About Philosophy

by Robert Paul Wolff

For Introductory Philosophy Courses. An introductory philosophy text that covers all the major fields of philosophy in easy-to-read language, interspersed with short selections from the major philosophers. The text has been a best-selling leader in the field for more than thirty years. It is written by an internationally recognized author of more than twenty books. He is an important voice in social and political philosophy, Immanuel Kant's philosophy, and the philosophy of education.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Reference, Textbooks

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Robert Paul Wolff was an American political philosopher and professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Wolff has written widely on topics in political philosophy, including Marxism, tolerance (against liberalism and in favor of anarchism), political justification, and democracy.

Reviews

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid intro to Philosophy. It introduced me to all of the basic subfields and their major contributors. One thing I was increasingly frustrated by was that (though not directly a fault of the author) all of the “worthwhile” philosophical thinking has been done by OLD WHITE MEN. I’m kind of tired of that. They definitely do have profound ideas about all sorts of everything—social justice, ethics, epistemology, art, being. But aren’t we limiting our horizon by only reading the thoughts of those who have been in power? That in mind, this book was liberal for its time. I think it was written in like the 70s. I read it, in spite of its antiquity, because it was my dads intro philosophy textbook. If we hope to understand our society and its problems today, it might help to know a bit about the societies and their problems then, for what is today but a subsequent iteration of yesterdays?