Westerns Books

I have used this book as an ethics instructor for six years. The book is useful in identifying the multiple influences upon our lives for how we make ethical decisions. Our religious perspectives and understanding of behavioral sciences find residence in our lives, whether we are aware or not. It is through these we are formed and make decisions. Stevenson and Haberman present overviews of Taoism, Hinduism, and Judaism, as well as behavorial sciences and philosophy by examining these theories' underlying philosophies and intellectual difficulties. While Judaism and Christianity are not separated by chapter [but combined into one], and Islam is not given a full discussion, the book is useful for understanding the complexity of global interaction and how we can relate to the millions of people who hold religious or philosophical premises unlike our own.

I teach an introductory-level philosophy course at a university, and this is my main text. Whereas most intro-level books are divided by topic (epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, etc.), this one is helpful in that is organized by chapters that specifically deal with each theory of human nature. So when you read about Plato, for example, you will get a wealth of background material as well getting to see the implications of each theory for epistemology, ethics, etc. I think that this is a much more natural way for students to grasp the material.

The first two chapters are by David Habberman (which were added to later editions of the book) and deal with Eastern theories of human nature (Confucianism and Upanishadic Hinduism). I realize that these chapters were placed first to maintain somewhat of a chronological order, but the only downside is that they don't seem to 'grip' the students in the same way the other chapters do considering they have had far less of an effect on Western culture and thought. They are certainly valuable and students need to interact with them, but you may wish to start with 'the Bible' or 'Plato' and revisit the beginning chapters later.

Some readers may also complain about Stevenson's treatment of the Bible. He seems to raise some unusual objections to the judeo-Christian viewpoint, while leaving out some of the more conventional ones (For example, at one point he states: "Paul and other Christian writers are obviously influenced by Old Testament ideas of sacrifice, but not many theologians are now prepared to interpret Christ's 'saving work' as a propitiatory sacrifice..." Is this supposed to be a surprise?). He could have easily brought up popular topics like the problem of evil or free will and predestination instead.

If you plan on using this in the classroom, I would recommend supplementing it with other reading, considering how (understandably)brief
each treatment is. Each chapter does include suggestions for further reading, which is nice.

All in all, this is one of the better introductions to philosophy and the history thought in general.

Quality book. Received in a timely manner.

Socrates postulated that only the examined life was worth living. His great inspiring idea was that we can come to know the right way to live if we use our reason properly, and inquire in an open-minded, nondogmatic way.

In this spirit, "Ten Theories of Human Nature" does not restrict its inquiry to five major thinkers of the Western Tradition (Plato, Kant, Marx, Freud and Sartre), but includes three ancient religious traditions (Confucianism, Hinduism, and Christianity) as well as two scientific thinkers (Skinner and Lorenz).

Each of the ten theories is examined under four aspects:

(1) what is its theory about the world?

(2) what is its theory of the nature of human beings?

(3) what is its diagnosis of what is wrong with us?

(4) how can we put it right?

The result is a concise, well-balanced textbook with useful suggestions for further reading. It shows how the focus of each theory on different aspects of human existence branches out into elaborate (sometimes, arcane) systems of thought. It also illustrates how the dominance of very comprehensive theories, especially religious ones, is replaced in time by more scientific, narrow theories which increase our knowledge about human behavior in very particular, small aspects but tend to lose sight of larger, "non-scientific" issues.

While the authors claim at the beginning of their book to present "rival" theories, the book is actually open-minded about the contributions of each theory to the understanding of the human condition: they are adding up, rather than canceling out.

Meeting the ideas of Sartre, Skinner and Lorenz in the context of the book was an interesting experience for me. Surprisingly, I found that Sartre's ideas about freedom and choice could well form the philosophical basis of the main-stream American self-help book - a thought that any self-respecting French intellectual would definitely hate.

