A Young Person's Guide To Philosophy

by Jeremy Weate, Peter Lawman (Illustrator)

From Socrates and Plato to Kant, Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir, here is an entertaining look at the world's greatest thinkers and their ideas, presented in a lively way that makes this intriguing subject accessible to all ages - Discover the ideas and famous sayings at the heart of philosophy and understand their meanings- Find out about the people who spent their lives trying to find the answers.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, School, Childrens

64 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 199

Reviews

[Miri Gifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It's probably not worth five stars itself, but for how much I like it, I'm assigning them anyway. It's a subject I find fascinating, and the breadth of coverage for young readers is excellent. The organization is great, too—it begins chronologically, with spotlights on important philosophers like Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Hypatia, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, De Beauvoir, and Foucault, and then expands a little more on each philosopher by grouping them into schools of thought. Why aren't there units on philosophy in elementary schools? Are there, and I just don't remember? I don't know that I'd ever heard about any of these people—beyond Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle—until after high school (except for the Pythagorean Theorem, of course, and I couldn't have told you that he was a philosopher). I think this book would be a fantastic frame for such a unit.

[Chiara Santoianni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Se non avete mai potuto studiare la filosofia, questo è il libro che fa per voi. Con chiarezza adamantina (almeno per ciò che è possibile quando si tratta di complesse teorie), Jeremy Weate, coadiuvato dall'eccezionale disegnatore Peter Lawman, racconta la storia della filosofia occidentale, dagli antichi greci ai contemporanei. Il pensiero di ogni autore è illustrato da una scheda, che ne riporta il sistema filosofico insieme a curiosità biografiche. Il libro comprende, nella seconda parte, le teorie delle principali scuole filosofiche, e un glossario.

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid overview of the more well known philosophers.

I directed myself to Google when I wanted to know more. Very basic overview.

But I wasn’t really expecting any in depth analysis.

Over all, very clear and easy to read. Each philosopher was split down to 2 pages and went in chronological order.

The last few pages where a breakdown of different schools of thought which I found informative.

Not bad, definitely for “young people”.

[Luke Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concise and fairly wide in its coverage. It features hilarious early DK stylization, with funny diagram-portraits of the author on the verso page and, then, an introduction to the philosophy and impact of the thinker on the right. Any summary of a philosopher's thinking is going to miss out on the way they have conveyed the information, and may be a nonstarter for the avid, interested reader, but the overall summaries and effect of this book seem fairly useful-- it takes us through the way people (mostly men) have thought about the world from its "essence" to reason vs. environment toward a new post-modern element of philosophy's inadequateness to explain itself, human life, reality and experience. And all this in less than 100 pages. Yet, for an informed K-12 student you could do worse and it may spur the excitement of reading new titles and thinking about the world beyond those books and ideas prescribed.

[Andrew Silagi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is of course incomplete and unsatisfying because of its goal of introducing philosophy to children: no star rating feels appropriate. That being said, its illustrations and simple explanations are helpful in exciting those new to philosophy to continue pursuing truth and knowledge. In the first section focused on specific philosophers, the ideas of each thinker were often vague, which was fair considering how short and broad this book is. I was pleased to learn a few new things about some philosophers' personal lives––the fact that Spinoza was attacked on the synagogue steps especially intrigued me––but I learned more from the section on schools of thought at the end. I appreciated the inclusion of some philosophers of science like Popper and Kuhn, both of whom I'd known little to nothing previously.

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classroom/home must-have! Using illustrations and simple writing, this book perfectly summarizes the history of Western philosophy. The main players from Ancient Greece to today are given biographies in chronological order and then the different schools of thought are presented and philosophers are grouped within those. While this is presented for young people it also would serve as a great introduction and/or reference for adults. My only complaint is that it is entirely lacking in Eastern and African thought, however it clearly states right away that it is focused on Western thought so I won't take a star away.

[Donna Kirk]

I read this at the high school library today. I was looking at their philosophy section and found little. This book was a gem, though.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw this while shelving books at the library, and I thought it would be interesting to see how some complex philosophical systems of thought would be boiled down for the Juvenile reader.

[fox hero · Rating 5 out of 5]

favourite

[Hasham Nasir · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book to read if you want to know the very basic facts about great philosophers and the different schools in philosophy they belonged to.

[D.J. Lang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like what another reviewer wrote: It may not be worth 5 stars, but for how much I liked it, I'm giving it 5 stars.

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

great little stories to read about philosophers. This came in quite handy.