come to philosophy through questions about how they should live and what their relationships are or should be with morality, religion, and science (in the form of technology or understanding the natural world), we begin discussing each practice by raising those questions.The second part discusses the practice in relation to culture and explores some of the social issues arising out of the practice. These sections often involve topics that are not ordinarily covered in introductory classes and encourage students to think critically about the cultural and ethical ramifications of developments in ethics, science, and religion.Finally, the third part, on reason, focuses on truth claims made in the practice. These readings address the nature and limits of such claims, their justification, and specific issues to which these claims give rise. Many traditional philosophical issues appear here, though sometimes in an unusual context. For example, issues in the philosophy of mind are explored in a section on the limits of scientific explanation, while free will is addressed alongside determinism and behavioral science. Problems related to justice and individual rights are discussed in the context of religious practice and the complex interplay among law, politics, and religion. In this way traditional philosophical problems are shown to emerge naturally, out of our participation in the three practices. We believe that by explicitly linking traditional issues to the practices of morality, science, and religion, we can show philosophical reflection to be a natural part of human life and social interaction.A final note: Introductory philosophy courses often avoid issues in the philosophy of science, fearing that students may lack adequate scientific or philosophical background. We believe that this is a mistake. Science shapes human culture and informs much current philosophical debate. Thus, the impact of science on culture is a dominant theme of this text. Both classical and contemporary problems are woven into this theme: Is religious faith based on a prescientific picture of nature that no contemporary person can sustain? Does a materialistic conception of nature mean moral properties and values are superfluous to a complete understanding of the world? Does anthropology prove that values are relative or subjective? Should we limit scientific research on moral grounds? What are the implications for our lives and our self-understanding of biotechnology, such as human cloning?We have tried hard to integrate the readings into a coherent whole, so that each of the three parts speaks to the others. The relationships among morality, science, and religion are explored throughout the book, in a variety of contexts. We have also sought to provide instructors with an unusual level of flexibility by enabling them to tailor the readings to their own needs while still maintaining an integrated, thematic course. It is possible, for example, to emphasize only one or two of the three practices, leaving aside the third except perhaps for the introductory sections discussing the nature of the practice itself. Another option is for an instructor to emphasize the "Reason" or the "Culture" sections throughout, using the other only as time and interest permit. More classically oriented instructors may wish to focus on reason; those more interested in culture studies can teach a very different course by emphasizing those sections.Several people deserve special thanks for helping with the production of this book. Jennifer Oleszkowicz often worked overtime preparing the manuscript; without her efficient research and office work, it would not have been completed on time. Meriel Brooks cheerfully provided essential support for the project. We would like to thank our secretaries Jeanne Constable and Melanie Yawowski, for their tireless work on this and other projects. Thanks also to India Burnett-Holiday. And finally thanks go to Rebecca Haimowitz, for being such a great kid.