Rating: 
Summary: A Very Good Introduction to Major Philosophical Problems
Review: Tom Morris does a very good job of clearly explaining important philosophical issues and why they are relevant to everybody's lives. Philosophy is often seen as something completely impractical as well as totally obscure but Morris writes very clearly and makes a convincing case that these philosophical issues are important for everybody's quality of life. I particularly enjoyed the parts on skepticism, free will, mind-body and the existence of god. The last chapter of the part on the meaning of life is very practical, about what is required for sucess in any endeavor. I mention this because there is a good mix of philosophy and a kind of self help or applied philosophy, information about living (what Morris calls "wisdom"). So, the book is clear and easy to understand but what I like best about it, once again, is the constant focus on WHY THESE THINGS MATTER FOR REAL LIFE, the tie to real life, the convincing case that philosophy can help one live better. The reason I only gave it four stars is that I got a little tired of his Theistic position, which gets alot of space, and I didn't think that he alwasy gives atheism and naturalism a fair rendering. I think he gives an overly bleak conception of what atheism entails, implying that either you believe in God or life is just miserable and bleak. This is the only part of the book where I felt his objectivity slipping a bit. A nice bonus is that Tom Morris himself is a very happy, very sucessful, guy which seems to suggest that he has been able to effectively apply his studies and wisdom to making his own life work. This comes across loud and clear in reading this and his other book, "If Aristotle Ran General Motors". All in all, a really good read.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth its Weight in Gold
Review: Worth its weight in gold, the author has distilled many years of hard work and wisdom into an easy to read Dummies book. Tom Morris provides an enlightening question and answer journey in this book, describing arguments for and against the largest questions about life, covering the views of many prominent philosophers.In my Philosophy 101 course in college I learned a little bit about philosophy while engaging in a large amount of late night hair pulling. In contrast, reading this book I find myself learning a lot about philosophy, in the most important areas of my life, in an enjoyable and readable format.
Rating: 
Summary: It could have been better: a balanced view
Review: I was noticing all the extreme's of opinion on the reviews for this book. I have finished Morris's Philosophy for Dummies and although I did read it cover to cover and enjoy his writing style, the whole time I felt like there were serious defects with the coverage of the subject. Specifically, I bought this book because I've tried to pour through Kant, Nietzche and even The Republic, and couldn't get my mind around it. There was very little in this book about Nietzche except that he is described as a 19th century wildman and something about the abdomen. Coverage of the Greeks and early modern philosophers (Descarte) was much better. I was dissapointed that basically only Mr. Morris was there, with his stories and perspective. He is obviously an intelligent and persuasive writer, but is that enough? So, here is my suggestion for improving edition II: Morris is obviously a strong and powerful arguer for Theism. I can respect that, and philosophy needs those views. However, the book needs to be CO-AUTHORED by strong and powerful arguer for Atheism and Naturalism. It can be set up in chapters like edition I, but instead they are spilt into sections like "The case for God" and "the case against God". I think then the book would be a real bang up intoduction to living, breathing philosophy. Also, I want to hear more about the Kant, the Nihilists and the 19th century wildman. I think it's funny that Morris goes on for a whole chapter about Skepticism, and then bases his later beliefs on stories of the supernatural! OK, one final specific gripe and I'm out: Regarding the cosmological reason for the existance of God, Morris fails to explain to my satisfaction why the universe cannot have an essential explanation. Seems like he's grasping at straws as to why the universe exists in its current form. Check it out on page 252...what do you think?
Rating: 
Summary: philosophy is not therapy
Review: I loved the editorial description at the beginning of the entry for this book: "Philosophy ... [is therapy]" Well, if you think philosophy is therapy, you should buy this book, because you'll have things laid out for you and you won't have to doubt that you're right any more. Philosophy is not therapy. It is not about "the meaning of life?" because that is an incoherent question. What should philosophy be, then? Philosophy should be an especially painful form of argumentation. This is because it helps us realize that the linguistic categories (I mean this intensionally) we've created do not pertain to the world outside our minds. We may be able to use them to delimit set of objects but they may do so inconsistently. (All of the descriptors we may use in reference to a certain object or phenomenon cannot be true at the same time.) Philosophy is a game that plays with these categories to try to deduce properties about them from the ignorance that lies at their root: there are no first principles, there is only the hope that a consistent system might be created from which an inconsistency cannot be produced. But philosophy need not have such grand ambitions- a decent paper need only to chip away at the foundation of misconception or ambiguity of a system or proposition suggested before to be worthwhile. Philosophy is a very exhilirating activity but it requires slightly more effort than this book demands as well as a more unbiased guide.
