Philosophy Bites - Softcover

Edmonds, David; Warburton, Nigel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199694664 ISBN 13: 9780199694662

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2012

Synopsis

In recent years, some of the world's leading philosophers have held forth on their favorite topics on the immensely popular website philosophybites.com. This remarkably popular site has had to date some 12.5 million downloads, and is listened to all over the globe. Philosophy Bites brings together the twenty-five best interviews from this hugely successful website. Leading philosophers-including Simon Blackburn, Alain de Botton, Will Kymlicka, Alexander Nehamas, and more than twenty others-discuss a wide range of philosophical issues in a surprisingly lively, informal, and personal way.

Here Peter Singer argues forcefully for vegetarianism, Anthony Appiah discusses cosmopolitanism, and Stephen Law shows why it is unreasonable to believe in an all-powerful, all-good deity. Time, infinity, evil, friendship, animals, wine, sport, tragedy-all of human life is here. And as these bite-sized interviews reveal, often the most brilliant philosophers are eager and able to convey their thoughts, simply and clearly, on the great ideas of philosophy. Publishers Weekly called the volume "thoughtful and highly readable," concluding that "these bite-size dialogues add up to a surprisingly substantial whole."

About this title

About the Author

David Edmonds is a documentary maker for the BBC World Service. He is the author or co-author of several books, including the international bestseller Wittgenstein's Poker, written with John Eidinow (short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award, translated into twenty five languages), Bobby Fischer Goes to War, and Rousseau's Dog.

Nigel Warburton is a freelance philosopher, podcaster, and writer. His books include A Little History of Philosophy, Philosophy: the Basics, Thinking from A to Z, Philosophy: the Classics, The Art Question, and Free Speech: A Very Short Introduction.

From Publishers Weekly

This thoughtful and highly readable collection of conversations with philosophers on a broad range of topics, from the perennial problems of skepticism to the epistemological questions raised by wine tasting, put together by editors Edmonds (coauthor of Wittgenstein's Poker and documentary maker for the BBC World Service) and Warburton, senior lecturer at the Open University, displays an admirable grasp of a variety of issues. The editors' conversations with Alain de Botton on architecture and Peter Singer on animal rights manage to be accessible for the nonspecialist while still maintaining critical bite. Inevitably, the quality of thought on offer varies from one interviewee to the next, but standouts include Don Culpit's nonrealist view of God and Wendy Brown on how modern notions of tolerance can disguise severe limitations on freedom and equality. More disappointing is the volume's Anglo-American bias and its lack of interviews with non–English-language philosophers. If, as the editors say, "the spirit of philosophy is at its most apparent in conversation," then they would be well served by widening their scope. Nonetheless, as introductions to philosophy go, these bite-size dialogues add up to a surprisingly substantial whole. (Nov.) (c)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0199694664
• ISBN 13: 9780199694662
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272