Stan Baronett - Journey Into Philosophy: An Introduction with Classic and Contemporary Readings

The overriding rationale behind this book is a desire to enrich the lives of college students by introducing them to the practice of philosophical thought in an accessible and engaging manner. The text has over one hundred classical and contemporary readings that facilitate studying each philosophical issue from a variety of perspectives, giving instructors the opportunity to choose a set of readings that matches the individual needs of each class. It includes many selections by philosophers whose works are often ignored or underrepresented in other introductory texts. The initial reading, The Role of Philosophy, is a relevant, clear, and absorbing introduction to the discipline of philosophy. It uses everyday life situations to give students a solid foothold before they journey into specific philosophical topics. In addition, every section of the book has its own special introduction that connects each topic to students personal lives. The surrounding narrative is designed to be conversational and comprehensible. Special features include a section on the role of logic and a guide to writing a philosophy paper, two useful tools for approaching and analyzing philosophical writing for students who are new to philosophy. The book is accompanied by a companion website (www.routledge.com/cw/Baronett), with many helpful features, for students and instructors.

Stan Baronett is also the author of Logic, 3rd Edition (2015).

This looks like an exciting new text for beginning Philosophy students. Exciting because it includes in its readings some unique selections from philosophers who rarely make it into these texts but who offer startling insights that fill in the evolving picture of how philosophy started then and has developed up to now. A very nice mixture of these philosophers are women whom we know were significant but who have been given short shrift by traditional philosophy. This is also a very meaty book with lots of selections to choose from.

William S. Jamison, University of Alaska Anchorage, USA

I appreciate the care and thoughtfulness with which Baronett has put together the introductions. They do a lot more, in my opinion, to engage the student-reader than the introductions that I find in other similar textbooks, in which they tend to be written with jargons and abstruse terms, which Barnett avoids. Overall, Journey into Philosophy would work exceptionally well, in my opinion, for philosophy departments in which the introductory course is also a history of philosophy course. Having said that, I imagine there could very well be instructors who might find the book useful also for a problems-based introductory course.

Seung-Kee Lee, Drew University, USA

I like this book for use in an introductory philosophy course. It is engaging, accessible, and contains an appropriate selection of readings that nicely integrate to give students a comprehensive introduction to basic philosophical problems. The readings address key topics such as knowledge, existence, God, mind/body, consciousness, free will and determinism, ethics, politics, aesthetics, etc. Within each topic, the selected readings nicely balance classic and contemporary texts.

Corinne Bloch-Mullins, Marquette University

Stan Baronett

First published 2017
by Routledge
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2017 Taylor & Francis

The right of Stan Baronett to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Baronett, Stan, editor.

Title: Journey into philosophy : an introduction with classic and contemporary readings / [edited by] Stan Baronett.

Description: 1 [edition]. | New York : Routledge-Taylor & Francis, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016008114 | ISBN 9781138936478 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138936485 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Philosophy.

Classification: LCC BD21 .J69 2016 | DDC 100dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016008114

ISBN: 978-1-138-93647-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-93648-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-67678-4 (ebk)

Typeset in Joanna and Bell Gothic
by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Visit the companion website: www.routledge.com/cw/Baronett