I like the way the author analyzes the religions and thoughts that have influenced the course of world history. It doesn't compare one against the other so the reader is allowed to view the theory in a vacuum. I only wished that the author wrote a chapter on the importance of why we need to engage in such an endeavor that would set the trajectory of our lives. Great book!!!

I used this textbook for an MBA Marketing Research class. Very useful complementary textbook.

I used this book over five semesters for the class of Marketing Research I teach at ASU. It is an OK-to-good book. However I would like to warn potential buyers that WebSurveyor has discontinued its contract with the book's publisher many semesters ago; so even if you find a coupon inside the book with a code to enter to use WebSurveyor online, you will not be able to log in...

I am an MBA/Graduate Marketing Research adjunct professor at Lindenwood University in St. Louis, MO and I am currently using this text for my class. The students find it very accessible, even for non-researchers, and easy to read. I find that it flows very well and makes good use of real-world examples. The only criticism is that there could be even more real-world cases and examples and some interactive projects that could better allow students to have a more hands-on learning experience. This text is very good overall, but I am needing to supplement the class with some outside real-world projects.

I figured this would be a good introduction to the writings of Nietzsche. While I believe it was, I was sorely disappointed in what I found.

In the first part of the book Nietzsche finds fault with every school of philosophy aside from his own. In this section, he raises several valid concerns about the direction and limitation of philosophy to date. In particular, he points out that philosphy has been tied to the tyrrany of words and word opposites (a favorite trap Plato falls into), and that it often is simply an exercise in edifying one's own pre-existing prejudices. He then acts as a guide to these traps by falling into them. Repeatedly.

For example, he generally mocks other philosophers by posing quotes and then asking what it says about the philosopher rather than the subject matter, but if we take this same process and apply it to Nietzsche's work, we get a sad picture of an antisemitic, misogynistic, power-hungry, racial purist who believes in modernism.

At the same time, having read just before this W. Guthrie's translation of Plato's Protagoran and Meno I found that Nietzsche seemed in my mind to be reinventing (perhaps intentionally) the arguments of the Greek Sophists but seemed vastly inferior in wisdom to Protagoras (interestingly the only philosopher he quotes and does not dismiss off-hand). I found Plato's arguments vastly more convincing than Nietzsche's despite the fact that I managed to identify many logical problems with the same arguments (most notably confusing words and concepts, which Plato seems to do quite frequently).

I suppose Nietzsche's great accomplishment was to essentially to badly re-invent the Greek Sophist traditions which lay to some extent at the origin of European philosophy.

At the same time, this *is* an influential work in the modern world and probably should be read for historical purposes.

Beyond Good and Evil clarifies much of what is left in the air in Thus Spoke Zarathustra and hinted at in the Gay Science. It helps to be familiar with TSZ, or at least the Gay Science coming into reading this text, given the subtlety of the allusions to his former writings and concepts, and the elaborateness of the traps the author lays for cursory readers. For newcomers, hopefully BGE will prove to be a catalyst to further interest in the man's thought; if that's the case you have much to look forward to. Happy hunting.

Nietzsche had issues...That's all I can say about him. The book itself is a pretty easy read. I don't believe this is a prelude though. All in all, a good book.

Abstract open ended type of book with Nietzsche's opinions and beliefs on good and evil. Opinions on 'slave morality', philosophy, the will to power with a little bit of history thrown in the mix.

There were some great quotes in here that I did agree with. Then we come towards the middle of the book that contains the maxims and interludes part and all goes wrong...

There were some things in here I extremely disagreed with... regarding women. Where he came up with this I have no idea but it was completely off base... I can see how many parts of this book could be misinterpreted and used in the wrong way.

He talks about individuality but the truth is this is for people who need to be told what to think. If you think like Nietzsche thinks- you are 'better'- he has the mentality of a nazi.

This book is not as dramatic as Zarathustra but it's close. I think he feels if he stresses his point enough maybe you will believe him. This book is the opposite of religion yet the same- on the other end of the spectrum.