Rating:
Summary: from one dummy to another
Review: I recently discovered "Philosophy for Dummies" and enjoyed the book so much that i visited amazon.com to purchase the book for a friend. I couldn't help but notice the conversation that has evolved in the reviews of this book on the posted web site. I had to comment.
I wasn't so surprised to see the striking division in the reaction to such a challenging and dynamic book. Most of the reviews are either entirely negative (allotting one star) or entirely positive (allotting 4-5 stars).
You see, the book is a little unusual in its approach and stance. The author is committed to philosophizing in a way that is relevant to life. Many of the dissenter's seemed disappointed that the author didn't take up a stance of neutrality and passive reflection or even cover all the facts and faces in the history of philosophy. But, you see, these misperceived failings in the book actually point towards its merit.
The author believes that philosophy matters, that we all do reason toward truth, find some things out, and place our bets. This is why it matters so much that we reason well; truth has consequences.
The book actually calls its reader to examine life and give a rational account for it, personal and otherwise, which is just what philosophy at its roots is intended to be. Morris even suggests that we will have to place our bets (or perhaps already have), but that is so much less comfortable than an impersonal academic encounter with supposed unsolvable problems, logical twists, unending argument, passive reflection, and memorizing the facts, faces, and history of philosophy, which is probably why some have taken offense.
Time and space in the book have not allowed for a full deliberation which I think is what some commentators are calling an easy dismissal of some of philosophy's best critiques of any position of meaning and hope, including Nietzsche's, another helpful thinker.
But hey, its an open-ended discussion that the author has clearly and candidly invited all of us to participate in. In any case, i would hate to see anyone interested in thinking hard about life pass up this great book. Its a gem.
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Summary: Tom Morris' Religious Philosophy for dummies
Review: Before considering whether to buy this book or not you need to learn something about its title. It's completely wrong. It should've been called "Tom Morris' Religious Philosophy for dummies." This is indeed not an introduction to philosophy book for two simple reasons. The first is that it hardly covers any areas of philosophy other than the religious aspect. For example, superficial mentions of social philosophy are scattered across a couple of chapters, hardly any serious discussion of logic can be found anywhere, and not even the slightest footnote was dedicated to political philosophy at all. One look at the book's table of contents should demonstrate that to you. The second reason this is not an introduction to philosophy book is that Tom Morris is a heavily biased author to the extent that clearly makes this book a prejudiced study in religious philosophy. Plus, the author devotes long chapters to discussions of some of his own ideas that has nothing to do with mainstream philosophy, which is why I think the title should explain that this is a book about Tom Morris' philosophy. The book's first part is typical of the "For Dummies" series in its humorous layman's definition of philosophy and its initial discussion of the applications of philosophy in real life. The second part jumps directly into the most daring and basic issue of philosophy, which is skepticism. The author discusses how skepticism attacks our basic beliefs about the notion of evidence and the whole personal experience with its absolute reliance on memory, testimony, and senses. Then he suggests a solution to live with skepticism without annihilating the whole body of human knowledge. He also explains why relativism is popular among students of Philosophy 101 even though it's evidently self-defeating. Up to this point the book was up to par as per my expectations and my experience with several books about the history of philosophy. The part about skepticism is very good and if you are planning to buy the book and read up to there only then that would be fine. If you decide to carry on, however, like I did then you'll be amazed at how fast the quality of the discussions deteriorates as you go along. The author begins a discussion of what "good" is and the meaning of happiness according to philosophical studies. Ethical philosophy and the study of morals are deep subjects and the majority of philosophers dedicated great portions of their works to the study of ethics. This is why it was very disappointing to realize that the author limited his discussion to a very narrow perspective of linguistic philosophy and didn't even talk about popular theories for the sources of moral code such as utilitarianism and objectivism. In addition, his brief remark about the religious sources of moral code turned on bias-warning lights in my head, although his bias doesn't get clearly manifest yet at that point. Subsequently, quality takes a nosedive as the author takes on complex and controversial topics such as the free will, materialism versus dualism, the existence of god, and the meaning of life. Mr. Morris' bias in these discussions is striking. But you can't expect anyone to be completely unbiased, one might argue. I agree to that, and I have my own biases in these discussions just like everybody else. What disturbed me though is the fact that Mr. Morris' bias is demeaning to the intelligence of the reader at best and is a betrayal at worst. As a rule of thumb, Tom will commence the discussion with the views that he disagrees with. I was able to come up with two explanations only to excuse the superficiality of the arguments Tom extends in favor of those views, and both are disappointing since you can