One of the most concise anthologies available, Timmons and Shoemaker’s KNOWLEDGE, NATURE, AND NORMS: AN INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY features classical philosophy readings as well as short fiction and literature from popular writers, all within a page count that’s only half the length of the typical anthology for this course. Concise, well-edited selections address the practical needs of your first-time philosophy students, giving them the opportunity to reference primary sources that have been thoughtfully edited. Students can focus on the essential elements of each philosophical argument without getting distracted by extraneous unabridged material. Although brief, this anthology covers a broad range of philosophical topics, including key topics in epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, personal identity, and ethics. Integrated pedagogy offers an introductory essay at the beginning of the text that provides an overview of how to approach philosophy. Effective Chapter Introductions draw students into key debates, while Reading Comprehension and challenging Review Questions emphasize key ideas and arguments. A robust companion website further enhances learning with self-assessment exercises, study guides, and links to philosophical and other helpful resources. A unique online Instructor’s Manual written by the text’s authors provides additional teaching tools to ensure you have all the resources you need with this brief reader.

The meeting / F. Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth -- Phaedo / Plato -- The myth of the soul / Clarence Darrow -- The prince and the cobbler / John Locke -- A dialogue on personal identity and immortality / John Perry -- The unimportance of identity / Derek Parfit -- They're made out of meat / Terry Bisson -- In defense of dualism / Curt Ducasse -- Dualism: for and against / Paul M. Churchland -- The mind-body problem / Jerry A. Fodor -- Minds, brains, and machines / John Searle -- The puzzle of conscious experience / David J. Chalmers -- Leopold and Loeb / Clarence Darrow -- The illusion of free will / Baron d'Holbach -- Has the self "free will"? / C. A. Campbell -- The problem of free will / Walter T. Stace -- The impossibility of moral responsibility / Galen Strawson -- Freedom and resentment / P. F. Strawson -- Rebellion / Fyodor Dostoevsky -- The ontological argument / Anselm -- The lost island objection / Gaunilo -- The cosmological argument / Thomas Aquinas -- The teleological argument / William Paley -- The evidence of miracles: an exchange between a Christian and an atheist / William Lane Craig and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong -- The wager / Blaise Pascal -- God / Simon Blackburn -- The problem of evil / David Hume -- The mirror of evil / Eleonore Stump -- A brain in a vat / John L. Pollock -- Within the sphere of the doubtful / René Descartes -- Certainty / G.E. Moore -- A defense of skepticism / Peter Unger -- The ethics of belief / William K. Clifford -- Is it wrong, everywhere, always, and for anyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence? / Peter van Inwagen -- The myth of Gyges / Plato -- A defense of ethical relativism / Ruth Benedict -- Right and wrong / Thomas Nagel -- In defense of utilitarianism / J. S. Mill -- The moral law and autonomy of the will / Immanuel Kant -- An ethic of caring / Nel Noddings -- Virtue and character / Aristotle.