Exploring Philosophy

Exploring Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology, Third Edition, is a remarkably accessible and engaging introduction to philosophy. Steven M. Cahn brings together extraordinarily clear, recent essays by noted philosophers and supplements them with influential historical sources. Most importantly, the articles have been carefully edited to make them understandable to every reader. The topics are drawn from across the major fields of philosophy and include knowledge and skepticism, mind and body, freedom and determinism, the existence of God, the problem of evil, ethical reasoning, abortion, euthanasia, world hunger, democracy, capital punishment, affirmative action, and the meaning of life. The readings are enhanced by concise introductions, explanatory notes, and suggestions for further reading. Featuring twenty-two new selections, the third edition has been expanded to include a separate section on free will containing articles by A.J. Ayer, Steven M. Cahn, Harry Frankfurt, Thomas Nagel, and Richard Taylor. It offers two sections on morality--Moral Theory and Moral Problems--with new selections by John Arthur, Virginia Held, Don Marquis, Bernard Mayo, Peter Singer, Judith Jarvis Thomson, and Christine Vitrano. This edition also adds historical sources by St. Anselm, William James, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, as well as contemporary essays by A.J. Ayer, Steven M. Cahn, Nicholas Everitt, Edmund L. Gettier, Carl G. Hempel, Alan Turing, and Ernest van den Haag.