Knowledge, Reality, and Value: A Mostly Common Sense Guide to Philosophy - Michael Huemer

\nThe world's best introduction to philosophy, Knowledge, Reality, and Value explains basic philosophical problems in epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics, such as: How can we know about the world outside our minds? Is there a God? Do we have free will? Are there objective values? What distinguishes morally right from morally wrong actions? The text succinctly explains the most important theories and arguments about these things, and it does so a lot less boringly than most books written by professors. \nMy work is all a series of footnotes to Mike Huemer. -Plato \nThis book is way better than my lecture notes. -Aristotle \nWhen I have a little money, I buy Mike Huemer's books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes. -Erasmus \n \nContents \nPreface \nPart I: Preliminaries \n1. What Is Philosophy? \n2. Logic \n3. Critical Thinking, 1: Intellectual Virtue \n4. Critical Thinking, 2: Fallacies \n5. Absolute Truth \nPart II: Epistemology \n6. Skepticism About the External World \n7. Global Skepticism vs. Foundationalism \n8. Defining Knowledge \nPart III: Metaphysics \n9. Arguments for Theism \n10. Arguments for Atheism \n11. Free Will \n12. Personal Identity \nPart IV: Ethics \n13. Metaethics \n14. Ethical Theory, 1: Utilitarianism \n15. Ethical Theory, 2: Deontology \n16. Applied Ethics, 1: The Duty of Charity \n17. Applied Ethics, 2: Animal Ethics \n18. Concluding Thoughts \nAppendix: A Guide to Writing \nGlossary \n \nMichael Huemer is a professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado, where he has taught since the dawn of time. He is the author of a nearly infinite number of articles in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and political philosophy, in addition to seven other amazing and brilliant books that you should immediately buy.\n