It has a collection of smaller readings so you don't get bored and/or get confused getting through a 500 page tome on your first go. The subjects covered are fairly interesting (epistemology, philosophy of mind, etc.), gathering material from a mix of time periods.
A problem with a book like that is that it doesn't have commentary built-in, so if you misread something and run with it, you might not realize it in the future, if ever. I used the above book in a class, which allowed me to bounce ideas off of other students and, of course, the professor. Consider getting a book more along the lines of a textbook when you're starting out so that you have readings along with commentary by a person knowledgeable in the subject.
It has a collection of smaller readings so you don't get bored and/or get confused getting through a 500 page tome on your first go. The subjects covered are fairly interesting (epistemology, philosophy of mind, etc.), gathering material from a mix of time periods.
A problem with a book like that is that it doesn't have commentary built-in, so if you misread something and run with it, you might not realize it in the future, if ever. I used the above book in a class, which allowed me to bounce ideas off of other students and, of course, the professor. Consider getting a book more along the lines of a textbook when you're starting out so that you have readings along with commentary by a person knowledgeable in the subject.
Oh, and the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is useful: http://plato.stanford.edu/