ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about challenges faced in teaching introductory philosophy courses. First, it suggests that philosophy is mainly the contemplation of works written long ago, and students may be led to suppose that their sole obligation is to grasp what others have said, not to think critically. A second approach to introductory philosophy is to combine reading great works of the past with studying several contemporary texts. In this way, students are made aware of the importance of the history of philosophy but also realize that philosophical inquiry is ongoing. A third format uses a single-authored textbook written with a student audience in mind. The advantage of this approach is that reading a contemporary synopsis of philosophical problems is far easier to understand than trying to grasp original works. The most popular approach to teaching introductory philosophy is to use an anthology in which readings are grouped by topic and drawn from historical and contemporary sources.
