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Philosophy has been under way for more than two thousand years. The Great Philosophers traces the biggest and most influential thoughts in philosophy's long stride through history, beginning with the Ancient Greeks and Early Romans, the first philosophical thinkers in the West, to whom much is owed. How their concerns became the concerns of t...
Since the beginning of time mankind has struggled with the big questions surrounding our existence. Whilst most people have heard of Socrates, Machiavelli and Nietzsche, many are less clear on their theories and key concepts. In The Great Philosophers, bestselling author Stephen Law condenses and deciphers their fundamental ideas. Avoiding the technical jargon and complex logic associated with most books on philosophy, Law brings the thoughts of these great thinkers, from Confucius and Buddha to Wittgenstein and Sartre, to life.
The author interviews modern philosophers and writers such as Martha Nussbaum and Peter Singer on the major figures in the history of Western philosophy, from Plato and Aristotle to Russell and Wittgenstein.
This book brings together the answers that the great philosophers of all times have offered to the problems which we think about today. They have toiled to form an answer that seems to them satisfactory. The book has bnrughtit to you. Our method is to bring together what each philosopher has written on each of these problems as briefly and concisely as possible. This is done so that you, busy as you are, do not have to read long discourses on philosophy to discover that which will help you in your ttiolthig By reading any one of the chapters in this book, you can get a clear picture of what the philosophers down through the ages have said about one of your real problems. Although each chapter is a unit to itself and can be read without reference to the other chapters, it is advisable for the reader to begin with the first chapter and go through the book. This will give you a wide view of the great philosophers and will help you to see each problem or group of problems in relation to the other problems and groups of problems in the book. At the end of the book, you will find Biographical Notes concerning the philosophers whom you meet in the pages of the book. This should be used as a quick reference when you want to know the exact dates during which the philosopher lived or other pertinent facts about him. Contents 1. The Nature of the Universe 2. Man's Place in the Universe 3. What Is Good and What Is Evil? 4. The Nature of God 5. Fate versus FreeWM 6. The ScrulamiImmortality 7. Man and the State 8. ManandEducation 9. Mind aluiMatter 10. Ideas and thinking
If you never understood why Plato's philosophy of Ideal Forms is called Realism, Ideas of the Great Philosophers makes ideal reading. This compact book provides a veritable brief history of philosophy, offering precise descriptions of the major branches of philosophical thought and exploring the contributions of great thinkers to the various fields of philosophic inquiry. -- Amazon.
The Great Philosophers brings together in one volume and in chronological order the best from our hugely successful series: Anthony Gottlieb on Socrates; Bernard Williams on Plato; John Cottingham on Descartes; Roger Scruton on Spinoza; David Berman on Berkeley; Anthony Quinton on Hume; Terry Eagleton on Marx; Ray Monk on Russell; Jonathan Ree on Heidegger; Peter Hacker on Wittgenstein; Frederic Raphael on Popper Andrew Hodges on Turing.
'The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts' Bertrand Russell 'Science is what you know. Philosophy is what you don't know' Bertrand Russell discovered mathematics at the age of eleven. It was, he recalled, a transporting experience: 'as dazzling as first love'. From that moment on, he would pursue his passion with undying devotion and fervour. Mathematics might succeed, he felt, where philosophy had failed, reducing thought to its purest form, and freeing knowledge from doubt and contradiction. And for a time, so it seemed. Russell's mathematical investigations effortlessly resolved at a stroke some of philosophy's most intractable problems. Yet if mathematics could be a liberating mistress, she was also an unreliable one... Opening up the work of one of our age's undisputed giants, Ray Monk's exhilaratingly clear, readable guide tells a compelling human tale too: a moving story of love and loss, of ecstatic triumph and deep disillusion.
The Meaning of Life and the Great Philosophers reveals how great philosophers of the past sought to answer the question of the meaning of life. This edited collection includes thirty-five chapters which each focus on a major philosophical figure, from Confucius to Rorty, and that imaginatively engage with the topic from their perspective. This volume also contains a Postscript on the historical origins and original significance of the phrase ‘the meaning of life’. Written by leading experts in the field, such as A.C. Grayling, Thaddeus Metz and John Cottingham, this unique and engaging book explores the relevance of the history of philosophy to contemporary debates. It will prove essential reading for students and scholars studying the history of philosophy, philosophy of religion, ethics, metaphysics or comparative philosophy.
