Socrates' Children: Contemporary: The 100 Greatest Philosophers

by Peter Kreeft

This is the fourth and final part of Kreeft’s four-volume history of philosophy . . . on ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary philosophy. Kreeft focuses on the “big ideas” that have influenced present people and present times, and includes relevant biographical data, proportionate to its importance for each thinker. Moreover, the aim of the work is to stimulate philosophizing, controversy, and argument. It uses ordinary language and logic, not jargon and symbolic logic, and it is commonsensical (like Aristotle) and existential in the sense that it sees philosophy as something to be lived and experienced in life. Philosophy, after all, is not about philosophy but reality . . . about wisdom, life and death, good and evil, and God. Kreeft seeks to be simple and direct and clear. But it is not dumbed down and patronizing. It will stretch the reader, but it is meant for beginnings, not just scholars. It can be used for college classes or do-it-yourselfers. It emphasizes surprises; remember, “philosophy begins in wonder.” And it includes visual charts, cartoons, line drawings, and drawings of philosophers. Peter Kreeft teaches philosophy at Boston College and is a very prolific author of philosophy and theology texts, including, from St. Augustine’s Press,  Socratic Logic ,  An Ocean Full of Angels ,  The Philosophy of Jesus ,  Jesus-Shock ,  The Sea Within ,  I Surf Therefore I Am ,  If Einstein Had Been a Surfer , the first nine titles in his  Socrates Meets  series, including  Philosophy 101 by Socrates  and the titles on Machiavelli, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Marx, and Sartre, and the first three volumes of this series,  Socrates’ Ancient ,  Socrates’ Medieval , and  Socrates’ Modern .

Genres: Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Religion, Christian

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2014

About the author

Peter 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.

Reviews

[Joseph R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kreeft concludes his survey of philosophy with thinkers from the past 150 years. The philosophers are grouped topically rather than ordered chronologically. Existentialists, pragmatists, phenomenologists, and analytic philosophers are presented in sets, making them a little easier to understand with their similar (though often contrasting) ideas. This scheme works well since modern thinks have more complicated philosophies that are easier to understand in their immediate contexts.

This book is not as good as previous volumes. One difficulty is his struggle to resist just quoting the thinkers rather than explaining their theories. Sometimes he intersperses his own comments, other times he just leaves the reader with a core dump. After excellent summaries and commentaries in the first three volumes, this one is occasionally disappointing. Sometimes Kreeft provides a list of recommended books by an individual thinker, sometimes he does not, in a seemingly haphazard manner.

Kreeft concludes with five philosophers in the Thomistic school. They follow Thomas Aquinas, but like Aquinas, build up from previous foundations, incorporating knowledge and ideas from other thinkers. Obviously Aquinas had no access to modern existentialism or phenomenology, so using the best from the new fields is certainly a plus. The final thinker covered in the book is G. K. Chesterton, whom Kreeft readily acknowledges is not thought of as a philosopher. Chesterton was an essayist and pundit in the early 1900s and is known for his witty style and commonsense insights into all sorts of topics. Chesterton is another thinker who gets more quoted than commented. Kreeft provides enough to justify Chesterton's joining the ranks.

This volume ends with a nice call to action by readers to take on these great ideas and discern which ones are true and applicable in life.

Recommended.

[Mikhail Abakumov · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a long but fantastic journey!

Prof. Kreeft's 4 volumes have given me a tremendous amount of insight! I don't know how he managed to summarize so much information, but it was awesome!

[Patrick Santino · Rating 4 out of 5]

In reality, a continuation of modern philosophy, but this was a brighter refreshing volume. Kreeft’s problems of not fully steel-manning some of the “bad guys” continues, but overall the contemporary philosophers were less hypocritical in general compared to the modern Enlightenment guys: Nietzsche lived out his wild ideas, Russell had a philosophy where he could have little-to-no ethics so that he could do what he hedonistically wanted. Some of these guys are totally irrelevant now since the World Wars totally broke their naïve ideas to pieces or put the ideas or the philosopher to the test. Obviously subjectivity and experience are the biggest new innovations of how to appreciate the world, which was refreshing that human beings are started to be treated like living beings again. Most of the individual thoughts will speak for themselves on this one, but overall this volume was so diverse. It felt like going to Jungle Jims in Cincinnati (look it up) or the largest buffet table at a massive banquet. I will say, one trend I may have seen is that all this subjective experience has really reshaped education: no more classical education, learning Latin and memorizing Aquinas and reading Great Books. Students need now to explore and experience and test their creative powers, even if a higher authority (like a teacher or great author) isn’t properly facilitating exposing them to and breaking-open for them great literature etc. Finally, I liked the Neo-Thomists at the end to finish off the book as most try to reintroduce Aquinas with all the new developments etc. Take all the good parts of the relationality stuff, even Heidegger’s being in time (& make him readable), and all of Hildebrand’s Heart stuff: melt that all into a Thomist pot as much as possible, and that is the direction I’d like to see 21st Century philosophy go.

[Diana Kullman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the first three volumes in 2023 and needed a break. This volume ended with CJ Chesterton which was a delightful read. I recommend this series to anyone who is even a little bit curious about, "What is Philosophy?" There are 100 philosophers in the book and some are easier to read than others so no reason to hurry.

[Paul Parkinson]

At some point, I'll move on to the other 3 volumes

[Chris Lincoln · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stellar

An amazing navigator in a sea of philosophers. PK is one of a kind in the way he lays out and helps one grasp some challenging concepts.

[Paul Creasy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful series

I enjoyed Peter Kreeft's summaries of the top 100 philosophers of all time. I wish this had been available when I was in college. I highly recommend.

[sch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jan 2025. Very grateful for this series -- and this author.

About halfway through (Parts I-IV). The material is challenging and diverse (the first two volumes of the series much simpler), but Kreeft makes most of it accessible. I have a new respect for existentialism as an enterprise. These chapters make me want to read Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Buber, Bergson, and perhaps William James. On to Part V, the Analytic tradition.