Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy

This is a great collection of philosophical theory from Lao-Tzu to Alice Walker. I love that it has sections dedicated to feminism, war, death; it is broken up into easy to follow categories with easy to understand introductions. This makes it even nicer to compare readings and do what philosophy is meant to do...wonder.

I recommend this book for the same reasons that others have criticized it. The book is brief, clearly organized, amazingly deep, and covering a wide breadth of common sense questions.Some members of the philosophical community are not comfortable with this. Some conservative members of the old guard are less interested in creating philosophy so much as studying philosophy that already exists. For them the study of philosophy is an ends in and of itself, whereas it should be a means to the greater end of developing your own philosophical opinions. Actually, philosophical opinions are only useful insofar as they provide a person with a framework to clearly and logically decide what they think about real issues in the world and their life.This book is all about Applied Philosophy, a phrase I coin to describe the divorce of philosophy from the non-creative, non-applicable academic study that actually discourages people from developing their own opinions. Like Applied Physics it recognizes that the study of philosophy does not necessarily have anything to do with the paramount goal of philosophy: having your very own sound, philosophically based opinions of the world.After all, what is the value of Aristotle if not to provoke new thinking in people who read his work and had never thought of it before? Is Aristotle the person somehow better than any other man today? Is it that words, simply by virtue of Aristotle speaking them, become true, valuable and immutable? I would take a less theistic approach to the veneration of past philosophers. I would say they are useful and commit their ideas to print so as to provoke others to think like them. Where that provocation comes from, be it Wittgenstein, Napoleon, the Buddha twirling a flower, a schizophrenic's hallucinations, or MTv, what does it matter? The product is all the same: philosophical inspirations, leading to philosophical theory, leading to applied philosophy.Some entrenched in the academic establishment of Philosophy have a vested interest in not seeing this broad of a philosophical education become the standard. Why? Because they are not themselves trained for independent thought. After all, what need would we have for conventional philosophy teachers if this were the case? Instead, they decry anything that is readable as `over-simple' and anything that presents philosophy in layman's terms as not serious work, because they suppose that everyone should have to go through what they did to approach philosophy, that it should be difficult and inaccessible, and that it can only come from taking their classes at their universities.If you want a revolution in education and intelligence, abolishing ignorance, then the solution is to make education and philosophy something that is easy to approach. That is exactly what this book does. It creates a broad survey of philosophy that will familiarize anyone with the issues of philosophy with out an 8-year doctorate. My favorite articles include Pinker, Kant

This book is used as the primary text in my university's introductory Philosophy course, and I think it's an excellent choice. It includes classic texts written by well-known philosophers and the writings of scientists, novelists, religious figures and many others. The inclusion of philosophical writings from such unlikely sources is a great illustration of how philosophy is woven into all aspects of our lives. Reading this book will help you to realize how many philosophical issues you already deal with in your own life and will also help you to find new ways of thinking about and dealing with them.

I ordered this book as a requirement from a great professor during college. Having only read just more than a handful of chapters in that semester I became hooked. I have since moved on and really started to appreciate the ultimate questions of life. Not that this book answers them. That is still the uniqueness of humanity, individual thought. I would highly recommend this to anyone wanting to be a better skeptic. We so readily just accept things that our ancestors accepted without a thought as to how reality really is. The wide array of topics is to be applauded and a great concept to take a look at may arenas of thought. Thank you professor Buenter(Binter).

This book contains more views than any one person could ever find without such a reference. It provides you with growth opportunities, understanding, and REAL thought provoking ideas. This is the best adult level book I've ever read (my all-time favorite though is Norton Juster's "The Phantom Tollbooth"). I strongly recommend Twenty Questions to anyone who, unlike the masses, wants to think, know themselves, and be an intelligent, compassionate adult.