Philosophy for Everyone was suggested by Professor Duncan Pritchard

As part of the Ragged Library, Professor Duncan Pritchard FRSE, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, suggested ‘Philosophy for Everyone by Matthew Chrisman, Duncan Pritchard, Jane Suilin Lavelle, Michela Massimi, Alasdair Richmond and Dave Ward (Routledge, 2013)’…

This book was a collaborative effort by a group of philosophy faculty from the University of Edinburgh. It arose out of a ‘MOOC’ (a Massive Open Online Course) that the Edinburgh Department of Philosophy began running in 2013 (entitled, ‘Introduction to Philosophy’). This course, which was entirely free and open to all, was designed to introduce people, whatever their background, to the basic issues of philosophy.

At the time it was the first of its kind, and it has proved to be tremendously popular, attracting over 100,000 students on its first run. The book is designed to complement the course, and covers all the topics included in the MOOC, such as the theory of knowledge, ethics, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, and metaphysics.

The MOOC is supported by the University of Edinburgh, the faculty involved run this on a voluntary basis in our spare time (i.e., it’s not part of our ‘day jobs’) because we believe in making academia as accessible as possible. It turns twice a year (Jan and October), and it’s free and open to all: