Thinking It Through: An Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy

Appiah maps out the basic terrain of philosophical inquiry for beginners. The book is readable and the terminology is accessible--highlighted terms are defined and indexed. Key themes include: Philosophy of Mind, Epistemology, Language, Science, Ethics, Political Theory, Legal Theory, and Metaphysics. If someone said, "So what do contemporary philosophers write about?" I would give them this book.However, I wouldn't give them this book if they asked, "What makes philosophy interesting?" Appiah is circumspect and unimpassioned, careful to take few defined stands (which is appropriate to the book). But "Thinking It Through" reads like an automobile owner's manual rather than a guide to making key decisions about life. Furthermore, there are some ambiguous structural choices in the book: why are ethics and metaphysics separated? ...why does law now get its own chapter in an introduction to philosophy (previously subsumed under political philosophy)? ...why does political theory include indepth discussion of the two most recent contributions to political philosophy, but no mention of Marx, Locke, or Jefferson? ...why does the philosophy of mind not mention John Searle? ...why no discussion of aesthetics? ...why no existentialism? Perhaps this is all too much to ask of one book. After all the subtitle is intentionally "An Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy," and Appiah really does go specifically through the who's who of living philosophers. This is an EXCELLENT book for someone who is thinking about majoring in philosophy at University. I wouldn't give it to the curious layreader who suspects philosophy might have to do with the meaning of life.

Philosophy is a subject that most people feel intrigued by but for many reasons most people never get involved with. I have been surrounded by philosophy students for many years and I have always wanted to learn more but was put off because I didn't know where to start, there is so much new language to learn and it just seems like an impenetrable academic subject into which would be foolish to venture unguided. 'Thinking it Through' manages to start at the very beginning of the process of philosophy without dumbing down. Each of the nine chapters (covering Mind, Knowledge, Science, Morality, Politics, Law, Metaphysics and a chapter on Philosophy as a subject) begin with the discussion of a premise on which the rest of the chapter is based. In the chapter on the Mind the discussion revolves around whether a computer could ever be considered to have a mind. This initial question is then slowly broken down into the major philosophical arguments. Each is dealt with in turn, in a clear rational manner that is easy to understand. Different arguments are compared and evaluated. By the end of each chapter you have learnt so much and gone through so many arguments and discussions that you have almost forgotten what you read, but the chapter summary springs to the rescue and tells you exactly what you just learnt.Every new term used, and there are a lot of them, is highlighted in bold print, defined and can be found in the index for future reference. The author has the skill to explain all the ideas and arguments without losing track of the the fundemental purpose of the chapter. It is layed out clearly and openly and is extremely informative. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I think I may have learned more from it than from almost any book I have ever read. The authors intent in writing this book was to give the reading all the skills and knowledge to enable them to read original philosophical text and I certainly feel well prepared.A wonderful book for the beginner but a philosophy graduate friend of mine said that 'It covers all the main arguments that are discussed in a philosophy degree, and to be honest most philosphy graduates haven't taken away with them much more the the contents of this book'.