Philosophy: 50 Essential Ideas

by Michael Moore

Cut through the jargon with this accessible guide to philosophy - introducing 50 ideas that drastically changed the way we think about life and reality.

This richly illustrated full-color hardback guides readers through the history of philosophy, from the ancient Greeks to present times. Ranging from epistemology to existentialism and featuring ideas from philosophers as varied as Plato, Immanuel Kant, and Jean-Paul Sartre, this essential guide will bring you up to speed on the core themes and theories of this great subject.

Chapters
• Determinism and Free Will
• Plato's Allegory of the Cave
• Nietzsche's Superman
• The Philosophy of Time
• Marx's Historical Materialism
• The World as a Computer Simulation

With complex ideas explained with useful diagrams and real-life examples, this entertaining guide will help you answer the most profound questions about existence.

ABOUT THE The 50 Essential Ideas series brings together entertaining, highly visual guides to different disciplines, from philosophy to physics. It explores the subject's 50 greatest ideas, giving readers an accessible overview of its defining theories and breakthroughs.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy

208 pages, Hardcover

Published July 30, 2022

About the author

Librarian note: There is more than one author with this name on Goodreads. This profile is for Michael^^^^^^^Moore, philosophy.

Michael Moore is completing a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Chicago. He specializes in the ideas of Plato and Aristotle and in the works of Epicurus, Plotinus, and Lucretius among others. While his primary concern is philosophy, he enjoys classical poetry, drama, and literature.

Reviews

[aksana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a good and understandable overview of the main philosophical approaches and their thinkers. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to delve deeper into this topic and doesn't know what to start with.

The book is structured and has many helpful graphics to help you understand the concepts. From here you get a good overview and can decide what you want to delve deeper into.

Although the chapters are not too long, they are still detailed enough to get the first insights. This was my first book in this direction. I like the concept of having one book with 50 essential approaches to a particular topic and will look at other books in this series.

[Nicola Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is THE best and most accessible book I’ve come across when it comes to discussing philosophy and disseminating the complex and often thought provoking concepts that philosophy encompasses.

From the subject of truth, perception, experiences, language, time, life and death, words, the famous figures of philosophy to philosophical zombies, it included and touched upon so much without being overwhelming.

It’s seriously a book you can learn so much from and a book I learnt a lot from! Philosophy has this ability to blow your mind and make you see and understand things in a whole new way and this book definitely did that.

It’s a great book for all. If you have an interest in this topic, great! But if you don’t, it’s perfect for you too. No doubt you’ll find chapters in this book completely amazing and will find a new love for philosophy. The chapters are kept easily short and informative and I couldn’t believe just how easy this was to read. (Or listen to if you have the audiobook).

The audiobook was greatly narrated and in such an easy way to understand. I think I’d also benefit from this on my shelf as I can imagine it’s a fab addition to a book stash and for you to constantly refer back to for a top up of knowledge. I definitely want to go back and listen again. Really enjoyed.

Thank you to the author and publisher for this book on NetGalley in return for my honest thoughts and review

[Kristjan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always struggled with understanding a lot of the differing concepts within the various philosophies and how they relate to each other. This was a very effective book to get a general idea of most of the basics and it was easier for me to see what made sense and what was absolutely nuts. It didn’t try to go into any depth or detail defending any one position, just introduced the idea with enough context that you could carry on a reasonable conversation about it and potentially do some research on your own. I wish I could say that I was a fan … but for most of these ideas I just didn’t “get it” … especially how a lot of these had any bearing or impact on life in general. Still the book really is an excellent introduction to the field whether you are a fan or not.

I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#Philosophy50EssentialIdeas #NetGalley

[joyce w. laudon · Rating 4 out of 5]

When my older daughter started college, she took a philosophy class and found it to be most intriguing. I have never studied philosophy myself so I very much enjoyed spending time with this title. A number of philosophical concepts are explored beginning with the ancient Greeks and moving toward the modern day.

