ABOUT THIS SITE

Welcome to the companion website for the 4th edition of Introduction to Philosophy, edited by John Perry, Michael Bratman, and John Martin Fischer.

This site is mainly for students who are using this textbook in a course they are taking, but we hope that instructors will find the site useful, too.  By way of introduction, allow us to fill you in on all that this site has to offer.  First, you'll notice that this is a weblog, or "blog" for short.  Blogs are dynamic, interactive sites by definition, and this one is no exception.  We will be posting new and interesting information on a fairly regular basis, and there are lots of opportunities for you to interact with this site.

At the top of the page, you'll see tabs that will allow you to easily navigate through the various parts of the site.  Let us give a brief explanation of where each tab will take you:

1) Blog: Click on this tab to take a look at the most recent posts and comments on our blog.  We will try to keep the blog updated fairly regularly with various interesting information such as interviews with some of the philosophers who have articles in the textbook, philosophically relevant stories in the news, and comments on recent movies with philosophical themes.  Feel free to come get involved in the discussion!

2) About: This tab takes you to the page you are currently reading, so we don't need to say much about that!

3) Online Resources: This site has helped us make available lots of helpful resources for students who are using the textbook.  Click on this tab and you will find things such as the following:

a) Test Yourself Quizzes: These are brief multiple-choice quizzes for each article in the textbook so that you can test your reading comprehension when you have finished reading an article that has been assigned for your class.  At the bottom of each quiz is a link to the answers, so you can instantly find out how well you have understood the article.

b) Logical Toolkit: This is a brief introduction to some of the logical concepts that will help you analyze and evaluate the arguments of the authors in the textbook.

c) Internet Connections: For each article in the book, we have provided links to relevant information that can be found on the internet, such as articles from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and episodes from the philosophy radio show, Philosophy Talk.

4) Writing: Since learning how to articulate your ideas is an important part of any philosophy course, we have included links to some resources that we think will help improve your writing skills.  Clicking on this tab will take you to some advice about how to write a good philosophy paper.

5) Links: In this tab, we have gathered various links that you might find interesting.  For instance, here you will find links to other philosophically-oriented blogs, including some run by undergraduates.  You will also find some sites that contain "philosophical humor".  Some critics say that's an oxymoron, but we strongly disagree!

6) Feedback: We're constantly trying to make this site more useful to you, so please don't hesitate to leave us a comment if you find a broken link or have a suggestion for what we might do to improve the site.

In addition to the tabs at the top of the page, you'll also notice two sidebars -- one to the left and one to the right.  These provide you with essential information about the site, including lists of recent posts and comments on the blog and our monthly archives.

There's a lot to explore, so have fun, and happy studying!

Welcome to the companion website for the 4th edition of Introduction to Philosophy, edited by John Perry, Michael Bratman, and John Martin Fischer.

This site is mainly for students who are using this textbook in a course they are taking, but we hope that instructors will find the site useful, too.  By way of introduction, allow us to fill you in on all that this site has to offer.  First, you'll notice that this is a weblog, or "blog" for short.  Blogs are dynamic, interactive sites by definition, and this one is no exception.  We will be posting new and interesting information on a fairly regular basis, and there are lots of opportunities for you to interact with this site.

At the top of the page, you'll see tabs that will allow you to easily navigate through the various parts of the site.  Let us give a brief explanation of where each tab will take you:

1) Blog: Click on this tab to take a look at the most recent posts and comments on our blog.  We will try to keep the blog updated fairly regularly with various interesting information such as interviews with some of the philosophers who have articles in the textbook, philosophically relevant stories in the news, and comments on recent movies with philosophical themes.  Feel free to come get involved in the discussion!

2) About: This tab takes you to the page you are currently reading, so we don't need to say much about that!

3) Online Resources: This site has helped us make available lots of helpful resources for students who are using the textbook.  Click on this tab and you will find things such as the following:

a) Test Yourself Quizzes: These are brief multiple-choice quizzes for each article in the textbook so that you can test your reading comprehension when you have finished reading an article that has been assigned for your class.  At the bottom of each quiz is a link to the answers, so you can instantly find out how well you have understood the article.

b) Logical Toolkit: This is a brief introduction to some of the logical concepts that will help you analyze and evaluate the arguments of the authors in the textbook.

c) Internet Connections: For each article in the book, we have provided links to relevant information that can be found on the internet, such as articles from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and episodes from the philosophy radio show, Philosophy Talk.

4) Writing: Since learning how to articulate your ideas is an important part of any philosophy course, we have included links to some resources that we think will help improve your writing skills.  Clicking on this tab will take you to some advice about how to write a good philosophy paper.

5) Links: In this tab, we have gathered various links that you might find interesting.  For instance, here you will find links to other philosophically-oriented blogs, including some run by undergraduates.  You will also find some sites that contain "philosophical humor".  Some critics say that's an oxymoron, but we strongly disagree!

6) Feedback: We're constantly trying to make this site more useful to you, so please don't hesitate to leave us a comment if you find a broken link or have a suggestion for what we might do to improve the site.

In addition to the tabs at the top of the page, you'll also notice two sidebars -- one to the left and one to the right.  These provide you with essential information about the site, including lists of recent posts and comments on the blog and our monthly archives.

There's a lot to explore, so have fun, and happy studying!