Philosophy Made Simple

Rating:
Summary: Don't Miss This Book if You Like Philosophy
Review: As a first year student of Philosophy I decided that I would try to find a book that would give me an idea of the general aspects of Philosophy. In turn I came to the conclusion that I would purchase this book, and boy was I glad I did. After reading this book I had a profound idea of what I was getting into. Going into my studies I had a lot of confidence. Philosophy made simple will introduce to you all the different types of Philosophy, and the most renowned and influential characters that have changed the world we live in. You will also become aquianted with multiple sects and beliefs systems that derived from Philosophy. Even if you have attained a great understanding of philosophy, this book still places so much useful information concisely that the scholarly will also be impressed. So if you wish to get a head start as a beggining Philosopher purchase this book. For the scholar or teacher I highly recommend this book aswell.

Rating:
Summary: the best introduction to philosophy
Review: Don't be put off by the title. This really is the best introductory book on philosophy. Very readable. It was the first philosophy book that I read (I was in high school at the time). I subsequently went on to study philosophy at Oxford University (England) and Cornell, where I got my PhD in philosophy. Later, I wandered into the field of "computers" where I've had a long and happy career. But I still remember PHILOSOPHY MADE SIMPLE.

Rating:
Summary: Students thrive - exciting learning
Review: First, I used a very early edition of Philosophy Made Simple when I was a student. Today, I use it for several of the courses that I teach. One is the Business Management Course which is a part of a degree offered by the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. Another course is for computer specialists at Whitireia Community Polytechnic. In both cases the students do not have a strong background in either ethics or classical studies; however, they need to study ethics and to relate it to the work that they will be doing in their careers. I have found the Ethics section of Philosophy Made Simple to be the most practical book to use. Students can understand the text and it is easy to generate examples for use both in class and in their assignments. Once the elements of classical ethics are appreciated it is a small step to take them further into epistemology and political philosophy. If the text was to be revised again, I would suggest more on the language schools of philosophy (Ryle et al) and on the philosophy of science (including the philosophy of biology). Perhaps this would be best left for a further volume. I am very pleased to recommend this book to beginning students, and to others who would like an understandable outline of an important subject.

Rating:
Summary: A firm foundation
Review: Having read an earlier addition of this book some time ago, I would certainly say that it is one of the most thorough introductions to Philosophy written. With chapters devoted to each branch of philosophical study i.e. Theory of Knowledge, Ethics etc, the authors explain both ancient and contemporary thought with clarity and depth. While admittedly the book can be somewhat dull at times, it is a must read for those looking for a solid introduction to Philosophy.

Rating:
Summary: A solid introduction
Review: I have always been a fan of the Made Simple series, having from secondary school to the present relied on them for basic overviews and introductions to material I might not otherwise study yet wanted to know in broad strokes. Philosophy is one of the fields in which my education continued in some depth (particularly in regards to those fields that relate closely to theology), and yet for over 20 years, this text, 'Philosophy Made Simple', has remained on my shelf as a well-used ready reference.

The book is a collaboration between two authors, Richard Popkin and Avrum Stroll; they each wrote roughly half the book. The book is arranged topically, according to the following topics:

Ethics (Stroll)
Political Philosophy (Stroll)
Metaphysics (Popkin)
Philosophy of Religion (Popkin)
Theory of Knowledge (Popkin)
Logic (Stroll)
Contemporary Philosophy (Popkin and Stroll)

The largest, and perhaps most interesting, section is Contemporary Philosophy. This is subdivided into pieces dealing largely with Pragmatism, Existentialism, and Philosophical Analysis.

Within each section, the pattern of discussion generally proceeds historically, from the pre-Socratics or Greek classics to the present. Ethics, for example, begins with classical theories of ethics dealt with by Plato and Aristotle, and proceeds through the various Greek schools (Hedonism, Cynicism, Stoicism), to philosophical Christian ethics, to Spinoza, Utilitarianism, Kant, then finally more modern ideas of subjectivism and objectivism, natualism and the like. Some topics begin more recently (Philosophy of Religion begins with Hume, for example; Epistemology begins with Descartes, but circles back to earlier ideas).

