Too often Marx and Engels are reduced to philosophical caricatures in order to serve an author's own agenda. Richard Schmitt's book is noteworth for his careful analysis of the enduring issues and insights of Marx and Engels. I enjoyed this refreshing reminder of what all the fuss was about.

This book presents moral theory and the factors involved in an excellent format, without the distraction of constant references to other philosophers. Kagan's writing is easily accessible and explains ethics in a logical fashion. Terms are clearly defined and explained, and there is a complete index of references in the back once you're ready to move on to primary source philosophy. A must read for any LD debater, especially when debating resolutions concerning morality.

This book has been used as the text for my introductory philosophy class. It does an wonderful job of conveying basic philosophical arguments to the reader. Overall, it is a great book that discusses a few basic philosophical issues with clarity and precision.

There are many books out there with the same title as this one. But if you want to know what the real issues in the philosophy of social science are, and how they connect to the basic questions of philosophy--from Plato to Popper--this is the book to read. Rosenberg uniquely combines expertise across the range of problems about social scientific method with an eye to the sides social scientists actually have to take about fundamental questions. The comparison of rational choice, functionalist, and Darwinian explanations of cross-cousin marriage rules is just one example!

--Self Trust a study of reason, knowledge, autonomy is written
by Keith Lehrer

--This is a philosophical book which states aspects of human
thinking and actions. It uniquely presents reason, knowledge,
wisdom, autonomy , love, consensus, and consciousness. It talks
about essential ideas which centers our system of thinking, and
the three unifying ideas of self trust.

A)Capacity for metamental ascent
B)Reflective evaluation
c)Loops of trustworthiness

--The author strives to get across the point that self trust is
the basis of our trustworthiness. In page 26 he reinforces
this point by saying, "my evaluations of what is true and what
is merit are what makes me worthy of my trust and leads to
knowledge and wisdom."

**Peer recommendation--this book will teach you to believe in
yourself and trust yourself and will
help you over come obstacles in your teen
years and be in more self control of
yourself in which you will survive peer
pressure

**Adult recommendation--this book will teach you to be self
believing, and will show you to
reason and use knowledge to ascertain
and solve problems that arise before you
in life.

**All schools--this book will teach your kids to reason and use
knowledge which will shape their future and
and thinking skills.

**You should ponder these 3 ideas while reading this book because
it relates to the system of evaluation.

A)Preference
B)Acceptances
c)Justification

The other Dimensions of Philosophy books I had seen and used - Van Imwagen's Metaphysics and Kim's Mind books - had been excellent for mid-to-upper level philosophy courses. Both had their axes to grind, but overviews of a wide range of opinions and positions was offered in a way I found balanced and reasonable. Lehrer's book is more Lehrer's pet project. The sections on foundationalism contain a little preamble and a lot of criticism (and I say this as someone who thinks the doctrine is false) and the rest contains a lot of arguments that I recognize as specifically taken from Lehrer's work rather than representing the field as a whole. And as an overview of Lehrer's work, this will not satisfy professional philosophers, for the deeper points and issues are only given a few allusions. This is not to say Lehrer is not an impressive philosopher, but those, like me, who were looking for something to use in a classroom may find this frustrating.

The theory of knowledge is a hard subject to begin learning; with terms like "justification," "acceptance," "foundationalism," and "externalism" flying around, the philosophical novice may easily get lost in the philosophical whirlwind. Because I read Lehrer's introductory effort painstakingly and carefully, it mitigated my difficulties with learning epistemology.

In a subject containing such obscure terminology, Lehrer starts the reader off on the right foot; if the reader puts enough work in to understand his first chapter, he will have a good understanding of the language of the subject. His remaining chapters do as good a job as can be expected of taking the reader through the various problems that the discussion of different theories of knowledge. Lehrer tries to make it interesting by arguing for his own pet theory (a coherence theory supported by the trustworthiness principle), and his ploy does help the reader pay attention, though in his partisanship he doesn't always present the opposing argument fairly (as in the counterexamples to undefeated justification in chapter 7). On the whole, however, a valient effort and a worthwhile read for anyone interested in epistemology.

Lehrer provides one of the best introductions to epistemology. The book is well suited to advanced undergraduates, graduates and professional philosophers alike. More importantly, it is an improvement on his first edition -- some areas of argument and explication have been cleaned up, and he has added material on recent developments in the field (e.g. contextualism and virtue epistemology). Great book.