Felsefe 101

Adams 101

by Paul Kleinman, Şükrü Alpagut (Translator)

Ders kitapları, felsefenin önemli teorilerini, ilkelerini ve figürlerini filozoflan bile çileden çıkaracak kadar sıkıcı metinlere dönüştürebiliyor zaman zaman. Felsefe 101 gereksiz detaylara ve yorucu felsefi kuramlara yer vermek yerine insanın büyüleyici düşünce ve sorgulama tarihinin kapılarını size açıyor; Aristoteles ve Heidegger’den, istenç ve metafiziğe, başka yerde bulamayacağınız yüzlerce ilginç felsefi bilgi ve düşünce sunuyor.
Varoluşçuluğun gizemini mi çözmek istiyorsunuz yoksa sadece Voltaire’in kuşkuculuk hakkındaki düşüncelerini öğrenmek mi? Felsefe 101 merak ettiğiniz tüm sorulan yanıtlıyor

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, Reference, Psychology, Education, Collections

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 2013

About the author

Paul Kleinman grew up in White Plains, New York, and currently resides in New York City. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2009 with degrees in Art and Communication Arts: Radio, Television and Film. Out of fear that his author bio is painfully boring, he began making things up. He is an astronaut. He trains cobras. He is very tall and in no way sickly pale. He is also a humor writer. That one is true. Maybe.

Reviews

[Marian · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept was great, but over a year of reading it off-and-on, I found this book to be increasingly irritating. It's a crash-course in philosophers and philosophical ideas, yet in no chronological order (or even logical order, that I could tell). Several times I questioned the author's knowledge, first when he mentioned Kierkegaard only in passing (and in the same breath as Nietzsche), and towards the end of the book when he included Jesus in a list of writers. Reluctantly, I would say skip this book and just watch some YouTube videos or browse Wikipedia.

[Liz Greenwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even for an overview of a broad subject, this book is tough to follow. It bounces between philosophers and concepts, doesn't bother to link between them in a logical fashion, and does a poor job of explaining concepts.

[Elly-Kleinman Americare-Companies · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my opinion Kleinman left out some interesting topics that I wished were in the book. For example, about idealism, which is a major philosophical concept, is very little said. Also when Kleinman discusses Nietzsche works, he completely overlooks his Superman philosophy. We can't have the kids finding out about that. And there is more, this book somehow looks like something written and edited by liberals for their children. There are far better introductions to philosophy, for example I would mention the 'Elly Philosophy For Beginners' series of books. This one relays on various philosophies and is especially intended for the younger audience, junior high on up. They're just fun to read and make you want to explore the subject further.
But, overall, I could say that enjoyed reading Kleinman’s book. Must admit that he did a really great job of taking some complex ideas and breaking them down into digestible parts. Several interesting quotes too.

[Victoria Foote-Blackman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Though this little book might have its uses, to title it "Philosophy 101" is not only inaccurate but irresponsibly deceptive. The implication is that the reader who finishes reading it will have at least a bare bones idea of the history and evolution of philosophic theories, and that in some regard they will have a good glimpse of a first year college philosophy course. And this couldn't be more inaccurate. What this little book does--in fits and starts--is provide a kind of exhaustive primer of many philosophical terms, so that what the pages contain is essentially a dictionary.

The main problem with the book--a problem because of its title at the very least--is that the various subjects addressed appear in completely random order. Celebrated philosophers, theories, and thought experiments through the ages jostle pell mell with each other without coherent sequencing. A glance at the Table of Contents shows that while the book begins reasonably enough with the Pre-Socratic thinkers, Socrates, and then Plato, all hell breaks loose thereafter in terms of chronology. The Francis Bacon entry appears early on, p. 36, followed by the Prisoner's Dilemma of the 1950's on p. 53, which is followed by the 17th century Rene Descartes, and so on. The organization is as random as objects falling from a piñata. Connections are rarely made between earlier and later developments in the philosophy of language, for example, and cross-referencing is at a minimum, so there is no way to gauge the evolution of human thinking through the centuries, the building of newer theories and principles on previous theories and principles.

This is not the fault of the writer but of the publishers. It is as if they thought people have so little attention span (true) and are so easily bored (also true), that the best solution was to present the equivalent of a recipe with the instructions all out of order to make the reading livelier! So this is absolutely not a book to read from cover to cover.

Its limited but genuine use is the biographical entries of history's greatest thinkers. The short paragraphs include piquant details about their lives, which are then alas followed by brief and quite often cryptic explanations of their work. The theories described are uneven; some are concise but clear; some are awkwardly conveyed, as if the author lacked enough mastery of language to communicate what he is trying to explain. The net effect is to leave the reader in a worse muddle than when she/he started.