The bottom line is these are HIS opinions and shouldn't be taken as truth or fact. It's not a completely bad book though I disagree with most and wouldn't take it too seriously- its a pretentious piece of work.

Beyond Good And Evil (1886) was German existentialist philosopher Friedrich Nietzche's attempt to completely devalue all religon, science, and philosophy and replace it with a universal reality that allows man's true spirit, his "will to power", to be left unbridled by spirit draining, intellectual, and timid conventions. The human spirit must never be stifled! Let man's passions and desires be set free! Nietzsche rips into Voltaire:

Oh Voltaire! Oh humanity! Oh imbecility! There is some point to 'truth', to the search for truth; and if a human being goes about it too humanely - I wager he finds nothing!

Nietzsche will offend almost everyone who reads Beyond Good And Evil. Women, Christians, and Jews are all portrayed by Nietzsche as either inferior or misguided. He calls working people (and others) "herd-animals" who need a master, and he scorns France at every turn. You can't take everything here to heart. This was written in the 19th century by a very unconventional and passionate existentialist philosopher. Just the same, Nietzsche was a poetic and optimistic visionary of his day who had keen insights into human behavior:

To talk of oneself a great deal can also be a means of concealing oneself.

Who has not for the sake of his reputation - sacrificed himself?

One does not hate so long as one continues to rate low, but only when one has come to rate equal or higher.

Poets behave impudently towards their experiences: they exploit them.

Beyond Good And Evil is a short book of around 230 pages, and Nietzsche has divided his thoughts into 296 aphorisms, some as short as a sentence, and others several pages long.

While Beyond Good And Evil isn't as comprehensive or influential as his "Thus Spake Zarathustra", it does give the reader a basic overview of Nietzsche's philosophy. God has died. Will To Power. Science, religon and philosophy are misleading and glorify weakness and lack of courage. Live passionately, unabated by convention!

Nietzsche and his works aren't for everybody, but Beyond Good And Evil is an important work from one of the most influential and important existentialist philosophers in history. His works have been twisted and misinterpreted (Hitler was a major fan), and while I don't subscribe to his philosophy as a way of life, I admire his poetic spirit, passion, intelligence, and courage to explore unconventional ideas.

Beyond Good And Evil?

"That which is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil."

Although I haven't finished reading this text, I think I can accurately comment on it. The information comes from an economics perspective. that's a good thing, if you have an economics background, which I do. I like the way this book reads. It offers a good deal of information about commercial real estate using both financial and urban economics. I don't believe this book is appropriate for an undergrad student. This book assumes you have a basic finance background and some understanding of urban economics. In short, if you have an econ degree or even a finance degree, I think you'll find this text very useful in helping you to understand what drives the commercial real estate market, how to predict where this market is going, how to analyze it, and how to valuate it.

Just everything okay, considering it had to be shipped from the US to the UK, arrived even earlier than some of the books I ordered same time from UK suppliers.
Small unsubstantial damage on cover of book though, probably caused by transport.

This is one of the most comprehensive, analytical and thorough texts on topics concerning commercial real estate investment that I have come accross. It would be useful for both advanced students with real estate interests and finance professionals, who seek exposure to fundamental real estate (and real estate securities) analysis. Participants in the real estate industry mishgt find the text useful, but basic. The book is also useful as a reference guide for real estate professionals looking for a particular mathematical formula.

The authors cover a very broad range of topics - from urban economics, to fundamental (supply/demand) real estate analysis, to real estate valuation techniques as well as more specialized topics, such as commercial mortgage backed securities and real estate development. The book really stands out in the breadth of its disourse both on qualitative and quantitative topics.

This book is really serious. It gives you data sets, a massive amount of study questions with solutions and sample programs (Argus & Crystal Ball--which is used for probability). This book is like the bible. It goes from simple real estate i.e buy low & sell high all the way to mortgage backed securities, options and derivatives. After reading the book you will know more than most executives.

It may not be for those that are more into urban planning or construction management, but if you need and want a book that blends real estate with the capital markets this is the one.I highly recommend it.

