Current Issues and Enduring Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking and Argument, with Readings

The unique collaborative effort of a professor of English and a professor of philosophy, Current Issues and Enduring Questions is a balanced and flexible book that provides the benefits of the authors’ dual expertise in effective persuasive writing and rigorous critical thinking.

Refined through eight widely adopted editions, it has been revised to address current student interests and trends in argument, research, and writing. 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 environmental stewardship, student-teacher relationships, cyber bullying, and the limits of reproductive rights) and classical philosophical questions (such as How free is the will of the individual?) are sure to spark student interest and lively discussion and writing. No other text and reader offers such an extensive resource for teaching argument.

Booknews

A text and anthology for undergraduate students, explaining how to read others' arguments and how to write arguments, and offering some 100 essays from ancient times to the present. Part 1 covers using sources, evaluating evidence, and organizing material. Part 2 contains debates on contemporary issues such as abortion, drug legalization, and immigration. Part 3 provides classic and contemporary essays on issues such as the ideal society. Part 4 offers examples of literary criticism, new to this fourth edition. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Sylvan Barnet, professor of English and former director of writing at Tufts University, is the most prolific and consistently successful college English textbook author in the country. His several texts on writing and his numerous anthologies for introductory composition and literature courses have remained leaders in their field through many editions.

Hugo Bedau, professor of philosophy at Tufts University, has served as chair of the philosophy department and chair of the university’s committee on College Writing. An internationally respected expert on the death penalty, and on moral, legal, and political philosophy, he has written or edited a number of books on these topics. He is the author of Thinking and Writing about Philosophy, Second Edition (Bedford/St. Martin’s).