The various illustrations provide visual appeal but are likewise a kind of hodgepodge. Some are very helpful and clear; others just waste the precious little space there is and offer no added value for comprehension.

Even as a kind of dictionary or the most perfunctory of 'encyclopedias' Philosophy 101 is lacking. The index for what is supposed to provide overall coverage of the main and lesser thoughts is of some help for cross-referencing but leaves out many essential terms, e.g. 'syllogism,' 'referents,' 'Lord Shaftesbury,' 'analytic philosophy', 'natural philosophy', 'idealism' and even 'ontology' are missing, even if all these terms are embedded in different places between the book covers.

[Carlos Natálio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Este livro serve sobretudo para espreitar distraidamente pela janela e saber se lá fora chove ou faz sol. Contudo, a partir dele não se experimenta nem o molhado nem o seco. Para isso é preciso abrir a janela ou sair a rua. Isto é, aprofundar a coisa. A modos que para sentir a dita. (Coisa).

[Mustakim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philosophy 101 বইটাকে দর্শনের একটা ক্র‍্যাশ কোর্স বলা যায়। বইটিতে প্রায় বেশিরভাগ উল্লেখযোগ্য দার্শনিক এবং দর্শন নিয়ে সংক্ষিপ্তভাবে আলোচনা করা হয়েছে।

এ পর্যন্ত আমি যতগুলো দর্শন নিয়ে ইন্ট্রোডাক্টরি বই পড়েছি এটা সেগুলোর থেকে মোটামুটি ভালো ছিল। কিছু কিছু ক্ষেত্রে যে বিষয়ে আলোচনা করা হয়েছে সে বিষয়ে আকর্ষণীয় ডায়াগ্রাম ব্যবহার করা হয়েছে। বেশিরভাগ স্থানেই লেখক খুব সংক্ষিপ্তভাবে আলোচনা করেও মূল বিষয়গুলো ভালোভাবে উপস্থাপন করতে পেরেছেন। এগুলো ছিল বইয়ের মোটামুটি ভালো দিক। এছাড়াও বেশকিছু খুঁত চোখে পড়েছে। বইয়ের কিছু কিছু জায়গায় আলোচনা এত সংক্ষিপ্ত যে লেখক মূল বিষয়টা ঠিকমত বোঝাতে পারেননি আবার কিছু ক্ষেত্রে একজন দার্শনিকের অনেক মূল দর্শনই বাদ গিয়েছে যেগুলো নিয়ে আলোচনা করার দরকার ছিল।
অধ্যায়গুলোর বিন্যাস অনেকটা অগোছালো। একটা দর্শনের পর আরেকটা দর্শন কিংবা একটা দার্শনিকের পর আরেকটা দার্শনিক নিয়ে অনেকটা বিক্ষিপ্তভাবে আলোচনা করা হয়েছে কোনো কালানুক্রমিক বিন্যাস বা এধরনের কোনো বিন্যাস বইয়ে চোখে পড়েনি।

লেখক বোধহয় শুধু পশ্চিমা দর্শন নিয়ে লিখতে বসেছিলেন। বই লেখার পর মনে পড়েছিলো যে পশ্চিমের বাইরেও দর্শনচর্চা হয় বা হতো তাই বাধ্য হয়ে স্রেফ দুইটা অধ্যায় (বইয়ের অধ্যায় সংখ্যা অনেক আর ছোটছোট যদিও ইস্টার্ন ফিলোসোফির অধ্যায়টা সামান্য বড়) যোগ করেছেন। পুরো ভারতীয়, চৈনিক, কোরিয়ান, জাপানিজ দর্শন শুধু এক অধ্যায়ে এত সংক্ষেপে আলোচনা করেছেন যে অনেক বিষয়ই বাদ পড়ে গেছে আর অনেক বিষয়ই অস্পষ্ট, বোঝা যায়নি। ইসলামিক দর্শনের অবস্থা তো আরো করুণ। ইসলামিক দর্শন নিয়ে একটা অধ্যায়ও নেই শুধু একটা অধ্যায় ছিলো ইবনে সিনাকে নিয়ে। বইয়ে যদিও বেশকিছু ডায়াগ্রাম ব্যবহার করা হয়েছে কিন্তু ডায়াগ্রামগুলো বেশিরভাগ ক্ষেত্রেই ভালোভাবে ব্যাখ্যা করা হয়নি।

