The Bluffer's Guide to Philosophy - Softcover

Hankinson, Jim

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9781902825564: The Bluffer's Guide to Philosophy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 190282556X ISBN 13: 9781902825564

Publisher: Oval Books, 1999

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About the Author:

Born in Lagos in 1957 for tax reasons, Jim Hankinson gave evidence at an early age of a naturally enquiring turn of mind, that propensity for asking questions (many of them highly impertinent), which led many observers to predict a career in philosophy, and several others to predict an early death. At school he was widely held to be too clever by half; but these days, by dint of persistent intake of alcohol he is only too clever by about ten per cent.

His undergraduate years were spent at Balliol College, Oxford, where he learned just how difficult Effortless Superiority can be, and that a full-time job is the cultivation of idleness and degeneracy.

Having acquired, to everyone's intense surprise, a First Class degree, he spent a period as a full-time sunbather in Crete before writing a doctoral thesis at King's College, Cambridge, on an area of philosophy so obscure that no-one could effectively examine him on it. On the strength of this he has taught philosophy in Britain, Canada and the USA, always taking care to keep one step ahead of the tax authorities.

A believer in the value of rigorous discipline and self-motivation, he makes a point of working at least five minutes every day (including Wednesdays). His other interests, pressure of work permitting, include European Cinema, beer-brewing, and the development of increasingly complex and improbable fantasies involving Catherine Deneuve.

From the Back Cover:

A common misconception is that philosophy is something like religion really. A good line to take in the face of this is to observe that philosophy is concerned with the undermining and questioning of dogmas, whereas religion is all about accepting and supporting them.
Bluffer's Guides is a series of snappy little books containing facts, jargon, and all you need to know for instant expertise.

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