Practically Profound

Putting Philosophy to Work in Everyday Life

Do you think that philosophy is an activity for old men in sandals with long white beards? Or people who sit under trees and wait to be struck on the head by apples? If so, then you owe it to yourself to explore the insights of this book. In conversational yet artful prose, James H. Hall reveals the many ways that you can actually enjoy and use philosophy in the course of your everyday experience. Doing philosophy involves critically examining key concepts, presuppositions and implications that are in play across the entire range of human inquiry. Practically Profound introduces the enterprise in three basic areas: knowledge and belief (epistemology), human nature (ontology) and the good life (ethics). Emphasizing experience-based arguments, the book demonstrates techniques that readers of all ages can use to enhance their own understanding of themselves and their world. This book is ideally suited to any introductory course in philosophy that takes a problems-based approach, as well as to general readers interested in putting philosophy to work in their everyday lives.