Comprehensive; tells how to think about Philosophy without telling what to think

books:


	• Introducing Philosophy: A Text with Integrated Readings Robert C. Solomon Oxford University Press, USA, 2007 - 688 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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Superb Introduction to Philosophy

Robert C. Solomon's "Introducing Philosophy" is a superb introduction to philosophy. I have the 6th edition published in 1997 but this (the 5th edition) is the only one I could find on Amazon. This book is so good because it takes a Topical approach but integrates excerpts from the great philosophers. Historical introductions don't give you the intelletual excitement of great thinkers across time addressing the great problems which is why I like a topical approach (another good topical approach is Tom Morris's "Philosophy for Dummies"). But the great thing about this book is that it integrates selections from philosophers throughout history, in manageable chunks, so that one gets to read some Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell and more.

The chapters are also very well organized and build on each other. The introduction introduces us to Socrates and the philosophic tradition and some logic. Then we deal with Reality, Knowledge, Truth, Necessary Truth (mathematics, logic), Religion, Personal Identity, Mind and Body, Freedom, Ethics, Political Philosophy and Aesthetics. So everything is covered and there are excerpts from all the relevant thinkers on these topics. This book is a fantastic way to get a really good feel for the issues of philosophy and some of the great writings in philosophy. Highly recommended.
Greg Feirman (...)

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Comprehensive; tells how to think about Philosophy without telling what to think

Back when I took Intro. to Phil. (when dinosaurs still walked the Earth), the text used was Joel Feinberg's "Reason and Responsibility". Professor Feinberg's book (current and past editions are available from Amazon) takes a thematic approach with discrete readings and relatively little commentary from the editor. By contrast, the readings in Professor Soloman's book are short fragments woven throughout his text. To me, this gives the book a somewhat choppy feel; but for a someone encountering the subject for the first time or engaged in self-study, this connective tissue will probably be helpful in explaining passages that may not be entirely clear and placing them in their proper context.

One of the great virtues of this book is its sheer breadth. Readings are included from African, Indian, and East Asian cultures. There are some well-chosen excerpts presenting feminist perspctives that many students will probably not be familiar with (except perhaps as conservative caricatures).

My own favorite part of the book was the section dealing with philosophy of mind. Despite the immense advances in cognitive psychology and neurophysiology over the past thirty years, the precise nature of human consciousness still remains elusive (see philosopher Colin McGinn's "The Mysterious Flame" for good reasons why this is likely to remain the case). Questions of personal identity and free will are inextricably mixed with this, and Professor Soloman does a good job of disentangling these controversies and giving them a through airing.

To conclude, it is sad to report that Profesor Soloman died suddenly in Zurich airport while awaiting a flight in January of this year with his wife by his side. It later emerged that he had a congenital (and inoperable) heart defect which he was aware of and knew could potentialy prove fatal. Professor Soloman was, by all accounts, a gifted teacher who decried what he called "thinking thin" and believed that Philosophy was not merely a parlor game of puzzle-solving, but had a powerful contribution to make to 'real life'. My sincere condolences to his wife, family, and students, past and present.

"If death was truly an evil, than Socrates would have told us as much."--Epictetus, "Enchiridon"

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A text book for the beginner and student.

Integrated is a good term because, similar to most teaching texts, the author attempts to relate the knowledge across all disciplines within the subject. Written as an "Introduction" to Western philosophy, this book is by no means a focused study on the western tradition, but covers a wider area, touching on other traditions as well.

However, Solomon manages to creatively distill the western tradition of philosophy into a highly readable form.

Where do you begin as a teacher when given the task to teach a group of beginners about the western tradition? Solomon begins at the beginning with Plato and the words of Socrates.

"The Apology", and "The Crito" are certainly good places to start, and Solomon certainly "explains" the essence of these works in a readable form.

After the Introductory chapter, Solomon inserts his interpretations and "connections" to present day philosophy, and manages to build a construct of "modern thought" throughout the ages.

Extremely well done.

Excellent work and informative to the extent that a first year student can actualy understand where and what these ancient "thinkers" thought and most importantly how these thoughts relate to our everyday lives.

This text is a important beginner's text, but more essential, is that it can be used as a reference when writing on matters not so familiar, such as:

Ethics

Epistimology

Skepticism

Self identity, Mind and Body.

The Problem of Consciouness.

Although over 700 hundred pages, do not be taken aback by its size or weight because the text holds applicable, interesting and worthwhile summaries of the subject of philosophy overall.

For the young student or writer, a necessary reference.

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Philosophy

The book did not come in as quickly as I thought it would and it was not in as good of condition as I thought either but still arrived just within the amount of days and it was a required book so it serves its purpose and is good for learning philosophy.

Introducing Philosophy: A Text with Integrated Readings, Ninth Edition, is an exciting and accessible introduction to core philosophical problems and the many ways in which they are, and have been, answered. Insisting both that philosophy is very much alive today and that it is also deeply rooted in the past, acclaimed teacher and author Robert C. Solomon combines substantial selections from significant works in the history of philosophy with excerpts from current philosophy, clarifying the readings and providing context with his own detailed commentary and explanation. Spanning 2,500 years, the selections range from the oldest known fragments to cutting-edge essays in feminism, multiculturalism, and cognitive science. They include work by a multitude of prominent thinkers, from Plato, Confucius, Rene Descartes, and Immanuel Kant to Emma Goldman, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, and Malcolm X. Organized topically, the chapters present alternative perspectives--including analytic, continental, feminist, and non-Western viewpoints--alongside the historical works of major philosophers; this juxtaposition encourages students to carefully evaluate the theories themselves. Topics covered include the nature of reality, the existence and nature of God, the possibility of human knowledge, the mystery of the self, the problem of consciousness, the essence of freedom, ethics and morality, and the nature of truth. The ninth edition has been streamlined to make it more accessible to students. Featuring new selections by Phillip Bricker, Martin Heidegger, Friedrich Nietzsche, Judith Orr, Amartya Sen, Tara Smith, Galen Strawson, and Malcolm X, it also offers new translations of several of the Nietzsche excerpts.
Introducing Philosophy, Ninth Edition, incorporates numerous pedagogical features including more than 300 review questions that appear throughout the text at the end of each chapter. Each chapter ends with a summary, a list of key terms, and a bibliography with suggestions for further reading. Key philosophical terms are carefully introduced in the text (and boldfaced at their first appearance) and also summarized in the glossary at the end of the book. Brief biographies of the philosophers discussed in the text are provided at the end of the book. A Companion Website at www.oup.com/us/solomon9e offers valuable resources for students and instructors. An Instructor's Manual--in both print and CD editions--is available to adopters.

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