Think
By Simon Blackburn
Review by Becky (Philosophy)
When I was given a book called 罢丑颈苍办听just before I came to Oxford, I was a little offended. Philosophy, I had figured, was one area where I could confidently claim to know the basics, and I felt that an introductory book would have been too simple and not interesting enough for me. But since 罢丑颈苍办听had the advantage of being a small book with large words, I gave it a shot.
The reason why I would now recommend it so much is, ironically, because it is an introduction to some of the most interesting areas of philosophy. Some areas in the book I had studied previously, and enjoyed hearing about again, and some of them I hadn鈥檛 even considered.
I didn鈥檛, and embarrassingly, still haven鈥檛, read the whole book cover to cover, and unless you have a burning desire to read every chapter in order, I would recommend the method I took. The introduction was particularly good. In it, Blackburn talks about some different ways to think about philosophy, and in particular, some of the reasons why it鈥檚 so crucial to do so. It made me realise that philosophy wasn鈥檛 just a subject at school that I鈥檇 enjoyed, but also that it was a mental activity that each one of us engages in when we consider simple questions like 鈥淲hy am I different from this person?鈥� or 鈥淲hy was I wrong when I was so convinced that I had been right?鈥� The answers to questions like these cannot be considered without philosophising.
Having read the introduction, I skipped straight to a chapter I was interested in, and I advise any other reader to do the same. For me, this was chapter 5 on God, since the existence or non-existence of a deity had always been my favourite area of philosophy. Blackburn talks about St. Anselm鈥檚 ontological argument (which I had heard of), Thomas Aquinas鈥檚 cosmological argument (which I thought I knew well), and Hume鈥檚 discussion of the argument from design (which was a take I didn鈥檛 know, on an idea I did know). Blackburn also discusses the problem of evil, and some arguments against the objective existence of God, entirely intelligibly and interestingly.
To tie this into the other half of my degree, the chapter on free will was a really interesting way for me to start thinking philosophically about psychology, and to start to blur the boundaries between what I thought were two different areas of knowledge. Having never studied it before, a quick look at determinism and the arguments against was useful when I came to study the topic later on in the year.
Finally, the chapter on reasoning will help with Logic, which all philosophers at Oxford study in their first year, and the chapter for knowledge is some fundamental stuff that will be interesting for anyone philosophically inclined.
I believe any PPE-ists, theologians, classicists or other psychologists will find this book equally as enjoyable as I did.
Think by Simon Blackburn
ISBN-10: 0192854259
ISBN-13: 978-0192854254
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