Synopses & Reviews
It's time for an introduction to philosophy textbook that you can relate to and enjoy reading! THE BIG QUESTIONS: A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY tackles the tough issues and helps you form your own opinions about course topics while presenting the best philosophical selections available.
About the Author
Robert C. Solomon, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, is Quincy Lee Centennial Professor of Philosophy and Business and Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He has published more than thirty books and over one hundred and fifty articles focusing on ethics, business ethics, the emotions, and the history of philosophy (most notably, Post-Kantian Continental philosophy). He is the author or (co-)editor of numerous textbooks and anthologies used in college classrooms throughout the world. Among these titles are SINCE SOCRATES, ON ETHICS AND LIVING WELL, TWENTY QUESTIONS: AN INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY, BIG QUESTIONS: A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY, and ABOVE THE BOTTOM LINE, all published by Wadsworth. Before assuming his current post, he taught at Princeton, University of California Los Angeles, and the University of Pittsburgh. He is a yearly visitor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He regularly consults and provides programs in business ethics for corporations and organizations around the world.Kathleen Higgins is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas, Austin. Her main areas of research are continental philosophy and aesthetics, especially musical aesthetics. She has written COMIC RELIEF: NIETZSCHE'S GAY SCIENCE (Oxford, 2000), WHAT NIETZSCHE REALLY SAID (with Robert Solomon, 2000), A PASSION FOR WISDOM (Oxford, 1997), A SHORT HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY (with Robert Solomon, Oxford, 1996), THE MUSIC OF OUR LIVES (1991), and NIETZSCHE'S ZARATHUSTRA (1987), which CHOICE named an outstanding academic book of 1988-1989. She has edited or co-edited several others on such topics as German Idealism, aesthetics, ethics, erotic love, and non-Western philosophy. She has been a Resident Scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Study and Conference Center and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University Philosophy Department and Canberra School of Music. She is an annual Visiting Professor at the University of Auckland.
Table of Contents
1. Philosophical Questions. 2. The Meaning of Life. 3. God. 4. The Nature of Reality. 5. The Search for Truth. 6. Self. 7. Freedom. 8. Morality and the Good Life. 9. Justice and the Good Society. 10. Philosophy, Sex, Race, and Culture. 11. Beauty. Appendix A: Writing Philosophy. Appendix B: Deductive Logic Valid Argument Forms. Appendix C: Common Informal Fallacies. Glossary. Index.