This is the third edition of a now-classic text. In preparing the new edition, Professor Edwards has retained all the oustanding features of the previous editions and has added a wealth of new material. The reader is here introduced to philosophy by a discussion of sample problems rather than by a purely historical approach. Each of the eight sections is provided with an extremely lucid introduction in which the problems and the main rival answers are briefly explained. At the end of each of the eight sections there are extensive annotated bibliographies, which have been brought up to date for the present edition, and should be of special use to teachers and to all students who wish to pursue the subject beyond the elementary level. There are also biographical sketches of the writers whose works are presented in the book, with many colorful details which will heighten the interest of students in the subject.
Like its predecessors, the third edition is full of fresh and new selections. These include a BBC debate on "Has 'God' a Meaning?" by Bishop Robinson and Bernard Williams, an exchange on common sense, physics and perception between Bertrand Russell and Ernest Nagel, a discussion on the mind-body problem by Gilbert Ryle, A.J. Ayer and Viscount Samuel, Clarence Darrow's "The Myth of Immortality", W.T. Stace's "Stars, Atoms and Sensations", Moritz Schlick's "Unanswerable Questions", Max Black's "The Justification of Induction" and H.D. Lewis' BBC talk, "Responsibility and Absolute Choice"....