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Socrates' Children Box Set
Peter Kreeft, esteemed philosophy professor and author of over eighty books, has taught college philosophy for sixty years. Throughout those decades, he yearned for a beginner's philosophy text that was clear, accessible, enjoyable, and exciting (perhaps even funny). Finding none that met those criteria, he eventually decided to write it himself.
In this special edition four-volume box set, Kreeft delivers, with his characteristic wit and clarity, an introduction to philosophy via the hundred greatest philosophers of all time. Socrates’ Children examines the big ideas of four major eras—ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary—and immerses the reader in the “great conversation,” the ongoing dialogue among the great thinkers of history, including the most influential philosopher of all: Socrates, the father of Western philosophy.
Volume I: Ancient Philosophers investigates the foundations of philosophy laid by the ancient sages, Greeks, and Romans and introduces the philosophers who asked the first great philosophical questions—about good and evil; truth and falsehood; wisdom, beauty, and love; and the self, the world, and God.
Volume II: Medieval Philosophers studies the transformation of philosophy that came about due to an unprecedented figure—Jesus Christ—and considers the philosophers of the great monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as they sought to marry the Greek philosophical tradition with divine revelation.
Volume III: Modern Philosophers explores a philosophical world caught up in the spirit of the Enlightenment—a time of both scientific discovery and social upheaval—and examines the philosophers who sought above all to answer the great questions of epistemology and politics: What is knowledge? How can we be certain? What is society? What is its greatest good?
Volume IV: Contemporary Philosophers surveys the great philosophers of the last two hundred years and observes the splintering of philosophy into a wide array of philosophical enterprises. Some, unhinged from the past, rebel against the very endeavor of philosophy, but others, seeking to revitalize ancient conversations, return to and renew the deepest questions of meaning, happiness, and the human person.
In this special edition four-volume box set, Kreeft delivers, with his characteristic wit and clarity, an introduction to philosophy via the hundred greatest philosophers of all time. Socrates’ Children examines the big ideas of four major eras—ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary—and immerses the reader in the “great conversation,” the ongoing dialogue among the great thinkers of history, including the most influential philosopher of all: Socrates, the father of Western philosophy.
Volume I: Ancient Philosophers investigates the foundations of philosophy laid by the ancient sages, Greeks, and Romans and introduces the philosophers who asked the first great philosophical questions—about good and evil; truth and falsehood; wisdom, beauty, and love; and the self, the world, and God.
Volume II: Medieval Philosophers studies the transformation of philosophy that came about due to an unprecedented figure—Jesus Christ—and considers the philosophers of the great monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as they sought to marry the Greek philosophical tradition with divine revelation.
Volume III: Modern Philosophers explores a philosophical world caught up in the spirit of the Enlightenment—a time of both scientific discovery and social upheaval—and examines the philosophers who sought above all to answer the great questions of epistemology and politics: What is knowledge? How can we be certain? What is society? What is its greatest good?
Volume IV: Contemporary Philosophers surveys the great philosophers of the last two hundred years and observes the splintering of philosophy into a wide array of philosophical enterprises. Some, unhinged from the past, rebel against the very endeavor of philosophy, but others, seeking to revitalize ancient conversations, return to and renew the deepest questions of meaning, happiness, and the human person.
- GenresPhilosophy
1072 pages, Paperback
Published February 26, 2023
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About the author
Peter Kreeft
198 books1,074 followersPeter Kreeft is an American philosopher and prolific author of over eighty books on Christian theology, philosophy, and apologetics. A convert from Protestantism to Catholicism, his journey was shaped by his study of Church history, Gothic architecture, and Thomistic thought. He earned his BA from Calvin College, an MA and PhD from Fordham University, and pursued further studies at Yale. Since 1965, he has taught philosophy at Boston College and also at The King’s College. Kreeft is known for formulating “Twenty Arguments for the Existence of God” with Ronald K. Tacelli, featured in their Handbook of Christian Apologetics. A strong advocate for unity among Christians, he emphasizes shared belief in Christ over denominational differences.
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July 25, 2023
It's a wonderful introduction to the "great conversation" between the 100 most important "lovers of wisdom" as selected by Dr. Kreeft. It's filled with a wise old man's jokes and insights. He writes about the "big ideas" with clarity, confesses a fondness for the authority of common sense, and focuses on "the big nine:" Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Hume, Kant, and Hegel. In the fourth volume, he discusses different branching directions that philosophy has gone "away from Hegel" in the 19th and 20th centuries. I highly recommend it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review