Philosophical Conversations

This brief and engaging introductory text treats philosophy as a dramatic and continuous story--a conversation about humankind's deepest and most persistent concerns, in which students are encouraged to participate. Tracing the exchange of ideas between history's key philosophers, Philosophical Conversations: A Concise Historical Introduction demonstrates that while constructing an argument or making a claim, one philosopher almost always has others in mind. The book addresses the fundamental questions of human life: Who are we? What can we know? How should we live? and What sort of reality do we inhabit? Throughout, author Norman Melchert provides a generous selection of excerpts from major philosophical works and makes them more easily understandable with his lucid explanations. Extensive cross-references highlight the organizing themes and show students how philosophers have responded to each other's arguments. A more concise edition of Norman Melchert's The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy, Fifth Edition, Philosophical Conversations is designed to be especially accessible and visually attractive to first- and second-year college students in introduction to philosophy courses. Enhanced by numerous pedagogical features, it offers: * Shorter and/or simplified presentations of much of the material * A second color that enlivens the text and makes it more visually interesting * An expanded art program featuring more than 100 photographs, illustrations, and cartoons * Classic art at the opening of each chapter * Numerous brief quotations from poets, politicians, and thinkers that underscore philosophical points and stimulate thought * Explanatory footnotes and basic study questions throughout * "Questions for Further Thought" at the end of each chapter * Key terms, boldfaced at their first appearance and collected at the end of each chapter and in a detailed glossary at the back of the book * "Sketches"--which provide glimpses of the ideas of various philosophers not already discussed in detail in the narrative--and "Profiles," which offer more in-depth looks at several thinkers, philosophical schools, and movements including Taoism, Zen, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Iris Murdoch * An Instructor's Manual and Test Bank on CD that highlights essential points and offers numerous exam questions

ISBN 0195328469   Pages 624 ISBN13 9780195328462 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Oxford University Press Inc   Weight (grammes) 949 Imprint Oxford University Press Inc   Published in New York Format Paperback   Height (mm) 234 Publication date 06 Mar 2008   Width (mm) 190 Library of Congress 2008000331   Spine width (mm) 23 DEWEY 190   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

1		Before Philosophy: Myth in Hesiod and Homer		1
2		Philosophy Before Socrates		10
3		Socrates and the Sophists: Rhetoric, Relativism, and the Search for Truth		39
4		The Trial and Death of Socrates		66
5		Plato: Knowing the Real and the Good		94
6		Aristotle: The Reality of the World		130
7		Augustine: God and the Soul		181
8		Anselm and Aquinas: Arguing for the Existence of God		212
9		Rene Descartes: Doubting Our Way to Certainty		248
10		John Locke: The Beginnings of Empiricism		277
11		David Hume: Unmasking the Pretensions of Reason		295
12		Immanuel Kant: Rehabilitating Reason (within Strict Limits)		321
13		Hegel and Marx: History and Revolution		357
14		Kierkegaard and Nietzsche: Christian and Anti-Christian		374
15		The Utilitarians: Moral Rules and the Happiness of All (Including Women)		421
16		The Pragmatists: Thought and Action		438
17		Ludwig Wittgenstein: Linguistic Analysis and Ordinary Language		462
18		The Existentialists: Heidegger, Sartre, de Bouvoir		501
19		Postmodernism and Physical Realism: Derrida, Rorty, Quine, and Dennett		547
		Afterword		578
		Glossary		580
		Credits		586
		Index		590

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