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By Bryan Magee The Story of Thought: The Essential Guide to the History of Western Philosophy
The Story of The Essential Guide to the History of Western Philosophy (Paperback)The Story of Thought packs a lot of information into a manageably-sized book. Magee does a great job of balancing the various aspects of the history of philosophy that may be of interest to different readers. Each philosopher is covered in a section of a few pages outlining the thinker's major ideas, but also containing sidebars with famous quotes, major works, related topics and historical notes. The book is organized chronologically and philosophers are grouped into intellectual movements, introduced and expanded by insets. This format allows the book to be used as a point reference on a single thinker or school of thought, but also reads well from cover to cover as the "story of thought". If you are looking for a good introduction to philosophy, it would be hard to find a more complete, accessible, and universally appealing resource.
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First published January 1, 1998
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About the author
Bryan Magee
54 books231 followersBryan Edgar Magee was a noted British broadcasting personality, politician, poet, and author, best known as a popularizer of philosophy.
He attended Keble College, Oxford where he studied History as an undergraduate and then Philosophy, Politics and Economics in one year. He also spent a year studying philosophy at Yale University on a post-graduate fellowship.
Magee's most important influence on society remains his efforts to make philosophy accessible to the layman. Transcripts of his television series "Men of Ideas" are available in published form in the book Talking Philosophy. This book provides a readable and wide-ranging introduction to modern Anglo-American philosophy.
He attended Keble College, Oxford where he studied History as an undergraduate and then Philosophy, Politics and Economics in one year. He also spent a year studying philosophy at Yale University on a post-graduate fellowship.
Magee's most important influence on society remains his efforts to make philosophy accessible to the layman. Transcripts of his television series "Men of Ideas" are available in published form in the book Talking Philosophy. This book provides a readable and wide-ranging introduction to modern Anglo-American philosophy.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 20, 2013
philosophy 101. easy reference... a must have if you care about this stuff. it travels with me on road trips... along with man's eternal quest and the tao of power.
June 15, 2023
Quite introductory, but not so elementary I felt I wasn’t getting anything out of it. Didn’t anticipate how much I was going to enjoy the historical aspect of this — history is much easier to digest when it’s connected to a more interesting subject. I want to read all of their works now and at the same time it seems like a fruitless endeavor because how are these delusional-ass old men going to claim to have a cohesive understanding of the nature of reality (or any sort of understanding of the nature of reality at all, they’re not all as delusional as Hegel) or human thought when we have the entirety of our species’ existence to continue the development of scientific thought?? How can you discuss determinism without understanding quantum mechanics? How can you think about the nature of the mind when neuroscience as a field is still in its infancy? Not blaming them for their lack of understanding, obviously, just their hubris, but I can’t help but feel that any sort of substantive development in philosophy must be constrained by the rate at which science develops, and we are now in an era of science and technology developing at faster and faster rates, and in even a hundred years we’re going to be churning through different understandings of the state of reality at such a rapid speed that it will matter even less than it does now! Just one of those paralyzing little thoughts.
June 18, 2020
An overview of philosophy starting from ancient times to the Greeks and continuing through the 20th century. I was pleased to see Anaximander included in the preGreek group.
Reading the highlights of each philosophy was helpful in seeing the development of the discipline.
The author included a list of writings by each philosopher and many pictures and sidetones from each period. It is a useful book for either a review or an introduction to philosophers.
Reading the highlights of each philosophy was helpful in seeing the development of the discipline.
The author included a list of writings by each philosopher and many pictures and sidetones from each period. It is a useful book for either a review or an introduction to philosophers.
April 15, 2022
Magee clearly summarizes the main points of each of the major philosophers and the impact their ideas had on the development of the subject. I enjoyed reviewing philosophers I had studied in college and reading about those I had never heard of. The book is beautifully illustrated with photographs and art.
February 10, 2020
I got this book from one of my beloved professors as a birthday gift. In short, this is a Philosophy 101 book: easy breezy beautiful - Cover Girl oops I mean whatever. Enjoy 😉
August 29, 2008
Pretty much a "Philosophy for Dummies"/cliffnotes presentment of philosophy. But that's why I like it!
I lik the purty pittures, too.
I lik the purty pittures, too.
October 12, 2021
I have very mixed feelings about this book.
On one hand, the book is completely devoid of women. Outside of a handful of passing references, most of which are due to romantic relations, women have no say in this book and no value in it's conclusions. If this book was based, let's say, entirely from the Greeks to the 18th century, I would be more forgiving, because most of the remaining information we have is by and of men. This book is supposedly the guide to all Western philosophy into the last years of the 20th century, and we don't get the thoughts or contributions of a single woman? Not one? Why is there no chapter on feminist philosophy?
Next. Same exact problem with POC. The only minority represented in this book are Jewish people. Everyone else is white. What about Frederick Douglass, or famous African American poets, something? I mean this book is the exact picture of everything wrong with western thought for most of its history.
Additionally, the author clearly has a crush on half the philosophers. Like we get it, they are brilliant. Tell me what they said and proposed, not how great you find them.
My only other real criticism is the author's strange need to delineate who took what idea from whom. I couldn't care less whether Schopenhauer came to accept Buddhist thought before or after reading on Buddhism. Which, for the record, I do believe is inaccurate, I think he definitely adopted a lot of Eastern Philosophy. But again, I don't care. That's how philosophy works, that's how science works, you build on what has come before you.