Commercial real estate is not for the faint of heart. I have been in residential real estate for a while and have on several occasions dealt with commercial real estate folks and issues surrounding it.

On the plus side, if you are looking for an exhaustive source of information on evaluating commercial real estate, you have arrived. This volume is going to give you all the information you need to analyze any situation to death. Perhaps to the point that small bits of brain dribble out your ear.

If your a dabbler... or someone who has thought, "Gee... I wonder if commercial real estate would be interesting to get into?" then this is NOT the place for you to start that journey of self discovery.

There are much smaller, shorter, lighter more digestible books out there on the subject that will give you a feel for what you might be getting into.

So, if you are someone already knee deep in commercial real estate, or someone deadly serious about being able to really analyze commercial properties, then this one is for you.

I had purchased this book for a masters level class I was in. It is incredibly comprehensive and will be your one-stop source for employment law as it relates to Human Resource practices.

There are lots of case studies and discussion questions should you feel the text doens't challenge you enough.

The only drawback is that the text is two-tone; it could have done with being a tad more colorful. Having said that, that's all that kept it from being five stars.

The book was top shelf and much cheaper than the bookstore. Delivery was prompt as promised. I've recommended your site to other students!

This book has everything you need to know! It is clear, easy to read, and easy to understand. Great Case Studies and online supplemental material. If you are in the field, get it today!

I bought this book for a class, and although we were only required to read sections of the book I ended up reading the entire thing, including the extra two essays (Immortality of the Soul & Suicide). The entire thing was extremely well-written and thought-provoking, even to a novice philosopher such as myself.

This isn't a book you can fly through. Hume requires the reader to slow down and really think about what is being said. The main section of the book (Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion) involves four characters, three discussing theories, and one student (technically the narrator) listening and occasionally commenting. By using this dialogue technique, Hume is able to present several sides of each argument in a unique way, and not simply expound his own theories. The method is most effective.

I won't go into depth of what this book discusses, the theory of design, arguments about God's nature and being, the argument from the existence of evil, and whether a posteriori or a priori arguments are best suited for proving God's existence. Overall this book is interesting and exciting, even for a 200 year old publication. Even if you're interested in modern philosophy, this book still offers some interesting theories. And obviously if you're interested in philosophy at all, it's a good book to check out for some history on the subject.

The introduction offers a good deal of information about the essays included in the book as well as Hume himself.

While being a theist I do not accept Hume's conclusions, he is no doubt the finest philosophical skeptic in the West since the time of Sextus Empiricus.

Hume, the philosopher who woke Kant from his 'dogmatic slumbers', takes a very empirical approach to reality and philosophy. In Hume's mind, the pretensions of the human mind to certain truth and knowledge do not accord with the way things are. Many things are believed on insufficient evidence or sloppy thinking or for reasons of emotional need rather than on evidence and reason. The task he set himself was in many ways like that of Descartes, except unlike Descartes Hume did not believe that either the methods of science or God (Hume was an atheist) could give us grounds for certain knowledge.

The dialogues on Natural Religion are one of his supreme masterpieces. Published after his death, this dialogue features a conversation between two philosophers about the nature and existence of God and the proofs for his existence. One philosopher is a skeptic, Philo, and the other is a theist, Carneades. Demea the Deist provides a third interlocutor in the dialogue. Carneades states several popular arguments for God's existence in Hume's time, including the teleological argument, moral argument, and argument from design. Philo responds to this arguments, mostly using the argument from evil as well as appeals to the rule of regular law in nature, to refute ideas about miracles, providence, and evidential design from a supreme 'architect.' Hume states the counter-arguments in extremely powerful terms, essentially completely demolishing the position of Carnedes and concluding that at best, only a very weak inference can be made for God's existence from the structure of the world.

