Book Description
How ought we to live? What really exists? How do we know? This book introduces important themes in ethics, knowledge, and the self, via readings from Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hegel, Darwin, and Buddhist writers. It emphasizes throughout the point of studying philosophy, explains how different areas of philosophy are related, and explores the contexts in which philosophy was and is studied.
Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction FROM THE PUBLISHER
"How ought we to live? What really exists? How do we know?" "This lively and engaging book is the ideal introduction for anyone who has ever been puzzled by what philosophy is or what it is for." Edward Craig argues that philosophy is not an activity from another planet: learning about it is just a matter of broadening and deepening what most of us do already. He shows that philosophy is no mere intellectual pastime: thinkers such as Plato, Buddhist writers, Descartes, Hobbes, Hume, Hegel, Darwin, Mill, and de Beauvoir were responding to real needs and events - much of their work shapes our lives today, and many of their concerns are still ours.