While this is certainly useful as an introduction to philosophy, for me it only served to confirm my view (based on other reading of philosophy texts) that while learning about philosophy may be, as some claim, a way to learn how to think critically, it's generally a waste of time and effort. The fact that Warburton starts with 'God', focusing on efforts to prove that God, a god, or any gods do or do not exist, illustrates this waste. Philosophers have been going at this question for fifteen hundred years and may perhaps persist for another fifteen hundred, regardless of the fairly obvious fact that such a thing is not - almost by definition - open to proof either way.
Ditto "the problem of evil", also not open to resolution. And so on.
In each of his chapters, Warburton presents a selection of different philosophical approaches to a topic and, for each approach, sets out a number of 'criticisms' (by philosophers) outlining ways in which each approach can be shown to be an insufficient route to any conclusion. Each chapter ends with a 'Conclusion', but only a conclusion to the chapter, not in any way a resolution of the question discussed. An example: "As in all areas of philosophy there is no guarantee that clear argument will provide convincing answers to the difficult questions, but it does improve the chances of this happening." On all the evidence, such a chance is diminishingly small.
Seems to me that philosophy is simply a debating society - lots of fun for the participants, very little value outside the debate. Nothing wrong with debating societies of course, but why are my taxes used to pay teachers and professors and students to enjoy these debates? The evidence from the UK parliament and government is that reading 'PPE' (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) leaves the graduate unable to make sound decisions but makes sure their PPE graduate friends will help them to join the decision-making process . . . . ( )

سهل وممتع ، وشامل إلى حد كبير .. وثري في اقتراحات المطالعة، التي يعرضها بعد كل فصل، لكتب تناقش موضوع الفصل نفسه .. ويصلح للمبتدئين فمن بعدهم ( )

Una breve introduzione alla filosofia per il profano, organizzata per temi: Dio, l'etica, la politica, il mondo esterno, la scienza, la mente, l'arte. Per ciascuno vengono illustrati sinteticamente alcune teorie o posizioni filosofiche, e i loro problemi e punti deboli. Non prende posizione, ma presumo che voglia aiutare il lettore a farsi la propria idea. Tuttavia il rischio dell'approccio "esposizione + critica" è che il lettore concluda che le teorie esposte siano tutte errate e inutili (ma chi giungesse a questa conclusione dovrebbe rileggersi l'introduzione, che chiarisce a cosa serve o non serve la filosofia).
Naturalmente non è né completa né approfondita e non dà alcuna panoramica storica, ma è semplice e chiara e può essere un buon punto di partenza per chi della disciplina ha una conoscenza modesta o nulla, o vuole acquisire una consapevolezza di base delle teorie e dei problemi che si incontrano studiando i temi trattati. Il difetto maggiore mi pare lo stile un po' troppo freddo, arido e impersonale, ma non ho idea se sia nell'originale o nella traduzione. ( )

Full of sweeping generalizations. Hardly a good illustration of philosophy in action. ( )

another one that complimented my intro to philosophy course senior year of HS. this sets up the basics of philosophy, just as the title suggests and Warburton is set on you learning it right. just as my teacher was. worth a read. ( )