Author Archives: School Philosophy Resources

Something to Prove: philosophy, community of inquiry & creative thinking

Something to Prove is an introduction to philosophy and the practice of community of inquiry (COI). Researched and written specifically for young adults and their teachers, it pokes an exploratory finger into the areas of metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics, political ideology, formal reasoning, ethics, culture, freedom, and more. The book employs contemporary story-telling techniques, informal language, and a fast-paced variety of hypothetical scenarios, all within the familiar framework of a textbook. Something to Prove is an educational resource modelled on the Western Australian Certificate of Education’s Philosophy and Ethics course, and is designed to support teachers and students interested in introductory philosophy concepts, philosophical community of inquiry practices, and creative problem-solving techniques.

Something to Prove Flyer(1)

Philosophy and Ethics – A Resource for Units 2A – 2B

Philosophy and Ethics is a textbook designed to suit the Western Australia curriculum. It acts as an introductory textbook for philosophy students.

This textbook has a fairly broad scope and covers most of the traditional philosophical problems.

The topics covered include: How to do philosophy, personhood, action, critical thinking/reasoning, mind and body, science, people and society, culture, explanation, aesthetics, language.

Each chapter introduces the problems, provides discussion material/activites and discusses the different attempts at resolving the problems.

Philosophy and ethics provides a good framework for learning the key topics within philosophy as well as the grounding for approaching philosophy in a critical and reasoned manner.

A Cross Cultural Introduction to Bioethics

A Cross Cultural Introduction to Bioethics is an introductory text book in bioethics aimed at highschool level students.

Broad topics covered include: Environmental Ethics, Genetics, Medical Ethics, Reproduction Neurosciences and Social Ethics.

Within each of these topics are pages that introduce and explain the issues involved. For example there will be a page introducing vegetarianism and the related philisophical questions.

After each issue introduction there will be follow up questions and exercises.

The book is not exceptionally philisophically rigorous, so serves best as a simple introduction to all things bioethics. This also means that more experiences students may not be able to take much from this textbook.

Zeno and the Tortoise: How to Think Like a Philosopher.

Title: Zeno and the Tortoise: How to Think Like a Philosopher.
Author/s: Fearn, Nicholas.
Material type: Book.
Publisher/date: Atlantic Books (2002).
Format: Paperback (192 pages).
ISBN: ISBN-10: 1903809614, ISBN-13: 978-1903809617
Area and topic: History of philosophy and ideas. Philosophical skills and methodology.
Intended audience/ reading level: General/medium
Purchasing and information: amazon.com
Unique and/or salient feature/s: The aim of ‘Zeno and the Tortoise’ is twofold: 1) To introduce various philosophical tools/methods/approaches; 2) to pin each tool/method/approaches to a particular philosopher that either introduced it or presupposed it in coming to their philosophical positions/s. This approach is premised on the assumption presented by the author, that ‘most enduring contributions of the great philosophers’ are ‘thinking tools, methods and approaches’ rather than ‘theories and systems’(Introduction).
Synopsis and/or additional information: The following information is sourced from the above links (see ‘Purchasing and information’) and the text.

  • ‘Author Nicholas Fearn aims to leave readers with an array of handy instruments at their disposal, whether Ockham’s razor, Hume’s fork, or Nietzsche’s hammer. ‘The object,’ he writes, ‘is to show not merely what the great philosophers thought, but to demonstrate how they thought.’ In addition to supplying readers with the building blocks of philosophical reasoning, Fearn offers a summary history of Western philosophy running from the pre-Socratics through medieval and modern philosophy and up to Derrida. Along the way students will encounter Zeno’s reductio ad absurdum, the Socratic method, Cartesian demons, and a number of other elemental concepts drawn from the last 2,500 years of inquiry’.
  • The various tools/method/approaches are introduced through 25 short chapters. Each chapter introduces a given tool/method/approach in light of a specific philosopher. The chapters are as follows: Thales’s Well, Protagoras and the Pigs, Zeno and the Tortoise, The Socratic Inquisition, Plato’s Cave, Aristotle’s Goals, Lucretius’s Spear, Ockham’s Razor, Machiavelli’s Prince, Bacon’s Chickens, Descartes’ Demon, Hume’s Fork,  Reid’s Common sense, Rousseau’s Contract, Kant’s Spectacles, Bentham’s Calculus, Hegel’s Dialectic, Nietzsche’s Hammer, The Young Wittgenstein’s Mirror, The Older Wittgenstein’s Games, Popper’s Dolls, Ryle’s University, Turing’s Machine, Dawkin’s Meme, Derrida and Deconstruction, Further Reading, Index.
Strengths:  One strong feature of this book is the novel approach it adopts i.e. introducing philosophy as a collection of various tools, methods and skills initiated by or associated with the leading names of the philosophical tradition. Although the book would be helpful as a background resource for teachers, there is ample material here to be mined for classroom activity.
Limitations: One could argue that the main focus on connecting the tool/method/approach with the appropriate philosopher is at the expense of other, possibly more important aspects of the philosopher’s influence and contribution. Also, the book is not designed for the classroom and therefore may require some additional work to make it so.

