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| Preface | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Descartes and the Rise of Modern Philosophy | |
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| Background to Descartes' Meditations | |
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| Descartes' innovations in how philosophy is written | |
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| Lead-in to the First Meditation | |
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| The First Meditation | |
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| The Second Meditation | |
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| The Third Meditation | |
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| The Fourth Meditation | |
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| The Fifth Meditation | |
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| The Sixth Meditation | |
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| A summary of Cartesian commitments | |
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| Topical highlights from Descartes' correspondence | |
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| Questions about Descartes | |
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| Transition to the remainder of the book | |
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| Some recommended books | |
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| Spinoza | |
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| Overview of Spinoza's philosophy and life | |
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| Ethics Part I: On the nature of the universe | |
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| Ethics Part II: On the nature and origin of the mind | |
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| Ethics Part III: On the nature and origin of actions and passions | |
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| Ethics Part IV: On the burdens of human existence and the ways to overcome them | |
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| Ethics Part V: On the power of reason to liberate us to live blessedly | |
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| Questions about Spinoza | |
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| Some recommended books | |
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| Locke | |
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| An overview of Locke's outlook in the Essay | |
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| Essay Book I: Locke's anti-innatist strategy | |
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| Essay Book II: Perception as the basis for all thinking | |
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| Test Case One: Thinking about power | |
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| Test Case Two: Thinking about substance | |
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| Test Case Three: Thinking about identity | |
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| Essay Book III: Expressing thought in language | |
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| Essay Book IV: Knowledge and opinion | |
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| Questions about Locke | |
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| Some recommended books | |
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| Leibniz | |
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| Background to Leibniz's philosophy | |
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| Overview of Leibniz's philosophy | |
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| How the Discourse on Metaphysics and the Monadology are structured | |
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| Understanding Leibniz's metaphysics by way of his defense of contingency | |
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| Understanding the debate about what things for Leibniz are substances | |
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| Understanding the debate about Leibniz's essentialism | |
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| Understanding what it means for the world to be the best possible | |
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| Understanding debates about relations among key Leibnizian theses | |
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| Space and time as relations among phenomena | |
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| Key elements of Leibniz's epistemology | |
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| Questions about Leibniz | |
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| Some recommended books | |
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| Berkeley | |
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| Overview of approach to the Principles | |
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| Structure of the Principles | |
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| A fuller analysis of four key arguments | |
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| Structure of the Three Dialogues | |
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| A mini-glossary to aid interpretation | |
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| Questions about Berkeley | |
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| Some recommended books | |
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| Hume | |
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| Main alternatives for interpreting Hume | |
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| An outline of the first Enquiry | |
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| Enquiry Sections I-III: Basic principles and materials of the understanding | |
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| Enquiry Sections IV-VII:The basis for all factual thinking | |
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| Enquiry Section VIII: Implications for freedom and morality | |
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| Enquiry Section X: Implications for religion based on miracles | |
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| Treatise: Overview and key elements of Book I, on the understanding | |
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| A famous perplexity about how to read Treatise Book I | |
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| Treatise: Key elements of Book II, on the passions | |
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| Treatise: Key elements of Book III, on morality | |
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| Dialogues: Overview and stage-setting Part I | |
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| Dialogues Parts II-VIII: Design argument for natural religion | |
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| Dialogues Part IX: Cosmological, a priori proof of theism | |
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| Dialogues Parts X-XI: Evil as challenge to theism | |
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| Dialogues Part XII: Guides to deciding Hume's overall message | |
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| Questions about Hume | |
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| Some recommended books | |
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| Kant | |
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| The central strand of Kant's argument | |
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| A precis of the Critique of Pure Reason | |
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| Prefaces and Introduction: Clarifying the project | |
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| Transcendental Aesthetic: How we receive data | |
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| Transcendental Analytic: How we understand data | |
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| Transcendental Dialectic: How we fundamentally misapply thought | |
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| Exploration of pivotal stages of Kant's argument | |
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| My general orientation to the Critique | |
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| A fuller analysis of introductory material | |
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| A fuller analysis of the Aesthetic | |
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| A fuller analysis of the Analytic of Concepts | |
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| A fuller analysis of the Analytic of Principles | |
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| The transition from the Analytic to the Dialectic | |
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| A fuller analysis of the Transcendental Dialectic | |
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| The transition from theoretical to practical philosophy | |
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| The philosophical foundations for moral theory | |
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| Kant on philosophical method | |
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| The Prolegomena's relation to the Critique | |
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| Questions about Kant | |
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| Some recommended books | |
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| Bibliography | |
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| Index | |