Doing Philosophy: An Introduction Through Thought Experiments

by Theodore Schick Jr., Lewis Vaughn

Doing Philosophy gives students a clear idea of the nature of philosophical problems and the importance of the search for their solutions. By acquainting students with philosophical theories and the thought experiments used to test their validity, this text fosters active learning and helps students become better thinkers.

Genres: Philosophy

471 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most readers of this book will encounter it in a college classroom, though I am the outlier who just bought it for fun and read it. I had read Schick and Vaughn's How to Think About Weird Things a long time ago, and liked it. I've been going through a strange phase of curiosity about philosophy and famous philosophers, so I bought this book, which is your general purpose Philosophy 101 text.

It has the strengths and limitations you would expect to find most books of this kind. It has an unfathomably large volume of material to cover and always struggles to find balance between squeezing in big ideas and not spending too much time on any one thing. It clocks in around 600 pages and it took me ages to read, despite the efforts of the authors to include diverse material and a wealth of sidebars and little funny quotations.

Some of the discussion was interesting to me - I liked the chapter on the mind/body problem for instance, and the discussion of Star Trek's teleportation machine will have me forever thinking differently about getting beamed up or down - but other sections were a slog, especially discussion about God and the mind-numbing topic of how we can ever really know that knowledge gained from our senses is real, one of my least favorite flights of fancy and one of the most common refuges for people who cannot produce evidence for whatever position they are arguing.

I have to say my experience here was more profitable than my recent foray into plowing through Aristotle. At least I do come away with some idea what the authors are talking about, and I suppose that means that the book is largely achieving its ends, even if it does so without an excess of flair.

[Philipp Schwind · Rating 3 out of 5]

I assigned the book for one of my classes. It's soso. Schick covers too much; in many places, his quick treatment of positions turns into a caricature (e.g. when he tries to explain in one or two paragraphs the development from empiricism to logical positivism). I most disliked his chapter on Kant's ethics. He just throws the formulations of the categorical imperative onto his readers without explaining how they are derived/what their underlying meaning is. Still, at many places he does a good job. Overall, it was ok using the book once, but I will try something else for my next intro class. I liked the discussion questions at the end of each chapter, they facilitated my preparation.

[Jiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

关键问题引领下的哲学思考；罗素对哲学功用的描述；阅读材料、辅助资料翔实有趣，很好的教材

[King Haddock · Rating 5 out of 5]

As far as textbooks are concerned, this is the best one I have read.

Schick was able to keep my interest. He did not drop down to painfully simple vocabulary, nor did he elevate his diction to pretentious heights, nor did he keep the information dry. Rather, the book contains succinct but informative thought experiments, explanations, and counterexamples. I as a Trekkie also happened to enjoy the frequent mentions to TOS and TNG...

That being said, the book's shortcoming comes in the form of a few unconvincing thought experiments and counterexamples. Some of the examples countering the soul theory seemed slightly off-base, for example. Many of the thought experiments and counterexamples mentioned are important and well-known, but a few of them are not the strongest out there in the philosophical world.

Many concepts are reduced slightly oversimplistically at times, but it is a very good book for introducing students to philosophy.