either conclude that Tom does not understand those views appropriately, or that he does not wish to burden himself with harder arguments to refute. Sometimes you can even sense a tone of ridicule and belittling in the author's tone as he extends positions not in line with his beliefs. Needless to say, it's not too hard to prove your point when you make the other viewpoint seem so shallow and silly. The only plausible argument he extends in favor of an idea that he opposes is the scientific argument for materialism. He laid the grounds for that point rather fairly even though his tone was demonstrative of his disagreement. I was looking forward to see how he'll come back at such a strong argument only to be disappointed (I got used to that by then) by arguments such as asserting that this is how he feels about it although he can't explain it or that evidence is not necessary since it is common knowledge! Surprised? Don't be. Once you read stories about the author's unbelievable psychic abilities and the alleged ability of some of his relatives and acquaintances to see vividly and consistently into the future or to communicate with dead people you'll realize what kind of a person wrote this book. Be also prepared for boring lengthy anecdotes that hardly have any connection to the topics being discussed. You finish the book with the feeling that you have been dragged unsuspectingly into a church or a missionary base and was ordered to suspend reason and take whatever you are being taught. In fact, I felt a little irritated by the author's attitude. I realize that I might have sounded prejudiced myself in this review, but in my defense I have nothing to be prejudiced about. I do not have firm opinions (yet) about the controversies in philosophy as I'm still learning about all viewpoints out there. I was hoping that this book would teach me more about mainstream ideas in philosophy. Instead, it taught me about the religious philosophy of Tom Morris. A person, based on the character and the mind that the book reveals, I do not expect to learn much from.
Rating:
Summary: Have to agree with the crowd
Review: I've studied philosophy - Socrates, Confucius, Descarte, Nietzche, etc - and had picked up this book as a refresher hoping for two things: (1) an overview of the great philosophers, and (2) an overview of their best-known ideas. A more apt title would be "Philosophizing for Dummies." If that's what you're looking for, too, you definitely will not find it here. It's mainly one author discussing his own take on Life's Big Questions: pretty much the same thing you could get from an afternoon of fishing with that quirky uncle you don't see very often but always says such memorable things (and then if nothing else, you'd at least have fish).
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Summary: The World (and Philosophy) according to Tom Morris
Review: I wish I would have read the reviews before buying this book. Most of the reviews criticise the book for having an obvious bias towards theism. Being a theist myslef, one would think that wouldn't bother me, but I was looking for a book that would introduce me to the basic foundations of philosophical thinking and let me come to my own conclusions. Instead I got very little if any first hand information on what the world's famous philosophers said or thought, and the occasional quote of someone elses viewpoint was always filtered through the thoughts of Tom Morris. This book is not an introduction to philosophy for people needing a background to build upon with further study, instead it is self-promoting by Mr. Morris. He merely gives his take on philosophy and it various perspectives. If that wasn't bad enough, the writing is terrible. His attempts to be humorous and simple, are not productive, and the overall feeling I got while reading it was one of being scattered and disorganized. The book is not an enjoyable read or easy to pick up and learn quickly from.
Rating: 
Summary: Book of Theology
Review: Philosophy for Dummies is a book of theology, not philosophy. A nice philosophy for someone who can't put his hand on God but wants to real badly. As for his 'Principal of belief conservation', a ship cannot sail, Mr. Morris, if it is anchored in the same old harbor. You can find things worth exploring in this book but Philosophy 101 it is not. Watch out for chapter 10! He really goes "unsubstantiated" by that point.
Rating:
Summary: Intro to Philosophy, not philosophers
Review: Having read some of the negative reviews below, I elected to borrow this book from the public library. I have to say that I am delightfully surprised at its clarity and accessibility. Tom Morris has written a lucid introduction to the discipline of philosophy. And as an intro to the art itself, the book does a remarkable job of giving the uninitiated ("dummies") some insight into philosophy as it is normally practiced by philosophers. I believe this is the author's true intention (he implies as much in the introduction, and it is heralded all over the cover). The book isn't intended to serve as an intro to the *history* of philosophy. If Morris seems to give some philosophers little attention (as some reviewers charge), that's probably why. As for concerns about the author's arguments for the existence of God, the accusation made by one reviewer that Morris advocates for a "Christian, conservative republican" theology is simply ludicrous; he does no such thing. While Morris believes that the universe is ordered by some type of creative intelligence (as have most philosophers throughout history), he doesn't take the side of any one faith. And his arguments are clear, intelligent, and hard to refute. So if you're looking for a historical survey of philosophy, there are lots of good ones out there. If, however, you are interested in learning how philosophers engage their discipline (indeed, how to philosophize), you have come to the right place.
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