Thinking books · Logic & argumentation · Stephen Law, 2003
The Philosophy Gym — the big ideas
Twenty-five philosophical problems presented as exercises, graded by difficulty.
Free — no account needed to read
The big ideas
It treats philosophy as something you do rather than read: each chapter sets a problem and works it, with the reader expected to disagree.
It repeatedly shows that intuitions conflict with each other, so "it is obvious" is not an argument — and that discovering the conflict is progress.
Its graded structure makes the point that reasoning is trainable: the hard chapters are hard in a way you can work up to.
Practise it — no need to have read it
Take a moral intuition you hold firmly. Construct a case where it conflicts with another intuition you hold just as firmly.
A hint: You are not trying to resolve it. Finding the conflict is the exercise.
Where it shows up in real life
- Ethical decisions at work
- Examining a firm opinion
- Arguments that feel obvious
Described in our own words with the source named — never quoted, and not a substitute for reading the book.
Thinking methods from this book
- Socratic questioning — Testing a definition or belief by following its consequences until something breaks.
The thinking it builds
- Logical Thinking — Reason consistently
- Questioning — Ask better questions