This is the most exciting and comprehensive text with integrated readings for introducing students to philosophy. It presents the big picture with all the right details. The central idea is to embed the best excerpts from the most important writings of the most important philosophers into one seamless, coherent adventure story in such a way that the reader takes part in the process of discovery. Instead of reading about philosophy, readers acquire philosophical insights into themselves and the world by acquiring a knowledge of philosophical ideas presented in their original contexts. Organized both historically and topically, the book can be used either chronologically or by topics, and to facilitate this for instructors it contains two separate tables of contents. The book covers all the major philosophers from the pre-Socratics to twentieth-century philosophy with a scope wide enough to embrace all schools and traditions-from the analytic and continental to non-western. This approach enables readers to understand the connection between many different ways of looking at ourselves and the world, to obtain a broad and multi-perspectival vision of all the best that philosophy has had to offer, by building philosophical bridges across national, cultural, religious, historical, and scholarly borders.

Table of Contents:
PREFACE. INTRODUCTION. 0. THE DAWN OF PHILOSOPHY. The Birth of Wisdom. The Legend of Socrates: Knowing the Unknown. Selection: Plato, Apology. The Wisdom of Unknowing. PART 1: THE LEGACY OF THE ANCIENTS. 1. THE FIRST PHILOSOPHERS. Indian Philosophy: The Vedas, the Upanisads, and the Bhagavad-Gita. Selections: The Rg-Veda, Song of Creation. The Kena Upanisad. The Katha Upanisad. The Bhagavad Gita. Thales: The First Philosopher. Selection: Aristotle on Thales. Anaximander: The Infinite Boundless. Selection: Anaximander, The Infinite. Anaximenes: A Question of Language. Selection: Anaximenes, The Breath of the World. Confucius: The Moral Way. Selections: Confucius, Lun Yu. Karl Jaspers, The Axial Period. Lao Tzu: The Way of the Tao. Selection: Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching. Buddha: The Way of Enlightenment. Selection: Buddha, Fire Sermon. Pythagoras: Form, Limit and Number as the Basis of All Things. Selection: Aristotle on the Pythagoreans. The Rational vs. the Irrational. Heraclitus: The Way of the Logos. Selection: Heraclitan Fragments. Parmenides: The Way of Truth. Selection: Parmenides, Nature. Zeno of Elea: The Way of Paradox. Selection: Zeno, Paradoxes. Protagoras and the Sophists: The Way of Relativism. Selection: Plato, Protagoras. Democritus: The Way of Materialism. 2. PLATO. Plato. Plato''''s Euthyphro. Selection: Plato, Euthyphro. The Trial and Death of Socrates. Plato''''s Epistemology and Metaphysics: The Myth of the Cave. Selection: Plato, Republic. Plato''''s Next Step: The Birth of Self-Criticism. Selection: Plato, Parmenides. 3. ARISTOTLE. Aristotle: The Birth of Logic. Aristotle''''s Epistemology: Knowledge for Its Own Sake. Selection: Aristotle, Metaphysics. Aristotle''''s Criticism of Plato''''s Ideal Forms. Selection: Aristotle, Categories. Aristotle''''s Theory of Mind. Selection: Aristotle, On the Soul. The Nichomachean Ethics. Selection: Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics. PART II: THE MIDDLE PERIOD. 4. THE EPICUREANS, STOICS, AND SKEPTICS. Epicurus. Selections: Epicurus, Letter to Herodotus. Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus. Epictetus. Selections: Epictetus, Echiridion. Epictetus, Discourses. Marcus Aurelius: The Philosopher King. Selection: Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. Sextus Empiricus: The Way of Skepticism. Selection: Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism. Nagarunja: The Way of Nirvana. Selection: Nagarunja, The Unity of Being. 5. CATHOLIC PHILOSOPHY. The Fragmentation of Philosophy: Fear of the Known. Plotinus: The Twilight of Philosophy. Selection: Plotinus, Enneads. Augustine: The Beginning of Christendom. Selections: Augustine, Confessions. Augustine, Against the Manichaens. Augustine, City of God. Augustine, Self Knowledge and the Nature of Mind. Anselm: The New Scholasticism. Selections: Anselm, Proslogion: The Ontological Argument. Guanilo, On Behalf of the Fool. Anselm, Reply to Guanilo. 6. THE ISLAMIC INFLUENCE. Averroes. Selection: Averroes, Commentary on De Anima. Maimonides. 7. THE MEDIEVALS. Aquinas: The Godhead. Selection: Aquinas, Summa Theologica. Duns Scotus: The Logical Analysis of Being. Selection: Duns Scotus, Ordinatio. Ockham: The Razor''''s Edge. Selections: Ockham, Logic. Ockham, Theory of Knowledge and Metaphysics. 8. THE RENAISSANCE. Nicholas of Cusa: Everything is Everything. Selection: Nicholas of Cusa, Everything is Everything. Roger Bacon: The Idols of the Mind. Selections: Bacon, The Idols from Novum Organum. Bacon, On Induction from Novum Organum. Giordano Bruno: The World Soul is You. Selection: Bruno, The Cause, the Principle and the One. PART III: THE MODERN RATIONALISTS. 9. PRELUDE TO MODERN PHILOSOPHY: The Copernican Revolution. The Copernican Revolution: The Second Dawn. Selection: Copernicus, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. From the Religious Authority of the Church to the Secular Authority of Science. Selections: Thomas Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution. Paul Feyerabend, How to Defend Society Against Science. Thomas Hobbes: The Materialist, the New Science, and the Quest for Secular Ethics. Selections: Hobbes, Leviathan, Part I: Of Man. Hobbes, Leviathan, Part II: Of Commonwealth. 10. DESCARTES. Descartes: The Founder of Modern Philosophy. Selection: Descartes, Discourse on Method. The Cartesian Method: The Axioms of Rationality. Selection: Descartes, Discourse on Method. The Cartesian Coordinate System and the Invention of Analytic Geometry: Toward the Unification of Perception and the Intellect. How to Become a Genius: Descartes'''' Rules for the Direction of the Mind. Selection: Descartes, Rules for the Direction of the Mind. The Revival of Skepticism: Descartes'''' First Meditations. Selection: Descartes, Meditation I (complete). I Think, Therefore I Am. Selection: Descartes, Meditation II (complete). The Cartesian God. Selection: Descartes, Meditations III-VI (excerpts). 11. SPINOZA. Spinoza: The Philosopher''''s Philosopher. Spinoza''''s Ethics: The World is God. Selections: Spinoza, Ethics, Book 1: On God. Spinoza, Ethics, Appendix to Book I. Ethics, Book II: The Origin and Nature of the Mind. Selections: Spinoza, Ethics, Book II, The Origin and Nature of the Mind. Spinoza, Ethics, Book III, The Origin and Nature of Emotions. 12. LEIBNIZ. Leibniz (1648-1727): The Great Calculator. Leibniz and the Origin of the Modern World View. Selection: John Dewey, Leibniz''''s New Essays Concerning Human Understanding. Infinite Realities: The Monadology. Selection: Leibniz, The Monadology. The Calculus: The Mathematics of Reality. The Machine Within the Machine Within the Machine. Selections: Leibniz, The Monadology. Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics. PART IV: THE MODERN EMPIRICISTS. 13: LOCKE. Locke: In Search of the Mind''''s Eye. Selection: Locke, Essay concerning Human Understanding. The Political Philosopher: Locke''''s Legacy. Selection: Locke, Two Treatises of Civil Government (Second Treatise). 14. BERKELEY. Berkeley: The Thoroughly Modern Idealist. The Primacy of Language. To Be Is to Be Perceived: A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. Selection: Berkeley, A Treatise Concerning the principles of Human Knowledge (Introduction). Newton (1642-1727): The World According to Modern Physics. Selection: Newton, Fundamental Principles of Natural Philosophy (from Principia). Would the Real World Please Reveal Itself? 15. HUME. Hume: The Skeptical Inquirer. Hume''''s Theory of Ideas. Selections: Hume, Treatise of Human Nature. Hume, Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Hume''''s Fork: The Analytic-Synthetic Distinction. Selection: Hume, Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Cause and Effect: Dissolving the Cement of the Universe. Selection: Hume, Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding. The Problem of Induction. Selection: Hume, Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding. The Death of God. Selection: Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. I Do Not Exist. Selections: Hume, Of the Idea of Exstence and of External Existence. Hume, Of Personal Identity. PART V: KANT AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 16. KANT. Kant. Awakening From Dogmatic Slumbers. Selection: Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics. Transcendental Idealism. Selection: Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics. Kant''''s Copernican Revolution. Selection: Kant, Critique of Pure Reason. The Phenomenal and Noumenal Worlds. Rousseau: The Romantic Influence. Selection: Rousseau, The Social Contract. The Moral Law Within. Selection: Kant, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals. 17. HEGEL AND THE GERMAN IDEALISTS. Fichte: The Subjective Idealist. Selection: Fichte, The Science of Knowledge. Schelling: The Objective Idealist. Selection: Schelling, System of Transcendental Idealism. Hegel: The Absolute Idealist. Selections: Hegel, Logic. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of History. Schopenhauer: The Will of the World. Selection: Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea. 18. KIERKEGAARD AND NIETZSCHE. Kierkegaard: Prelude to Radical Subjectivity. Selections: Kierkegaard, Either/Or. Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific Postscript. Nietzsche: The Philosopher as Superman. Selections: Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil. Nietzsche, The Will to Power. PART VI: THE SOCIAL PHILOSOPHERS. 19. THE SOCIAL PHILOSOPHERS: WOLLSTONECRAFT, COMTE, BENTHAM, MILL AND MARX. The Shift to the Social Arena. Wollstonecraft: The Rights of Women. Selection: Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Comte: The Founder of Sociology and Positivism. Selection: Comte, Course of the Positive Philosophy. Bentham and Mill: The Utilitarians. Selections: Mill, Utilitarianism. Mill, On Liberty. Marx: The Birth of Communism. Selections: Marx, Communist Manifesto. Marx, Alienation. Marx, The Power of Money. PART VII: THE 20th CENTURY. 20. THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: PEIRCE, JAMES, DEWEY AND ROYCE. Perice: The American Pragmatist. Selections: Peirce, The Fixation of Belief. Perice, How to Make Our Ideas Clear. James: The Radical Empiricist. Selections: James, The Will to Believe. James, Does ''''Consciousness'''' Exist? Dewey: Epistemology Naturalized. Selections: Dewey, The Quest for Certainty. Dewey, Thought and Experience. Royce: The American Idealist. Selections: Royce, The Spirit of Modern Philosophy. Royce, The World and the Individual. THE EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE. Brentano: The Intentional Philosopher. Husserl: The Founder of Phenomenology. Selections: Brentano, Intentionality. Husserl, The Phenomenology of Internal-Time Consciousness. Husserl, The Idea of Phenomenology. Husserl, Ideas. Heidegger: In Search of Being. Selections: Heidegger, Introduction to Metaphysics. Heidegger, Being and Time. Sartre: The French Existentialist. Selections: Sartre, Existentialism. Sartre, Being and Nothingness. 22. THE NEW METAPHYSICIANS: BRADLEY, BERGSON, AND WHITEHEAD. Bradley: The Absolute Idealist. Selection: Bradley, Appearance and Reality. Bergson: The Spiritual Metaphysician. Selection: Bergson, Introduction to Metaphysics. Whitehead: The Process Philosopher. Selection: Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead. 23. ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY: FREGE, RUSSELL, WITTGENSTEIN AND QUINE. The Legacy of Frege: Sense and Reference. Selections: Frege, The Basic Laws of Arithmetic. Frege, Sense and Reference. Russell: Upon the Wings of Logic. Selections: Russell, the Problems of Philosophy. Russell, The Principles of Mathematics. Russell and Whitehead, Principia Mathematica. Russell, Logical Atomism. Carnap, The Elimination of Metaphysics. Russell, Our Knowledge of the External World. Russell, Mysticism and Logic. Russell, Why I Am Not A Christian. Wittgenstein: Philosophy''''s Blind Spot. Selctions: Wittgenstein, Notes on Logic. Wittgenstein, Tractatus. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations. Quine: From a Logical Point of View. Selections: Quine, On What There Is. Quine, Two Dogmas of Empiricism. 24. THE POSTMODERNISTS: GADAMER, MERLEAU-PONTY, FOUCAULT AND DERRIDA. Gadamer: The Philosopher''''s Apprentice and the Birth of Hermeneutics. Selections: Heidegger, Being and Time. Gadamer, Truth and Method. Merleau-Ponty: Many Selves, Many Worlds. Selection: Merleau-Ponty, The Structure of Behavior. Foucault: The Death of the Self. Selections: Foucault, Madness, the Absence of Work. Foucault, Truth and Power. Foucault, What is an Author? Derrida: The Art of Deconstruction. Selections: Derrida, Signature, Event, Context.