Search results for ""Author Robert M. Martin""

Academic philosophy can be puzzling to newcomers. The conventions, terms, and expectations entrenched among philosophers aren’t always clear from the outside. Why are philosophers so preoccupied with finding “the truth”—doesn’t everyone have their own philosophy? Is philosophy so deep and difficult that its literature has to be incomprehensible? What kinds of arguments can there be for a philosophical position? Where does the evidence come from? Why is there so much jargon—wouldn’t it be better to do away with it altogether? What exactly is a “thought experiment,” and how should one be conducted? Best-selling author and retired philosophy professor Robert Martin answers these questions and many more, offering a practical guide to arguing and writing philosophically. Anecdotes, jokes, asides, digressions, oddments, and entertainments are included throughout, providing for an informal and opinionated introduction that doesn’t shy away from the nuts and bolts of philosophical argument. A useful glossary of common philosophical terminology and a guide to Chicago Style citation are included.

Read more less

Epistemology is the philosophical study of knowledge. Without knowledge, scientific enquiry is meaningless and we can’t begin to analyse the world around us. What is knowledge? How do you know you are not dreaming? Should we trust our senses? Presuming no prior experience of philosophy, this book covers everything in the topic from scepticism and possible worlds to Kant’s transcendentalism. Clear and readable, Epistemology: A Beginner’s Guide is essential reading for students and aspiring thinkers.

Read more less

As this book richly and entertainingly demonstrates, philosophy is as much the search for the right questions as it is the search for the right answers. Robert M. Martin’s popular collection of philosophical puzzles, paradoxes, jokes, and anecdotes is updated and expanded in this third edition, with dozens of new entries.

Read more less

Philosophical Conversations is a light, informal, and contemporary introduction to the study of philosophy. Using a dialogue format, Robert M. Martin delves into the traditional questions of philosophy in a manner that readers will find engaging.These substantive yet entertaining conversations emphasize that philosophical questions are contested and open-ended. The characters in each dialogue advocate different answers to questions on religion, ethics, personal identity, and other topics equitably and without naming any clear winners. Philosophic positions are presented with maximum clarity and persuasiveness, so that readers can appreciate all sides of an issue and make their own choices. An excellent tool for newcomers to philosophy, Philosophical Conversations provides the necessary background for further study while vividly portraying the back-and-forth argument that is essential to the philosophical method.

Read more less

This accessible, SHORT introduction to symbolic logic includes coverage of sentential and predicate logic, translations, truth tables, and derivations. The author's engaging style makes this the most informal of introductions to formal logic. Topics are explained in a conversational, easy-to-understand way for readers not familiar with mathematics or formal systems, and the author provides patient, reader-friendly explanations—even with the occasional bit of humour.The first half of the book deals with all the basic elements of Sentential Logic: the five truth-functional connectives, formation rules and translation into this language, truth-tables for validity, logical truth/falsity, equivalency, consistency and derivations. The second half deals with Quantifier Logic: the two quantifiers, formation rules and translation, demonstrating certain logical characteristics by “Finding an Interpretation” and derivations.There are plenty of exercises scattered throughout, more than in many texts, arranged in order of increasing difficulty and including separate answer keys.

Read more less