The Great Conversation

Ideal for courses in introductory or modern and contemporary philosophy, The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy, Volume II: Descartes through Derrida and Quine covers the same material as the second half (chapters 12-26) of author Norman Melchert's longer volume, The Great Conversation. Now in its fifth edition, this historically organized introductory text treats philosophy as a dramatic and continuous story--a conversation about humankind's deepest and most...
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Ideal for courses in introductory or modern and contemporary philosophy, The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy, Volume II: Descartes through Derrida and Quine covers the same material as the second half (chapters 12-26) of author Norman Melchert's longer volume, The Great Conversation. Now in its fifth edition, this historically organized introductory text treats philosophy as a dramatic and continuous story--a conversation about humankind's deepest and most persistent concerns. Tracing the exchange of ideas between history's key philosophers, the book demonstrates that while constructing an argument or making a claim, one philosopher almost always has others in mind. It addresses the fundamental questions of human life: Who are we? What can we know? How should we live? and What sort of reality do we inhabit? The fifth edition retains the distinctive feature of previous editions: Melchert provides a generous selection of excerpts from major philosophical works and makes them more easily understandable to students with his own lucid and engaging explanations. Ranging from Descartes to Derrida and Quine, the selections are organized historically and include a translation of Descartes'Meditations on First Philosophy (the complete work). The author's commentary offers a rich intellectual and cultural context for the philosophical ideas conveyed in the excerpts. Extensive cross-referencing shows textbooks in significant ways. Providing broader coverage than most texts, it discusses the phenomenon of the war in its chronological entirety. Author Eric Dorn Brose analyzes the forces that generated international tension and made wars more prevalent before 1914; the causes and course of the Great War to 1918; and the violent and problematic aftermath of the struggle to 1926. Rather than focusing exclusively on military developments, Brose also examines the war's underlying causes ,its political and diplomatic dimensions, and its myriad consequences.Explicitly global in scope, A History of the Great War offers a more extensive look at the worldwide side of the Great War than existing texts do, including coverage of the campaigns spanning Northeast Africa, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Central Asia, India, and the war at sea. In addition, the author incorporates and discusses recent groundbreaking research in the "Notes" section of each chapter, so tha covering the Pre-Socratics through Derrida and Quine) and The Great Conversation: Volume I: Pre-Socratics through Descartes, Fifth Edition (includes chapters 1-13 of the combined volume).