Does the Center Hold? An Introduction to Western Philosophy

by Donald D. Palmer

Does the Center Hold? is an entertaining, topically-organized introductory program with more than 500 original illustrations. The ideas and issues typically covered in introductory philosophy courses are presented here in a remarkably accessible and enjoyable manner. Donald Palmer demonstrates that serious philosophical inquiry may be perplexing, but is ultimately liberating, and students will come away from the book with a comprehensive, and often delighted, understanding of philosophy. The Connect course for this offering includes SmartBook, an adaptive reading and study experience which guides students to master, recall, and apply key concepts while providing automatically-graded assessments.
McGraw-Hill Connect(r) is a subscription-based learning service accessible online through your personal computer or tablet. Choose this option if your instructor will require Connect to be used in the course. Your subscription to Connect includes the following:
SmartBook(r) - an adaptive digital version of the course textbook that personalizes your reading experience based on how well you are learning the content.
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The option to purchase (for a small fee) a print version of the book. This binder-ready, loose-leaf version includes free shipping.
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Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Read For School, School, College, History

496 pages, Unbound

First published May 1, 1991

About the author

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the College of Marin in Kentfield, California. He is known for writing introductory books on philosophy and philosophers which attempt to make philosophical ideas accessible to novices. He also illustrates his own books.

Currently he is visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Deepak Raja Nadarajan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is as good as it gets when it comes to introduction to Western philosophy. Trying to summarise the most important philosophical ideas is no mean feat. I have read the "Little History of philosophy" before which was good but it was just a short summary of each philosopher's ideas in chronological order. It was hard to relate similarities between philosophies.

In this book, the author has organised the chapters in terms of philosophical concepts like epistemology, ontology, morality, politics and art. So a single philosopher's ideas can be discussed in all of these chapters. The author made sure that the most influential views are covered and they all fit together nicely.

The author has also added cartoons in every page to make it more fun. Remember this is a textbook and has homework at the end of each chapter.

[Ultimotomasino · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really need to buy my own copy of this book because Palmer is a brilliant writer and teacher.
The complexity of Western philosophy is simplified and made interesting through the witty and dexterous storytelling Mr. Palmer presents us with. The concepts are also accompanied by satirical and often humorous drawings and sketches relevant to the subject matter that the reader would definitely enjoy.

Come take a crash course in Philosophy through this amazing piece of Philosophical material thanks to Mr. Donald!

[Corbin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Palmer's book organizes philosophy into broad themes and presents a variety of figures, schools of thought, and issues related to these categories (epistemology, ontology, ethics, sociopolitical thought, art and aesthetics). The selection of thinkers and ideas is pretty diverse considering the traditional bias in Western philosophy, and Palmer does a pretty good job of giving thorough summaries in a short amount of space. Of course, as with any introductory book, controversial topics are glossed quickly and some interpretations may ruffle more knowledgeable readers, but it seems like Palmer tries to indicate where some of the debates might lie and where they are heading.

The supposed attraction of this book is Palmer's cartoons. He has strung images throughout the text that illustrate important, difficult, or unusual concepts, and he has attempted to be humorous. I think he is overconfident about his skills as a humorous, and the illustrations would be more helpful if he allowed some to be serious and some to be funny, rather than trying to make each of them a comic strip. Many of the jokes don't make sense to those new to the history of philosophy, and the level of corniness is very high.

I probably wouldn't use this book for an intro class; it can be challenging at times, and I really prefer using primary texts. Nonetheless, I would probably recommend this textbook for a new teacher who didn't have time to design their own reader or set of texts.

[Twilight O. ☭ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite dabbling in philosophy for about eight years now, I began as a Marxist and suffered from the parochialism that is so endemic to the tendency; because of this, I only started getting serious about philosophy as a whole two years ago. In that time, I have read several introductory texts, and I can say without hesitation that 'Does The Center Hold?' is simply the best single-volume introduction to philosophy I've encountered. Palmer has remarkable skill as a writer, managing to be highly engaging, informative, and understandable all at once and in equal measure. This is an opinion that I share with multiple friends with whom I have shared my copy of the book.

Highly recommended for just about anyone!

[Sam Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book explains the basics and history of philosophy fairly well, but I also feel I’m not retaining anything I read. Probably not a good choice to read straight through — needs some exercising so you actually remember what you learned

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd like a copy of this book again. Philosophy made very brief and easy to understand.

[Roger Hao · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very basic introduction to the main branches of philosophy. Not enough details on many topics. Maybe if there wasn't so much space taken up by the cartoons, the author could include more material.

[Readius Maximus · Rating 5 out of 5]

With this book I finished reading 3 intro to Philosophy books and I have to say this one far outshines the others. The first was extremely brief and left you questioning everything. The second was extremely long winded and repetitive and the last two chapter stopped being philosophy book and became preachy.

This book is long but engaging. It is able to set the social and historical context of the Philosopher and explain their thought in a way that makes perfect sense with the subject at hand. IE ontology, epistemology, aesthetics, Political etc.

It seems there is a consensus that Descartes and Plato are the most important philosophers to cover in an intro course.

Even though I had take 3 philosophy courses and read a decent amount this book brought a great deal of insight. That may mean for the true beginner that this book will be a challenge though.

Favorite Points:

Pre-Socratics:

Thales: Everything is water. First naturalistic attempt to find a cause besides the supernatural.

