Second Thoughts

First Introductions to Philosophy

Contributors: Maureen Sie (ed.)Bart Engelen (ed.)Tim Christiaens (ed.)

All you need to start reading this accessible introduction to the thought-provoking and pertinent field of philosophy, is an open and inquisitive mind. You will be encouraged to have second thoughts, to think twice about your gut feelings and intuitions and the assumptions and prejudices that often characterize our way of thinking and living. Each of this book’s chapters discusses things that matter in our lives. How should we organize our societies? What does human nature look like? How can we come to know things about the world we live in? These questions, and the diverse answers of philosophers that are presented here, will very likely require you to rethink what you thought you knew. This book is completely open access and freely available for everyone and for you to share with others. It is also open ended: an interactive version can be found here and will grow and be updated over time.

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    Hannah Arendt

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    Supplement: John Rawls, 'A Theory of Justice'

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    How Much Inequality Can a Society Endure?

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    Supplement: Valerie Tiberius, 'Humean Heroism'

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    Supplement: Langdon Winner, 'Do Artifacts Have Politics?'

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    Supplement: Ludwig Wittgenstein, 'Philosophical Investigations'

Table of Contents

Introduction

Thinking about Society

Thinking about Humans

Thinking about Thinking

Thinking about Reality

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Second Thoughts. First Introductions to Philosophy (2021, Maureen Sie & Bart Engelen Eds.) is an open educational and open-ended handbook published by Open Press TiU.

Open Press TiU is the academic Open Access publishing house for Tilburg University and beyond. As part of the Open Science Action Plan of Tilburg University, Open Press TiU aims to accelerate Open Access in scholarly book publishing. For more information, contact Open Press Tilburg University.

Typesetting & design by Thomas F. K. Jorna
Online publication by Thomas F. K. Jorna and Violet Zagt
Publishers of Trial & Error

Artwork Acknowledgements

The images within this book are drawings made by the Tilburg based artist S. Lloyd Trumpstein, a.k.a. Stephan de Weert. The drawings are tributes of iconic portraits of philosophers. Most of the originals are part of the public domain, but some are not. We did our best to find the copyright holders. If you think your material is used without permission, we kindly invite you to get in touch with us: info@openpresstiu.org.

Fred Stein, Hannah Arendt, 1949. With permission of the Fred Stein Archive/Getty Images.

[Photographer Unknown], Virginia Held, [19xx]. With permission of Virginia Held.

Claude Truong-Ngoc, Hélène Cixous, 2011. Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain.

G. Edelinck, Blaise Pascal, after Monogrammist LVQ, 1666 – 1707. Public Domain.

Jonas Suyderhoef, Portrait of René Descartes, after Frans Hals, 1650 – 1675. Public Domain.

Irving Penn, Simone de Beauvoir, 1957. With permission of the Irving Penn Foundation.

Sally Ryan, Martha C. Nussbaum, 2010. Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain.

[Photographer Unknown], Edmund Husserl, [19xx]. Public Domain.

Raphael, The School of Athens [detail of Plato], 1509-1511. Public Domain.

Bill Pierce, Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996), Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain.

[Photographer Unknown], Rose Rand, 1949. Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain.

[Artist Unknown], John Stuart Mill, circa 1870. Public Domain.

[Photographer unknown], Willard van Orman Quine, 1975. Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain.

Willy Pragher, Martin Heidegger, 1960. Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain.

Moritz Nähr, Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1930’s. Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain.