I came across this book as required reading for my intro to ethics course. The first chapter was very interesting, but as time passed, I grew somewhat disinterested. While it is a very nice collection of ethics articles, it lacks TRUE diversity.

The readings are fairly diverse, though only within the realm of "common" ethics -- very little space is given to opposition philosophers such as Nietzsche, Crowley, Russell, etc.

Overall, the editors have done a grand job of presenting articles on the more prevalent issues in ethics, both past and present. It could have been more enjoyable (to me) with the inclusion of vastly opposing arguments, but I must say that it does serve the purpose quite well in that it makes you analyze your own beliefs. Highly recommended for those who desire varied readings in "compassionate" ethics; interesting, but not of utmost importance to those looking for more diversity.

this is a wonderful and enlightening book I recommended to all with an open mind.

This book on ethics is very well-written and its just delightful to read. Don't miss this book, it shou be high on everyone's reading list!

An Invitation to Formal Reasoning is the first textbook presentation of the system of logic developed by Fred Sommers and George Englebretsen, the authors of this work. This is the logic of terms, which dominated logic throughout most of its history until predicate logic arose a century ago. The rise and dominance of predicate logic over the past century was due to the greater inferential power that it enjoyed over term logic. If term logic for two millennia was unable to cope with inferences such as those involving relationals and singular subjects then it seemed unlikely that it ever would.

However, Fred Sommers' work revitalized Aristotelian logic, creating a new syllogistic equal in inferential power to predicate logic. An Invitation to Formal Reasoning gives the reader the chance to master this new version of term logic. This book has strengths in two areas: as a work on logic and as work on the philosophy behind Sommers' system of logic. The chapters on the termist way of symbolizing and proving arguments are followed by examples to reinforce the lessons (answers to the exercises at the end of the book would have been helpful, though). The philosophy behind the system is also covered in optional chapters, which is of special interest to students of philosophy.

The work also covers modern predicate logic, relating it to term logic as an alternative system. Its treatment of predicate logic is fair but the authors are clearly sympathetic with term logic and view it as not only the equal of predicate logic but its superior in several ways; namely in its greater closeness to the forms of reasoning that are found in actual discourse, as opposed to the artificialness of predicate logic's means of representing arguments.

One cannot help but be impressed with the way Sommers' term logic can elegantly prove an argument in one step, the same argument that predicate logic takes a number of steps to prove. Rules are given at the end of the book for translating arguments from term logic into predicate logic - not that most would be tempted to after seeing the simplicity of the termist means of representing deductive arguments.

This book is no easy read, but it certainly is a rewarding one. It is a shame, however, that it has to be so expensive as to be beyond the means of many readers. Having finally made this system of logic available to students of logic in textbook form, it defeats the purpose to make it too expensive for most students to purchase. And for the price one could expect better production quality than is found in this publication. However, these drawbacks should not deter the serious student of philosophy or logic from studying this work, for it represents a profoundly important contribution to the philosophical literature.