INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY FIRST EDITION Edited by Devonya Havis Canisius College Bassim Hamadeh, CEO and Publisher Michael Simpson, Vice President of Acquisitions Jamie Giganti, Managing Editor Jess Busch, Senior Graphic Designer John Remington, Acquisitions Editor Natalie Lakosil, Licensing Manager Kaela Martin, Project Editor Berenice Quirino, Associate Production Editor Mandy Licata, Interior Designer Copyright © 2018 by Cognella, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photo- copying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information retrieval system without the written permission of Cognella, Inc. For inquiries regarding permissions, translations, foreign rights, audio rights, and any other forms of reproduction, please contact the Cognella Licensing Department at [email protected]. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifica- tion and explanation without intent to infringe. Cover image copyright © Depositphotos/welcomia. Copyright © Depositphotos/agaes8080. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-63189-078-9 (pbk) / 978-1-63189-079-6 (br) CONTENTS CRITICAL THINKING: WHAT, WHY, AND HOW 1 Richard Paul EXCERPTS FROM THE REPUBLIC 13 Plato APOLOGY & CRITO 27 Plato CRITO 43 Plato STATEMENT BY ALABAMA CLERGYMEN 51 LETTER FROM THE BIRMINGHAM CITY JAIL 53 Martin Luther King, Jr. THE CALL OF SERVICE: A WITNESS TO IDEALISM 67 Robert Coles MEN FOR OTHERS: EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SOCIAL ACTION TODAY 75 Pedro Arrupe, S.J. OUR MISSION AND JUSTICE: DECREE THREE, DOCUMENTS OF THE THIRTY-FOURTH GENERAL CONGREGATION OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS 85 A MEDITATION ON OUR RESPONSE TO THE CALL OF CHRIST: FROM THE PROVINCIALS OF THE UNITED STATES ASSISTANCY 87 CRITICAL THINKING AND OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY 89 John Sabini and Maury Silver THINKING AND MORAL CONSIDERATIONS: A LECTURE 97 Hannah Arendt for W.H. Auden INTRODUCTION TO MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY 115 René Descartes MEDITATIONS ON THE FIRST PHILOSOPHY: IN WHICH THE EXISTENCE OF GOD AND THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN MIND AND BODY ARE DEMONSTRATED 123 René Descartes PRINCIPLES OF PHILOSOPHY 133 René Descartes THE WILL TO BELIEVE 137 William James FEAR AND TREMBLING: REPETITION 149 Soren Kierkegaard GROUNDWORK FOR THE METAPHYSIC OF MORALS 175 Immanuel Kant NICOMACHEAN ETHICS 219 Aristotle THE COMMON GOOD IN A DIVIDED SOCIETY 241 David Hollenbach, S.J. THE MASTER’S TOOLS WILL NEVER DISMANTLE THE MASTER’S HOUSE 251 Audre Lorde EXCERPTS FROM THE REPUBLIC Plato BOOK VI which, any other knowledge or possession of any kind will profit us nothing. Do you think that the possession of all other things is of any es, I said, there is. And of the virtues too value if we do not possess the good? or the we must behold not the outline merely, knowledge of all other things if we have no �as at present—nothing short of the most knowledge of beauty and goodness? finished picture should satisfy us. When little Assuredly not. things are elaborated with an infinity of pains, You are further aware that most people in order that they may appear in their full affirm pleasure to be the good, but the finer beauty and utmost clearness, how ridiculous sort of wits say it is knowledge. that we should not think the highest truths Yes. worthy of attaining the highest accuracy! And you are aware too that the latter can- A right noble thought; but do you suppose not explain what they mean by knowledge, that we shall refrain from asking you what is but are obliged after all to say knowledge of this highest knowledge? the good? Nay, I said, ask if you will; but I am certain How ridiculous! that you have heard the answer many times, Yes, I said, that they should begin by re- and now you either do not understand me proaching us with our ignorance of the good, or, as I rather think, you are disposed to be and then presume our knowledge of it—for troublesome; for you have of been told that the good they define to be knowledge of the the idea of good is the highest knowledge, good, just as if we understood them when and that all other things become useful and they use the term ‘good’—this is of course advantageous only by their use of this. You ridiculous. can hardly be ignorant that of this I was about Most true, he said. to speak, concerning which, as you have often And those who make pleasure their good heard me say, we know so little; and, without are in equal perplexity; for they are compelled Plato, from The Republic, trans. Benjamin Jowett. Copyright in the Public Domain. 