For courses in Introduction to Philosophy, History of Philosophy, History of Western Civilization, and Western Intellectual History.

Esteemed for providing the best available translations, the Philosophic Classics series features complete works or complete sections of the most important works by the major thinkers as well as shorter samples from transitional thinkers.

Forrest E. Baird's revisions of Philosophic Classics, Prentice Hall's long-standing philosophy series, continue the tradition begun in 1961, to provide generations of students with anthologies of high quality in the history of Western philosophy. Using the complete works, or where appropriate, complete sections of works, this series allows philosophers to speak directly to students.

Forrest  E. Baird's work includes the most important works of the major thinkers–along with shorter samples from transitional or more minor thinkers.  By providing complete texts, this volume allows professors to tailor the readings to their particular interests.  Those who use this text in a one term course will find more material here than can easily fit a normal semester.  This offers teachers some choice and, for those who offer the same course year after year, an opportunity to change the menu without having to assign multiple books.