Customer Reviews

Introducing Philosophy: A Text with Integrated Readings

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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 (...)

Just finished the first semester of a philosophy degree and we used this as one of our textbooks. As a beginner, I found it very good. Solomon explains the extracts from philosophers in a very clear way. It is presented by topic, e.g. a chapter on Freedom, a chapter on Knowledge, with each chapter containing extracts from a number of philosophers on the subject.

The only problem I found with the book is that the extracts Solomon uses are not cited with page numbers, in the ninth edition at least. This is problematic when writing papers and essays, as once you find what you're looking for, if you want your referencing to be correct you need to get the original book and vainly attempt to find which page in the original text that the extract in Solomon came from. He gives all relevant details in his citations except for page numbers. As a student, I would argue that the page number is much more important to me than the name of the publisher.

But besides that... the book is genuinely good. It will certainly always have a place on my shelf.

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"

Probably the best single volume introduction to the great discipline of the Greeks, containing well-chosen readings integrated with an easy-to-follow text. In spite of its strengths, there is a superficial feel to the presentation, which I attribute to the almost entirely topical format, although within each chapter, the sequencing is largely historical, compensating somewhat for this weakness. The chapters (from the 8th edition) are, in order, Reality, Religion, Knowledge, Truth, Self, Mind and Body, Freedom, Ethics, Justice, and Beauty. For me, only the first four were really significant (although I haven't read the others in full) and I got the idea this was very much a textbook for the general market, hence leaning towards diversity rather than depth. The later chapters in particular are not only on vaguer topics, but throw in a wide and quirky series of readings, from people with agendas like feminists and Marxists. One's opinion on this will be highly subjective, but I also felt the review questions throughout the book were simplistic, and unlikely to elicit much discussion, for example, "What does Locke mean when he says that the mind is like a blank tablet (tabula rasa) of white paper? What is he arguing against?" Questions like this don't require much intellectual acuity from the student, and neither do they suggest much thought in their preparation. It is rather as if Solomon spent a lot of time on the text and readings, but threw in a few basic questions to satisfy his conscience, or his editor.

The only notable omission is the almost complete absence of any discussion of analytic philosophy, one of the major movements to characterise 20th century philosophical thought. There are readings from Bertrand Russell, a noted analytic philosopher, but no discussion of the school he represented. Apart from that, I just really got the feeling there was a lack of engagement with some issues, apparently by way of avoiding controversy, and making the material as pluralist as possible. The reader will have much to learn from, but he will have to supply the depth of thought himself. It would be a good one to read with a friend, but for anyone who is inclined to self-study, go for any classic and read it in full, not a book with smallish extracts plucked from great works.

Received the book in record time and very happy with its condition. I have nothing but praise for this purchase. Very pleased.

Got it when I needed it and its in perfectly new condition. I recommend these people to anyone, the order turned out exactly how I wanted.

If you even a little bit dyslexic your eyes will hurt the moment you open this book. The whole book's format makes anyone want to throw in the towel and say TLDR. If you are dyslexic make sure you have a colored overlay before you even THINK about opening this book, even if you don't normally need one (like me).

I am a high school Philosophy teacher and highly recommend this book. This is a very good textbook to accompany theories that are taught. It contains primary readings but they are mainly short and always preceded by a short editorial explanation of the key points/theory. Also, the selections are relevant and interesting, representing a range of traditional theories, modern/contemporary views, cultural views (though I do wish more cultures were represented). I like the thematic arrangement of chapters rather than a historical chronological structure. I have used this with Gr 11 and 12 students and they agree that it makes a great companion to the basic theories.

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.

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.