A Defence of Philosophy

Harvard University Press has partnered with De Gruyter to make available for sale worldwide virtually all in-copyright HUP books that had become unavailable since their original publication. The 2,800 titles in the “e-ditions” program can be purchased individually as PDF eBooks or as hardcover reprint (“print-on-demand”) editions via the “Available from De Gruyter” link above. They are also available to institutions in ten separate subject-area packages that reflect the entire spectrum of the Press’s catalog. More about the E-ditions Program »

Philosophy is a somewhat mysterious subject to the general student and reader. What is it about? Why should people devote themselves to a subject seemingly so remote and so fruitless? What is the relation, if any, between the study of philosophy and that practical consolation which is popularly associated with the subject? The present volume is designed to answer these and like questions in terms which are intelligible to the uninitiated.