Customer Reviews

Doing Philosophy: An Introduction Through Thought Experiments with Free Philosophy PowerWeb

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

Schick and Vaughn do a fine job of presenting and explaining philosophical problems and theories about free will, the relationship of body and mind, personal identity, morality, the existence of God, and the limits of knowledge. Their presentation is rather rigorous for an introductory text, but their frequent use of thought experiments helps make very abstract topics more accessible. Yes, they do take stands on the issues they discuss, and their secularist axe-grinding can come across as somewhat heavy handed. It can certainly antagonize some students and readers. But this is a minor flaw in an otherwise high quality introductory text. Rather than trying to maintain bogus neutrality, Schick and Vaughn actually "do" philosophy and show how one can arrive at conclusions--even disputable conclusions--using philosophy's methods, and this is to their credit. As for Mr. Newman's sarcastic comment that "all of the great minds that approached" divine command theory in the past are not up to Schick and Vaughn's "genius"--may I ask which great minds he has in mind? It is true that many great religious thinkers can be classified as divine command theorists. But if we look at the tradition of great Western philosophers, many (and probably most) are not. What about Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, Leibniz, Kant, and Mill, just to name a few? Moreover, some of these have dismissed divine command theory as pithily as our textbook authors, so Schick and Vaughn are hardly being revolutionary, let alone irresponsibly impudent, when, for example, they follow Leibniz in rejecting the divine command approach. All in all, this is a very solid introductory textbook that emphasizes how to think philosophically. I highly recommend it.

This is a "textbook", strictly speaking, meant for introductory philosophy students. (But, if you aren't a "philosophy student," the book is still easy to read.) It is meant for the person who is an absolute tyco (novice) in philosophy, someone who has no previous knowledge or experience in the study. Schick deals with the major philosophical problems that have been puzzling people (as well as philosophers) over the millennia, like the mind-body, personal identity, God's existence, and other problems. What makes the book interesting, though, is the numerous examples and quotes that Schick provides throughout to text, not merely to re-emphasize a concept or two but to also convince people that philosophy is still being debated in these modern times. Theodore Schick writes quite well and will entertain as well as inform. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in knowing whether you now are you in the future, or if the mind is a separate part of the body, or...

I'm currently using this textbook for my Intro to Philosophy class (I've never taken a philosophy class before, though I'm no stranger to philosophy itself). While Schick and Vaughn do a good job with initially presenting the essential topics discussed in the book and make the fundamentals of philosophy very clear and accessible, their efforts are mired by their own bias; the chapters on the core questions of philosophy don't really seem to aim to promote critical thinking in students new to philosophy so much as they try to form opinions for their readers.

In a more advanced course, I could see this as being a boon, a way of challenging students to delve even deeper. However, for an introductory course, it only gets in the way. Students new to a subject need as much objectivity in their learning materials as possible, and Doing Philosophy doesn't provide this adequately. From what I know of the authors, I suspsect this was largely due to Schick's influence; most of the text's bias seems to lean heavily in the direction of his stated viewpoints.

It's a pity, too, as the textbook would be wonderful were it not for that flaw. Of all the subjects one might teach or write educational material for, philosophy is probably the one most difficult to stay objective and unbiased in. Doing Philosophy clearly illustrates this.

this is a very interesting philosophy textbook, as of 2010 it is up to date. i got this for my philosophy 101 class. it is easy to read, easy to understand. i will definitely be keeping this book.

The item was described accurately. I paid extra for expedited shipping and got it accordingly.
I would definitely consider doing business again.

Book took a few days too many to arrive, in my opinion. But it was bran new and arrived earlier than amazon predicted. The book itself is pretty funny and interesting.

i still have not gotten my book and it has been over a month an a half, if i were to base my whole experience from amazon on this i would never use it again. i dont think i would ever buy from this seller again.

Very upset... order it with another book that one came in a week and as of this date (28 Aug 09) still have not gotten the book!

Disguised as an introductory text in philosophy, what you actually have here is an introduction to Atheism. Whereas the format of the text is quite appealing, with interesting quotes and and "boxed" tidbits of information, the content is lacking. Shick and Vaughn (author of The Case for Humanism) do not miss one opportunity to attack belief in God, and especially belief in a Christian God. I am accustomed to rigorous philosophical questioning, but the authors go well beyond that. They force anti-Christian examples into unrelated topics and all of the boxed 'extra tidbits' for discussion are geared to refute belief in God. They clearly have an agenda in writing this text; one that does not belong in an introduction to Philosophy text. For example, they 'prove' in about a paragraph that God and/or the Bible cannot form the basis of morals---I suppose all of the great minds that approached this subject in the past were not comparable to the genius of Shick and Vaughn...or perhaps someone should inform the authors that their dogma is showing.