What is Philosophy?

What is Philosophy? provides a short but comprehensive view of the whole field of philosophy. The question 'What is philosophy?' is answered in a forthright and unique way. It is difficult to see any common factors underlying all the different philosophies and movements of philosophy. The so-called 'great philosophers' seem to have little in common with each other. The history of western philosophy features a bewildering variety of philosophical movements that pop up from nowhere. Philosophy itself seems to be an unfathomable subject that applies everywhere and nowhere. This book makes sense of all these disparities and confusions. When someone says, 'Nobody knows what philosophy is', that person has not thought much about the subject. The great philosophers thought deeply about philosophy and arrived at clear ideas concerning just what it is. There is no getting away from philosophy and this book shows the importance of philosophy in our thoughts and our lives. It also makes clear the role that philosophy has played in making western culture so dominant in the early twenty-first century. In this book, Alistair Sinclair presents an orderly view of philosophy, of what it consists and where it appears to be going, and gives a unified view of how philosophy developed historically in western culture. The author shows how philosophy has often moved from dogmatism to scepticism and vice versa. It is an ideal introduction for all those wishing to learn more about the subject and those questions which have exercised some of the great thinkers of the past.