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The Philosophy Gym: 25 Short Adventures in Thinking | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen Law
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.40
You Save: $12.55 (50%)
New (19) Used (19) from $9.75
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 58614
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0312314523
Dewey Decimal Number: 100
EAN: 9780312314521
Publication Date: December 16, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: brand new. no marks, creases, underlining or highlighting. newdustjacket. No remainder mark. NOT ex-library. never read. ships same or next day. free delivery confirmation in U.S.
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Product Description
From Descartes to designer babies, The Philosophy Gym poses questions about some of history's most important philosophical issues, ranging in difficulty from pretty easy to very challenging. He brings new perspectives to age-old conundrums while also tackling modern-day dilemmas -- some for the first time. Begin your warm up by contemplating whether a pickled sheep can truly be considered art, or dive right in and tackle the existence of God. In this radically new way of looking at philosophy, Stephen Law illustrates the problem with a story, then lets the argument battle it out in clear, easily digestible and intelligent prose. This perfect little mental health club is sure to give each reader's mind a great workout.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 We need more books like this January 30, 2005
Bernard M. Patten (Seabrook, TX United States)
3 out of 17 found this review helpful
Stephen Law, whose reputation in philosophy, especially in England, is enormous, has given us a short, interesting, intelligent book about the major questions of our time and all time: Does God exist? Can a machine think? What is knowledge? Perhaps the most useful chapter is How to Spot Eight Everyday Reasoning Errors. That chapter alone is worth the price of the book. It's good that you will profit from this type of serious reading and it's too bad some high placed officials in the American government won't profit from this kind of serious reading. Of course, the book is meant to stimulate thinking and not give answers. So some things seem overstated and some things are made more controversial than need be, such as why we have no moral right to eat meat. That claim bases itself on the idea that we can remain healthy just eatting vegetables. That is not possible without vitamin supplements. Furthermore, claiming that eatting plants is more moral that eatting animals because animals are a higher form of life is questionable. The encoding DNA for a pine tree for instance is (last time I checked) 40 fold more than for a human. Therefore, a pine tree is a much, much more complicated form of life than a human. A carrot has at least triple the encoding DNA of any animal, a reflection of its more complicated life style. That plants communicate with each other is now known from research done by NASA and the sex lives of plants and their adaptive powers are truly amazing. On strictly moral grounds, I would argue that eatting meat makes more more sense than eatting plants as animals are a lower form of life than plants. One thing is for sure, whether you like it or not, you must eat to live, a fact not discussed by Law. How come we have to eat to live? Some Jains decide that they have no moral right to eat anything. Within a few months, they die. That is the Jain moral choice. But what's so moral about killing yourself?
Good enought to share, good enough to horde! September 11, 2004
Art Vandelay
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I have to admit, I was expecting a book with a title like "The Philosophy Gym" to be somewhat facile, if not downright silly. I only bought it because my wife found it highly recommended by The Christian Science Monitor and a few of the chapter titles in the table of contents looked interesting. But don't let the glib title throw you! Stephen Law has managed to distill a wide variety of classic, age-old philosophical paradoxes into a neat, fun, easy-to-read, hard-to-put-down volume that will entertain you for hours, and challenge and enlighten you long after you finish it. Whatever beliefs you hold on religion, vegitarianism, knowledge and morality to name just a few, prepare to question and requestion them; no one and no belief is imune. You will be torn between storing this book on your "favorites" shelf or loaning it out to all your friends (depending upon your personal level of generosity; my copy is nestled snuggly in my bookshelf, my memory suffers more than my generosity these days and I expect I'll need it for reference now and again).
A Perfect Way to Start April 16, 2004
Rosanne Brinkman (Dallas, TX United States)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I just recently discovered an interest in philosophical thought, and I found myself overwhelmed by all the resources available to me. I had no idea where to start when I stumbled across The Philosophy Gym. Nothing could have been more appropriate. It dives right into all the hot topics and gave me some foundational knowledge about how to approach those issues from a logical standpoint. It introduces the reader to basic philosophical terminology as well as several of the great historical philosophers and their famous arguments. Each topic is brilliantly presented in nice bite-sized chunks with suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter. I couldn't be more pleased with this intro to philosophy.
Excellent intro to great philosophical questions January 23, 2004
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
The others reviewers (January 9th and 14th 2004) nailed it right on the head. I could have written the first review myself.I too go back to this book every spare time I get. It is simple and yet quite thorough in its examination of each question's arguments. The author may be biased on some points but, due to the fact that it's so apparent, I think it only added some spice to the content. It pushed my intellect to go further and try to see WHY I disagreed with him and HOW I would retort to his arguments. And THAT's exactly the point of philosophy: open the mind, cultivate curiosity and make up you own decisions. Another book that is often referenced in this book is "Philosophy: the basics" by Nigel Warburton. It complements this one wonderfully. It's less of a pleasure read but it's also unbiased and VERY thorough for a small book. After reading these 2 small books, I had deep conversations and ended up feeling like a great philosopher myself! Since then, I've been unable to stop reading philosophy books!
Have a good read.
the best introduction to philosophy March 17, 2004
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Law deserves all those puffs from academics. This is easily the best introduction to philosophy on the market. It's by someone who knows the subject inside out (Law edits the Royal Institute of Philosophy's new journal THINK). It's ideal for those new to philosophy yet, weirdly, many of the chapters also manage to take you to the cutting edge. I'm doing a Masters in philosophy and I still got a lot from it. "Could a machine think?" is the best thing I've read on the subject.This book is going to stir up a lot of feeling in many readers - Law doesn't mind saying what he thinks, and what he says will outrage many (like homophobes - see below), but that's part of the fun of it. For anyone with an open mind who enjoys having their preconceptions challenged it's a total blast. I've noticed this is fast becoming a cult book among philosophy students.
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