Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction Read online

  Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction

  VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS are for anyone wanting a stimulating and accessible way into a new subject. They are written by experts, and have been translated into more than 45 different languages.

   The series began in 1995, and now covers a wide variety of topics in every discipline. The VSI library currently contains over 650 volumes—a Very Short Introduction to everything from Psychology and Philosophy of Science to American History and Relativity—and continues to grow in every subject area.

  Very Short Introductions available now:

  ABOLITIONISM Richard S. Newman

  THE ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS Charles L. Cohen

  ACCOUNTING Christopher Nobes

  ADAM SMITH Christopher J. Berry

  ADOLESCENCE Peter K. Smith

  ADVERTISING Winston Fletcher

  AERIAL WARFARE Frank Ledwidge

  AESTHETICS Bence Nanay

  AFRICAN AMERICAN RELIGION Eddie S. Glaude Jr

  AFRICAN HISTORY John Parker and Richard Rathbone

  AFRICAN POLITICS Ian Taylor

  AFRICAN RELIGIONS Jacob K. Olupona

  AGEING Nancy A. Pachana

  AGNOSTICISM Robin Le Poidevin

  AGRICULTURE Paul Brassley and Richard Soffe

  ALBERT CAMUS Oliver Gloag

  ALEXANDER THE GREAT Hugh Bowden

  ALGEBRA Peter M. Higgins

  AMERICAN BUSINESS HISTORY Walter A. Friedman

  AMERICAN CULTURAL HISTORY Eric Avila

  AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS Andrew Preston

  AMERICAN HISTORY Paul S. Boyer

  AMERICAN IMMIGRATION David A. Gerber

  AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY G. Edward White

  AMERICAN NAVAL HISTORY Craig L. Symonds

  AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY Donald Critchlow

  AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS L. Sandy Maisel

  AMERICAN POLITICS Richard M. Valelly

  THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY Charles O. Jones

  THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Robert J. Allison

  AMERICAN SLAVERY Heather Andrea Williams

  THE AMERICAN WEST Stephen Aron

  AMERICAN WOMEN’S HISTORY Susan Ware

  ANAESTHESIA Aidan O’Donnell

  ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY Michael Beaney

  ANARCHISM Colin Ward

  ANCIENT ASSYRIA Karen Radner

  ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw

  ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE Christina Riggs

  ANCIENT GREECE Paul Cartledge

  THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Amanda H. Podany

  ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Julia Annas

  ANCIENT WARFARE Harry Sidebottom

  ANGELS David Albert Jones

  ANGLICANISM Mark Chapman

  THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE John Blair

  ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR Tristram D. Wyatt

  THE ANIMAL KINGDOM Peter Holland

  ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia

  THE ANTARCTIC Klaus Dodds

  ANTHROPOCENE Erle C. Ellis

  ANTISEMITISM Steven Beller

  ANXIETY Daniel Freeman and Jason Freeman

  THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS Paul Foster

  APPLIED MATHEMATICS Alain Goriely

  ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn

  ARCHITECTURE Andrew Ballantyne

  ARISTOCRACY William Doyle

  ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes

  ART HISTORY Dana Arnold

  ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Margaret A. Boden

  ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY Madeline Y. Hsu

  ASTROBIOLOGY David C. Catling

  ASTROPHYSICS James Binney

  ATHEISM Julian Baggini

  THE ATMOSPHERE Paul I. Palmer

  AUGUSTINE Henry Chadwick

  AUSTRALIA Kenneth Morgan

  AUTISM Uta Frith

  AUTOBIOGRAPHY Laura Marcus

  THE AVANT GARDE David Cottington

  THE AZTECS Davíd Carrasco

  BABYLONIA Trevor Bryce

  BACTERIA Sebastian G. B. Amyes

  BANKING John Goddard and John O. S. Wilson

  BARTHES Jonathan Culler

  THE BEATS David Sterritt

  BEAUTY Roger Scruton

  BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS Michelle Baddeley

  BESTSELLERS John Sutherland

  THE BIBLE John Riches

  BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY Eric H. Cline

  BIG DATA Dawn E. Holmes

  BIOGEOGRAPHY Mark V. Lomolino

  BIOGRAPHY Hermione Lee

  BIOMETRICS Michael Fairhurst

  BLACK HOLES Katherine Blundell

  BLOOD Chris Cooper

  THE BLUES Elijah Wald

  THE BODY Chris Shilling

  THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER Brian Cummings

  THE BOOK OF MORMON Terryl Givens

  BORDERS Alexander C. Diener and Joshua Hagen

  THE BRAIN Michael O’Shea

  BRANDING Robert Jones

  THE BRICS Andrew F. Cooper

  THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION Martin Loughlin

  THE BRITISH EMPIRE Ashley Jackson

  BRITISH POLITICS Tony Wright

  BUDDHA Michael Carrithers

  BUDDHISM Damien Keown

  BUDDHIST ETHICS Damien Keown

  BYZANTIUM Peter Sarris

  C. S. LEWIS James Como

  CALVINISM Jon Balserak

  CANADA Donald Wright

  CANCER Nicholas James

  CAPITALISM James Fulcher

  CATHOLICISM Gerald O’Collins

  CAUSATION Stephen Mumford and Rani Lill Anjum

  THE CELL Terence Allen and Graham Cowling

  THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe

  CHAOS Leonard Smith

  CHARLES DICKENS Jenny Hartley

  CHEMISTRY Peter Atkins

  CHILD PSYCHOLOGY Usha Goswami

  CHILDREN’S LITERATURE Kimberley Reynolds

  CHINESE LITERATURE Sabina Knight

  CHOICE THEORY Michael Allingham

  CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson

  CHRISTIAN ETHICS D. Stephen Long

  CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead

  CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS Russell Foster and Leon Kreitzman

  CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy

  CIVIL ENGINEERING David Muir Wood

  CLASSICAL LITERATURE William Allan

  CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY Helen Morales

  CLASSICS Mary Beard and John Henderson

  CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard

  CLIMATE Mark Maslin

  CLIMATE CHANGE Mark Maslin

  CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Susan Llewelyn and Katie Aafjes-van Doorn

  COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE Richard Passingham

  THE COLD WAR Robert McMahon

  COLONIAL AMERICA Alan Taylor

  COLONIAL LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE Rolena Adorno

  COMBINATORICS Robin Wilson

  COMEDY Matthew Bevis

  COMMUNISM Leslie Holmes

  COMPARATIVE LITERATURE Ben Hutchinson

  COMPLEXITY John H. Holland

  THE COMPUTER Darrel Ince

  COMPUTER SCIENCE Subrata Dasgupta

  CONCENTRATION CAMPS Dan Stone

  CONFUCIANISM Daniel K. Gardner

  THE CONQUISTADORS Matthew Restall and Felipe Fernández-Armesto

  CONSCIENCE Paul Strohm

  CONSCIOUSNESS Susan Blackmore

  CONTEMPORARY ART Julian Stallabrass

  CONTEMPORARY FICTION Robert Eaglestone

  CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY Simon Critchley

  COPERNICUS Owen Gingerich

  CORAL REEFS Charles Sheppard

  CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Jeremy Moon

  CORRUPTION Leslie Holmes

  COSMOLOGY Peter Coles

  COUNTRY MUSIC Richard Ca
rlin

  CRIME FICTION Richard Bradford

  CRIMINAL JUSTICE Julian V. Roberts

  CRIMINOLOGY Tim Newburn

  CRITICAL THEORY Stephen Eric Bronner

  THE CRUSADES Christopher Tyerman

  CRYPTOGRAPHY Fred Piper and Sean Murphy

  CRYSTALLOGRAPHY A. M. Glazer

  THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION Richard Curt Kraus

  DADA AND SURREALISM David Hopkins

  DANTE Peter Hainsworth and David Robey

  DARWIN Jonathan Howard

  THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Timothy H. Lim

  DECADENCE David Weir

  DECOLONIZATION Dane Kennedy

  DEMENTIA Kathleen Taylor

  DEMOCRACY Bernard Crick

  DEMOGRAPHY Sarah Harper

  DEPRESSION Jan Scott and Mary Jane Tacchi

  DERRIDA Simon Glendinning

  DESCARTES Tom Sorell

  DESERTS Nick Middleton

  DESIGN John Heskett

  DEVELOPMENT Ian Goldin

  DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY Lewis Wolpert

  THE DEVIL Darren Oldridge

  DIASPORA Kevin Kenny

  DICTIONARIES Lynda Mugglestone

  DINOSAURS David Norman

  DIPLOMACY Joseph M. Siracusa

  DOCUMENTARY FILM Patricia Aufderheide

  DREAMING J. Allan Hobson

  DRUGS Les Iversen

  DRUIDS Barry Cunliffe

  DYNASTY Jeroen Duindam

  DYSLEXIA Margaret J. Snowling

  EARLY MUSIC Thomas Forrest Kelly

  THE EARTH Martin Redfern

  EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE Tim Lenton

  ECOLOGY Jaboury Ghazoul

  ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta

  EDUCATION Gary Thomas

  EGYPTIAN MYTH Geraldine Pinch

  EIGHTEENTH‑CENTURY BRITAIN Paul Langford

  THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball

  ÉMILE ZOLA Brian Nelson

  EMOTION Dylan Evans

  EMPIRE Stephen Howe

  ENERGY SYSTEMS Nick Jenkins

  ENGELS Terrell Carver

  ENGINEERING David Blockley

  THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Simon Horobin

  ENGLISH LITERATURE Jonathan Bate

  THE ENLIGHTENMENT John Robertson

  ENTREPRENEURSHIP Paul Westhead and Mike Wright

  ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS Stephen Smith

  ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS Robin Attfield

  ENVIRONMENTAL LAW Elizabeth Fisher

  ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS Andrew Dobson

  EPICUREANISM Catherine Wilson

  EPIDEMIOLOGY Rodolfo Saracci

  ETHICS Simon Blackburn

  ETHNOMUSICOLOGY Timothy Rice

  THE ETRUSCANS Christopher Smith

  EUGENICS Philippa Levine

  THE EUROPEAN UNION Simon Usherwood and John Pinder

  EUROPEAN UNION LAW Anthony Arnull

  EVOLUTION Brian and Deborah Charlesworth

  EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn

  EXPLORATION Stewart A. Weaver

  EXTINCTION Paul B. Wignall

  THE EYE Michael Land

  FAIRY TALE Marina Warner

  FAMILY LAW Jonathan Herring

  FASCISM Kevin Passmore

  FASHION Rebecca Arnold

  FEDERALISM Mark J. Rozell and Clyde Wilcox

  FEMINISM Margaret Walters

  FILM Michael Wood

  FILM MUSIC Kathryn Kalinak

  FILM NOIR James Naremore

  FIRE Andrew C. Scott

  THE FIRST WORLD WAR Michael Howard

  FOLK MUSIC Mark Slobin

  FOOD John Krebs

  FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY David Canter

  FORENSIC SCIENCE Jim Fraser

  FORESTS Jaboury Ghazoul

  FOSSILS Keith Thomson

  FOUCAULT Gary Gutting

  THE FOUNDING FATHERS R. B. Bernstein

  FRACTALS Kenneth Falconer

  FREE SPEECH Nigel Warburton

  FREE WILL Thomas Pink

  FREEMASONRY Andreas Önnerfors

  FRENCH LITERATURE John D. Lyons

  FRENCH PHILOSOPHY Stephen Gaukroger and Knox Peden

  THE FRENCH REVOLUTION William Doyle

  FREUD Anthony Storr

  FUNDAMENTALISM Malise Ruthven

  FUNGI Nicholas P. Money

  THE FUTURE Jennifer M. Gidley

  GALAXIES John Gribbin

  GALILEO Stillman Drake

  GAME THEORY Ken Binmore

  GANDHI Bhikhu Parekh

  GARDEN HISTORY Gordon Campbell

  GENES Jonathan Slack

  GENIUS Andrew Robinson

  GENOMICS John Archibald

  GEOFFREY CHAUCER David Wallace

  GEOGRAPHY John Matthews and David Herbert

  GEOLOGY Jan Zalasiewicz

  GEOPHYSICS William Lowrie

  GEOPOLITICS Klaus Dodds

  GEORGE BERNARD SHAW Christopher Wixson

  GERMAN LITERATURE Nicholas Boyle

  GERMAN PHILOSOPHY Andrew Bowie

  THE GHETTO Bryan Cheyette

  GLACIATION David J. A. Evans

  GLOBAL CATASTROPHES Bill McGuire

  GLOBAL ECONOMIC HISTORY Robert C. Allen

  GLOBALIZATION Manfred Steger

  GOD John Bowker

  GOETHE Ritchie Robertson

  THE GOTHIC Nick Groom

  GOVERNANCE Mark Bevir

  GRAVITY Timothy Clifton

  THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE NEW DEAL Eric Rauchway

  HABERMAS James Gordon Finlayson

  THE HABSBURG EMPIRE Martyn Rady

  HAPPINESS Daniel M. Haybron

  THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE Cheryl A. Wall

  THE HEBREW BIBLE AS LITERATURE Tod Linafelt

  HEGEL Peter Singer

  HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood

  THE HELLENISTIC AGE Peter Thonemann

  HEREDITY John Waller

  HERMENEUTICS Jens Zimmermann

  HERODOTUS Jennifer T. Roberts

  HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson

  HINDUISM Kim Knott

  HISTORY John H. Arnold

  THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY Michael Hoskin

  THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY William H. Brock

  THE HISTORY OF CHILDHOOD James Marten

  THE HISTORY OF CINEMA Geoffrey Nowell-Smith

  THE HISTORY OF LIFE Michael Benton

  THE HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS Jacqueline Stedall

  THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE William Bynum

  THE HISTORY OF PHYSICS J. L. Heilbron

  THE HISTORY OF TIME Leofranc Holford‑Strevens

  HIV AND AIDS Alan Whiteside

  HOBBES Richard Tuck

  HOLLYWOOD Peter Decherney

  THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE Joachim Whaley

  HOME Michael Allen Fox

  HOMER Barbara Graziosi

  HORMONES Martin Luck

  HUMAN ANATOMY Leslie Klenerman

  HUMAN EVOLUTION Bernard Wood

  HUMAN RIGHTS Andrew Clapham

  HUMANISM Stephen Law

  HUME A. J. Ayer

  HUMOUR Noël Carroll

  THE ICE AGE Jamie Woodward

  IDENTITY Florian Coulmas

  IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden

  THE IMMUNE SYSTEM Paul Klenerman

  INDIAN CINEMA Ashish Rajadhyaksha

  INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Sue Hamilton

  THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Robert C. Allen

  INFECTIOUS DISEASE Marta L. Wayne and Benjamin M. Bolker

  INFINITY Ian Stewart

  INFORMATION Luciano Floridi

  INNOVATION Mark Dodgson and David Gann

  INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Siva Vaidhyanathan

  INTELLIGENCE Ian J. Deary

  INTERNATIONAL LAW Vaughan Lowe

  INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION Khalid Koser

  INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Christian Reus-Smit

  INTERNATIONAL SECURITY Christopher S. Browning

  IRAN Ali M. Ansari

  ISLAM Malise Ruthven

  ISLAMIC HISTORY Adam Silverstein

  ISOTOPES Rob Ellam

 
ITALIAN LITERATURE Peter Hainsworth and David Robey

  JESUS Richard Bauckham

  JEWISH HISTORY David N. Myers

  JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves

  JUDAISM Norman Solomon

  JUNG Anthony Stevens

  KABBALAH Joseph Dan

  KAFKA Ritchie Robertson

  KANT Roger Scruton

  KEYNES Robert Skidelsky

  KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner

  KNOWLEDGE Jennifer Nagel

  THE KORAN Michael Cook

  KOREA Michael J. Seth

  LAKES Warwick F. Vincent

  LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE Ian H. Thompson

  LANDSCAPES AND GEOMORPHOLOGY Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles

  LANGUAGES Stephen R. Anderson

  LATE ANTIQUITY Gillian Clark

  LAW Raymond Wacks

  THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS Peter Atkins

  LEADERSHIP Keith Grint

  LEARNING Mark Haselgrove

  LEIBNIZ Maria Rosa Antognazza

  LEO TOLSTOY Liza Knapp

  LIBERALISM Michael Freeden

  LIGHT Ian Walmsley

  LINCOLN Allen C. Guelzo

  LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews

  LITERARY THEORY Jonathan Culler

  LOCKE John Dunn

  LOGIC Graham Priest

  LOVE Ronald de Sousa

  MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner

  MADNESS Andrew Scull

  MAGIC Owen Davies

  MAGNA CARTA Nicholas Vincent

  MAGNETISM Stephen Blundell

  MALTHUS Donald Winch

  MAMMALS T. S. Kemp

  MANAGEMENT John Hendry

  MAO Delia Davin

  MARINE BIOLOGY Philip V. Mladenov

  THE MARQUIS DE SADE John Phillips

  MARTIN LUTHER Scott H. Hendrix

  MARTYRDOM Jolyon Mitchell

  MARX Peter Singer

  MATERIALS Christopher Hall

  MATHEMATICAL FINANCE Mark H. A. Davis

  MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers

  MATTER Geoff Cottrell

  THE MEANING OF LIFE Terry Eagleton

  MEASUREMENT David Hand

  MEDICAL ETHICS Michael Dunn and Tony Hope

  MEDICAL LAW Charles Foster

  MEDIEVAL BRITAIN John Gillingham and Ralph A. Griffiths

  MEDIEVAL LITERATURE Elaine Treharne

  MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY John Marenbon

  MEMORY Jonathan K. Foster

  METAPHYSICS Stephen Mumford

  METHODISM William J. Abraham

  THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION Alan Knight

  MICHAEL FARADAY Frank A. J. L. James

  MICROBIOLOGY Nicholas P. Money

  MICROECONOMICS Avinash Dixit

  MICROSCOPY Terence Allen

  THE MIDDLE AGES Miri Rubin

  MILITARY JUSTICE Eugene R. Fidell

  MILITARY STRATEGY Antulio J. Echevarria II

  MINERALS David Vaughan

  MIRACLES Yujin Nagasawa

  MODERN ARCHITECTURE Adam Sharr

  MODERN ART David Cottington

  MODERN BRAZIL Anthony W. Pereira

  MODERN CHINA Rana Mitter

  MODERN DRAMA Kirsten E. Shepherd-Barr

  MODERN FRANCE Vanessa R. Schwartz