On the other hand, the book is well-written. There is a wealth of information here, and I really do feel that I have a much more broad understanding of the progression of philosophy. It was worth the read and would be easy for beginners. It omits a lot but I also recognize the challenge of such a large and comprehensive project, and understand that Magee couldn't review every single philosophy in one relatively short book. I was so frustrated by the lack of women that it clouded/diluded my judgment of the information presented, and that is why I changed my review to three stars instead of two, however, I believe my point stands.
On one hand, the book is completely devoid of women. Outside of a handful of passing references, most of which are due to romantic relations, women have no say in this book and no value in it's conclusions. If this book was based, let's say, entirely from the Greeks to the 18th century, I would be more forgiving, because most of the remaining information we have is by and of men. This book is supposedly the guide to all Western philosophy into the last years of the 20th century, and we don't get the thoughts or contributions of a single woman? Not one? Why is there no chapter on feminist philosophy?
Next. Same exact problem with POC. The only minority represented in this book are Jewish people. Everyone else is white. What about Frederick Douglass, or famous African American poets, something? I mean this book is the exact picture of everything wrong with western thought for most of its history.
Additionally, the author clearly has a crush on half the philosophers. Like we get it, they are brilliant. Tell me what they said and proposed, not how great you find them.
My only other real criticism is the author's strange need to delineate who took what idea from whom. I couldn't care less whether Schopenhauer came to accept Buddhist thought before or after reading on Buddhism. Which, for the record, I do believe is inaccurate, I think he definitely adopted a lot of Eastern Philosophy. But again, I don't care. That's how philosophy works, that's how science works, you build on what has come before you.
On the other hand, the book is well-written. There is a wealth of information here, and I really do feel that I have a much more broad understanding of the progression of philosophy. It was worth the read and would be easy for beginners. It omits a lot but I also recognize the challenge of such a large and comprehensive project, and understand that Magee couldn't review every single philosophy in one relatively short book. I was so frustrated by the lack of women that it clouded/diluded my judgment of the information presented, and that is why I changed my review to three stars instead of two, however, I believe my point stands.
January 3, 2017
I really enjoy Bryan Magee's writing and his enthusiasm for philosophy. This is a brief survey of the history of philosophy going back to the Pre-Socratics all the way to speculation about the future of the discipline. This book made me want to read more of certain philosophers and you can see how philosophy has evolved in a historical context of science, politics, and other philosophical ideas. Magee also connects philosophy to visual art, as there are numerous paintings in the book in which Magee sees philosophical themes. This book is superficial and a mere introduction. In fact it is so superficial that it might be the case that you can only appreciate it if you have some prior exposure to philosophy.
June 28, 2021
Excellent book. I picked it up on impulse and am glad I did. I've struggled to learn the basics of philosophy for years. Confession: I have two sons with English degrees and a strong knowledge of philosophy. When we're together, I sometimes don't know what/who they're talking about. At least now when they use the word Locke, I'll know they aren't talking about car doors.
January 28, 2017
THE book to read to introduce you to the concepts & figures of Western Philosophy. In my opinion, this should be the standard text for high school & college intro classes to philosophy. I cannot recommend this work enough. My obsession with philosophy started with this book. Life changing.
August 6, 2017
Excellent primer on the basics of philosophical thought.
March 13, 2010
An accessible and very extensive overview of the history of thinking, exploring the history of philosophy, beginning with pre-Socratic figures such as Thales, Heraclitus and Pythagoras, moving through other Greeks: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Cynics, the Sceptics, Epicureans and Stoics. We then move through the Christian philosophers such as Augustine, Boethius, Abelard, Thomas Aquinas, and, of course William of Ockham and Duns Scotus. We then move on to the age of science with Copernicus, Newton, Francis Bacon and Hobbes, the great rationalists, Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz, the Empiricists with Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Burke, and the revolutionary French thinkers, Voltaire, Diderot and Rousseau. Then comes the golden century of German philosophy: Kant, Schopenhauer, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Marx and Nietzsche, bringing us to the utilitarians such as John Stuart Mill and American transcendentalists like Emerson and Thoreau. Finally we make it to the 20th century with Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein and the existentialists like Kirkegaard, Satre and Beauvoir, later Bergson and Popper.
Very engagingly written with views of the lives of the great thinkers and very lucid and approachable descriptions of their ideas. A perfect handbook but also a very interesting read.
Very engagingly written with views of the lives of the great thinkers and very lucid and approachable descriptions of their ideas. A perfect handbook but also a very interesting read.
April 16, 2012
"The Story of Thought" packs a lot of information into a manageably-sized book. Magee does a great job of balancing the various aspects of the history of philosophy that may be of interest to different readers. Each philosopher is covered in a section of a few pages outlining the thinker's major ideas, but also containing sidebars with famous quotes, major works, related topics and historical notes. The book is organized chronologically and philosophers are grouped into intellectual movements, introduced and expanded by insets. This format allows the book to be used as a point reference on a single thinker or school of thought, but also reads well from cover to cover as the "story of thought". If you are looking for a good introduction to philosophy, it would be hard to find a more complete, accessible, and universally appealing resource.
December 24, 2012
Bryan Magee'nin Felsefenin Öyküsü adlı kitabını okumayı bitirdim. Genel olara beğendiğimi söyleyebilirim. Görselleri kitabı özellikle gençler için ilgi çekici kılmış. Kitabın konu genişlikleri bence yeterli boyutta tutulmuş. Tüm öykü genel olarak sunulmuş. Tabii Doğu Felsefesi kitapta hiç yok! Kitabın çeviri başarısı mükemmel değil ama başarılı. Ufak tefek tashih sorunları var.
March 17, 2008
Probably the best overview of philosophy/philosophers I have come across so far.
November 4, 2009
A very good introduction to the different philosophers.
December 18, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews