Textbook hunting
I’ve been looking for a cheap, relatively short (400 pp., not 800 pp.) single-volume anthology of philosophical classics for use in an Introduction to Philosophy course.
That is, something along the lines of Robert Paul Wolff’s Ten Great Works of Philosophy (Signet Classics, $8.95), which includes:
Plato’s Apology and Crito, and selections from his Phaedo;
Aristotle’s Poetics;
Various proofs of God’s existence, due to Anselm and Aquinas;
Descartes’s Meditations;
Hume’s first Inquiry;
Kant’s Prolegomena;
Mill’s Utilitarianism; and
James’s Will to Believe.
(No women or non-Westerners, alas.)
All these works are usable, I think, except those by Aristotle and Kant. And perhaps even some parts of them are usable.
As for editorial guidance, there is none, except for some brief and sweeping historical commentary.
On the very far other end of the spectrum, at over a thousand pages and many tens of dollars, the book I like is the new edition of the Norton Introduction to Philosophy, which has minutely pruned excerpts of many, many readings, along with several newly commissioned essays, study questions, and loads of very clear editorial help (which students will be tempted to ignore).
Most other introductory collections are like the Norton one, though not nearly as well executed (and, often, more expensive).
So, I’m wondering: Is there anything in between? In particular, is there anything like Wolff’s collection, but with some recent articles to go along with the classics?
Nigel Warburton has a quirky collection out with Routledge, and I don’t hate it, but I think I’d go with Wolff’s book or the Norton book instead.
That is, something along the lines of Robert Paul Wolff’s Ten Great Works of Philosophy (Signet Classics, $8.95), which includes:
Plato’s Apology and Crito, and selections from his Phaedo;
Aristotle’s Poetics;
Various proofs of God’s existence, due to Anselm and Aquinas;
Descartes’s Meditations;
Hume’s first Inquiry;
Kant’s Prolegomena;
Mill’s Utilitarianism; and
James’s Will to Believe.
(No women or non-Westerners, alas.)
All these works are usable, I think, except those by Aristotle and Kant. And perhaps even some parts of them are usable.
As for editorial guidance, there is none, except for some brief and sweeping historical commentary.
On the very far other end of the spectrum, at over a thousand pages and many tens of dollars, the book I like is the new edition of the Norton Introduction to Philosophy, which has minutely pruned excerpts of many, many readings, along with several newly commissioned essays, study questions, and loads of very clear editorial help (which students will be tempted to ignore).
Most other introductory collections are like the Norton one, though not nearly as well executed (and, often, more expensive).
So, I’m wondering: Is there anything in between? In particular, is there anything like Wolff’s collection, but with some recent articles to go along with the classics?
Nigel Warburton has a quirky collection out with Routledge, and I don’t hate it, but I think I’d go with Wolff’s book or the Norton book instead.