Experience of Philosophy

Rating:
Summary: This is the thinking man's bible!
Review: Philosophy straight from the philosophers is what this book contains. The editors give questions before and after each selection to subtley guide and help, but what you interpret are the philosopher's words, not someone else's summation. Kolak and Martin, philosophers themselves, write with powerful, poetic expression at the beginning of each section. The selection written by the editor on cosmology is a must read for anyone who wishes to understand what the great contemporary thinkers are exerting.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Intro to Philosophy
Review: This book is a decent text for an introduction course in philosophy. The selesctions that were chosen from some of the greatest philosophers: Plato, Kant, Buddha, Descartes, Locke, Hume and Nietzsche, were well thought out before being put in.

This text is seperated into sections, God, death, ethics etc. to put Western (and some Eatern) thought into bite size pieces. Having the works of the philosophers in their own words and not interpreted for you is one of the strenghts of this text.

There are questions and exercises at the end of each section, placed there by the editors to be helpful; these are the major failing of the book. The beliefs of the editor (who includes some of his own work in the text book) come through in the questions and are quite biased (though not invalid).

For an intro course this is a wonderful text. Also, it may give a person that is new to philosophy, some ideas and thoughts as to whom they may wish to read in the future.

All in all, not a bad book. It serves its purpose as a text for 101 level classes at the college level, but does not do much beyond that.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for introducing Philosophy
Review: When I picked up this book and read through many of the works contained I was delighted. Alot of texts focus on the historical side of philosophy, but this book focuses on great ideas. I did readings for class but also found myself reading more and more if simply for the sheer enjoyment and mind-blowing proufoundness. If you've read some philosophy then you'll know that the works were chosen carefully: of the "knock you on your #ss" variety. Plato, Krishnamurti, Russel, Buddha, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Berkeley, Pascal, Tolstoy, Sartre, Camus, as well as many more modern philosophers are scattered about in this great book. Highly recommended.