13 14 | Introduction to Philosophy to admit that there are bad pleasures as well True, Socrates; but I must say that one who as good. like you has passed a lifetime in the study of Certainly. philosophy should not be always repeating the And therefore to acknowledge that bad opinions of others, and never telling his own. and good are the same? Well, but has any one a right to say posi- True. tively what he does not know? There can be no doubt about the numerous Not, he said, with the assurance of positive difficulties in which this question is involved. certainty; he has no right to do that: but he There can be none. may say what he thinks, as a matter of opinion. Further, do we not see that many are will- And do you not know, I said, that all mere ing to do or to have or to seem to be what opinions are bad, and the best of them blind? is just and honourable without the reality; You would not deny that those who have any but no one is satisfied with the appearance true notion without intelligence are only like of good—the reality is what they seek; in the blind men who feel their way along the road? case of the good, appearance is despised by Very true. every one. And do you wish to behold what is blind Very true, he said. and crooked and base, when others will tell Of this then, which every soul of man you of brightness and beauty? pursues and makes the end of all his actions, Glaucon–SOCRATES having a presentiment that there is such an Still, I must implore you, Socrates, said end, and yet hesitating because neither know- Glaucon, not to turn away just as you are ing the nature nor having the same assurance reaching the goal; if you will only give such an of this as of other things, and therefore losing explanation of the good as you have already whatever good there is in other things,—of a given of justice and temperance and the other principle such and so great as this ought the virtues, we shall be satisfied. best men in our State, to whom everything is Yes, my friend, and I shall be at least equally entrusted, to be in the darkness of ignorance? satisfied, but I cannot help fearing that I shall Certainly not, he said. fall, and that my indiscreet zeal will bring I am sure, I said, that he who does not know ridicule upon me. No, sweet sirs, let us not at now the beautiful and the just are likewise present ask what is the actual nature of the good will be but a sorry guardian of them; and good, for to reach what is now in my thoughts I suspect that no one who is ignorant of the would be an effort too great for me. But of good will have a true knowledge of them. the child of the good who is likest him, I would That, he said, is a shrewd suspicion of fain speak, if I could be sure that you wished yours. to hear—otherwise, not. And if we only have a guardian who has By all means, he said, tell us about the this knowledge our State will be perfectly child, and you shall remain in our debt for the ordered? account of the parent. Of course, he replied; but I wish that you I do indeed wish, I replied, that I could pay, would tell me whether you conceive this su- and you receive, the account of the parent, preme principle of the good to be knowledge and not, as now, of the offspring only; take, or pleasure, or different from either. however, this latter by way of interest, and at Aye, I said, I knew all along that a fastidious the same time have a care that I do not render gentleman like you would not be contented a false account, although I have no intention with the thoughts of other people about these of deceiving you. matters. Yes, we will take all the care that we can: proceed. Excerpts from The Republic | 15 Yes, I said, but I must first come to an also present in them, still unless there be a understanding with you, and remind you of third nature specially adapted to the purpose, what I have mentioned in the course of this the owner of the eyes will see nothing and the discussion, and at many other times. colours will be invisible. What? Of what nature are you speaking? The old story, that there is a many beautiful Of that which you term light, I replied. and a many good, and so of other things which True, he said. we describe and define; to all of them ‘many’ Noble, then, is the bond which links to- is applied.