Philosophy:The Power of Ideas Review

For SSR this semester I read Philosophy: The Power of Ideas written by Brooke Noel Moore and Kenneth Bruder. It’s a college textbook I got from a friend whose brother used the book in a course he took. I could tell from the layout of the book that it is meant as an introductory text. It is divided into four sections. Part one dealt with the foundations of philosophy with the works of the early Greek philosophers dealing primarily with the areas of metaphysics and epistemology to which the rest of the section is dedicated. Part two dealt with moral and political philosophy, part three was on religious philosophy, and part four was the potpourri section addressing several other philosophical topics that are each deserving of their own textbook but are either more recent developments or not Eurocentric enough to be deemed worthy of greater attention.
The text outlines the philosophies in plain speech making complex topic seem easily understandable. I especially like the authors’ use of examples in which analogies are drawn relating philosophical concepts with real-world scenarios for clarity. Important terms and principles are highlighted, and the main text is supplemented with brief biographies of influential philosophers, interesting side notes, the occasional cartoon, and primary document exerts. Each chapter ends with a checklist including the philosophers mentioned in the preceding text and a brief explanation of their works as well as a list of key terms and concepts. There are also questions for discussion and review and a detailed list of suggested further readings and why each reading is suggested. My only complaint with the book is that more of the primary source documents should have been included in the book. There are multiple interpretations that can be made of what a philosopher wrote, so I would prefer to have more opportunities to make that interpretation myself and not be so heavily force-fed the authors’ interpretation. I don’t want to risk narrow-mindedness.
I did not read the book cover-to-cover but rather just read the sections on topics I was interested in. I read mostly in the areas of epistemology, moral philosophy, and eastern philosophy. Epistemology deals with where we derive truth from. What is truly reality and how does that relate to our perceptions of it? Moral philosophy is the study of what’s right and wrong. What is the difference between good and evil and who draws that line? Eastern philosophy includes Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Taoism. This is the section that interested me the most, especially Taoism.