Compassionate Socrates

<p><em>Compassionate Socrates: Readings on Wisdom across the Cultures and Disciplines</em> takes the form of an interdisciplinary dialogue on human experiences in religion art science and philosophy. With the Socratic method serving as a basis for exploration and examination the carefully curated readings in this anthology help students better understand what we as humans assume believe favor and hope. Throughout students are encouraged to discover how questioning as a philosophical method opens a path to critical reasoning.<br /><br />In Unit I readings help students make sense of religion through the examination of Hinduism Buddhism Islam and Christianity. Unit II focuses on art with discussion of Greek drama the metaphor of the body in painting music for contemplative enjoyment and the theme of the absurd in Camus’ The Stranger. Units III and IV features articles on science and philosophy respectively offering a bird’s eye view on significant upheavals in human intellect. The final unit invites students to read selections about the nature of humanity including ancient wisdom on changes the goals of human life the concepts of economic alienation and the primordial Tao.<br /><br />Designed to inspire critical thought and meaningful reflection <em>Compassionate Socrates</em> is an ideal textbook for introductory courses in philosophy.</p><p><strong>Jung Kwon</strong> holds a M.A. from Seoul National University and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo where her doctoral research focused on Kant’s sublime and postmodern aesthetics. She is an adjunct professor of philosophy within the College of Arts & Humanities at California State University Dominguez Hills. Dr. Kwon’s philosophical inquiry focuses on the communicability of aesthetic experience interconnection between consciousness and language in the study of memory.</p>