The Philosophers: Introducing Great Western Thinkers

by Ted Honderich (editor)

What better introduction to the world of philosophy than through the lives of its most prominent citizens. In The Philosophers , we are introduced to twenty-eight of the greatest thinkers in Western civilization, ranging from Aristotle and Plato to Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and Sartre.
An illustrious team of scholars takes us on a concise and illuminating tour of some of the most brilliant minds and enduring ideas in history. Here is Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, Plato's cave of shadows, Schopenhauer's vision of reality as blind, striving Will, Hegel's idea of the World Spirit, Bentham's principle of the Greatest Happiness, Mill's contributions to our understanding of liberty, William James's theory of the stream of consciousness, Husserl's phenomenology, and much more. Readers will find thoughtful discussions of everything from Kant's categorical imperative, to the Christian philosophies of Augustine, Aquinas, and Kierkegaard, to the materialism of Hobbes or Marx, to the modern--and quite different--philosophical systems of Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Each article is illustrated with a portrait of the philosopher, the contributors provide lists for further reading, and the volume includes a chronological table that gives
valuable historical context.
Here then is an authoritative and engaging guide to the ideas of the most notable philosophers, ranging from antiquity to the present day. The Philosophers shows how these great thinkers wrestled with the central problems of the human condition--with important questions of free will, morality, and the limits of logic and reason--as it illuminates their legacy for our time.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, History

294 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 1999

About the author

Edgar Dawn Ross "Ted" Honderich was a Canadian-born British philosopher, who was Grote Professor Emeritus of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic, University College London.

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book a really good introduction to 28 key Western philosophers. The chronology table and further reading for specific philosophers makes this a useful resource. It gives an excellent concise overview of the key ideas of the philosophers. Rather than give a detailed review I am going to just put down a sentence or two or quote on each of the philosophers covered. (So far I have done the first 14).

Socrates (470-399 BC)
Socrates was famous as a key character in Plato's dialogues and of course for Phaedo the moving last few hours of his life as a result of his trial. Starting many of the dialogues as saying he did not know anything and then tearing to shreds the arguments of his opponents.

Plato (428-347 BC)
All Plato's works were dialogues with Socrates. The Republic for me is an excellent first effort of building a state even if it is a bit flawed. He was instrumental in teaching us the use of an hypothesis and then breaking it down to see if it was true.

Aristotle (384-322 BC)
A pupil of Plato. He led the beginning of ideas on logic and philosophy of science, ethics, and metaphysics. He first developed the study of deductive inference with syllogisms which are deductively valid arguments.

Augustine (354-430)
Born in now Algeria and a Platonist. He was an enormous influence on the doctrines of Western Christianity in particular the difference between body and soul.

St Thomas Aquinas (1224/5-1274)
He was the greatest medieval philosopher-theologian. It was said that he wrote 8 million words which is remarkable in that he died when he was 50. Aquinas draws a sharp distinction between the two pathways to knowledge of God with on revelation and the other human reason. He presented five proofs of God's existence.

Thomas Hobbs (1588-1679)
The founder of English moral and political philosophy. He had a very pessimistic view of human nature with people more concerned with self preservation, family than the wider community.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
He laid the foundation for the modern scientific age and rationalism. Famous for Cogito ergo sum or I am thinking, therefore I exist.

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)
Spinoza's greatest work was the Ethics where he presented a deductive system in the manner of Euclid. It is in five parts. He was excommunicated by his church due to his controversial views.

John Locke (1632-1704)
He is most known for his publication Treatises of Government and his Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). Along with his friend Isaac Newton they were the superstars of the Age of Enlightenment and reason.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)
A German rationalist philosopher. He was famous for contributions in mathematics and calculus. He held the concepts of self, substance and causation, are innate.

George Berkeley (1685-1753)
Berkeley was a defender of religious faith and advocate of common sense. His fame rests on his Three Dialogues between Hylas and Phlionous. It would be safe to say he was a strong opponent of the scientific world view.

David Hume (1711-1776)
A sceptic of metaphysics but a strong advocate for the science of man and the theory of human nature.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
His greatest masterpiece Critique of Pure Reason where he argued metaphysics can provide necessary truths which cannot be based on empirical evidence. He also developed a moral theory around the categorical imperative 'Act only on that maxim which you can at the same time will to be a universal law'.

Jeremy Benthan (1748-1832)
He was the founder of utilitarianism. Bentham was a consequentialist ethic looking towards actual future states of affairs for justification of right actions and not basing it on what happened in the past.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up looking for a primer on philosophy. I had never taken a philosophy course in college, so I thought it would be a good start. Unfortunately, you probably need a bit more of an education in philosophy before reading it... at lot of it was over my head. However, what I do like about this book is that it goes in chronological order, going from oldest/first philosopher, to the most recent. It also gives a full page portrait of each philosopher and each chapter/profile starts by giving the reader a history of the philosopher's personal life before getting into the tough stuff. So, I wouldn't recommend this books for beginers, but maybe someone who has already taken a course who wants a quick and succint refresher on western philosophy. Also, I would appreciate it if anyone had any book recommendations for anyone wanting to learn about philosophy.

[Colin Twemlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to philosophy and possibly my favorite non fiction book.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very difficult reading, but we read it for the love of our son who lives and breathes Philosophy! We learned a lot, though only comprehended a tiny portion of what the author intended to convey :)

[Jared Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like the idea of the book and its chronological organization. However, the content is filled with too much jargon to make sense as an introduction. The summaries appear to be written for an audience with a significant amount of deep philosophical knowledge. Maybe if someone had learned the concepts but not the people behind them, this would be useful.

I finished this book by reading a little at a time as a way to put myself to sleep. The occasional sentence can make sense and provide an opportunity to find other, more accessible resources about a particular philosopher.

[Lana]

This was wayyy too advanced for me. DNF