Hume's arguments have been recently re-stated by several atheist philosophers, including J.L. Mackie and Daniel Dennett. For Mackie, Hume was right in arguing theism is philosophical nonsense, and for Dennett, God is a redundant hypothesis when the order and beauty of the universe is readily and clearly explained by science, and at best a kind of Spinoza-style pantheism is where the sacred can enter into the cosmos. While I disagree, the adoption of Hume's arguments by many leading philosophers shows both the power, beauty and logical coherence of Hume's position, which should be read carefully by any philosopher who wants to offer a rational proof that God exists.

For me it is not the order but the beauty of the universe which suggests God exists, but perhaps for others this beauty is marred too much by suffering and evil to come to such a conclusion, and Hume would surely agree.

David Hume, a philosopher of the period often classified as British Empiricism, is the intellectual associate of philosophers John Locke and George Berkeley. Born in Edinburgh in 1711, he attended the University of Edinburgh but did not graduate. He went to France during his 20s, and spent time there working on what would become his most famous work, 'An Enquiry into Human Understanding', first published under the title 'Treatise of Human Nature'. However, Hume was a prolific writer, and dealt with many areas of philosophy, including politics and ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics. He wrote in the area of history as well, and had a politic career as British ambassador to France and a post as a minister in the government for a few years. His final work, 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion', was published posthumously in 1779, although work had begun on it as early as the 1750s.

Hume was very concerned about rationality. Hume was never publicly and explicitly an atheist, but his rational mind, concerned about sensory and intelligible evidence, led him to question and doubt most major systems of religion, including the more general philosophical sense of religion and proofs of the existence of God. The primary arguments in his 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion' deal with the Argument from Design, and the Cosmological Argument. There is an assumed distinction here between natural religion and revealed religion, an especially important distinction in the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment philosophical structure.


- Natural Religion and Revealed Religion -

Natural religion is the idea that we come to know and understand God (and, consequently, what God wants or expects of us, if anything) simply from nature and our sensory perceptions, as well as our interpretations (emotion and rational) of this kind of understanding. From very early in his writing career, Hume attacked the idea of natural religion and most of its conclusions, drawing a sharp line between what we can actually know and what ends up being fanciful extrapolations based on other-than-rational ideas and evidence. Revealed religion is primary what most religions base themselves upon - the burning bush to Moses, the resurrection and post-resurrection appearances to the Apostles, the Buddha's enlightenment under the tree - these are examples of revelation. While Hume does take on the idea of revealed religion in his other works, this particular text does not concern itself with that topic, and stays in the domain of addressing natural religion.


- The Argument from Design -

Arguments from Design have always had a strong appeal to believers within religious frameworks; they have often been used as tools of evangelism, as attempts to show that beyond the revealed doctrines, the very nature of things points to a creator. In very short order, the Argument from Design in Hume's newly-industrial time might have read like this:

- Machines are designed by beings with intelligence.
- The world and the universe it is in resembles a machine.
- Therefore, the world must have been created by means of intelligent design.

This is an argument by analogy, and is convincing to some, but often more convincing to those already inclined to believe in the existence of God.


- The Cosmological Argument -

The Cosmological Argument is at once both more subtle and more simple. The most simple way of stating it would be that God is the 'first cause' of everything. If everything has to have a cause (even the whole universe), then that first cause must be God. In the twentieth century era of thinking of a universe that began with a Big Bang, it seemed to some that the Cosmological Argument was confirmed.

Hume would have been familiar with Leibniz's more subtle form of the Cosmological Argument, which argues for a world of infinite contingent causes. However, there has to be something outside of this system of infinite causes that produced the series - thus, even in a universe with no set beginning or ending, there would still need to be an overarching cause.


- Hume's Arguments -

Hume argues on many levels. His first criticism of the Argument from Design is that this analogy (as are most arguments from analogy) is faulty and not exact; we have no idea if the universe is like a machine. Even if it was, machines are often designed and built by several designers - why argue for one God rather than several? How do we know that matter and the universe don't have their own, internal self-organising principles?

