Philosophy: The Basic Issues, second edition, like its predecessor, is a collection of informative and accessible readings designed to provide a solid introduction to traditional philosophical problems. Collective, we have taught philosophy for more than four decades. Like many instructions, we have spent much time trying to find the best way to introduce our students to the subject. Consequently, in recent years we have settled on a discussion approach to the course if the topics are interesting and the reading are provocative, discussion and debate flourish and class periods become exciting. A search over a period of several years has led to the selections used in this book. Classical works often stylistic problems for many students. Accordingly, we have chosen works mainly by twentieth century authors, readings that are comprehensible to the beginning student.