The twentieth century has witnessed the blossoming of Western culture: new technology; communications and transportation systems; social, political, educational, agricultural, and medical advances. But with these changes have come the strains and tensions of conflicting interests, desires, and values within the community. John Dewey, one of America's most prolific writers of popular philosophy, believed that humankind could keep a firm hold on its destiny only if the critical intelligence of scientific method and its democratic counterpart were emphasized and promoted. Freedom of inquiry,...

Ever since humankind raised its head toward the heavens in search of universal understanding and spiritual fulfillment, wars, pogroms, persecution, prejudice, and contempt have been the means of resolving the many and varied disagreements that have arisen over matters religious.
In his Letter Concerning Toleration, Locke offers a compelling plea for freedom of conscience and religious expression. He outlines the limits of social and political incursion into the realm of personal belief or non-belief, discusses the dangers of mixing church and state, and strikes hard at those who would use...

Like many cultures then and now, the early Greeks pondered the nature of the soul. Originally conceived as a kind of ghost, surviving in a bloodless existence after the death of the body, the soul was defined by later philosophers - notably the Pythagoreans and Plato - as an immaterial divine being temporarily "imprisoned" in the body. True knowledge was gained not through the senses but from contemplation of external Ideas that were, like the soul itself, immaterial and immortal.
A reformulation as well as a criticism of earlier thinkers, Aristotle's De Anima describes soul and body as...

"The whole function of philosophy ought to be to find out what definite difference it will make to you and to me, at definite instances in our life, if this world-formula or that world-formula be the true one."
With these words, William James, one of the great minds of American philosophy, captures the power of pragmatism, a theory first developed by Charles S. Peirce. Pragmatism explores the various theories of truth, meaning, and reality to discover their "cash value" when implemented. Exactly what happens to our understanding of the world when this or that perspective is adopted? Most...

John Dewey, one of America's greatest popular philosophers and educators, emphasizes the importance of critical thinking and the vital role education should play.
In this progressive work, written more than 80 years ago, Dewey, recognizing that we are born with the ability to think, argues that the educator's fundamental role is to train us to think well. At a time when America is lamenting the lack of solid training in the sciences at the elementary and secondary levels, Dewey's enthusiastic correlation between the scientific mind and the natural attitude of childhoodmarked by curiosity,...

"Nothing is more curiously enquired after . . . than the causes of every phenomenon. . . . We] push on our enquiries, till we arrive at the original and ultimate principle. . . . This is our aim in all our studies and reflections."

These words sum up David Hume's plan: To discover the fundamental principles at work in the nature and extent of human knowledge, and in so doing to gain a clearer understanding of our perception, ideas (e.g. of cause and effect), impressions, beliefs, passions, virtues, and vices. Hume's piercing critique and relentless analysis make this truly one of the...

The three years covered by this anthology represent the only time in Mikhail Bakunin's life when he was able to concentrate on his work and sustain a consistent output of speeches and writings. Only one of these texts has appeared before in an unabridged English translation. All dating from the period of Bakunin's propaganda on behalf of the First International, they thus belong to a period central to Bakunin's anarchism and mark the height of his influence during his lifetime.

Robert M. Cutler's introduction traces the development of selected themes in Bakunin's pre-anarchist...

Leibniz (1646 - 1716) was a true polymath and has been called the most comprehensive thinker since Aristotle. In these two great works by the founder of modern German speculative philosophy, the reader is introduced to Leibniz's metaphysics, including his conception of physical substance, the motion and resistance of bodies, and the role of the divine within the dynamic universe.

The art of rhetoric, or persuasive public speaking, was brought to perfection in classical Athens. During the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E., rhetoric came under the scrutiny of the philosophers. While Plato dismissed public speaking as mere hackwork devoid of a rational basis, Aristotle defended it as a true art.
In his great work, Treatise on Rhetoric, which laid the foundations of philosophical rhetoric, Aristotle deals at length with the processes of argument and with style, including rhythm and meter. For Aristotle, rhetoric is a brand of the art of reasoning; its function he...

This could be the most controversial book yet in the Contemporary Issues Series. Its balanced approach could risk the wrath of advocates and critics alike, offering powerful essays on four key issues: the causes of homosexuality, disputes about the role the courts should play, gays and the military, and religious attitudes toward homosexuality.