Philosophy Here and Now

Philosophy Here and Now: Powerful Ideas in Everyday Life, Fifth Edition, is a topically organized hybrid text/reader that helps students understand, appreciate, and even do philosophy. It emphasizes philosophical writing, reinforced with step-by-step instruction in how to write argumentative essays and supported by multiple opportunities to hone critical thinking. It shows students how philosophy applies to their own lives and brings the subject to life with engaging chapter-ending literary selections, abundant illustrations, and a wealth of pedagogical features.

Lewis Vaughn is the author or coauthor of several leading philosophy resources, including Bioethics, Sixth Edition (2025); The Power of Critical Thinking, Eighth Edition (2024); Writing Philosophy, Third Edition (2023); Philosophy: The Quest for Truth, Twelfth Edition; and Living Philosophy, Fourth Edition (2023).

1. Philosophy and You
1.1 Philosophy: The Quest of Understanding
The Good of Philosophy
Philosophical Terrain
Main Divisions of Philosophy
1.2 Socrates and the Examined Life
PLATO: The Republic
1.3 Thinking Philosophically
Reasons and Arguments
Valid and Invalid Philosophy Forms
Reading Philosophy
Philosophers: Themistoclea, Arignote, and Theano
Fallacious Reasoning
Obstacles to Critical Reasoning
NARRATIVE: Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates

2. God and Religion
2.1 Overview: God and Philosophy
Why Religion Matters
Overview: The Philosopher's Quest
Belief and Disbelief
2.2 Arguments for the Existence of God
Cosmological Arguments
AQUINAS: Summa Theologica
CRAIG: Reasonable Faith
Design Arguments
PALEY: Natural Theology
HUME: Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Ontological Arguments
ANSELM: Proslogium
KANT: Critique of Pure Reason
2.3 God and the Problem of Evil
Rowe's Argument from Evil
ROWE: Philosophy of Religion
The Free Will Defense
SWINBURNE: Is There a God?
The Soul-Making Defense
HICK: Evil and the God of Love
2.4 Theis and Religious Experience
ST. TERESA OF AVILA: The Life of Teresa of Jesus
MACKIE: The Miracle of Theism
ROWE: Philosophy of Religion
SWINBURNE: The Existence of God
2.5 Belief without Reason
James: Pragmatic Faith
JAMES: "The Will to Believe"
MARTIN: Atheism: A Philosophical Justification
Pascal: Betting on God
PASCAL: Pensees and Other Writings
2.6 Eastern Religions
Buddhism
SUMEDHO: Buddha-Nature
RAHULA: What the Buddha Taught
Hinduism
Daoism
CHUANG TZU: All Things Are One
LAO-TZU: Tao-te ching
FICTION: Arthur C. Clarke, "The Star"

3. Morality and the Moral Life
3.1 Overview: Ethics and the Moral Domain
Ethics and Morality
Moral Theories
Religion and Morality
SHAFER-LANDAU: Whatever Happened to Good and Evil?
3.2 Moral Relativism
Subjective Moral Relativism
Cultural Moral Relativism
3.3 Morality Based on Consequences
Utilitarianism
MILL: "What Utilitarianism Is"
Ethical Egoism
3.4 Morality Based on Duty and Rights
KANT: Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals
3.5 Prima Facie Principles: A Guide to Moral Decision-Making
3.6 Morality Based on Character
ARISTOTLE: Nicomachean Ethics
SHAFER-LANDAU: The Fundamentals of Ethics
3.7 Feminist Ethics and the Ethics of Care
JAGGAR: "Feminist Ethics"
CROSTHWAITE: "Gender and Bioethics"
HELD: The Ethics of Care
BAIER: "The Need for More Than Justice"
3.8 Albert Camus: An Existentialist Voice
CAMUS: The Myth of Sisyphus
3.9 Confucianism
CONFUCIUS: Analects
NOSS: A History of the World's Religions
FICTION: Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"

