How to Think Philosophically

"Philosophy" is understood in many ways. Its meaning and method have been debated for thousands of years. But at its core, philosophy is a way of life and a way of thought. In this concise introduction to the philosophical task, W. David Hall guides readers into the heart of these ways. How to Think Philosophically invites both novice and expert to reflect on their own experience of curiosity, wonder, and inquiry. Part I explains philosophy as a way of being, of developing the disciplines and intellectual virtues for seeing and inhabiting the world as it is. Part II introduces the specific domains of philosophical thinking: epistemology (how we know), metaphysics (what we know), and ethics (how we should live). These traditional fields of philosophy, though, follow upon philosophical ways of being. It is by first being philosophical that we learn to think philosophically.

The good life, the life worth living, is one that is lived in accord with the way things are. To live well requires thinking methodically. That methodical habit of thought, the love of wisdom, is thinking philosophically.