The topic on Logic looks as both philosophical ideas as well as general tools for applying logical analysis. However, this does not serve as a logical 'mechanics' primer, and apart from the very basic ideas of logic, the scope of this book is too much a survey to get into much depth.

The last section, on Contemporary Philosophy, deals with philosophy of the past 100 to 150 years. It begins with William James, and proceeds through to Dewey, Russell, Wittgenstein, Kierkegaard, and other people and topics of current interest. Philosophy is a slow-moving discipline in comparison to science and technology-driven fields, yet there is room for further developments that this text misses. On the other hand, it is hard to account for the whole of current philosophical discourse, for it is often only after a passage of time and analysis that the crucial ideas and development are recognised in hindsight.

As the authors state in their introduction, almost all of us have philosophical ideas, even if we don't really know it or call these thoughts philosophical. It is important to that all members of a society have an idea about the functioning of that society. This text is a basic, accessible overview of the key ideas of philosophy, and will serve those in any field, even the beginning philosophy and theology student, well as a guide and reference.

Rating:
Summary: Philosophy Made Dull
Review: In college a long time ago my nascent interest in philosophy was temporarily dimmed by a dull text. But it was positively sprightly compared to this book.

The authors take an historical approach. If by "Simple" you expect "Introductory" then historical is not the right approach in any subject. (You wouldn't, for example, plow through all of Euclid's Geometry before learning decimal digits.) The result, for example, is that the second chapter deals with Politics. While important, political questions are hardly the most gripping that philosophy has to offer.

Even as an introductory course in the history of philosophy, I can envisage a much better book than this one. It does have fine bibliographies at the end of each chapter, and would form a decent review book. There are a few amusing anecdotes, such as the one concerning a philosopher who testified about an auto accident.

The last couple of chapters are better than the earlier ones would lead you to expect. The penultimate chapter deals mainly with deductive logic, and actually has exercises with answers. (If you enjoy this material, you will probably enjoy the more leisurely and thorough coverage given in "The Trivium" by Sister Miriam Joseph.) It also reviews fallacious reasoning. If you're going to read this book, read this chapter first (the authors seldom let the dullness from one chapter darken any other discussion, so you can read the chapters in almost any order), and perhaps you will be sufficiently armed to spot the fallacies that led, for example, Hume to conclusions he himself regarded as absurd. The final chapter deals with modern trends, which possibly interest the authors more than classical philosophy.

Philosophy can change your life. This dry tome is unlikely to. Never trust philosophers whose grasp of Latin permits them the misspelling "ad nauseum"!

Rating:
Summary: Philosophy Made Dull
Review: In college a long time ago my nascent interest in philosophy was temporarily dimmed by a dull text. But it was positively sprightly compared to this book.

The authors take an historical approach. If by "Simple" you expect "Introductory" then historical is not the right approach in any subject. (You wouldn't, for example, plow through all of Euclid's Geometry before learning decimal digits.) The result, for example, is that the second chapter deals with Politics. While important, political questions are hardly the most gripping that philosophy has to offer.

Even as an introductory course in the history of philosophy, I can envisage a much better book than this one. It does have fine bibliographies at the end of each chapter, and would form a decent review book. There are a few amusing anecdotes, such as the one concerning a philosopher who testified about an auto accident.

The last couple of chapters are better than the earlier ones would lead you to expect. The penultimate chapter deals mainly with deductive logic, and actually has exercises with answers. (If you enjoy this material, you will probably enjoy the more leisurely and thorough coverage given in "The Trivium" by Sister Miriam Joseph.) It also reviews fallacious reasoning. If you're going to read this book, read this chapter first (the authors seldom let the dullness from one chapter darken any other discussion, so you can read the chapters in almost any order), and perhaps you will be sufficiently armed to spot the fallacies that led, for example, Hume to conclusions he himself regarded as absurd. The final chapter deals with modern trends, which possibly interest the authors more than classical philosophy.

Philosophy can change your life. This dry tome is unlikely to. Never trust philosophers whose grasp of Latin permits them the misspelling "ad nauseum"!