Ancient thinkers provided the foundations of the philosophical process, examining the universe's purpose, as well as humankind's place within it. Ancient and Hellenistic Thought covers pre-Socratic, Classical, and Hellenistic philosophers and their theories, illuminating some of the first and most enduring answers given about the nature of the world and those who live in it. It begins by exploring the questions posed by the pre-Socratics, the pioneers of scientific investigation: How did the world come into being? What is the world made of? Why is the world always changing? The Classical and...

Medieval and Modern Philosophy covers the philosophical ideas of the medieval age as well as the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Continental Rationalists. Through thoughtful examinations of key philosophers and their theories, readers will learn about the exploration of humankind's relationship with God, the rise of science as an influence in philosophical thought, and the universal debate of Faith versus Reason.

Framing the evolution of post-Enlightenment philosophy, Contemporary Thought begins with a discussion of the British Empiricists and Kant's analysis of the capacity of reason. Biographies and examinations of the Idealists, Materialists, Utilitarians, Individualists, Analytics, Phenomenologists, and Existentialists reveal how philosophers from each of these schools of thought sought to explain the increasingly more secular and industrialized world of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. These thinkers' conclusions prove that modern-day philosophy has continued to deepen and expand human...