যদিও বইটা এখন পর্যন্ত পড়া আমার অন্যান্য বইগুলো থেকে মোটামুটি ভালো কিন্তু সেটাকে মন্দের ভালো বলা যায়।

বই - Philosophy 101
লেখক - Paul Kleinman
পৃষ্ঠাসংখ্যা - ২৮৮
প্রকাশকাল - সেপ্টেম্বর ১৮, ২০১৩
রেটিং - ৪/৫

~ মোঃ মুস্তাকিম বি.
২৬ জুলাই, ২০২১

[Joshie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philosophy 101 quite reads like a textbook but much more engaging and interesting because it is not as detailed and extensive as other Philosophy books but instead offers a fast track kind of learning. Each topic was summarized up to 5 or 6 pages at most though this could be quite underwhelming and forgettable especially if the topic introduced is one that might be of interest to the reader. The diagrams included in some topics are great but not explained that well or if they are, it's more of a summary than a dissection of the hows and the whys. It covered a lot of well-known male philosophers and only mentions one or two female ones (no Camus here and not much about Hegel, Hume which could be confusing as their principles/philosophy are mentioned randomly). There is also a section about Easter philosophy but it is forgettable. Purpose of life, aesthetics, morality, ethics and religion are all encompassed by most of the philosophies tackled. Overall, a good introduction for someone with curiosity but not really something that could be of necessity and great usage.

[Puspita Hapsari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite the title, this book is tough to follow for readers who are just getting acquainted with philosophy. Some chapters are excellent in giving concise overview of the idea or the work of the philosophers being discussed but mostly reading this book feels like cramming for an exam, and unsurprisingly, cramming doesn't really work. The content is too scattered, neither chronological nor categorised by themes/ideas.

[Nathan Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good intro on to important philosophical ideals. Was really intrigued with St.Thomas Aquinas Five Proof Theory.

[Harris Walker · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m well qualified to give an opinion of this beginner’s primer in the history of philosophy. I know very little, apart from many of the philosopher’s names and one or two of the paradoxes, philosophical illustrations or scenarios.

My opinion is, save your money and don't buy this book. Unlike secondhand car salesmen (at least in Spain) who are legally bound to return your money for a known but undisclosed defect, the publisher Simon & Schuster will not. To add salt to the wound, the back cover says:

‘Too often, textbooks turn the noteworthy theories, principles, and figures of philosophy into tedious discourse that even Plato would reject. Philosophy 101 cuts out the boring details and exhausting philosophical methodology and instead gives you a lesson in philosophy that keeps you engaged … ‘

It doesn’t. This is a very tedious discourse.

Nominally, the author, Paul Kleinman, sounds like a mid-twentieth-century existentialist, but I believe the only skill he’s brought to writing this book is summarisation, though on this occasion it hasn't been successful. Though it's a feat of technical virtuosity to pack not just the history of philosophy, but that of science, religion and Eastern philosophy (though these three are treated with too much brevity at the end of the book) into 284 pages, he's not only reduced the quantity of required text but unfortunately much of the meaning as well.

A mastery of his subject and the ability to write creatively may have overcome such a severe pruning but the writing is unstructured, uninspired and lacks the ability to explain complex ideas. It seems it was written by someone not fully conversant about what they were writing about since what is removed obliterates the meaning of what remains, and so what remains is barely understandable. This makes it dull, uninteresting and a difficult read for the beginner. It needed a lighter touch: this book would put off many from further reading.

Much of the meaning is obscured because a lot of the philosophical terminology remains unexplained: one would need to return to a fuller description of the philosophy in question, defeating a primer's purpose. For example, none of the terms in the following passage are described clearly.

‘Entities within nominalism about propositions can be broken into two categories: unstructured and structured. Unstructured propositions are sets of possible worlds. Within these worlds, functions have the value of True (arguing the proposition is true) and the value of False (arguing the proposition is false).’

I was lost, and this passage is typical of much of the book.

Many have criticised the lack of chronological order. I don’t think this is necessarily a problem. There is indeed a complete lack of structure and though chronological order would have resolved that, there could have been many other interesting ways to order the book. For example, those philosophies that believed in a God and those that didn’t; those that believed in the importance of internal thought and those that believed in the influence of nature; those that were political and those that weren't; those that believed in empirical data and those that believed in a priori knowledge, etc., etc.

For me, the writer seemed not to grasp the fundamentals, was unable to order his thoughts and truly seemed bored by the whole effort of putting this sorry book together.

Shame on you Simon & Schuster.