If you want to know who Aristotle was or how his philosophy differed from Plato’s (to give just one example), this book will provide an answer. I found that my brain needed to pay attention to understand all that was presented here. To help with learning, there are illustrations including art works throughout.

This book offers a good introduction to philosophy. Readers can then decide if they want to pursue any topic or philosopher in more depth on their own.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Arcturus publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

[David Dunlap · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like philosophy. But, try though I may, I don't really understand philosophy. (I keep trying, though!) This is quite a splendid book -- it seems to lay out the 50 ideas the author finds most essential in clear language, with excellent (and helpful) graphic illustrations. It's not his fault that I still don't get it. (Curiously, the closer to our times I drew with the ideas, the more I seemed to understand...) At any rate, I do recommend this book to any and all who might be sufficiently intrigued to dip into its pages...and ponder its truths. (Cannot resist mentioning this howler, however: the index informs us that information on Thomas Hegel is to be found on pps. 174-7; thankfully, those pages have the gentleman's name correct: G.W. F. Hegel!)

[Carol Keogh (Goodfellow) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book in this series, everything you ever wanted to know about the major tenets and proponents of Philosophy is here. Having studied this science I found Michael Moore to write with enthusiasm and great knowledge of his subject, I found this book very accessible and easy to navigate for the lay reader. My thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and the Author.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I like about books like this is that they take me back to the beginning of my studies. In other words they provide simplified explanations of complicated ideas without losing the depth of meaning. I read a lot philosophy and sometimes it's is good to do this, to be reminded of the starting points of difficult concepts.

[Aria Harlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew nothing about philosophy when I read this so it was nice to get a quick introduction into the key philosophists that have shaped this principle as well as key theories that have developed it. I learnt a lot and will definitely be reading more philosophical works.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers a lot of ground. Was hoping for a bit more cohesion and insight into how topics relate.

[Anita Salát · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a handy collection of philosophical ideas, presented in a simple and comprehensible manner. Charles Armstrong's narration makes the audio version even more accessible and easy to follow. Strongly recommended if you would like to get familiar with the basics of philosophy.

Thank you NetGalley and Arcturus Digital Audio for an Advance Review Copy.

[Baz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in a really clear and concise way, and helped me to understand a lot of concepts without much difficulty!

[Ms Hazel Tragy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philosophy: 50 Essential Ideas by Michael Moore is a nice basic introduction to many of the concepts that run through philosophy as a whole.

This is very accessible and avoids getting too deep into any of the topics. What probably made this a five star for me rather than a four is that, compared to a few other books trying to do the same thing, Moore doesn't just offer a few definitions so someone can "sound" like they know a few concepts but actually gives some kind of explanation for the ideas themselves.

If you have studied or taught some of these topics you might feel a few explanations were slanted a bit, but none went off course. To even try to select 50 "essential ideas" is a task I wouldn't care to attempt, so I am not going to nitpick over nuance that I would have included or the old "this instead of that" bit. This book, these 50 ideas, do indeed arm a person with a basic understanding of both the ideas and the history of philosophy.

At first I was disappointed that there wasn't some kind of bibliography or suggested reading list, but the history of western thought is covered here and this is a very basic introduction. With the internet, an interested reader can easily find further reading based on the names and primary texts mentioned in each section. Hopefully readers will find a few ideas that pique their interest to the point they decide to do some further reading.

I would recommend this to anyone wanting an overview of western philosophical thought. I think it is best suited for those who don't plan to study philosophy but want to perhaps find a couple of areas they can apply to their own areas. The exception is someone thinking about studying philosophy but not for another year or so, that way these basic overviews will give you a comfort zone but you won't have to "unlearn" any of Moore's biases if your instructor approaches a topic from a different perspective. The scope is too big to actually be used as an introductory text in a course, as well as the explanations being a bit too basic, so that is about the only place I don't see it being used.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.