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Philosophers: Their Lives and Works
From Confucius and Plato to Karl Marx and Noam Chomsky, this book brings together more than 100 illustrated biographies of the world's great philosophers.
Introduced with a stunning portrait of each featured philosopher, the biographies trace the ideas, friendships, loves, and rivalries that inspired the great thinkers and influenced their work, providing revealing insights into what drove them to question the meaning of life and come up with new ways of understanding the world and the history of ideas.
Lavishly illustrated with photographs and paintings of philosophers, their homes, friends, studies, and their personal belongings, together with pages from original manuscripts, first editions, and correspondence, this book introduces the key ideas, themes, and working methods of each featured individual, setting their ideas within a wider historical and cultural context. Charting the development of ideas across the centuries in both the East and West, from ancient Chinese philosophy to the work of contemporary thinkers, Philosophers provides a compelling glimpse into the personal lives, loves, and influences of the great philosophers as they probed into life's big ideas.
Introduced with a stunning portrait of each featured philosopher, the biographies trace the ideas, friendships, loves, and rivalries that inspired the great thinkers and influenced their work, providing revealing insights into what drove them to question the meaning of life and come up with new ways of understanding the world and the history of ideas.
Lavishly illustrated with photographs and paintings of philosophers, their homes, friends, studies, and their personal belongings, together with pages from original manuscripts, first editions, and correspondence, this book introduces the key ideas, themes, and working methods of each featured individual, setting their ideas within a wider historical and cultural context. Charting the development of ideas across the centuries in both the East and West, from ancient Chinese philosophy to the work of contemporary thinkers, Philosophers provides a compelling glimpse into the personal lives, loves, and influences of the great philosophers as they probed into life's big ideas.
360 pages, Hardcover
Published September 10, 2019
11 people are currently reading
170 people want to read
About the author
Simon Blackburn
75 books279 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Simon Blackburn FBA is an English academic philosopher known for his work in metaethics, where he defends quasi-realism, and in the philosophy of language; more recently, he has gained a large general audience from his efforts to popularise philosophy.
He retired as the professor of philosophy at the University of Cambridge in 2011, but remains a distinguished research professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, teaching every fall semester. He is also a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a member of the professoriate of New College of the Humanities. He was previously a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford and has also taught full-time at the University of North Carolina as an Edna J. Koury Professor. He is a former president of the Aristotelian Society, having served the 2009–2010 term. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2002 and a Foreign Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2008.
Simon Blackburn FBA is an English academic philosopher known for his work in metaethics, where he defends quasi-realism, and in the philosophy of language; more recently, he has gained a large general audience from his efforts to popularise philosophy.
He retired as the professor of philosophy at the University of Cambridge in 2011, but remains a distinguished research professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, teaching every fall semester. He is also a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a member of the professoriate of New College of the Humanities. He was previously a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford and has also taught full-time at the University of North Carolina as an Edna J. Koury Professor. He is a former president of the Aristotelian Society, having served the 2009–2010 term. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2002 and a Foreign Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 19, 2019
3.5 STARS
The images and graphics utilised in this book overall are well done and I enjoyed them as much as what was written, and the book contains some lovely quotes from the philosophers/scholars cited within it. That being said I was expecting this to be a tad weightier when it came to what and how much was written for each scholar/thinker identified. It is slightly lighter than I thought it would be when it comes to content, but the book has introduced me to some scholars I was unaware of and will now look further into. I adored the snippets of information we received of some of the philosophers’ personal lives, and the connections and tensions between some of the philosophers.
I would say this makes a nice light initial foray into philosophy/sociological thought, this book may be a good platform form for some to be introduced to different philosophers. I like the fact female philosophers are included in this book, for example I had no idea Socrates was influenced by a female philosopher (Diotima of Mantinea).
I also liked the fact that philosophers from India/South Asian and East Asia are also recognised, the intellectual potency and influence of these regions can sometimes feel like it is side-lined and/or made invisible in introductory books. I really liked how many contemporary female philosophers/thinkers were identified.
I enjoyed the writing style of this book, it wasn’t convoluted and heavy handed, for that reason I think this is good for those with a general interest and those with a more specific interest. I also liked the fact that for each scholar, their key work(s) was cited.
