Author(s): David Edmonds (Author), Nigel Warburton
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publication Date: 4 May 2012
Edition: Reprint
Language: English
Print length: 268 pages
ISBN-10: 0199694664
ISBN-13: 9780199694662
Book Description
In recent years, some of the world’s leading philosophers have held forth on their favorite topics on the immensely popular website philosophybites.com. This remarkably popular site has had to date some 12.5 million downloads, and is listened to all over the globe. Philosophy Bites Reprint Edition brings together the twenty-five best interviews from this hugely successful website. Leading philosophers-including Simon Blackburn, Alain de Botton, Will Kymlicka, Alexander Nehamas, and more than twenty others-discuss a wide range of philosophical issues in a surprisingly lively, informal, and personal way.
Here Peter Singer argues forcefully for vegetarianism, Anthony Appiah discusses cosmopolitanism, and Stephen Law shows why it is unreasonable to believe in an all-powerful, all-good deity. Time, infinity, evil, friendship, animals, wine, sport, tragedy-all of human life is here. And as these bite-sized interviews reveal, often the most brilliant philosophers are eager and able to convey their thoughts, simply and clearly, on the great ideas of philosophy.
Publishers Weekly called the volume “thoughtful and highly readable,” concluding that “these bite-size dialogues add up to a surprisingly substantial whole.”
Editorial Reviews
Review
an excellent sampler of key philosophical issues: succinct and enlightening. ― The Guardian
Book Description
A who’s who of world-class thinkers engage in brief, lively conversations about some of the hot-button issues of modern philosophy
About the Author
David Edmonds is a documentary maker for the BBC World Service, and the author or co-author of several books, including Wittgenstein’s Poker, written with John Eidinow (short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award, translated into twenty five languages, and an international best seller) Bobby Fischer Goes To War, (translated into a dozen languages and was long-listed for the Samuel Johnson prize) and Rousseau’s Dog about the relationship between Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume. David received a First Class degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University and then took the B.Phil. in philosophy. He has a PhD in philosophy from the Open University. He has held fellowships from the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan. He is currently a Research Associate at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford University and a Contributing Editor for Prospect Magazine.
Nigel Warburton is a freelance philosopher, podcaster, and writer. His books include A Little History of Philosophy, Philosophy: the Basics, Thinking from A to Z, Philosophy: the Classics, The Art Question, and Free Speech: A Very Short Introduction. He runs several weblogs including virtualphilosopher.com and artandallusion.com.