An Introduction to Philosophy
for people who are seriously interested
Clear Thinking
This is an introduction to the full range of philosophical analysis - as a basis for further study - OR SIMPLY as a
defence
against shoddy thinking and the acceptance of nonsense.
Philosophical questions and answers are all so interrelated that it makes no sense to talk of THE RIGHT
starting point for such an inquiry. However, Dr Smith is satisfied that, after years of trial and error,
he has found one, very good, starting
point - even though it does demand extreme open-mindedness and intellectual commitment for the first few weeks.
For fourteen years Dr Brian Smith taught a one-year course at the University of Newcastle
to mature-age students who were complete beginners in philosophical enquiry
but were seriously committed to on-going studies. Many of them now themselves
hold
higher degrees and academic appointments.
The aim of the course was to provide a sound basic grounding in the whole field of
philosophic enquiry and each year it was revised and revamped
in the light of teaching experience and, indeed, of re-thinking and the insights which
occur during the teaching process. For the last few years of teaching revision
notes were handed out to students and it is the final version of these which,
slightly `fleshed out' to make for smoother reading, are presented here.
Since they represent the finished product of a long refinement process and since the magic
of the Internet is now available to everybody it would seem a pity to allow them
to disappear into oblivion.
The course is, in fact, one continuous argument; each section
both depends and builds on what has gone before it so that,
whilst an individual topic-treatment read in isolation
may provide a quick fix for, say, a student with a tutorial paper
to write, a proper grasp can be gained only by starting at the beginning
and digesting each section before going on. [Most of the nonsense which
is talked in the areas of ethics and morality is the result of people's
rushing at ethical and moral questions without the essential
grounding in logic and epistemology.] It should be understood of course,
that `digested' does not imply `fully comprehended'. Because of the
interdependence of the topic sections, each tends to shed further light
upon its precursors; the full significance of the early chapters does not become
apparent until the later ones are read and understood - but learning in
just about any subject is like this.
One more point: the author of these notes, Dr Smith, makes no claims to total
originality. Many of his ideas and arguments are, no doubt, gleaned from his studies
of written works of other philosophers. The notes are not cluttered with
bibliographical references or acknowledgments because, although history is certainly a
worthwhile and interesting subject, it is not the subject offered here.
What matters to the beginning student of philosophy is not who first said it
and when but whether it is factually and logically correct
(i.e. can stand up to critical examination) and whether it advances his or her insight
into the nature of what we call reality.
