Philosophy

Available at NECC Online.

You are a philosopher! We are all philosophers. We make moral decisions, worry over what is the best thing to do, and contemplate where our lives are going. In a series of original and entertaining sketches, short stories, plays and his own 'philosophical autobiography' Professor Colin Radford expounds the nature and importance of philosophy for our everyday lives. From the title sketch Driving to California in which Radford amusingly describes the decisions, sulks and compromises faced by a family of three driving across America, to The Positive Desirability of Evil, Radford reveals how we all unknowingly take part in philosophical debates, and shows that these moral dilemmas are what make our lives rich, diverse, challenging and puzzling. Meanwhile the key chapter The Examined Life explains how his life (and ours) has been governed by philosophical dilemmas and warns that a life which fails to ask "Should I have lived my life thus?" is not, as Plato said, a life worth living.* Bridges the gap between Sophie's World, The Thought Gang and conventional textbooks* A lively and instructive introduction to the central concerns of philosophy designed for newcomers* Based on sound scholarship, with introductions and conclusions for the general reader* Other introductions describe philosophy or the history of philosophy - Driving to California is concerned with 'doing it' - in front of the reader

Available at NECC Online.

Too often skeptics charge Christians with having a blind faith. Unfortunately, believers have added fuel to the charges of skeptics by speaking of their faith illogically. But the Christian faith is not a blind faith. In fact, biblical faith is never a blind, irrational faith. Christianity rests firmly on the stone that was rejected by the builders, which has become the cornerstone--Jesus Christ (Acts 4:11). Living biblically requires thinking biblically, just as "to think biblically entails to live biblically," as Winfried Corduan notes in the Foreword. As followers of Christ, believers cannot separate biblical thinking and biblical living. These two behaviors are eternally connected not only in the person of Jesus Christ, but they stem from the eternal being of God the Father and his eternal truth. Christ mandates that his followers love God with their entire being--heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). How are believers to go about living out this biblical mandate? Christian faith is a warranted belief. This is why it is so essential that Christians recognize the value and importance of philosophy and its proper place in Christendom and in the Christian's walk.

Available at NECC Online.

In this compact yet informative book, former dissident, occasional politician, software developer, and noted Czech philosopher, Jan Sokol offers a way to teach young radical students about philosophy. Drawing on his own experiences, Sokol explains that one does not start teaching by talking about philosophers and theories specifically, but by aiming to excite students and from there leading them to think philosophically about the important questions that have faced humans for centuries. Divided into thirty short chapters, Thinking about Ordinary Things is a unique perspective on the teaching of philosophy.