Arthur C. Danto's lucid introduction to the central topics of Western
philosophical thought remains an unparalleled guide to problems in metaphysics
and epistemology that have engaged philosophers for several millennia. Examining
the work of Plato, Berkeley, Descartes, Hume, and Wittgenstein, Danto explores
debates about empiricism, the mind/body problem, the nature of matter, and the
status of language, consciousness, and scientific explanation. In a new preface
to this edition he considers the current relationship between philosophy and the
humanities.