What Philosophers Think.

Title: What Philosophers Think.
Author/s: Baggini, J. Stangroom, J.
Material type: Book.
Publisher/date: Continuum (2005).
Format: Paperback (256 pages).
ISBN: ISBN-10: 0826484743, ISBN-13: 978-08264847
Area and topic: Core areas/branches/sub-disciplines of philosophy. Key/important philosophical issues/topics/problems.
Intended audience/ reading level: General/accessible to medium.
Purchasing and information
  1. amazon.com
  2. fishpond.co.nz
Unique and/or salient feature/s: ‘What Philosophers Think’ is a collection of interviews (revised and expanded from ‘The Philosopher’s Magazine’) with some of the world’s leading philosophers and scholars. The interviews explore various philosophical problems and other general issues from a philosophical perspective.
Synopsis and/or additional information: The following information is sourced from the above links (see ‘Purchasing and information’) and the text.

  • Topics include: sex, religion, politics, language, consciousness, evil, feminism and art. Through these themes, the reader is also introduced to various wider issues, key topics and subject matter central to philosophy both past and present.
  • The book consists of the following sections: Part I: Darwin’s Legacy; Part II: Science; Part III: Religion; Part IV: Philosophy And Society; Part V: Metaphysics; Part VI: Language.
  • Each section consists of a number of chapters relative to the section theme: Example chapters from ‘Part I’ are: Part I: Darwin’s legacy; Chapter 1) Peter Singer – Darwin and ethics; 2) Janet Radcliffe Richards – Darwin, nature and hubris; 3) Helena Cronin – Evolutionary psychology; 4) Richard Dawkins – Genes and determinism.
  • ‘What Philosopher Think’ is followed by another volume of a similar nature also reviewed on this site: ‘What More Philosophers Think’.
Strengths: Although most of the ideas, arguments and positions discussed here can be found in published works, such works are often quite abstract, dry, difficult understand (i.e. they are usually intended for academics). In contrast, the interview format and the ‘live setting’ of this presentation: a) Brings a certain richness and personal dimension to the process; b) allows the arguments and positions discussed here to be presented in a summary form without the hard to follow detail; c) and does so in an informal ‘non technical’ manner. Furthermore, the two-way dialogue between the interviewer and interviewee is the perfect (and classic) approach and forum for gaining insight into the concrete process of philosophical practice.
Limitations: In some cases, the summaries of the various positions explored can come across as being little more than ‘stated’ conclusions. In other words, support for the various positions discussed here is slightly lacking. It is also possible that the book may not date well. This is because many of the positions and issues being discussed are very ‘current’, may soon be superseded and/or may lose their sense of importance.

What More Philosophers Think.

Title: What More Philosophers Think.
Author/s: Baggini, J. Stangroom, J.
Material type: Book.
Publisher/date: Continuum (2007).
Format: Paper back (208 pages).
ISBN: 0826493009.
Area and topic: Key/important philosophical issues/topics/problems.
Intended audience/ reading level: General/accessible to medium.
Purchasing and information
  1. amazon.com
  2. fishpond.co.nz
Unique and/or salient feature/s: The second book in two volumes, ‘What More Philosophers Think’ is a collection of interviews (revised and expanded from ‘The Philosopher’s Magazine’) with some of the world’s leading philosophers and scholars. The interviews explore various philosophical issues and other issues from a philosophical perspective.
Synopsis and/or additional information: The following information is sourced from the above links (see ‘Purchasing and information’) and the text.

  • Chapters include ‘On multiculturalism; Slavoj Zizek, Anthony Grayling – On philosophy and public understanding; Mary Warnock – On making babies; Philippa Foot – On goodness; The Soho Symposium – On love; Bernard Williams – On truth and truthfulness. Other topics discussed include : terrorism, multiculturalism, artificial intelligence
  • Through such issues and areas, the reader is also introduced to various wider issues, key topics and subject matter central to the enterprise of philosophy both past and present.
Strengths and Limitations: For strengths and limitations, see the first volume of the series, ‘What Philosophers Think’ also reviewed on this site.

Western Philosophy: An Anthology.

Title: Western Philosophy: An Anthology.
Author/s: Cottingham, John.
Material type: Book.
Publisher/date: Wiley-Blackwell. 2nd edition (2007).
Format: Paperback (888 pages).
ISBN: ISBN-10: 1405124784, ISBN-13: 978-1405124782
Area and topic: History of philosophy and ideas. Core branches/sub-disciplines of philosophy.
Intended audience/ reading level: Tertiary/lower and upper.
Purchasing and information: 1) amazon.com 2) fishpond.co.nz
Unique and/or salient feature/s: ‘Western Philosophy: An Anthology’ is a large volume that includes all the main branches and issues of Western philosophy. All of the issues and areas covered are explored through a variety of classic and significant readings from the Western philosophical tradition.
Synopsis and/or additional information: The following information is sourced from the above links (see ‘Purchasing and information’) and the text.

  • ‘Western Philosophy: An Anthology’, provides the most comprehensive and authoritative survey of the Western philosophical tradition from ancient Greece to the leading philosophers of today. In 144 substantial and carefully chosen extracts [which include many of the most classic and important passages and readings of the Western philosophical canon], the volume covers …  theory of knowledge and metaphysics, philosophy of mind, religion and science, moral philosophy (theoretical and applied), political theory and aesthetics. Chronologically and thematically arranged, the readings are introduced and linked together by a lucid philosophical commentary which guides the reader through the key arguments’.
  • ‘The selections have been carefully chosen from a broad range of writers that includes Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Mill, Nietzsche, Strawson, Popper, Rawls, and Tolstoy.’ The texts have been updated where the editor felt the language to be archaic or unclear, and the selections appropriately illustrate the breadth and depth of each category of philosophical activity. At the end of the book are brief biographies of each philosopher excerpted’.
  • The table of contents is not presented here on the grounds that it is so large it would literally take up three full A4 size pages. It is however safe to say that writings from practically ‘every’ major important philosopher in the Western tradition since the time of Plato is included within the pages of this volume. In addition to this, many classic authors and readings that stand at the periphery of the philosophical tradition are included – notably, many of the ‘big names’ of western literature, the sciences and humanities.
Strengths: Practically all the influential and significant philosophers of the Western philosophical tradition are included within ‘Western Philosophy: An Anthology’. The editors have done a fine job selecting the appropriate passages from the original texts in line with the criteria of importance, relevance and readability, and have added helpful information and guidance for each of the readings. Furthermore, the entire discipline of Western philosophy is included in the one volume. This contrasts with other books and series reviewed on this site that dedicate entire volumes of classic and primary reading to one era, author or branch/subject of philosophy.
Limitations: As a book on the history of philosophy and ideas, the readings are selected for their significance and influence on the development of Western philosophy and not as representations of positions and arguments that are currently held. Furthermore, the length of the book and the inclusion of such a large selection of readings may well be more that is needed for teaching philosophy at secondary school level.

Very Short Introductions (series).

Title: Very Short Introductions (series) .
Material type: Book.
Publisher/date: Oxford University Press.
Format: Paperback (Between 130-180 pages.)
Area and topic: General series: Sciences/ Arts, Humanities. Philosophy books: History of philosophy and ideas. Core areas/ branches/ sub-disciplines of philosophy.
Intended audience/ reading level: General/accessible.
Purchasing and information:
  1. http://www.oup.co.uk/general/vsi/about.
  2. amazon.com.
  3. fishpond.co.nz
Unique and/or salient feature/s: Each book in the ‘Very Short Introductions’ series (those concerned with philosophical matters) surveys a specific philosophical topic/issue/area. As the series title indicates, the aim is to offer a ‘very short’ and tight overview of the subject in question.
Synopsis and/or additional information: The following information is sourced from the above links (see ‘Purchasing and information’) and the text.

