The Human Condition: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Human Nature

Rating:
Summary: A nice introductory text
Review: Philosophy is probably the last thing that the average person wants to study in-depth, but this book makes for a very nice introduction for those interested. Rather than focusing on the various aspects of philosophy, or telling the story of philosophy through the individudual philosophers, the book, as the title suggests, relates the discipline through how it relates to human nature. This means that while, unfortunately, some aspects of philosophy are skipped over almost altogether (epistemology), others (ethics and morality, good and evil) are covered extensively, as are some other sub-genres of study related to the philosophy of human nature (race, gender, personhood.) Rosenstand has the unique and quite admirable ability to take what is, to many, the most unfathomable discipline possible and put it in terms that the average person can understand. In addition, within the various chapters and in additional sections at the end of each, Rosenstand illustrates some of the various points presented within the chapter through the use of examples from the world of literature and film. It is for this reason, among others, that this work is used as a textbook in introductory philosophy classes throughout the country. Further, for these reasons, and others, it is probably more accessible and less intimidating to the layman than that perennial classic, Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy. The only gripe I have with the book is that Rosenstand sometimes pushes her own views and agendas too much to the forefront, something that should not happen in a philosophy text, which should remain always subjective (especially in a book designed for introductory study.) That said, it is quite a simple task for the reader to discern one from the other. Ultimately, this book does a very good job of what it was designed to do: introduce neophytes to the philosophy of human nature.