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In an interview, Nigel Warburton, a senior lecturer in philosophy at The Open University, talks about the importance of clarity in philosophy.

'Philosophy: The Basics deservedly remains the most recommended introduction to philosophy on the market. Warburton is patient, accurate and, above all, clear. There is no better short introduction to philosophy.' - Stephen Law, author of The Philosophy Gym Philosophy: The Basics gently eases the reader into the world of philosophy. Each chapter considers a key area of philosophy, explaining and exploring the basic ideas and themes including: Can you prove God exists? How do we know right from wrong? What are the limits of free speech? Do you know how science works? Is your mind different from your body? Can you define art? How should we treat non-human animals? For the fifth edition of this best-selling book, Nigel Warburton has added an entirely new chapter on animals, revised others and brought the further reading sections up to date. If you've ever asked 'what is philosophy?', or wondered whether the world is really the way you think it is, this is the book for you.

[Nigel Warburton] raised the money through his birthday and split the donations between the Welsh Air Ambulance...

PORTRAIT artists are never without subject matter - as long as they have a mirror to hand, they can always paint themselves.

Nigel Warburton's article (Why don't our schools teach philosophy? Eye, July) did not mention the fact that in the French Baccalaureat exams philosophy is a compulsory subject and is always the first exam students sit.

Writing in the Journal of Medical Ethics, published by the BMA, Dr [Nigel Warburton] pointed out that boxing accounted for only three deaths in England and Wales between 1986 and 1992. \"Given the smaller number of people involved, the shorter length of boxing matches compared with, say, rugby, and the longer intervals between matches, the real risk of serious injury per boxing encounter is far higher than in any other sport,\" she said. \"The article also underplays the chronic brain damage caused by boxing, a factor which is not generally present in other sports. It would be astounding if a professional medical organisation were not to highlight the very real dangers that boxing represents.\"

Perhaps the problem is that publishers and producers don't know how to make the best of philosophy's most prized asset: ideas. For in the right hands, aren't ideas the most interesting, if not the sexiest, things of all? It's something of a travesty that in the desire to make philosophy more palatable, too many people want to sugar the pill so much that all the flavour and nutrition is lost in whatever gimmicky sweet coating has been applied. [Nigel Warburton]'s latest is one of those books for children that adults will probably read more. It's modelled on EH Gombrich's 1935 A Little History of the World, which was published in English for the first time only six years ago by the same publisher. Both contain 40 short chapters arranged in more or less chronological order. Warburton runs from Socrates to Peter Singer, with most philosophers getting a chapter to themselves, a few sharing the berth and Kant getting the solitary accolade of two to himself. I have no idea whether the youth of today will go for his avuncular approach, but I suspect it's irrelevant. Even given Warburton's gifts, I'm sure that only the brightest children will be capable of the complex thinking the ideas stimulate. But with its complete absence of condescension, the book is bound to find a readership among older teenagers and adults who still don't have that many options open to them if they want a readable and wide-ranging introduction to philosophy.

That is why, two years ago, the Open University launched three \"Start Writing'' distance learning courses, and added three more options last year. These are mini courses presented via computer. Each lasts 12 weeks and costs pounds 125. So far, nearly 9,000 people have successfully completed one of these courses, which start on three different dates each year. Students have two assignments marked by a tutor who oversees a group of about 25. \"The assignments are annotated and assessed and then emailed back to the student,'' says Nigel Warburton, who played a big part in devising the OU courses. \"The feedback is really detailed, and it's much better than the traditional practice of scribbling comments on paper in narrow margins.'' Because the \"Start Writing'' courses are so short, they can easily be slotted in alongside other work, as Jessica Marchant, 17, has found. She has just taken her AS-levels at Edgbaston High School, Birmingham, and will start doing an A2 in English literature next term. Her English teacher told her about \"Start Writing Fiction'' and she did all the work, including a 1,500 word short story at home, via the internet. Her parents, who are both teachers, paid her fee.

[Nigel Warburton Routledge] takes care to develop a thorough character portrait. Yet, despite his assiduous research, one is overcome with a sense of ennui. [Erno Goldfinger] may have been highly charismatic and deadly serious about architecture, but on the evidence in this book, the charisma was of a predictable, narrow- band variety. So too, in a way, was the architecture. In later life (he died in his modernist nest at Willow Road in 1987), Goldfinger was disparaged as a Gucci socialist. [Brian Sewell] derided him as \"a pimple on the rump of Wren\", but this is pure showboating. Most architects, even good ones, are Wrenish wens.

Lulu in Marrakech By Diane Johnson PENGUIN Pounds 7.99 (307pp) (free p&p) from the Independent Bookshop: 0870 079 8897 VINTAGE 7.99 (278pp) (free p&p) from the Independent Bookshop: 0870 079 8897 Expert, concise but far from bland, Oxfords Very Short Introductions series must rank by now as a thinking readers Wikipedia. For its 200th title, philosopher [Nigel Warburton] spans two millennia and more of knotty quarrels over freedom of expression and its moral or legal limits from Socrates death by hemlock to Salman Rushdie, David Irving and Aayan Hirsi Ali. As he writes, almost every defender of free speech wishes to draw the line somewhere. With admirable clarity, this VSI shows us how wobbly, hazy but unavoidable that line turns out to be. Warburton notes how internet rage and hate has written another chapter in this always-evolving story. If the art-and-porn section drags him into a quagmire (as it always does), he spares some good thoughts for the copyright wars that, in a digital age, can mean that the consumers liberty entails the creators penury. BT