内容简介

Thinking it Through is a thorough, vividly written introduction to contemporary philosophy and some of the most crucial questions of human existence, including the nature of mind and knowledge, the status of moral claims, the existence of God, the role of science, and the mysteries of language. Noted philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah shows us what it means to "do" philosophy in our time and why it should matter to anyone who wishes to live a more thoughtful life. Opposing the common misconceptions that being a philosopher means espousing a set of philosophical beliefs--or being a follower of a particular thinker--Appiah argues that "the result of philosophical exploration is not the end of inquiry in a settled opinion, but a mind resting more comfortably among many possibilities, or else the reframing of the question, and a new inquiry."

Ideal for introductory philosophy courses, Thinking It Through is organized around eight central topics--mind, knowledge, language, science, morality, politics, law, and metaphysics. It traces how philosophers in the past have considered each subject (how Hobbes, Wittgenstein, and Frege, for example, approached the problem of language) and then explores some of the major questions that still engage philosophers today. More importantly, Appiah not only explains what philosophers have thought but how they think, giving students examples that they can use in their own attempts to navigate the complex issues confronting any reflective person in the twenty-first century. Filled with concrete examples of how philosophers work, Thinking it Through guides students through the process of philosophical reflection and enlarges their understanding of the central questions of human life.

作者简介

夸梅·安东尼·阿皮亚（Kwame Anthony Appiah），在剑桥大学获得哲学博士学位，曾任教于康奈尔大学、哈佛大学、耶鲁大学、普林斯顿大学，现为纽约大学哲学教授。他还是文化理论家和小说家，研究领域包括政治和道德理论、语言与思想的哲学、非洲知识史等。主要著作有《荣誉法则：道德革命是如何发生的》、《世界主义：陌生人世界里的道德规范》、《在我父亲的房子里：文化哲学里的非洲》、《文化政治学，伦理政治学》、《认同伦理学》等。