This lively introduction to the major questions of philosophy is indispensable for instructors seeking a text that explains the basic problems in clear and non-technical language. In addition to addressing the crucial question: "What is philosophy?" this book concentrates on topics most likely to be of immediate interest to the beginning student. Questions of ethics, skepticism and the external world, epistemology, the nature of God, free will and determinism, and political philosophy are discussed in detail. This original book also includes critical analyses of such thinkers as Plato, Descartes, Hume, Pascal, Marx, and Locke, among others. A valuable text, ideal by itself or for augmenting any anthology.