Nigel Warburton

Philosophy: The Basics

by Nigel Warburton

"Bizarrely, when I first started writing philosophy books, in the late 1980s, there were hardly any philosophy books targeted at the general reader, and hardly any introductory ones. I was teaching undergraduates and 16-18 year olds philosophy at the time and I had lots of notes. The first book I wrote was partly based on my teaching — it’s called Philosophy: The Basics. It’s a general, topic-driven introduction to philosophy. It’s the kind of book that I hoped I would find, when I was 15 or 16, to help me understand what philosophy is. The publishers liked the format and title so much that they created a whole series of ‘Basics’ books with well over 50 titles now (unfortunately they forgot to credit me for initiating that!).

Argument is central to the kind of philosophy that I’m interested in—making a case for a position without being dogmatic about what that position is. It’s a book that doesn’t presume any prior knowledge of philosophy, but I’ve also tried to write it as clearly as possible. The structure of it is that I present an argument that’s been important in the history of philosophy and give some criticisms of it in each case. There’s an engagement with the ideas, not just simply a summary of them, it’s meant to encourage the reader to decide how good they think the criticisms are, and to carry on with further reading if they want to."

Read expert recommendations

Thinking from A to Z

by Nigel Warburton

"The second book that I wrote was called Thinking from A to Z. This is about critical thinking, the kinds of informal logic that are central to the philosophical method: reasoning tools, that complement the first book."

Read expert recommendations

Philosophy: The Classics

by Nigel Warburton

"The third book I wrote, Philosophy: The Classics, is slightly different. It’s approaching philosophy historically, looking at some key books in the history of philosophy, from the Republic to the present day. The book summarizes very briefly some of the key arguments from each book, and some possible criticisms of the approaches within the book. Again, it’s a book that’s meant to take you to the original books—not to be an excuse not to read them. Again, it’s written for a very general audience. I also edited an anthology of readings, called Philosophy: Basic Readings. That is meant to complement these three books. So that has short readings from a range of different places, on various topics and philosophers."

Read expert recommendations

A Little History of Philosophy

by Nigel Warburton

"More recently I wrote A Little History of Philosophy, which is in the Little Histories series that was spawned from a book that Ernst Gombrich wrote called A Little History of the World. So it’s in that format, written for a general readership. It covers some of the same areas as Philosophy: The Classics, and Philosophy: The Basics, but in a more story-driven way. I think it’s more accessible for a general reader. I’ve tried to bring in some aspects of the philosophers’ lives and context, briefly. The idea was that an intelligent 14 or 15 year old could get a lot out of the book and there’d be nothing threatening in terms of language or presupposed ideas. That’s a book that has surprised me greatly in the way it’s been taken up. It’s been translated into over 20 languages and has sales all around the world. I’m delighted to have been part of that movement to popularize philosophy through this dispersal of ideas. It’s very encouraging that so many people are interested in philosophy today."

Read expert recommendations

Philosophy: The Essential Study Guide

by Nigel Warburton

"Lastly, I also wrote two slim books for people studying philosophy at university. One is called Philosophy: The Essential Study Guide, which is to help philosophy students understand how to approach being a student of philosophy (my original title for this was ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Philosophy Students’, but the publisher didn’t like that). The other one is more general and is called The Basics of Essay Writing. It’s again a short book and applies particularly to writing philosophy essays, but to other subjects as well."

Read expert recommendations

Free Speech: A Very Short Introduction

by Nigel Warburton

Read expert recommendations

The Art Question

by Nigel Warburton

Read expert recommendations

Philosophy Bites

by Nigel Warburton

A book of interviews from the Philosophy Bites podcast. Other books in the series include: Philosophy Bites Back, Philosophy Bites Again and Women of Ideas: Interviews from Philosophy Bites, edited by Suki Finn.

Read expert recommendations

Women of Ideas: Interviews from Philosophy Bites

edited by Suki Finn

Women of Ideas is a collection of interviews with philosophers from the Philosophy Bites podcast.  The interviews were selected and put together by Suki Finn, Lecturer in Philosophy at Royal Holloway, part of the University of London. It's a really fascinating collection, opening with an interview with Amia Srinivasan, Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at All Souls College, Oxford, on "What is a Woman?"

Read expert recommendations