Product Description

101 Philosophy Problems, Second edition, is a new and fully updated version of the highly successful first edition. In this ever engaging and humorous exploration of philosophy, Martin Cohen challenges the reader to think philosophically about every day dilemmas. Problems such as the 'Hanging Judge', 'The Unexpected exam' and 'The Sentence' paradox give examples of the more familiar type of philosophical riddles, but there are also wholly new problems with which to contend. 'A Nasty Transplant Problem', the 'Three Embryos Problem' come from the new field of medical ethics, whilst 'Deep Thought Speaks' raises issues in Artificial Intelligence. Each problem is presented with a separate discussion designed to stimulate hours of lively philosophical debate. The new edition includes: Many new problems, each with separate discussion; Classic and contemporary problems taken from the media to physics, medical ethics to sport. A fully revised and updated glossary of unfamiliar philosophical terms 101 Philosophy Problems, Second Edition combines wit with philosophical scholarship and is ideal for anyone interested in this exciting and stimulating topic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #298066 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

The Guardian, 5.11.1999
Are all moral claims synthetic? Or analytic? Or a priori? Or a posteriori? Or both? Or neither? What about tables? Can you see one? Ask yourself: does it exist? Too easy? Go out of the room and ask yourself again. The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false. Obey the brain warning at the beginning and don't read all 101 problems at once. On free will: You don't always act yourself if you're suffering from a paranoid personality disorder.

Review
'Introduces philosophy in a novel way. The book has 101 humorous little stories, each with a philosophical problem gives helpful tools for leading students into the world of philosophy.' - Times Higher Education Supplement - 'You can't just read philosophy, you've got to actually do it. Given that, it's surprising how few introductions actually try and get their readers to join in. 101 Philosophy Problems is an all too rare example of a book that does just that.' - Philosophers' Magazine - 'As a complete beginner in the world of philosophy I have enjoyed this book on many levels. I shall read it again and again.' - A reader from Amazon.co.uk -

This short book does exactly what its title promises: it provides those interested in philosophy with 101 problems to stretch and unsettle the mind. Some are classics; some are new. About half the book is taken up with the problems themselves, all of which are short stories or - in a few cases - drawings by M C Esher. The remainder is taken up with discussions of the problems and a glossary of philosophical terms. Cohen believes that philosophy is something one does, rather than something one has a qualification in - therefore, he aims to get his readers to think. As a means of presenting philosophy this is fresh and appealing; most other introductions to philosophy (Thomas Nagel's work, for example, or Bertrand Russell's famous short book) are drier and more presentational. Cohen's writing is lucid, elegant and often funny. It may therefore help to draw into philosophy people who might otherwise pass it by. This is not really a book for undergraduate students, although anyone thinking about studying philosophy at university would do well to read it, if only because in an abstract, intellectual way it really is quite fun. Cohen, however, has little time for formal logic and dismisses most of the classic problems of philosophy - whether or not one can have synthetic a priori propositions, for example, or whether or not the king of France is bald - as 'Twelve Traditional Philosophy Problems Nobody Really Cares About Anyway'. This is probably true, but it doesn't help a would-be student who will have to look at them. Cohen's purpose is to get amateurs to think. Unfortunately, there are problems with a few of the discussions: Cohen has an irritating tendency to do nothing more than state the nature of the problem without exploring the conflicting sides; sometimes he misses the point altogether. In a discussion of a putative misuse of an author's work by academics and cultural commentators, for example, he skips over the issue of whether or not an author's intention has any impact on the meaning of a work (he claims that it doesn't, without explaining why) and raises irrelevant (and fairly banal) points about censorship. Still, this book is worth looking at for the glossary alone. Though flippant at times, it contains excellent short introductions to Aristotle, Structuralism and Wittgenstein, none of which, it must be said, is the easiest topic in the world to introduce. (Kirkus UK)

Christian Aid
always thought-provoking, funny and iconoclastic about the whole business of doing philosophy... the most perfect toilet reading I know

Customer Reviews

Entertaining
A very interesting and challenging book covering a whole spectrum of problems. Some of the problems require some quite lateral thinking whereas others are quite focused.

The discussion section of the book provides food for thought. One improvement would be to have the discussion after each problem so you don't have to keep flicking back and forth. That aside, an entertaining read.

Interesting
I thought that this book provided a lot of food for thought, but flicking about from page to page to read each problem and its associated discussion became rather annoying after a while. I learned a surprising amount from the book, but I really don't feel that it changed my way of thinking, or anything as exciting as that!

To summarise: Interesting, and well worth reading, but hardly life-changing.

masterpiece of eccentric genius
I have read both the English edition and now have the Chinese edition too. I quite agree with what it says about the book, viz: this is a masterpiece of eccentric genius with a world-sweeping humorous philosophy. After all, does philosophy have to be cut and dried and boring? Dr Martin Cohen, would never agree even if he has to be bitten to death twice, as the Chinese proverb has it. Because what he hates most, are those boring philosophic theories and the boring philosophers. In the book, he even suggests some philosophers are like vampires, shuddering and covering their eyes in fear and loathing at the clarity of a well-constructed sentence.

The humorous Dr Martin Cohen is in fact the editor of the Philosopher, the highly respected English Journal, founded in 1923, for which the famous John Dewey, Bertrand Russell and so on used to write, as well as the frequent stirrer of waves and blower of wind in today's British philosophical world.

In his book, Dr Cohen has collected 101 interesting Philosophy Problems. Together with his humorous and sharp commentary, these provide readers with a unique experience and in-depth understanding that philosophy is actually a game which everyone is able to play.

The readers, as if charmed by Martin's spell, will follow his instructions and dance with him. The book has been translated into many other languages. Dr Martin Cohen says, "if the boring philosophers find this all too easy, let them answer some of the questions!"