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some of the individual portions were written quite well, but overall the book fails to be a good primer on western philosophy. There is no order to it at all. One topic ends abruptly and a completely unrelated one will follow.

This seems like a really good way to completely discourage someone from getting into philosophy

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philosophy is an ancient art, almost as old as mankind itself. Ever since people could think, they ruminated on various subjects. Philosophy 101 by Paul Kleinman offers a glimpse into this venerable field. Philosophy is broadly divided into six major themes; Metaphysics, Logic, Epistemology, Aesthetics, Politics, and Ethics. The book follows this structure and if you are not prepared for it you could become a bit confused.

A major caveat regarding this book; when the book mentions Philosophy, the main focus is on Western Philosophy. While the book does devote some time to Eastern Philosophy it does not receive the same loving attention. The only major people from Eastern Philosophy that the book covers are people like the Buddha, Confucius, and Avicenna.

Initially, the book opens with the Pre-Socratics. This is what one would expect from almost any book on Philosophy since Socrates is quite legendary in the field. Socrates follows and Plato after him. Then the book takes a bit of an unusual turn and I didn’t initially understand why the author did this. After Plato is covered the book jumps all the way to Existentialism before going all the way back to Aristotle. I assume that the author organized this book by subject. First, it covers Metaphysics, then it covers Logic, then it moves on to Epistemology, and so on to the last themes.

The book contains focused treatment on some major players of Philosophy, but they come around in the sections that they were most influential in. One of the selections is somewhat questionable, but still quite serviceable in the person of Voltaire. I know he wrote Candide as a reaction to Leibniz’s theory that everything is for the best, but other than that, I don’t really know any serious Philosophical stuff that he did. Another thing is that the book does not have a focus on Kierkegaard, which is interesting considering his contributions to Existentialism.

The book is really easy to read. I flew through it and enjoyed every minute of it.

[Yoly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book serves as a decent introduction to philosophy. I think it could've been better with some structure, either chronologically or thematically. It started out with what seemed to be a chronological order but then it went all over the place mentioning people and ideas from different eras. Also, some philosophers are glossed over in a page or two while others and their ideas get more attention in the book.

Either way, I'd say the book is good if you're looking for an introduction or a refresher of that Philosophy 101 course you took in college (ok, so maybe that's just me 😛). It is a good starting point to reading about other philosophers.

[MJD · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that this is a good book for two kinds of people: 1) those that have not read a lot of philosophy and would like to get a quick overview of many of the thoughts and thinkers involved with Western philosophy [and a bit of Middle Eastern, Indian, and East Asian], and 2) those that have read a lot of philosophy and would like to get a quick refresher.

[sofi (Taylor's Version) · Rating 4 out of 5]

kinda confusing at some points but it really helped me get into philosophy, great and brief introduction to literally every subject related to philosophy :))

[Joey Donovan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pleasing format, (mostly) concise prose style but poorly edited. "Eastern" philosophy section not worth including, no female philosophers and occasional grammatical errors. Chapters are only vaguely connected and, although ostensibly a history of philosophy, do not follow chronologically and some (such as the chapter on minimalism) are devoid of context. There is no mention of post modernism.

Perhaps a harsh review of what is not meant to be anything other than an introduction, but in this era of information accessibility, it really befalls the writer to "curate" a well-thought out primer. There's no suggestion of further reading and, overall, this book reads as though it was written by someone with only a casual association with the subject who has swirled up on Wikipedia.

Nice pictures though.

[Kafamdaki Makine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felsefe 101 Çizimleri ve kategorileri ile okuması keyifli bir kitap bir çok sayfada yeni bilgi ile karşılaşıyoruz. Daha önce felsefeye giriş tadında bir çok kitap okuduğum halde tekrara düşmüyor. Vurucu konuları özellikleriyle ele almaları bir harika. İtinayla okuyup not aldım. Hem bu kadar keyifli hem öğretici olup anlayabileceğimiz kadar basit indirgenmesi her okura ulaşmasını sağlayacak çizimleri alıntıları felsefe anlatıları tüm araştırmaları Spinoza, etik, bilim, Fenomenoloji, ikiz dünya… Bitirince hemen hemen her şeyi kafamda netleşti ve kategorize edebildim tıpkı Sofinin dünyasında olduğu gibi tekrar tekrar okunabilecek kitap. Şimdiden en sevdiklerim arasında yer aldı bile.

[Isaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed engaging with the ideas, and the short overview of each topic. I wish the book was better organized (so that related ideas flowed chronologically), and I also found some of the explanatory pictures to be more confusing than helpful. This is a good book to dip your toe into philosophy and find some topics that you'd like to learn more about in other, more comprehensive, books.

