# Readings in Introductory Philosophical Analysis John Hospers, Editor **URL:** **By** George H. Smith **Published:** June 1, 1974 --- “Readings in Introductory Philosophical Analysis is the companion anthology to Professor Hospers’ An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis, an excellent text which I reviewed in the July 1972 issue of BFL.” Readings in Introductory Philosophical Analysis is the companion anthology to Professor Hospers’ An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis, an excellent text which I reviewed in the July 1972 issue of BFL. Readings is a compilation of excerpts and articles regarded by Hospers as among the most lucid discussions of central philosophical problems, including epistemology, causality, mind and body, the existence of God, knowledge of the physical world, and ethics. The purpose guiding each selection, notes the editor, “has been \[to offer\] a clear and vivid introduction to each problem treated.” This objective has, for the most part, been achieved. The selections in this volume are well-written statements representing various points of view in philosophical debates, and they provide the introductory reader with a sampling of what he may expect if he chooses to pursue philosophy in more detail. What he may expect, in short, is an admixture of sense and nonsense. On the side of sense, for example, we have Norman Malcolm who, in defense of empirical certainty, points out that many “philosophers have defined ‘certainty’ in such a way that knowing with certainty about empirical matters is . . . a logically impossible state of affairs”; Brand Blanshard who, in a selection from his magnificent Reason and Analysis, delivers a coup de grace to sundry doctrines of logical positivism; Antony Flew who, in his classic parable of an invisible, undetectable gardener, demonstrates that the concept of God suffers “death by a thousand qualifications”; and Ayn Rand who, in her articles “The Objectivist Ethics” and “Man’s Rights,” provides a powerful defense of rational ethics. On the other side of the ledger, however, we have such philosophers as A. J. Ayer who, in a chapter from _Language, Truth and Logic_, argues that “no proposition which has a factual content can be necessary or certain”; Herbert Feigl who, in the name of removing “false pretense and illusion” from philosophy, tells us that “all justification is relative to chosen premises”; H. H. Price who, in a tortuous attempt to ground certainty in sense-data, claims that when he sees a tomato there is much that he can doubt, including “whether there is any material thing there at all”; and C. H. Whiteley who, after baldly asserting that “there is no logical absurdity in denying or refusing to admit the existence of a material world,” goes on to “rescue” the belief in material existence as a “supposition . . . to account for the regularities in sensory phenomena”—thereby affording a case study in how to present a weak, obscure argument in support of the self-evident. In addition to these selections, _Readings_ contains material from classical philosophers, including Descartes, Mill, Aquinas, Hume, Locke, and Berkeley; as well as selections from other contemporary sources, such as Richard Taylor, J. J. C. Smart, John Hick, R. B. Perry, and Sir David Ross. All in all, therefore, a broad spectrum of opinion is presented in this anthology, and it can serve either as a collection of essays in its own right, or—even better—as a collection of source material to be read in conjunction with _An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis_. Especially when used for the latter purpose _Readings_ is a convenient and informative educational tool. Those with an interest in philosophy will, I am sure, find it a worthwhile investment. _Reviewed by George H. Smith / Philosophy (387 Pages) / BFL Price $6.95_