Introduction to Philosophy

Reviewed by Eli Shupe, Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Arlington on 1/2/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 4

This textbook covers a wide variety of topics. The authors had to make some hard choices about what to include for the sake of brevity and, for the most part, I think the choices they made were good ones.

The section on biomedical ethics, for example, is a very serviceable introduction. It discusses abortion, euthanasia, and clinical trials. It also includes a robust summary of the four principles of medical ethics, which it presents it as a part of the section on clinical trials. That organizational choice is unconventional but, I think, effective, as it allows for the principles to be further explained in terms of their role in research ethics.

I would have liked to see a distinct section on the Philosophy of Mind, although I appreciate that the metaphysics section attempted to meet me halfway by including a (somewhat slapdash) discussion of the metaphysics of consciousness.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

I was mostly satisfied on this score. I cannot speak to all of the sections of the book, but I thought the content on ethics and logic, for example, was fairly reliable. The discussion of non-capitalist frameworks in Chapters 11 and 12 struck me as a little bit blithe and uncharitable.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The textbook does a good job connecting its content to world affairs and contemporary moral problems. It also shows admirable restraint here, in that it manages to invoke current events without being too specific in the particulars, which ensures that the textbook won’t too quickly become obsolete. The section on Ethics and Emerging Technologies in the Applied Ethics chapter a good example of the restraint that I have in mind here—the textbook rightly chooses to discuss ongoing advances in artificial intelligence, but keeps the focus on the general philosophical questions that are raised by such technologies. As a result, this section is likely to remain relevant regardless of the ways in which those technologies evolve in the near future.

Clarity rating: 4

I was impressed at many points with this textbook’s concision and clarity. The chapter covering normative moral theories was particularly strong. In the past, I have struggled to find a short reading to assign students about deontology that was succinct but also substantive. The one in this textbook fits the bill and I will be using it in some of my classes.

I did notice some relatively minor explanatory oversights that I suspect might lead to unclarity. On page 313, for instance, the question of whether a machine can possess intentionality is invoked. Unfortunately, the word ‘intentionality’ is not defined, and this is the first and only time that the term it appears in the textbook. I fear that this is sure to confuse undergraduates.

Consistency rating: 5

The textbook is stylistically and organizationally consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

This textbook is extremely modular. Most of the sections could be read (and assigned to students) in isolation.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Very good.

Interface rating: 4

The PDF came with native bookmarks dividing it into navigable sections and subsections, which I appreciated. There are some minor formatting issues. On page 315, for instance, the “Clinical Trials” subheading is smaller than it ought to be, making it appear as if it belongs to the previous section on euthanasia and assisted dying.

Given that this is a textbook that is likely to be distributed to and read by students mostly as a PDF, it would be nice if the page numbers printed within the text conformed to the document's page numbers in a PDF viewer. This may require starting numbering within the text at a number greater than one, which is a bit ungainly, but I think that the advantages gained in ease of use for instructors assigning page ranges would make it worth doing.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not notice any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

I very much appreciated the in-depth discussion of non-Western philosophical traditions. Although I did not read them closely, I also noted sections on both intersectionality and epistemic injustice, which seem like good inclusions.

Of the several that I have looked at, I believe that this is the best open access introductory philosophy textbook currently available.