With regard to the Cosmological Argument, the argument is a little more strained. Hume argues that, in any series of causality, once one knows about each cause, it makes no sense to inquire beyond the sequence of causes to some other effect. This is a very Empirical argument, to be sure, and while perhaps not entirely satisfying, it still has merit in philosophy to this day.


- Hume's Structure -

This is a dialogue, set up in the classical way of people talking with each other about the subjects. Hume draws primarily from Cicero, whose work 'On the Nature of the Gods' uses characters of the same names. However, whereas Cicero was concerned about the nature of the Gods (their attributes, powers, etc.) and not their existence, it is the very existence of God that occupies Hume's thoughts.

Hume, despite many years of work on this text, probably never quite thought it was finished. He left the work to Adam Smith (the noted economist, and friend of Hume in Edinburgh), who also thought the arguments against the existence of God were too strong, and likely too damaging to Hume's overall reputation. The tug-of-war over the publication makes for interesting reading in and of itself.

These are important arguments, worthy of discussion and dialogue in philosophy classes, theology classes, and among others who ponder the existence of God.

This nearly pamphlet sized book is pretty dense with things to ponder. Hume speaks mostly about how a deity would function as the head of the world. The reviewer is not intent on being cute here. Hume addresses many notions about "God" through a series of dialogues amongst three intellectuals. They are intent on convincing each other of their individual views. Essentially those three have to come to terms with the anthropomorphism associated with the God of Christian belief system. It really is more complicated than that but this is a short review.

In addition to the Dialogues are a short essays on the Immortality of the Soul and the rationality of Suicide. Finally there is a discussion of Miracles. The latter three are well placed with the Dialogues as they address the philosophy of religion in much the same manner but come from Hume rather than the fictional characters of the Dialogue.

This book as short as it is, requires a considerable amount of time to consume. Not only are the concepts that Hume presents detailed and valuable, but the language is particularly arcane and often requires re-reading in order to understand where Hume is going.

The two excellent reviews of this book , one by Kurt Messick and the other by CT Dreyer outline the background to, and the principal content of the work. Hume takes apart the argument from Design as proof of God's Existence, raising objections to the analogy between Machine- design and world- design. I do not believe however that Hume in the work really considers two other major arguments for belief in God. One argument might be called the existensial - personal decision argument , in which the individual out of his own need and will decides for belief in God. This decision can be a rational calculation as Pascal suggests that we should make in order to give our own immortality a chance, or it can be a profound deeply moving conviction something that grows out of our own deepest being and need. Another path to belief in God is through the kinds of mystical experience that thousands of human beings from all cultures have had. William James collects some of these testimonies in 'The Variety of Religious Experience'. Another path is through the path of accepting the Tradition given us by our ancestors.
Now it might be said that these alternative paths to belief in God do not deal with the kind of ' proofs ' Hume is talking about. Hume is really talking about the ' rational way' to God through mind and reason. But I believe that every reader should have these other ways to God in mind , if only not to be devastingly shattered by Hume 's demolition job of the Design Argument.
It is well to remember that there are other ways to God aside from the ones spoken of and questioned here.
I write this as a believer in God who also believes that a very great share of Mankind needs God, needs the belief in God to make their own lives ultimately meaningful. And this when I would also keep in mind the following idea. If the Proof of God were certain and absolute , then there would be no test/ trial / challenge for humanity in its belief in God.
And here I add the idea central in the Jewish tradition, and probably important in others, that God wants our decision for God, our free choice of God, and not a slavish obedience even to an airtight logical principle.

be careful when placing an order ,they sent the wrong book and i was screwed.

I believe this was a new book. It wasn't marked up or anything like that, the cover was just bent a bit, which may have happened during shipping. Other than that, no complaints! :)

This book is an excellent resource for college students interested in humanities. This was the text used for my Humanities class. It was very easy to read and I was able digest the material covered without falling asleep. The photos are excellent and the captions are detailed. This is an excellent book well worth the asking price.