  • ‘Each book in the series offers a concise yet cogent introduction to a particular subject. Written by acknowledged experts, most books are between 100–150 pages and contain suggestions for further reading. Authors often present personal viewpoints, but each introduction is intended to be balanced and complete. Veritably ‘short and to the point’, they are absolutely ideal for anyone who needs an authoritative and accessible entry to a new subject.’
  • The series covers a wide and varied range of subject matter outside of philosophy. Examples include: ‘A Very Short Introduction to …The Koran; Psychology; Archaeology; the Tutors, Ghandi, Druids, The blues, Forensic Science … and so forth. The series does however offer and very wide range of topics in philosophy.
  • The philosophy titles are ‘A Very Short Introduction to – Heidegger, Ancient Philosophy, Socrates, Marx, Logic, Descartes, Machiavelli, Hume, Ayer, Nietzsche, Augustine, Continental Philosophy, Freud, Wittgenstein, Indian Philosophy, Rousseau, Hegel, Kant, Philosophy, Barthes, Kierkegaard, Russell, Schopenhauer, Hobbes, Philosophy of Science, Spinoza, Post-Structuralism, Plato, Ethics, Locke, Political Philosophy, Atheism, Pre-Socratic Philosophy, Freewill, Medical Ethics, Consciousness, Foucault, Habermas, Existentialism, The Meaning of Life, Thomas Aquinas, German Philosophy, Logic, Rousseau, Hobbes,.
  • In addition, there are titles that are not strictly philosophy but may well be of philosophical interest: E.g. Modernism, Feminism, Ideology, Human Rights, Buddhist Ethics, Post Modernism, Romanticism … and a host others.
Strengths: The series offers a large and wide variety of philosophy titles with regards to both of subject matter and specific philosophers. The most obvious strength with this series is that the books are short in length yet generally well written and relatively comprehensive for their length. Many of the books in the series are of a level that may be read by high-school students in their final years.
Limitations: Because the books are short and compact, the authors have allowed themselves little room for reflection, exploration, or development of the themes and issues being discussed. The point being that the books do not readily lend themselves to being resources for active philosophical engagement. Put simply, they are ‘definitely not’ text books.

Understanding Movements in Modern Thought (series).

Title: Understanding Movements in Modern Thought (series).
Editor/s: Reynolds, Jack.
Material type: Book.
Publisher/date: Mcgill-Queens University Press.
Format: Paperback (Between 150-250 pages).
Area and topic: History of philosophy and ideas.
Intended audience/ reading level Tertiary/lower.
Purchasing and information:
  1. mqup.mcgill.ca/book_list.php?series=64&thumbnails
  2. amazon.com
  3. fishpond.co.nz
Unique and/or salient feature/s: Written for undergraduates meeting the subject for the first time, ‘Understanding Movements in Modern Thought’ is a series that focuses exclusively on the most important schools of thought, traditions and movements in Western philosophy and the history of ideas from the beginning of the modern era. Attention is paid to why these specific traditions/movements arose ‘there and then’, the problems and issues they inherited and responded to, their influence on subsequent movements and traditions, and their legacy as it stands today.
Synopsis and/or additional information: The following information is sourced from the above links (see ‘Purchasing and information’) and the text.

  • Each volume in the series introduces central themes and important features of a particular philosophical movement or tradition and explores how they deal with often long standing philosophical issues and problems. The nature, salience and development of each movement/tradition is explored in line with the various philosophers associated with the movement/ tradition in question. Attention is paid here to both the commonalities that these philosophers share (i.e. those commonalities that identify them as belonging to the same movement/tradition) and the differences between them. In addition, each movements/traditions is situated within the wider philosophical context.
  • All books are written by contemporary philosophers, one author per book. The style and arrangement of chapters differs from book to book, although they tend to follow fairly conservative structures in line with the way the movement in question is often presented and or studied. For example, the title ‘Introduction to Naturalism’ favours an ‘issues’ approach; the title ‘Post-structuralism’ heads its chapters under the names of various philosophers; ‘Existentialism’ combines both approaches.
  • Titles are ‘Understanding … Nietzscheanism; Environmental Philosophy; Feminism; Post colonialism; Psychoanalysis; Hegelianism; Utilitarianism; Hermeneutics; Empiricism; Phenomenology; Existentialism; Virtue Ethics; Post-structuralism; Rationalism; German Idealism; Naturalism.
  • Example title: ‘Understanding Environmental Philosophy’ presents a comprehensive, critical analysis of contemporary philosophical approaches to current ecological concerns … Central ideas and concepts about environmental value, individual wellbeing, ecological holism and the metaphysics of nature set the stage for a discussion of how to establish moral rules and priorities, and whether it is possible to transcend human-centred views of the world. The reader is also helped with an annotated guide to further reading, questions for discussion and revision as well as boxed studies highlighting key concepts and theoretical material’.
Strengths: Most introductions to philosophy focus either exclusively on particular philosophers or on key themes and cores subjects/branches. ‘Understanding Movements in Modern Thought’ introduces philosophy in terms of various movements – which in itself is quite unique, yet in ways that capture some of the strengths of these more ‘usual’ approaches. Notably, by focusing on specific movements and traditions, the reader is introduced to perennial and enduring philosophical themes, issues and problems, but with attention to how they are represented within specific periods and places.
Limitations: Although the series may make for some interesting and informative reading, the content is either not obviously relevant to secondary school taught philosophy or is too detailed for this level of philosophy. Furthermore, although the books in the series are intended as introductions, they are not intended for the general reader as such. In other words, some of the books are not really ‘easy reads’.