A survey of the Western tradition in metaphysics and epistemology from the Pre-Socratics to the 21st century. Aimed at the beginning student, it presents the ideas of the major philosophers and their schools of thought, highlighting the central points in each contributor´s doctrines and offering a discussion of the next-level details which both fills out the general themes and encourages the reader to pursue the arguments still further through a detailed guide to further reading. This edition is revised and updated.