[Jussi.qingmail.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fof beginners who want an overview of western philosophy. However, most of the ideas are not well explained. I read this mainly to find out topics I want to further read about.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief history reviews of key philosophers and philosophy topics...

[Samuel Jamrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of certain philosophical schools of thought. I’d give 4 stars if it had better structure and a more chronological order.

[القارئ الصَّامت · Rating 3 out of 5]

-مبادئ الفلسفة 101. بول كلينمان ⟨🇺🇲⟩:


-النوع: كتاب <فلسفة>.


-المراجعة:

  أراه كتاب مناسب وجيد لمن يريد أن ينطلق مثلي في عالم الفلسفة، بوابة جيدة، متزنة، ليست بالثقيلة ولا بالخفيفة.. يعطي محاضرات قصيرة ومكثفة لفلسفات أشهر الفلاسفة (الغربيين) بالإضافة إلى الكثير من المعضلات والمفارقات الشهيرة في الفلسفة. 

  الكتاب بالطبع لا يخلو من مشاكل. كما ألمحت بالأعلى، يمكن أن نعدل في تسمية الكتاب ليكون (مبادئ الفلسفة الغربية) بدلا من (الفلسفة) بشكل عام. في الكتاب اختصر فلسفة الشرق -كما سماها- في فصل واحد واختزل فيه فلسفة (الصين والهند واليابان وكوريا) في ١٠ صفحات، وأيضًا اختزل الفلسفة الإسلامية في فصل واحد أسماه (ابن سينا)... مشكلتي بالطبع ليست في محتوى الكتاب بل بالعنوان الذي -من المفترض- أن يشمل فلسفة الشرق والغرب لكن المحتوى أتى مخالف..
حقيقتًا الكتاب أدى وظيفته.. بمعنى لم يُشبع رغبتي، بل زاد لدي الأن الرغبة في التعمق أكثر في الفلسفة..


-عدد الصفحات: ٣٠٦


-التقييم: 3.5/5🌑🌗🌕🌕🌕

[San Shimry · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm the target audience for this book; I know next to nothing about philosophy.

But this was written in such a convoluted, vague, and uninteresting way that even after forcing myself to come back to it time and time again, I figure that I'll be better off reading actual philosophy books than this ad parading as an intro to it. The only thing that made this worthwhile as long as it did (more time than pages) was the actual theories, which the author barely skims over in his hurry to cover the next one. It's quite bizarre.

I remember when we used to have encyclopedias... I feel as though this was a mockery of that. I know we have Google, but I'd rather have a heavy tome of a thousand pages rather than this.

[Shajee Gardezi · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I expected from this book, it successfully delivered it.

A very brief, precise, and succinct summary of almost all major school of thoughts and philosophers.

It’s a precursor of what you’ll delve into later, you can chose your area of interests and work in that direction accordingly.

Later, you can intricately explore the chosen philosopher and book; hence, it’s a great book as an intro for beginners. Alongside this book, I also recommend DK’s philosophy, Russell’s history of western philosophy, and Durrant’s the story of philosophy.

[Yato Hajime · Rating 4 out of 5]

The amount of information and philosophical jargon used here can quickly overwhelm an absolute beginner. The briefness of each philosophical concept (sometimes the whole tradition) leads to a somewhat acceptable description of concepts and such. However, beyond both of them - a good book for familiarizing yourself with a vast amount of functional philosophical knowledge.

[Isabel Lobo · Rating 4 out of 5]

É interessante como livro por onde começar a pegar em filosofia, aborda superficialmente a grande generalidade dos temas filosóficos e com uma escrita mais ou menos acessível, mas a sua organização não faz sentido nenhum: nem organizada por ordem cronológica de autores, nem por temas, o que torna a sua leitura um bocado infrutífera.

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great guide to philosophy. Philosophy can feel hard to break into but this gives a perfect description of many overarching ideas and philosophers and makes me feel much more confident when going into other sources

[Kym · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a snappy but thorough read on all the different types of Philosophy across the world. Philosophy is a big subject but this book was a great snippet of each style giving just enough information to understand each topic.

[Yasemin · Rating 4 out of 5]

To have a brief information about ancient, west philosophy and some famous theories-studies; this book is very good source. But if you are interested in one of the topic which İ wrote above, this book may make you bored.

[Noor Rafat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fair introduction to the history of philosophy that allows you to expand on notions that grab your interest. Brief and easy to read. Would recommend to anyone interested in delving into Philosophy.