Classics of Philosophy

Rating:
Summary: A Good Text for An Introductory Course in Philosophy
Review: I use this work as the sole text for my Survey of Philosophy course. Both the breadth and depth of the readings are impressive, and the book lends itself to any number of combinations of readings, which makes this work uniquely versatile in my experience as a philosophy professor.

I also believe that the earlier reviewer was overly harsh in his disparagement of the introductions and summaries to each philosopher's work. While some of the introductions and summaries are indeed rather weak (although even these are generally adequate), others are quite good, and it is in any case the part of the instructor to guide students through these works. A novice instructor with insufficient background in the history of philosophy would indeed find this text difficult to use.

The text is poorly edited in parts, with any number of rather glaring errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar, but these are minor when compared to the overall usefulness and versatility of this text.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: This is a massive and invaluable book for the student of philosophy. It has over twenty complete works of classical philosophy. Including many of the great works by Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kierkegaard, Hume, Mill and many, many more. And it also includes fragments from the presocratics and careful abridgments of over forty more works from a full spectrum of philosophers, ancient to modern. All of this comes in one large yet manageable volume. So it is ideal for a student or someone who wants a single volume philosophy reference. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: bad intro to philosophy
Review: this is an incredible anthology of philosophical works. it unfortunately lacks the textbook approach needed in a classroom. the anthology includes an incredible number or work by every philosopher from Plato to Russell, including some obscure philosophers.if you want an anthology of works, a source of documents, this is not a bad bet.

however, an intro to philosophy requires understanding and interpretation beyond the philosophical texts, which this book unfortunately does not offer. its summaries are a joke. its partial works sometimes barely suffice in class. and its organization does not even deserve the name.

overall, i would not buy this work if you have the choice. i only give it three stars because it offers an incredible variety of philosophical texts, crammed up into one book.