4. Mind and Body
4.1 Overview: The Mind-Body Problem
4.2 Substance Dualism
DESCARTES: Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason
SCHICK: Doing Philosophy
DESCARTES: Meditations on First Philosophy
SEARLE: Mind
4.3 Mind-Body Identity
SMART: "Sensations and Brain Processes"
CHALMERS: The Conscious Mind
NAGEL: "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?"
4.4 The Mind as Software
FODOR: "The Mind-Body Problem"
BLOCK: "Troubles with Functionalism"
SEARLE: Mind
4.5 The Mind as Properties
CHALMERS: The Conscious Mind
FICTION: Terry Bisson, "They're Made out of Meat"

5. Free Will and Determinism
5.1 Overview: The Free Will Problem
What Do You Believe? Fate
5.2 Determinism and Indeterminism
D'HOLBACH: "Of the System of Man's Free Agency"
JAMES: "The Dilemma of Determinism"
5.3 Compatibilism
LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
STACE: Religion and the Modern Mind
ROWE: "Two Concepts of Freedom"
5.4 Libertarianism
VAN INWAGEN: An Essay on Free Will
TAYLOR: Metaphysics
5.5 Sartre's Profound Freedom
SARTRE: "Existentialism Is a Humanism"
FICTION: Thomas D. Davis, "A Little Omniscience Goes a Long Way"

6. Knowledge and Skepticism
6.1 Overview: The Problem of Knowledge
6.2 The Rationalist Road
Plato's Rationalism
PLATO: Meno
Descartes's Doubt
DESCARTES: Meditations on First Philosophy
Descartes's Certainty
DESCARTES: Meditations on First Philosophy
6.3 The Empiricist Turn
Locke
LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Berkeley
BERKELEY: Of the Principles of Human Knowledge
Hume
HUME: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
6.4 The Kantian Compromise
KANT: Critique of Pure Reason
6.5 A Feminist Perspective on Knowledge
AINLEY: "Feminist Philosophy"
ANTONY: "Embodiment and Epistemology"
ANDERSON: "Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science"
COLE: Philosophy and Feminist Criticism
FICTION: Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking-Glass"

7. What Is Art?
7.1 Overview: Philosophy of Beauty
7.2 What Is Art?
BELL: Art
7.3 Aesthetic Value
7.4 Plato, Aristotle, and Hume
ARISTOTLE: The Poetics
HUME: Of the Standard of Taste
FICTION: Edgar Allan Poe, "The Oval Portrait"

8. The Just Society
8.1 Overview: Justice and Political Philosophy
8.2 Plato's Theory: Justice as Merit
PLATO: The Republic
8.3 Social Contract Theories
Hobbes
HOBBES: Leviathan
Locke
LOCKE: Second Treatise of Government
Rawls
RAWLS: A Theory of Justice
8.4 Socialist Theories
HALLIDAY AND THRASHER: The Ethics of Capitalism
MARX and ENGELS: Manifesto of the Communist Party
Writing to Understand: Critiquing Philosophical Views
8.5 Capitalism and Social Justice
8.6 Feminism and Social Justice
OKIN: Justice, Gender, and the Family
MILLER: Political Philosophy
FICTION: William Golding, "Lord of the Flies"

9. The Meaning of Life
9.1 Overview: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life
9.2 Pessimism: Life Has No Meaning
TOLSTOY: My Confession
SCHOPENHAUER: "On the Sufferings of the World"
BAGGINI: What's It All About?
9.3 Optimism: Life Can Have Meaning
Meaning from Above
TOLSTOY: My Confession
BAGGINI: What's It All About?
Meaning from Below
EDWARDS: The Encyclopedia of Philosophy
FICTION: Voltaire, "The Good Brahmin"

Appendix A: The Truth about Philosophy Majors
Appendix B: Answers to Exercises
Appendix C: How to Write a Philosophy Paper
Appendix D: Evaluating Online Sources