Current Issues and Enduring Questions

by Sylvan Barnet, Hugo Adam Bedau

The unique collaborative effort of a distinguished interdisciplinary team — a professor of English and a professor of philosophy — Current Issues and Enduring Questions is a balanced and flexible book that provides the benefit of the authors’ dual expertise in effective persuasive writing and rigorous critical thinking. Its comprehensive coverage of classic and contemporary approaches to argument includes Aristotle, Toulmin, and a range of alternative views, making it an extraordinarily versatile text. Readings on contemporary controversies (including the purpose of a college education, immigration, a peacetime draft, and obesity) and classic philosophical questions (such as, "How free is the will of the individual?") are sure to spark student interest and lively discussion and writing. Refined through seven widely adopted previous editions, it has been revised to address current student interests and trends in argument, research, and writing, and has been updated with compelling new topics and readings and more on analyzing visuals and presenting oral arguments. No other text and reader offers such an extensive resource for teaching argument.

Genres: Philosophy, School, Nonfiction, Textbooks, College

776 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1992

About the author

Sylvan Barnet is an American literary critic and Shakespearean scholar. He is a Fletcher Professor of English Emeritus at Tufts University.

Barnet is the author of numerous books and articles on Shakespeare. He is the general editor of the Signet Classics Shakespeare,[1] the author of A Short Guide to Shakespeare,[2] and has written many textbooks. He is the co-author with William Burto of occasional essays on aspects of Japanese art.[3] He has also written books about the art of writing.

Reviews

[Sara Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this for a class and the teacher was terrible so I might be biased in my rating.

[Abigail Prior · Rating 1 out of 5]

English 101 made my brain hurt

[behsforensics]

Cutting is for Love is a Fallacy
By Max Shulman

[Nicko · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will open up your eyes and make you think differently about many different issues concering out society today. You might also realize those issues are much more complicated than they seem on the surface.

The book is in two parts: the first lays down the elements of citical thinking and the art of dissecting an argument, and the second is an excellent selection of readings which offer both pro and con views on a wide variety of social and moral subjects.
I found myself continually referring to the second section of the book, because the readings selected are compelling, and very well written. They include modern writers, as well as the best writings of past authors who explore contemporary issues of their day. That they continue to be "hot" issues today speaks to the continuing struggle we have with certain kinds of issues.

After each pair of readings the authors have offered a series of questions for further thought, which can be used for independent analysis of the reading, or as part of a course in critical thinking. I found these questions very helpful in stimulating discussion with others, especially those with strong feelings in the subject areas.

This book has become a "must read" in my circle of critically thinking frinds.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I approach the end of the semester, I'm more and more unhappy with this book as a reader for my argumentative writing class. The sections that were written by the authors are truly painful to read, not just for my students but for me as well. There are a lot of excellent essays included, but the way the book is structured it's confusing to assign only the ones I want students to read, so I end up assigning whole chapters, and then I have to figure out how to use the extra material so that my students don't feel they've wasted their time.

The lousy part is that I didn't have time to read any of the other approved books for this course, so I have to use it again next semester. Hopefully I can do better this time.

[H.S. Contino · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this textbook for a sophomore level composition class. It's main focus is on teaching students to write argumentative essays. It contains several good essays on controversial topics that are worth reading. Highlights include essays by Jonathan Swift, Plato, Rush Limbaugh, and Thomas More (to name a few); and poetry by Robert Frost, Andrew Marvell, and Kate Chopin. The essays were thought provoking and well written.

[Humayra Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was alright overall. There were some essays that I thought were great, but others...not so much. They told us a lot of what we already knew, I didn't feel like I was able to glean any new information from the book.

[Amanda]

Didn't mean this book and I couldn't remove it.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and it was really well written.