An Intelligent Person's Guide to Philosophy - Hardcover
This is a personal view of philosophy from a renowned critic and thinker. In it, Roger Scruton focuses on the ideas and arguments which have attracted him to the subject and which have engaged his attention. He attempts to show how philosophy is relevant not just to intellectual questions, but to life in the modern world. Philosophy - the "love of wisdom" - can be approached in two ways: by doing it, or by studying how it has been done. The second way is familiar to university students, who find themselves confronted by the largest body of literature ever devoted to a single subject. This book follows a more ancient pattern. It attempts to teach philosophy by doing it. Although the author refers to the great philosophers, and in particular to Kant and Wittgenstein, who have been the greatest influence on his thinking, he gives no reliable guide to their arguments. The book makes no attempt to give either a history or a survey of the subject. Instead, it offers itself as a guide to the reader who is prepared to make a personal venture into philosophy. Its aim is to bring philosophy to life.
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Review:
In An Intelligent Person's Guide to Philosophy, Roger Scruton aims to present neither a history nor a survey of the subject (goals he's already met in his Modern Philosophy and A Short History of Modern Philosophy). Rather, he attempts to make philosophy interesting by showing why it is interesting to him. Thus the book's 12 short chapters deal not only with philosophy's old standards--truth, time, freedom, God--but also with topics that not all philosophers would regard as central, such as sex and music. The views of other philosophers peek through from time to time: several pages are devoted to savaging the French historian Michel Foucault and the American jurist Richard Posner, while the influences of Scruton's philosophical heroes, Kant and Wittgenstein, are detectable everywhere. Still, Scruton's primary concern is to present the problems and lay out their possible solutions as he sees them. True to the standards of the Anglo-American tradition of philosophy to which he declares allegiance, Scruton writes clearly, precisely, and honestly. At times he can be unnecessarily cagey: there is no telling, for example, on the basis of his chapter on God whether he in fact believes in God. But for the most part he is forthright, even when espousing controversial positions, such as claiming a uniquely privileged moral status for heterosexual monogamy. All in all, the intelligent person who reads Scruton's book can expect to learn how another intelligent person, who has thought long and hard, views philosophy. --Glenn Branch
About the Author:
Roger Scruton is the author of a number of books, including Modern Philosophy and A Short History of Philosophy. Formerly Professor of Aesthetics at Birkbeck College, London University, and a visiting professor at Boston University, he lives in Wiltshire, England.
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- PublisherViking USA
- Publication date1997
- ISBN 10 0670878189
- ISBN 13 9780670878185
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages168
- Rating
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