About the Book
Doing Philosophy presents the basics of how to do philosophy - what philosophy is, how we can think, the nature of logic, some special terms - in straightforward easy to understand style. Then, using questions and exercises as well as everyday examples, the author takes the reader on a wide-ranging tour of exciting philosophical topics which, as well as the 'standard fare' of logic, epistemology, mind, God etc., also includes ethical, social, scientific, cultural and human issues such as time, cosmology, war, animal rights, euthanasia, abortion, genetics, evolution, and the meaning of life. The author's emphasis throughout is that philosophy is accessible to anyone keen enough to try and do it and that, as a subject, philosophy is practical, fascinating and exciting. By encouraging independent critical thinking and being succinct yet informative, the book involves the reader with the history, the breadth of subject matter, the skills of philosophising and the benefits that philosophy can offer to the enquiring individual. The book accesses major philosophical topics briefly, breaking them down into convenient chunks with challenging questions throughout and exercise questions at the end of each chapter, and introduces major thinkers and their ideas. There is an extensive further reading list to help those who wish to take this absorbing subject further.
Table of Contents:
Introduction; 1 Doing Philosophy; 2 Some Philosophical Terms; 3 Argument and Logic; 4 Possibility; 5 What Do We Know? 6 Perceiving the World; 7 Mind; 8 Right and Wrong; 9 Equality; 10 God; 11 Science; 12 Time; 13 Human Rights; 14 Freedom and Determinism; 15 Politics, Political Equality and the State of the World; 16 War; 17 Punishment; 18 Abortion; 19 Euthanasia; 20 Animal Rights; 21 Genetics; 22 Life, Death, Immortality and Reincarnation; 23 Evolution; 24 Cosmology; 25 The Meaning of Life; Annotated Bibliography, Extended Reading and Internet Resources; Index
About the Author :
Gerald Rochelle has worked as a visiting philosopher in schools for the Royal Institute of Philosophy Jacobsen Scheme and was editor of the journal Practical Philosophy. He has conducted workshops in Europe and in the US. His work with practical philosophy, in particular Cafe Philosophy, led him to write this simple down to earth guide to how to do philosophy.
Review :
'Angled towards more practical issues in philosophy - although by no means exclusively - this book tests your understanding with questions running right through the text, with further questions at the end of each chapter. Sample question: Did the killing of Libyan leader Gadaffi in October 2011 'raise any human rights issues'? An excellent book to stimulate debate in an Introduction to Philosophy class, or to work through on one's own.' Pathways to Philosophy
Written in an informative, easy and approachable style, Rochelle’s book attempts to make philosophy accessible, to show that it is exciting and that it has meaning in our everyday lives. It does this by introducing a very broad range of topics (broader than is usual in introductory books in philosophy) that have relevance to most areas of human concern: moral, scientific, social, theological, medical, and personal, as well as more purely philosophical.
Rochelle begins with an explanation of what philosophy is and what doing philosophy means. Philosophy is an activity that involves us in abstract thought and ideas. Though not historical in itself, philosophical thinking is improved by understanding what philosophers have already thought, so that we do not waste time trying to think over the same ground. We do philosophy in its weakest sense all the time, because we are continually taking in information, thinking about it and coming up with conclusions. To do philosophy in its strongest sense, however, is to argue effectively in defense of new ideas we come up with or to challenge existing ideas by providing rational arguments against them. Rochelle then defines some philosophical terms and addresses first issues in logic (“Argument and Logic,” “Possibility”), epistemology (“What Do We Know?” “Perceiving the World”), and philosophy of mind (“Mind”), before proceeding to moral philosophy (“Right and Wrong”) and applied moral philosophy (“Abortion,” “Euthanasia,” “Animal Rights”), political philosophy (“Equality,” “Politics, Political Equality, and the State of the World,” “War”), Philosophy of law (“Punishment”), philosophy of religion (“God”), philosophy of science (“Science,” “Genetics,” “Evolution,” “Cosmology”), and metaphysics (“Time,” “Life, Death, Immortality and Reincarnation”). This remarkable tour of subjects closes with a look at more personal questions such as “The Meaning of Life.”
Each chapter begins with a main question, and throughout the chapter challenging and thought provoking questions are being asked. Rochelle does not provide answers in the text; to the contrary, each chapter finishes with at least one impressive list of further questions that somehow manage to make you feel unable to ignore them.
As important background, philosophical figures of importance in all the areas discussed are identified. A short bibliography awaits the reader at the end of each chapter, drawn primarily from various chapters in Roger Scruton’s Modern Philosophy: An Introduction and Survey (2004), Peter Singer’s Ethics (1994), Hugh LaFollette (ed.), Ethics in Practice: An Anthology (2002), and Thomas Nagel’s writings (1979, 1986), though supplemented by more specific books when necessary. An extensive reading list as well as internet resources point the way at the end of the book for those who wish to take any of these areas further.
Rochelle’s preciseness and clarity of expression is impressive; at times, however, the discussion is sketchy, as is fitting, however, an introductory book that manages to cover so many topics. As far as Philosophical Counseling is concerned it would prove a very useful resource of important considerations across a broad range of topics any of which could be brought to the philosophical counselor by a client.
PHILOSOPHICAL PRACTICE, Journal of the APPA
The purpose of the paper is to explore to what extent the book Doing Philosophy written by Gerald Rochelle can contribute to practical issues of teaching philosophy as doing philosophy. Students often feel a gap between what is offered in textbooks and what is required from the in learning obectives: their own philosophical activity and creativity. The outstanding feature of Doing Philosophy is the author’s continual insistence on questioning; in the long term this could develop a valuable philosophical attitude of problematisation. Rochelle’s intention is not so much to present philosophical content but more to invite the reader to explore the recommended Further Reading. He guides the reader from the questions through the argument to the conclusion. The growing edge of the book and the approach is the domain of conceptualisation. This attitude of questioning that could be expanded to this domain as well remains within the areas of problematisation and argumentation. The book can help students and teachers with its novel encouragement of their questioning and can be combined with other philosophical sources.
RUDI KOTNIK Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor on academia.edu
