The Story of Philosophy - Hardcover

Magee, Bryan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0751305901 ISBN 13: 9780751305906

Publisher: DK, 1998

Synopsis

Philosophy is a subject that influences many aspects of our lives and our understanding of our experiences yet it can seem dauntingly inaccessible. Unrivalled in its clarity and insight The Story of Philosophy guides us expertly through the history of ideas and thinking. History of Western philosophy Professor Bryan Magee traces over 2 500 years of Western philosophy from the Ancient Greeks to modern thinkers. His deep appreciation of the subject and grasp of its complexities have enabled him to produce a book accessible to the general reader yet substantial enough for the more experienced student. What is philosophy? Philosophers have questioned the fundamental principles underlying all knowledge and existence. Among the important philosophical issues that The Story of Philosophy addresses are questions such as "What is being?" and "Can the existence of God be proved?" Covering every major philosopher from Plato to Popper via Saint Augustine Locke and Nietzsche Bryan Magee opens up the world of ideas in a way that is easily understood by everyone. Additional background information puts the philosophers in historical context with the influences that shaped their lives and work. Comprehensive highly visual and filled with penetrating observations The Story of Philosophy is the essential guide to this fascinating subject.

About this title

Review:

As a bright adolescent, Magee discovered--see his Confessions of a philosopher --that the kind of thinking he liked to do was called "philosophy". The great disappointment of his life was the realisation that, incapable of great original thoughts, he was condemned to be a populariser all his life. His loss is our gain, and this admirable illustrated book is his very partial account of philosophy for other adolescents and adults who need a handy crib. This is Whiggish history, in which everything leads to a selective group of 20th-century Greats--Wittgenstein, Russell and Popper--two of whom were Magee's personal friends; contemporary French thinkers like Foucault and Derrida are relegated to the sidelines and linguistic analysis treated as a slightly irrelevant game. It is also Eurocentric history in which we leap from Stoics and Epicureans to Thomas Aquinas taking in only Saint Augustine on the way--Muslim thinkers are no more than mentioned and the Buddha is only here as an influence on Schopenhauer. Illustrations and sidebars give a useful cultural context; Magee writes well about his intellectual heroes and this is a personal enough book to be both more and less than a mere introduction. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

"This gloriously illustrated and accessible book enables readers to embark on an adventure in philosophy.Young adults will find that the often closed doors of philosophy are now open and inviting." School Library Journal

"Lavishly illustrated." Library Journal"

"This gloriously illustrated and accessible book enables readers to embark on an adventure in philosophy.Young adults will find that the often closed doors of philosophy are now open and inviting." -- School Library Journal

"Lavishly illustrated." -- Library Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: DK
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0751305901
• ISBN 13: 9780751305906
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240