The Norton Introduction to Philosophy

Engage students with philosophy’s timeless questions―and today’s most pressing issues.

The Norton Introduction to Philosophy is back in a Third Edition, offering an orientation to the discipline that remains unmatched in scope, breadth, and quality. With an expanded selection of readings, more extensive background notes, and engaging reading guides, the Third Edition is designed to resonate with today’s students and spark their interest in philosophy. New essays from contemporary thinkers connect classic philosophical topics―like metaphysics, epistemology, morality, justice, race, and gender―to real-world issues. Available as an affordable, engaging Norton Ebook, this anthology makes philosophy accessible; sharpening students’ critical thinking skills while providing you with robust instructor support.

Highlights of the Third Edition’s new content:

• New: Exclusive commissioned essays from leading philosophers present topics instructors told us they want to teach, at a level suitable for undergraduates. Examples include Michael Patrick Lynch on the value of truth, Ned Hall on causation vs. correlation, Alex Byrne on other minds and artificial intelligence, Jonathan Birch on animal consciousness, Ted Sider on material constitution, Gideon Rosen on ignorance and responsibility, David Wong on relativism, Robert P. George on public morality, and Seana Shiffrin on freedom of speech.
• New reading selections include David Chalmers on the simulation hypothesis, Hedda Hassel Mørch on panpsychism, Duncan Pritchard on the value of knowledge, Nick Zangwill on the morality of eating meat, and C. A. J. Coady on testimony and observation.
• New Chapter 14: When Are We Morally Responsible for What We Do? introduces students to leading voices tackling the relationship between morality and ignorance, including Angela Smith, Normy Arpaly, Michele Moody-Adams, and editor Gideon Rosen.
• New and updated Reader’s Guides accompany 18 of the most challenging selections, providing clear and accessible guidance to help students metabolize what they’ve read.
• Enhanced pedagogy: The Third Edition offers revised and updated chapter introductions, reading guides, and instructor resources.

Gideon Rosen is Stuart Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. He is the author (with John P. Burgess) of A Subject With No Object (1997) and numerous essays in metaphysics, moral philosophy, and the philosophy of mathematics.

Alex Byrne is Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is co-editor, with David R. Hilbert, of Readings on Color, vols. 1 and 2 (1997) and, with Heather Logue, Disjunctivism (2008). He is currently completing a book on self-knowledge.

Joshua Cohen is a faculty member at Apple University, and has taught at MIT (1977-2006) and Stanford (2006-2014). He is the author, co-author, or editor of more than 25 books. His most recent books are Philosophy, Politics, Democracy (2009); The Arc of the Moral Universe (2011); and Rousseau: A Free Community of Equals (2012). Since 1991, Cohen has been editor of Boston Review.

Elizabeth Harman is Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy and Human Values at Princeton University. She is the author of “Morally Permissible Moral Mistakes” (Ethics), “The Irrelevance of Moral Uncertainty" (Oxford Studies in Metaethics), “Creation Ethics: The Moral Status of Early Fetuses and the Ethics of Abortion” (Philosophy and Public Affairs), and other essays in moral philosophy.

Seana Valentine Shiffrin is Professor of Philosophy and Pete Kameron Professor of Law and Social Justice at UCLA. She is the author of Speech Matters: On Lying, Morality, and the Law (2014), an associate editor of Philosophy and Public Affairs, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.