I would really like the honor of welcoming you and introducing you to philosophy, but in all likelihood most of you are already familiar with the questions traditional philosophy addresses. Is there a God? Am I, literally, the same person I was last week? Do other people perceive the world in, roughly, the same way I do? Do I freely direct my life by making choices? Is there such at thing as right and wrong? Is it really possible that we are in the Matrix or trapped in a dream within a dream? Can human beings get by without any government at all? These are just some of the many interesting questions that modern philosophy pursues, and, perhaps surprisingly, answers. In this textbook, we will address some of these questions and consider some traditional answers to these questions.

There is a second critical aspect to the pursuit of philosophy that is often overlooked when people think about philosophy. Philosophy itself is also a methodology. Consider this idea: there is more to thinking than merely having thoughts. While it is true that all of us have beliefs and are able to consider these beliefs at our leisure, it is not true that everyone really thinks about which beliefs they should have and which ones they should, perhaps, give up. In fact, it seems very plausible to say that there are good and bad ways to come to have and retain beliefs. Philosophy, among its other projects, considers the foundations of proper believing – that is, in fact, thinking is more than merely having thoughts. Learning these sorts of skills can give you an edge in living your life: you can avoid being convinced by weak arguments and psychological manipulation, you can think more clearly about how to express your ideas, and help clear up misunderstandings and disagreements that rest on nothing more than simple errors in reasoning.

This text is aimed at introducing you to some of the major branches of philosophy, and helping you to build skills in philosophical methodology. While we will cover some rather traditional topics in the philosophical discourse, we will try and build skills that apply to all areas of life.

So, I humbly, re-welcome you to philosophy. I truly hope that learning some traditional ideas in philosophy and considering some of the problems our tradition addresses that you will see how the skills you build will be useful in your everyday life. I also hope that some of these questions will inspire you to think well beyond the introductory level at which we will address some long standing questions.