Footnotes to Plato: An Introduction to Philosophy

Footnotes to Plato is a guide for beginning students of philosophy as they begin to systematically reflect upon philosophical matters like the nature of the good, living the good life, and exploring the nature of the cosmos. Philosophy is best learned by doing; furthermore, the doing of philosophy is best done in conversation. Those conversations need to be with the great philosophers of the past, with contemporary thinkers, and with peers. Footnotes uses primary texts, commentaries, and guided readings to help students to enter into conversation with contemporary scholarship, having regard for great thinkers and philosophical topics - freedom and determinism, causation, God, human nature, personal identity, ethics, etc. A layered approach to fostering conversations helps students to engage not only with the text, but also with themselves and with one another as they develop the ability to think critically and analytically.