Pathways to Philosophy

Pathways special features

Pathways sites | Theory of knowledge | What is | Plato: an interpretation | Philosophy of sci-fi | In love with eternity | Handbook of Greek philosophy | Why we fear death | Philosophy for all |




Pathways sites

Pathways to Philosophy Main Site PATHWAYS DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAMS

"Pathways programs are designed to be intellectually challenging while remaining accessible to students who have no prior knowledge of philosophy. Our aim is to illuminate and provoke, to challenge preconceived ideas, and make you see things differently"

Philosophy Letters Letters to My Philosophy Students

"Since 1995...I have written over two thousand letters in response to essays and course work which my students have sent me. I am presenting a sample from the first three years, which I hope will be of instructional value as well as casting light on the early development of Pathways"

Philosophy Guide Philosophy How-To-Do-It Guide

"If you want to philosophize well, you need a good tool kit. Not just a hammer, but screwdriver and pliers, drill and saw. Every student who starts out on the road to philosophy learns how to value and assess the tools available. Try everything. Pick up anything you can use, from as wide a variety of sources as possible"

Philosophy Essays Philosophy Essay Archive

"Pathways students...from around the world have produced many fine examples of philosophical writing. Reproduced here are essay portfolios submitted for the Associate Award. All work is copyright of the original authors"

Ask a Philosopher Ask a Philosopher!

"There's nothing more frustrating then finding yourself stuck with a philosophical problem and not knowing how to approach it. Submit your question to Pathways and we'll see what we can do to help you think about it more clearly. Philosophy graduates and teachers are warmly invited to contribute their expertise"

PhiloSophos Knowledge Base PhiloSophos.com

Feature articles, philosophy lovers gallery, archive of questions and answers, and links to search engines. "Open learning resources, advice and inspiration for students at university, on distance learning programs and college correspondence courses in philosophy"

123 Infinity The Ten Big Questions

"Without science we would know very little about how the world works or about our own nature. However, the greatest value of science is that it gives us so much to think about. This web site is about discovering the power of human thought...Here are ten of the most frequently asked questions about the nature of the universe and our place in it"


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An Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge

    What Is

"Clear, lively, and based on thorough knowledge of the field. O'Brien's book provides an excellent introductory text in epistemology."
Christopher Hookway, University of Sheffield

"You would have bet against anyone being able to present a concise, rigorous, thoroughly enjoyable introduction not just to all the central areas of epistemology but also to such difficult topics as Wilfrid Sellars' Myth of the Given, Wittgenstein's Private Language arguments, and John McDowell's theory of experience. You would have lost. Dan O'Brien's text is just excellent. The author is an ideal guide through the maze of views that constitutes modern theory of knowledge. He also enlivens and enriches the text by drawing inspiration from film and literature."
Laurence Goldstein, University of Kent

Dan O'Brien lectures on Philosophy at the University of Birmingham and is an Associate Lecturer for the Open University.

Dan joined the Board of the International Society for Philosophers in 2007.

Published in 2006 by Polity Press www.polity.co.uk

ISBN 0-7456-3317-X


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What Is

    What Is

Correcting the Logical Errors in Russell's Metaphysics
and the metaphysical errors in predicate logic

"Bertrand Russell claimed he had eliminated metaphysics from modern philosophy. In fact he made substantive assumptions about what exists. These assumptions are embedded into his logic. Much subsequent work done in philosophy and logic involves working around these assumptions.

"What Is avoids these assumptions. It presents a system of 'True Logic', using the propositional calculus with a subpropositional reference, to put forward a new theory of knowledge. This avoids the need for a theory of higher orders of predicates, resolves problems of defining domains, and clarifies description and designation. It presents a theory that permits us to be sure of intellectual progress while admitting the fallibility of scientific knowledge."

Roger Williams is a Pathways Mentor.

Published in 2007 by 347 Publications, Box 347, 111 West George Street, Glasgow

ISBN 978-0-9554872-0-0


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Plato: An Interpretation

    Plato: An Interpretation

"Our understanding of Plato and our understanding of the nature of philosophy are two sides of a coin. The dominant academic conception of the nature of philosophical thinking vitiates both our understanding of philosophy and our interpretation of Plato. Plato gave us the profoundest truths about ourselves and about Reality in winged myths. Our learned scholars turn the myths into silly dogmata, into transparently erroneous doctrines, and all is lost: the inspirational core, the inspired insight, is dissipated when its housing shell of myth is shattered.

"No one is entitled to claim a monopoly on understanding Plato's 'true' meaning, and I certainly make no such claim. I neither pretend nor intend to arrive at what Plato thought or taught. Plato has left us some thirty pieces of verbal composition, which he created for his own amusement. I enter into living dialogue with the living Plato and offer the understanding I come out with for myself from that dialogue, not claiming any authority or any veracity for my interpretation. I do what Plotinus did, I draw from the flowing founds of Plato to water my own garden. And offer my version of Platonism for what it may be worth intrinsically."

D.R. Khashaba b. 1927 is an independent philosopher, published Let Us Philosophize (1998). Contributed numerous articles to Examined Life Online Journal, and Philosophy Pathways. Web site http://www.Back-to-Socrates.com. Khashaba, a widower with one daughter, Hanan, and one granddaughter, Farah, lives in his home-country Egypt.

Published in 2005 by Virtualbookworm.com

ISBN 978-1-58939-721-7


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Philosophy and Science Fiction

    The Man Who Folded Himself The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold. Afterword by Geoffrey Klempner

From the BenBella Books web site:

The Man Who Folded Himself is a classic science fiction novel by award winning author David Gerrold. This work was nominated for both Hugo and Nebula awards and is considered by some critics to be the finest time travel novel ever written. David Gerrold is the Hugo and Nebula award-winning author of When HARLIE Was One, The Man Who Folded Himself, The Voyage of the Star Wolf, The Martian Child and "The Trouble With Tribbles" episode of Star Trek. His recently released novel, The Martian Child has received rave reviews.

Alan Gutierrez, a renowned cover artist who has worked with many of the leading names in science fiction, is developing the cover art.

Published in 2002 by Benbella Books www.benbellabooks.com

ISBN 1-932100-04-0


Geoffrey Klempner's Afterword to The Man Who Folded Himself can be found in Philosophy Pathways Issue 41. For more philosophy and science fiction, see Pathways Program A Introduction to Philosophy The Possible World Machine. An Adobe Acrobat® e-book containing all fifteen stories with introductions can be downloaded from the Pathways Downloads page.

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In love with eternity

    In Love With Eternity

"In Love With Eternity presents a project of philosophic thought. It is composed of a group of essays and fragments concerned with the creation of one's self, which self is the substance of reality for every human being... A central concept in these essays is that of the relationship of 'eternity' to time; one can regard with dismay the passage of time but love one's position in eternity. The concept of the 'pointillist canvas of eternity' is presented as a new philosophical world view."

Richard Schain is an independent philosopher who has been writing philosophy since 1982. His recent works are Radical Metaphysics (2002) and The Legend of Nietzsche's Syphilis (2001). A former professor of neurology at UCLA, he currently works as a neurologist at the Sonoma State Hospital in California.

The collection of essays includes 'Toward a Radical Metaphysics', 'Nietzsche's Visionary Values — Genius or Dementia?', 'Metaphysics and the Problem of Existence', 'The Pointillist Canvas of Eternity', 'Philosophy: Rigorous Science or Intuitive Thought: A Critique of Mind by John Searle'. Previous versions of these essays appeared in Philosophy Pathways e-journal.

2nd Edition 2005

ISBN 0-595-34507-7


Richard Schain In Love With Eternity is published by iUniverse www.iuniverse.com. Price $11.95. For more information about Richard Schain visit his web site at http://rschain1.tripod.com.

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Handbook of Greek Philosophy

    Handbook of Greek Philosophy

"Handbook of Greek Philosophy is a real guide for anyone who wants to know about Ancient Greek philosophy, but does not know how to start. With the present study one can be gradually initiated into the main principles of the great philosophers, whose thought is the basis of the modern philosophical thought. Due to chronological presentation of the fifteen Greek philosophical schools, the reader can gradually get to the understanding of the philosophical terms and concepts, beginning with the simple and proceeding to the most complex.

"The original fragments, which have been carefully selected out of thousands, along with their thorough analysis, can enable the reader to fathom the reasoning of the Greek thinkers, and acquire a deep comprehension of their Gnoseology, Ontology and Ethics. With this substantial work of scholarship, both the student and the teacher of philosophy alike can find useful concepts, ideas and quotations, so as to broaden their knowledge and views of philosophy. Apart from that, this essay can help them to make a further inquiry concerning Ontology and Ethics of Greek Philosophy."

Nikolaos Bakalis was born in Northern Greece in 1957. He studied at the School of Sciences, Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Greece. For the last twenty-five years he has studied Ancient Greek Philosophy and has a Doctorate in Greek Philosophy. He has lived in Germany since 2000 where he works as a high school teacher.

Trafford Publishing 2005 www.trafford.com/04-2651

ISBN 1-4120-4843-5


"Read this book and you will have not wasted your time but on the contrary gained a strong feeling of what philosophy is all about and how the Greeks did it. From the countless citations an intense feeling of immediacy develops, of being near to the sources from where philosophy once sprang like from a well of fresh water." Hubertus Fremerey in Philosophy Pathways Issue 108.

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Why Do We Fear Death?

    El Miedo a la Muerte Dedicado al
Dr. Geoffrey Klempner...

Por sus esfuerzos para pone la Filosofía al alcance de todos

"He escrito este ensayo para exponer los resultados de la indagación filosófica que he llevado a cabo sobre el miedo a la muerte. La idea me surgió al abordar el tema como parte del programa Pathways to Philosophy que cursé bajo la tutoría del Dr. Geoffrey Klempner. Entonces, una premisa fundamental es que lo he escrito bajo la divisa de dicho programa: La Filosofió es para todos y no só para los filósofos profesionales. Los filósofos deben saber muchas cosas además de Filosofía."

Carlos Evia Rosado
Mérida, Yucatán, México
Febrero 26 de 2002


For more information about Carlos Evia Rosado's book The Fear of Death: a Philosophical Inquiry see Philosophy Pathways Issue 33.

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Philosophy for All

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