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Nils Ch Rauhut
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Ultimate Questions: Thinking about Philosophy Paperback – 21 October 2010

by Nils Rauhut (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 171 ratings
Edition: 3rd
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This inexpensive and brief text examines the main problems in contemporary philosophy and uses more than 100 “Food for Thought” exercises to promote critical thinking and help students become active learners of philosophy. The book is intended for use by professors teaching a problems-oriented course, but is structured to appeal to any reader willing to explore subjects such as free will, personal identity, existence of God, and more.

 

Ultimate Questions explores how the timeless problems of Western philosophy are located inside our ordinary ways of thinking and being.  It encourages readers to think about philosophy first-hand by using vivid and engaging examples.  It also introduces readers to prominent up-to-date theories being applied to the same problems encountered by contemporary analytic philosophers.  After reading this text, students will gain a better sense of how mysterious their own natures really are. 

 

NEW! Pearson's Reading Hour Program for Instructors

Interested in reviewing new and updated texts in Philosophy?

Click on the below link to choose an electronic chapter to preview…

Settle back, read, and receive a Penguin paperback for your time!

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  1. ISBN-10
    9780205731978
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0205731978
  3. Edition
    3rd
  4. Publisher
    Pearson
  5. Publication date
    21 October 2010
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    1.02 x 14.99 x 22.61 cm
  8. Print length
    256 pages
  9. See all details
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Product description

From the Back Cover

Overall Changes:

Every chapter has been reworked and updated with an eye to improving presentation of various philosophical positions throughout the book.

New short essay/reflection questions at the end of each chapter.

Several Food for Thought exercises have been updated by incorporating recent events into the presentation.

Several new graphic representations of various philosophical positions.

Unique Chapter Changes:

Chapter 4: Discussion of free will now includes a discussion of the Consequence Argument, as well as an updated version of various compatibilist theories of freedom.

Chapter 5: A new overview of the various questions that might fall under the problem of personal identity.

Chapter 7: Presentation of the cosmological argument has been completely revised, as well as the presentation of the problem of evil.

About the Author

In This Section:

 

I. Author Bio

II. Author Letter

 

 

I. Author Bio

 

Nils Ch. Rauhut studied philosophy and history at the University of Regensburg (Germany). He received an M.A. degree in philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Washington in Seattle. He taught at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, and he is currently teaching at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina.

 

Website: http://ww2.coastal.edu/nrauhut/ 

 

 

II. Author Letter

 

Dear Colleague,

 

I have taught Introduction to Philosophy in various class sizes and at various academic institutions for more than fifteen years. I enjoy it tremendously but I also know that teaching the course is challenging.

 

A genuine introduction to philosophy requires a conversation between us, the students, and the content. However, students are often reluctant to engage in genuine conversations about great ideas. Why think, argue, or speak in class if listening to lectures seems so much more convenient? My textbook, Ultimate Questions: Thinking about Philosophy 3e, is constructed to get students actively engaged in doing philosophy together with you in the classroom. More than 100 Food for Thought Exercises in the text are designed to generate lively classroom discussions and sharpen critical thinking. The exercises are designed to make the philosophy classroom more interactive and they help students realize whether they have grasped important concepts clearly.

 

My text does not presuppose that students already have a natural curiosity to think and talk about great philosophical questions. Instead, it is designed to awaken such curiosity by showing them how the great questions arise naturally in our ordinary ways of being. The book is an invitation for students to realize that the great questions of philosophy are invariably intertwined with the way all of us live every day. To study the great questions then, is ultimately an attempt to get to know ourselves.

 

Students read much less than we instructors hope. I have tried to write Ultimate Questions such that students are seduced into reading. I have tried to write clearly without oversimplifying any philosophical position or problem. My hope is that the book can provide for students partly what a lecture normally provides, so that instructors have more freedom to use class time for discussions, group work, role play or any other form of active learning.

 

I would be delighted to hear from anyone using this book in their classes, and would especially value any suggestions for improvement, my e-mail is nrauhut@coastal.edu.

 

Sincerely,

 

Nils Rauhut

 

Coastal Carolina University

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 020573197X
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pearson; 3rd edition (21 October 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780205731978
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0205731978
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 1.02 x 14.99 x 22.61 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 171 ratings

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Nils Ch Rauhut

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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 June 2017
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Is one of the best academic books about philosophy I've read. Great level of information, good language and really understandable!Good job! (Really useful for uni's courses of philosophy, especially for the majors!)
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Robert P Schillinger
5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite intro to philosophy books
Reviewed in the United States on 5 August 2010
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My Intro to Philosophy professor used the book: Readings on the Ultimate Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. This book is a fantastic companion to the Readings book. Many of the examples given are in a "doing philosophy" style instead of "reading philosophy" which is a better way to learn philosophy. In any event, many questions my professor asked were from this companion book, so I had an enormous leg up on the rest of the class. I pretty much knew what questions he was going to ask ahead of time, and I had already reflected on them before class. It made this class on of the best courses I've ever taken.

