Entertaining Ideas

From Library Journal In this challenging and entertaining anthology, which collects his essays from newspapers and popular magazines, the author demonstrates his devotion to making philosophy accessible. Ideas give life meaning, he declares; they are as natural and urgently needed as food or sex. Spanning a variety of such current topics as progress, love, and business ethics, his essays evince a winning combination of hard-hitting facts and subtle wit. He makes complex or abstract issues truly approachable for lay readers by illustrating them with everyday examples. Solomon has written over ten books, including Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (Oxford Univ. Pr., 1987) and Love: Emo tion, Myth, and Metaphor (Prometheus Bks., 1990). His new work is a worthwhile acquisition for both public and academic libraries.- Nancy Shires, East Carolina Univ., Greenville, Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. Product Description This delightful collection of fifty witty and insightful essays is written for real people in plain language by an internationally respected philosopher who is well-known for his efforts to "popularize" philosophy.Originally published in newspapers and popular magazines, these essays are presented to "elicit the joy of reflection," to provoke argument and intimacy, and to encourage understanding. Robert Solomon's aim is to make philosophy accessible and fun for everyone. You are cordially invited to join in a fascinating romp through many of the sticky intellectual brambles that have tantalized the human mind for centuries. Read about: "Becoming a Philosopher," "What's Wrong with Sentimentality?", "The Game of Love," "The Politics of Sleep," "Are the Three Stooges Funny?", "Righteous Food," "The One-Minute Moralist," "In Defense of Kitsch," "The New Illiteracy," "Are Ethics Courses Useful?", "Professors Riot: Kill Moby Dick," and much more.Entertaining Ideas will captivate the curious and positively unnerve all those who believe that good ideas have to be dull, boring, and impossible to understand.