Anaximander of Miletos: Everything is created from a formless unlimited indeterminate substance.

Puthagoras: Everything is number. Leader of mystical cult and correlated music and math and the music of the spheres.

Heraclitus: Everything is movement. “everything changes but change itself”.

Parmenides: Motion is an illusion nothing changes. The world of senses is an illusion.

Views on Religion:

Feuerbach: We are all essentially created good. A bad event happened and we forgot that and so equated our virtues with a being in the sky which now oppress mankind in making him think he is small and insignificant.

Marx: Believed that is an illusion we embrace to help us deal with the very real pain of life. This pain being caused by an oppressive economic system. If the material world was corrected we would see religion fade away. Marriage for Marx was a legalized form of prostitution.

Freud: Believed that religion is an illusion used to protect us from our vulnerability and can keep us from developing a neurosis. But despite that we would be better off if we could grow up without needing the illusion.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really had me at a loss for what to rate it. I really did not like how it puts every philosophy on equal footing, by putting something that works 25% of the time on par with a philosophy that works 77% of the time, but that issue alone could not stop me from liking it. The book was used as a textbook in one of my classes, and even though the teacher of that class was a class-A nutjob, the book actually was a great takeaway from the class. The added comics in the book helped to alleviate some of the stress associated with reading it, and everything is written in a plain-voice structure so that anyone can understand it, which is a real plus. I've already found myself running to it in discussions of philosophy when people ask me questions, so that alone ought to mean it's got some good value to it, and I liked getting a little bit of a teaching about many different philosophers even if the study on them wasn't extensive. Great introduction to Philosophy, just like its stated purpose, and it's a textbook I plan on keeping.

[Wouter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Donald's second book I've read on introductory philosophy and it's just as good as the first book. Some passages and images overlap (not only the subject but even the text itself) which might sound shocking to you but served as a refreshment to me because I'm not that familiar with the prominent characters in the philosophy world introduced here. I now have some basic knowledge on epistemology, ethics, ontology, logic and social philosophy. The word "some" should be emphasized here: it's a thick book but that's largely thanks to the (mostly not really) funny (but welcome) illustrations so don't expect it to go deep. It could also be used as a reference to look up keywords in it's well-indexed appendix.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m really enjoyed this broad introductory book on philosophy. It has silly Comic Sans-esque typeset and stupid little illustrations, but I found it made the book less intimidating. There’s really a basic surface level introduction to numerous topics in philosophy: epistemology, ethics, philosophy of art, political philosophy, materialism, idealism etc. The majority of the text really felt like the author had distilled very tricky concepts and topics down to the level of newb and I liked that! I would have enjoyed having this textbook for an introductory philosophy course.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

My mantra: "Philosophy is a pissing match of old white men." That's what I got out of this textbook, which was awful and provided no clear understanding of what we were studying in an intro Philosophy class.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great intro to philosophy book and a great reference book. A fun easy read.

[Peter McQueeny · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, fun introduction to Western philosophy. Makes things far easier to understand than most college professors do. And the illustrations are frequently hilarious.

[Bharath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro for beginners.

[Sam Kamoona · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best book I read to give intro4into phylosophy. It is informative and funny sometimes.

[Che · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the textbook used in my Intro to Philosophy class at MSSU in 1996-97(?). I read it then and have picked it back up from my shelf to read again.

[Eileen Nestor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and has a lot of different philosophers within the book!!

[Mark Birmingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best survey book I've read. Great summary of topics with surpringly technical, yet accessible depths. Wonderfully funny and pithy illustrations complement to work throughout.

[CR Williams]

I took PHIL 101 as a Sophomore at a crappy JuCo. The text used was nothing but excerpts of original text, WAY over my head.

At my 4-year U, this was the text used (a fact I knew because I worked in the Campus Bookstore). I LOVED flippin through it when I had the chance, but I never bothered to buy it.

There were funny pictures, too! Come ON, PHILOSOPHY is already a tough egg to crack - cartoons help.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good and easy to read. There where a few places where I felt some "theories" where overly simplified or summerized in a way that made me not understand them, but introductory books tend to have that sometimes, only so much you can squeeze in for beginners.
I would recommend this for someone with no background whatsoever on western philosophy.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great way to introduce philosophy to people who get bored easily. There are illustrations by the author that are quite humorous, and the references make up for what is lost in seriousness.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is marvelous for beginners to the study of Western philosophers and theories....from Cartesian Dualism to Existensialism, the book is written (and illustrated! Don't miss these gems!) in such as way that it's easy to comprehend even the most labrynthine arguments. Thanks Padre Mike!

[Peter Neiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction into basic philosophy. It was a great way for me to be reminded of stuff that I went over years ago. I also found the list of Suggested Reading at the end of each chapter to be useful.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so much fun to read!

[Eric McGreevy · Rating 5 out of 5]

For years now, whenever I have needed a quick fix of philosophy I return to this book. Funny, well-written, and insightful it makes difficult philosophy accessible to everyone.

[No46116 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned more than a lot from this book. And it also introduced me to many other good philosophers that I was to read later, e.g.Jean-Paul Sartre.

[Luther Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best overview philosophy book I've yet found, by far. If you're interested in this subject, but just starting out, I would recommend this book.

[Luis Villasenor · Rating 3 out of 5]

An awesome overview of philosophy. A great book to have also for reference and very will written. Illustrations just give the book another extra touch.

[Jonathan]

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