I would say that if your professor uses Readings on the Ultimate Questions as a text for the course you'd be stupid not to get this one too. Even if your professor doesn't use that text, this is a great companion to an intro philosophy course to help you get started doing philosophy instead of simply reading about it.
4 people found this helpful
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Bree
5.0 out of 5 stars Great quality, practically brand new
Reviewed in the United States on 8 September 2021
Verified Purchase
There are no damages to the book, practically new, use it for class all the time
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Bree
5.0 out of 5 stars Great quality, practically brand new
Reviewed in the United States on 8 September 2021
There are no damages to the book, practically new, use it for class all the time
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David Milliern
4.0 out of 5 stars Satisfactory Introduction in Some Respects
Reviewed in the United States on 17 October 2015
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I’ve really had a difficult time finding decent books to use in teaching my introductory philosophy courses. Given all the approaches one could take to a first introduction to philosophy, e.g., historical, secondary-literary synopsis, excerpts of works on big issues, and a survey of the most important texts in philosophy, I think Rauhut’s books are some of the better ones I’ve found. In the way that I just phrased that last remark I hope it is clear that I have reservations. Let me say what’s good about this book, first, then I’ll remark on a few of its shortcomings.

One of the things this book has going for it is that Rauhut covered some of the big issues in philosophy, and has a correlated text with excerpts from all the best papers pertaining to the subject. That is, the individual topics in this book, which constitute its chapters’ focuses (e.g., morality, the god question, the basic question of epistemology, namely, how can we know anything, etc.) has a sort of companion text (“Readings on the Ultimate Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy”), in which the chapter are filled with portions of text written by great philosophers in history, as well as contemporary scholars in philosophy departments, sometimes referred to as “philosophers.” Taken together, the potency of this text (and the other one, too), “Ultimate Questions” triple their value.

This text is clearly written and reasonably well thought out. One of the things it does more, which I think other texts need to do, is include diagrams, such as flow diagrams. Being a secondary text, whose function is, primarily, to explain the big issues in a somewhat thorough, yet quick way, requires a great deal of organization. I think this book achieves this with its setup and clear communication. The most valuable part of this book is, without a question, the part that finds no correlating chapter in the “Readings on the Ultimate Questions,” namely, the chapter on “philosophical tools.” I cannot express how much I would have liked to have known of and had access to this chapter when I taught from the “Readings” text. Most students come into a philosophy class without the slightest clue about what reason is, what constitutes an argument, and how to evaluate an argument –an unfortunate consequence of the American K-12 system and its obsession with standards, process, and memorization, rather than understanding. Even if Rauhut doesn’t do as thoroughgoing of a job as I’d like, the content contained is basically priceless and lifts a great burden from both teacher and student (or layperson) when it comes to trying to gain some traction in the area of reason and other philosophical tools (e.g., methods of inquiry).

The bad in this book is really the bad that exists in the “Readings”: what was chosen as subjects aren’t really the most important subjects in philosophy. They may be some of the more approachable and more interesting, depending on your background. In some places, Rauhut certainly tries to tie in important issues. For example, there is no chapter on metaphysics or, say, metaphysical monism versus dualism; but Rauhut does draw Descsrtes’ dualism into a chapter on the nature of personal identity. In essence, the issue I have with this text and the other is that the reader could come away from the text, having read it fairly carefully, and come away not knowing what metaphysics is. Another example: not really having said anything about philosophy’s relation to science is a deficiency. Finally, I don’t like that there is much in the way of historical reference to the development of the ideas presented; the history informs us well of philosophical developments, how they developed, why, and what motivating/influential forces were in play. There are some portion of philosophical history (e.g., medieval) and major branches of philosophy (e.g., aesthetics) that aren’t even covered, maybe not even mentioned! This is not to say that other texts are as comprehensive as I’d like –in fact, I have not found a completely satisfactory text, but merely that this is as good as the best I’ve found so far, and certainly sufficient in many respects.

If you want a big-issues approach in an introduction to philosophy, I can recommend reading this book and its companion, “Readings on the Ultimate Questions.” If you want some of the more important issues in philosophy, I can make some recommendations, including Bertrand Russell’s “The Problems of Philosophy,” for one. If you want a historical approach, Enoch Stumpf’s text is very readable and gentle.
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Mr. Coffee Code
5.0 out of 5 stars Use For My Philosophy Class.
Reviewed in the United States on 18 May 2019
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I earn a B+(89) in the class. I should have brought the book way earlier. It was every interesting to learn many new things by yourself then listening to a professor talk. That's why our professor use this book to inform ourself to get ready to talk about what we read so we all had a clear understanding what to expect in class. Anyways, enjoy the book even if it's not for a class still enjoyable.
One person found this helpful
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