Key reasons why I gave this 3.5 Stars:
1) Images whilst lovely take a lot of room on the page, so not as much information (personal or professional) was disclosed as should have been. The illustrations included overarchingly do not aid in heightening your understanding of the topic/people under discussion.
2) Not something that could be used as a study resource, for assignments. That being said it is something I will use to locate key quotes, some key ideas and interesting personal history when I am teaching.
3) Some editing across sections/pages is needed. So that key concepts are always clearly defined rather than simply identified.
4) The two-page glossary could/should have been longer in my view.
ARC received via Amazon.
The images and graphics utilised in this book overall are well done and I enjoyed them as much as what was written, and the book contains some lovely quotes from the philosophers/scholars cited within it. That being said I was expecting this to be a tad weightier when it came to what and how much was written for each scholar/thinker identified. It is slightly lighter than I thought it would be when it comes to content, but the book has introduced me to some scholars I was unaware of and will now look further into. I adored the snippets of information we received of some of the philosophers’ personal lives, and the connections and tensions between some of the philosophers.
I would say this makes a nice light initial foray into philosophy/sociological thought, this book may be a good platform form for some to be introduced to different philosophers. I like the fact female philosophers are included in this book, for example I had no idea Socrates was influenced by a female philosopher (Diotima of Mantinea).
I also liked the fact that philosophers from India/South Asian and East Asia are also recognised, the intellectual potency and influence of these regions can sometimes feel like it is side-lined and/or made invisible in introductory books. I really liked how many contemporary female philosophers/thinkers were identified.
I enjoyed the writing style of this book, it wasn’t convoluted and heavy handed, for that reason I think this is good for those with a general interest and those with a more specific interest. I also liked the fact that for each scholar, their key work(s) was cited.
Key reasons why I gave this 3.5 Stars:
1) Images whilst lovely take a lot of room on the page, so not as much information (personal or professional) was disclosed as should have been. The illustrations included overarchingly do not aid in heightening your understanding of the topic/people under discussion.
2) Not something that could be used as a study resource, for assignments. That being said it is something I will use to locate key quotes, some key ideas and interesting personal history when I am teaching.
3) Some editing across sections/pages is needed. So that key concepts are always clearly defined rather than simply identified.
4) The two-page glossary could/should have been longer in my view.
ARC received via Amazon.
December 8, 2019
While maybe a good book to get a general biography of a philosopher, it's wafer-thin on describing the basic thought of most thinkers.
For example, Blaise Pascal is mentioned without any reference to Pascal's Wager!. How that is omitted is beyond me.It's also seems every pre-modern female figure is described as some proto-feminist but I think this is being exaggerated in some parts.
I do like to commend the book for including philosophers who are maybe not so well known to the western reader, particularly those from China and Arab scholars of the Islamic golden age. Book is filled with beautiful imagery and portraits and the directory at the end of each chapter of other philosophers not mentioned is helpful too.
For example, Blaise Pascal is mentioned without any reference to Pascal's Wager!. How that is omitted is beyond me.It's also seems every pre-modern female figure is described as some proto-feminist but I think this is being exaggerated in some parts.
I do like to commend the book for including philosophers who are maybe not so well known to the western reader, particularly those from China and Arab scholars of the Islamic golden age. Book is filled with beautiful imagery and portraits and the directory at the end of each chapter of other philosophers not mentioned is helpful too.
August 26, 2021
When I first picked this up I was impressed that the publishers Dorling Kindersley had applied their skills to put together a very attractively illustrated volume on Philosophers. Each entry is from one to six pages, and the pictures are often of portrait paintings. I thought I would be able to recommend this to people who were new to philosophy, and that they would become interested in a few of the philosophers and want to explore further. Once I started reading my illusions were smashed. What is distinctive about philosophers is their ideas, yet there is hardly any discussion of these in the articles. The articles are written by a number of contributors whose backgrounds are described at the front of the book, and sadly these indicate the majority of them have no backround in philosophy.
February 16, 2020
This is a great book to dip in to every now and then. It covers a lot of thinkers so each one is summarised very briefly, with a great deal of photographs and explanatory notes to contextualise their ideas and biographical information. Due to its brevity it may not be ideal for those looking for a bit more detail but it’s a great guide to have on hand for quick reference and it has introduced me to many new thinkers I’d never heard of before and made me curious about others I’d always overlooked.
July 28, 2020
This is a wonderful reference book for researching any significant philosophers.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews