Philosophy: Principles and Problems

This is a personal view of philosophy from a renowned critic and thinker. In it, Roger Scruton focuses on the ideas and arguments which have attracted him to the subject and which have engaged his attention. He attempts to show how philosophy is relevant not just to intellectual questions, but to life in the modern world.

Philosophy - the "love of wisdom" - can be approached in two ways: by doing it, or by studying how it has been done. The second way is familiar to university students, who find themselves confronted by the largest body of literature ever devoted to a single subject. This book follows a more ancient pattern. It attempts to teach philosophy by doing it. Although the author refers to the great philosophers, and in particular to Kant and Wittgenstein, who have been the greatest influence on his thinking, he gives no reliable guide to their arguments.

The book makes no attempt to give either a history or a survey of the subject. Instead, it offers itself as a guide to the reader who is prepared to make a personal venture into philosophy. Its aim is to bring philosophy to life.

Professor Roger Scruton is visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Senior Research Fellow at Blackfriars Hall Oxford and visiting Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews. His other books include Sexual Desire, The West and the Rest, England: An Elegy, News from Somewhere, Gentle Regrets and I Drink Therefore I Am (all published by Continuum).