Philosophy: The Power of Ideas

by Brooke Noel Moore

One of the most widely adopted texts in the field, Philosophy: The Power of Ideas offers a topical introduction to philosophy within an overarching historical framework. The goal of the authors is to make philosophy understandable while not oversimplifying the material, showing that philosophy contains powerful ideas that affect the lives of real people.

Now it its tenth edition Philosophy: The Power of Ideas offers a comprehensive overview of Western Philosophy Eastern Influences Feminist Philosophy and Postcolonial thought. Known for its engaging conversational writing style each chapter provides clear introductions to even the most difficult philosophical concepts and includes selected primary readings from some of the most important thinkers of all time. Throughout the book the authors link philosophical ideas to historical developments that affect the lives of everyday people.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, Politics, School, Christianity

955 pages, ebook

First published March 31, 1990

Reviews

[Ryan Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic summarized introduction to philosophical texts. While this textbook doesn't go into as much depth as "The Great Conversation" it still serves as a solid bare-bones introduction to many of the most popular philosophical leaders and movements.

[Sahib Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for students and teachers; it even has primary readings.

[Joshua Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Power of Ideas was a well written textbook with a lot of philosophical examples, public figures and unfamiliar vocabulary. The book makes you feel more studious if anything; while reading through the book for my philosophy course there was many highlighted boxes with famous philosophers and their ideas which helped me understand what I was reading a little better. The book guides you through philosophy in a chronological order and points out the most significant points. With a very accessible and easy index section the book is excellent to use for studying or researching.

Overall, I did like the book because it helped me understand many famous philosophers, it helped me understand theories formed around the world, and also helped me write a good research paper. I recommend this book to anyone interested in someday pursuing a career in philosophy, or someone who needs to do a little research on philosophy in the past and present, because this textbook has a lot of information to offer.

[Gene · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, so I didn't really read the whole thing....just the parts required for class. Overall I figured out I'm probably not that philisophical of guy...myabe I just got tired of hearing God isn't real.

[Lauren Langford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative but ordinary and also a bit repetitive. These authors would probably do a great job writing a more focused book regarding specific philosophers and specific big ideas rather than such a broad look at all of the philosophers for hundreds and hundreds of years.

[Sherri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like that it included important excerpts from other philosophy writings at the end of certain chapters

[JR Snow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Suuuuuuuck.

[Жаагий Б. · Rating 4 out of 5]

,,

[Noe]

awesome refresher to ground science and western civilization beliefs

[Margaret Carpenter]

Read for class. Fine as far as textbooks go, but it's written in a weird sometimes-casual-sometimes-formal tone with randomly inserted personal anecdotes from the authors' lives, something which I personally found a little disconcerting.