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Title: Philosophy made simple by Richard Henry Popkin ISBN: 0-491-00182-7 Publisher: W. H. Allen Pub. Date: 1969 Format: Unknown Binding

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Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (6 reviews)

Rating: 2
Summary: Philosophy Made Dull
Comment: In college a long time ago my nascent interest in philosophy was temporarily dimmed by a dull text. But it was positively sprightly compared to this book.

The authors take an historical approach. If by "Simple" you expect "Introductory" then historical is not the right approach in any subject. (You wouldn't, for example, plow through all of Euclid's Geometry before learning decimal digits.) The result, for example, is that the second chapter deals with Politics. While important, political questions are hardly the most gripping that philosophy has to offer.

Even as an introductory course in the history of philosophy, I can envisage a much better book than this one. It does have fine bibliographies at the end of each chapter, and would form a decent review book. There are a few amusing anecdotes, such as the one concerning a philosopher who testified about an auto accident.

The last couple of chapters are better than the earlier ones would lead you to expect. The penultimate chapter deals mainly with deductive logic, and actually has exercises with answers. (If you enjoy this material, you will probably enjoy the more leisurely and thorough coverage given in "The Trivium" by Sister Miriam Joseph.) It also reviews fallacious reasoning. If you're going to read this book, read this chapter first (the authors seldom let the dullness from one chapter darken any other discussion, so you can read the chapters in almost any order), and perhaps you will be sufficiently armed to spot the fallacies that led, for example, Hume to conclusions he himself regarded as absurd. The final chapter deals with modern trends, which possibly interest the authors more than classical philosophy.

Philosophy can change your life. This dry tome is unlikely to. Never trust philosophers whose grasp of Latin permits them the misspelling "ad nauseum"!

Rating: 5
Summary: the best introduction to philosophy
Comment: Don't be put off by the title. This really is the best introductory book on philosophy. Very readable. It was the first philosophy book that I read (I was in high school at the time). I subsequently went on to study philosophy at Oxford University (England) and Cornell, where I got my PhD in philosophy. Later, I wandered into the field of "computers" where I've had a long and happy career. But I still remember PHILOSOPHY MADE SIMPLE.

Rating: 5
Summary: Don't Miss This Book if You Like Philosophy
Comment: This is the best among several introductory books on the subject that I have read. Philosophers and related terms are clearly explained with the support of historical background. Nearly all philosophical ideas are introduced with both sides of the arguments. Sort of the story telling approach make those ideas easy to follow. I highly recommend it to those who want to learn more on philosophy, even for advanced students. I agree with the previous reviewer that one should consider it to be the only book on philosophy carrying aound with for reference. As the preface of the latest edition says, this subject can't be made simpler. Many thanks Mr. Popkin and Mr. Stroll for your great effort.