Introductory Philosophy
A Text-Book for Colleges and High Schools (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Introductory Philosophy: A Text-Book for Colleges and High Schools<br><br>The efforts which have been made in recent years to provide the beginner in philosophy with a text-book suited to his needs are justified both by the importance of the subject and by the requirements of educational method. It is obvious that an introduction should really introduce, in other words that it should present philosophy in such a way as to arouse the student's interest, give him a firm grasp of essentials, and encourage him to further study. But how these results are to be secured is still an open question. The books that have so far appeared have, each from its own point of view, distinct advantages either as outlining the history of philosophical problems, or as setting forth the claims of rival systems, or as explaining the principles which serve as the foundation of some special system and a basis of criticism in discussing variant theories. An introduction that will combine these several utilities seems to be our present need.<br><br>Dr. Dubray's aim in this volume is to lead the student by easy approaches into the field of philosophy and to show him its divisions with their several problems and the solutions which these have received. In accordance with the principles of correct method, the knowledge which the student has already acquired is made to serve as the starting-point, and from this he is led on to the consideration of more abstract philosophical concepts and theories. These again are presented in clear statement and orderly sequence, with sufficient indication of outstanding questions, yet without the excess of detail which sometimes destroys proportion or results in narrowness of view. At the same time, definite conclusions are presented with the evidence on which they rest, so that the student may get from his use of the book not merely a lot of vague questionings, but a certain amount of positive knowledge and critical direction for later investigation.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.