The Story of Philosophy Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

The Story of Philosophy Book

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 KaveneyRead More

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  • Amazon

    As a populariser of philosophy, Bryan Macgee is arguably the best in the business; his latest offering The Story of Philosophy is further testament to that. Macgee has been a Member of Parliament, a music and theatre critic, broadcaster and university lecturer as well as being the author of many books including Modern British Philosophy, The Philosophy of Schopenhauer, Popper, Confessions of a Philosopher and more recently the excellent Wagner and Philosophy. He has presented two popular BBC television series, Men of Ideas, and The Great Philosophers, which in turn became successful books. The difference between The Story of Philosophy and The Great Philosophers is that the latter involved Macgee asking questions and leading an in-depth authoritative discussion with other professional philosophers about particular philosophical greats. The former is a much more basic introduction to, and history of, philosophy, which very briefly summarises the key points in the thought of the great philosophers. It is broken up into nine general sections--"The Greeks and Their World", "Christianity and Philosophy", "The Beginnings of Modern Science", "The Great Rationalists", "The Great Empiricists", "Revolutionary French Thinkers", "A Golden Century of German Philosophy", "Democracy and Philosophy" and "20th-Century Philosophy"--but manages to range more widely.

    What makes this book noteworthy is the fact that Macgee's expertise and characteristically lucid prose is enormously enhanced by the layout of the book itself. The main figures and the leading ideas are illustrated with drawings, photographs, paintings and sculpture along with judiciously placed enlarged quotations, useful historical information set off from the main text and a handy glossary of philosophical terms at the end. This is a fine reference book and if a basic introduction to the history of philosophy is what you're looking for, you won't find better.--Larry Brown

  • Amazon

    In this guide to philosophy, Professor Bryan Magee expertly guides us through the history of ideas and thinking, tracing over 2,500 years of Western philosophy from the Ancient Greeks to modern thinkers. Discover what philosophy is, how philosophers have questioned the fundamental principles underlying all knowledge and existence and address life's big 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, explore these great thinkers in their historical context and learn the influences that shaped their lives and work. An essential guide to this fascinating subject.

  • Waterstones

    Guides us through the history of ideas and thinking, tracing over 2,500 years of Western philosophy from the Ancient Greeks to modern thinkers. This title helps to discover what philosophy is, how philosophers have questioned the fundamental principl

  • 1405353333
  • 9781405353335
  • Bryan Magee
  • 1 April 2010
  • Dorling Kindersley
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 240
  • PB re-issue
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