The Story of Philosophy, Bryan Magee, Dorling Kindersley, 2010, 1405353333,
9781405353335, . 2,500 years of Western philosophy exploredIn this updated ...
The Story of Philosophy, Bryan Magee, Dorling Kindersley, 2010, 1405353333, 9781405353335, . 2,500 years of Western philosophy exploredIn this updated guide to philosophy, Professor Bryan Magee expertly guides us through the history of ideas and thinking, tracing over 2,500 years of Western philosophy from the Ancient Greeks to modern thinkers. Discover what philosophy is, how philosophers have questioned the fundamental principles underlying all knowledge and existence and address life's big questions, such as "What is being?" and "Can the existence of God be proved?" Covering every major philosopher from Plato to Popper, via Saint Augustine Locke and Nietzsche, explore these great thinkers in their historical context and learn the influences that shaped their lives and work. An essential guide to this fascinating subject.. DOWNLOAD HERE The story of philosophy , Aston Leigh, 1881, , . . The melody and philosophy of Shah Latif , D. H. Butani, 1991, Literary Criticism, 83 pages. The Author Attempts To Bring Out From The Life Of Shah Latif What Is Fundamental And Eternal - 16 Small Chapters - Shah As A Man - Significance Of Rai Dyach - Importance Of .... Western Atheism A Short History, James Thrower, 1971, Religion, 143 pages. Much has been written on religions of all types, the history of religious belief, and on the supernatural interpretation of the world, but where can we turn for an account of .... Patrons of Enlightenment , Edward Andrew, 2006, Philosophy, 284 pages. Patrons of Enlightenment emphasizes the dependency of thinkers upon patrons and compares the patron-client relationships in the French, English, and Scottish republics of letters.. Introducing Continental Philosophy A Graphic Guide, Christopher Kul-Want, Feb 12, 2013, , 176 pages. A brand-new graphic guide to continental philosophy.. On the Meaning of Life , Will Durant, 1932, Life, 144 pages. . Why Niebuhr Matters , Charles C. Lemert, Professor Charles Lemert, 2011, RELIGION, 272 pages. Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) was a Protestant preacher, an influential religious thinker, and an important moral guide in mid-twentieth-century America. But what does he have .... The story of thought , Bryan Magee, Jan 1, 1998, Philosophy, 240 pages. . Popper , Bryan Magee, 1974, Education, 109 pages. . Athos in America , Jason, Mar 5, 2012, , 196 pages. Collects six stories of love, betrayal, crime, and severed heads.. Karl Popper , Bryan Magee, 1973, Philosophy, 115 pages. .
Comprehensive, highly visual, and filled with insightful observations, The Story of Philosophy opens up the world of philosophical ideas in a way that is easily understood by everyone. Bryan Magee embarks on an entertaining and enlightening journey and addresses such influential questions as "What is Philosophy?" "What is being?" and "Can the existence of God be proved?" Bryan Magee has been one of the most successful English-language popularizers of philosophy in the 20th century; in this coffee-volume, he presents a brief but information-packed history of Western philosophy from pre-Socratic Greek philosophers like Thales and Heraclitus to postmodern French thinkers like Derrida and Foucault. Illustrations fill every page, offering not only portraits of the major philosophical thinkers but illustrations of some of their key concepts, while ample marginalia provide supplementary information for historical context. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. YA-This gloriously illustrated and accessible book enables readers to embark on an adventure in philosophy. The chapters cover "The Greeks and Their World," "Christianity and Philosophy," "The Beginnings of Modern Science," "The Great Rationalists," "The Great Empiricists," "Revolutionary French Thinkers," "A Golden Century of German Philosophy," "Democracy and Philosophy," and "20th-Century Philosophy." The text is profusely illustrated with numerous full-color reproductions of artwork and photographs of historical sites; sidebars introduce additional people and ideas and "Key Works" of the philosophers are listed in light-blue boxes. Writing with a clear and lively style, Magee provides an excellent introduction to the topic. Young adults will find that the often closed doors of philosophy are now open and inviting. REVIEW: It's not often that I refer to a book as "beautiful", but that's the first word that comes to my mind for this book. I wish more books that tackle serious subjects were written in this style. It opens up learning of the subject to a broader audience. Magee's book seems almost perfect as an introduction, overview, and rough history of philosophy. It should make an excellent introduction and light reference book to the non-expert reader. I have often read books (e.g. books by Peter Drucker) that refer to various philosophers and their writings and I typically felt I had an inadequate understanding since I had very little knowledge of philosophy. So I borrowed this book from a library and enjoyed it so much that I decided to purchase it. I especially like the way the book is organized into small, easy to read chapters with many graphics, and short sidebars. Magee also does an excellent job of tying the philosophers into the context of the art, religion, and history of each period (in a basic, not too detailed way). My father found this book in the trash where he works, and he took it out. I know people buy and sell things like this, and my father gave it to me when someone else had discarded it, but to me it is priceless! There have been nights when I've fallen asleep and this book was next to me, and I believe I dreamed of all the glorious thoughts which have come before me. To consider that someone must have been the first to think of the fact that nothing is constant in this world, that we can't know this or that for certain... I myself have come up with some ideas, on my very own, which I have found to have been original in past centuries. This book will give anyone who cares a deeper understanding of where their own ideas originated. All these ideas which we so take for granted were NEW at one time or other. This book will only make the curious mind long for more. The author does a wonderful job of making something very confusing easy to comprehend, and the supplemental information shows how thought and the rest of the world are inseparable. This book is a treasure. And to think someone actually threw it away... Not to be confused with the Will Durant book of a similar title, this glossy book packed with color illustrations and photographs is an introductory book to the major movements of western philosophy. Beginning with the Greeks, Magee takes the reader through the ideas of early Christianity and early modern science, following the natural progression into the rationalists and the empiricists. French, German, and early American philosophy follow in separate sections detailing the basic ideas of philosophers such as Descartes, Hume, Rousseau, and Hegel. Magee ends with twentieth century
philosophy, offering predictions for future trends in philosophical thought. This book makes a fine touchstone to remind one of certain schools of philosophy or to learn about the most famous thinkers of western civilization. This book is far too slender to include some of the more intricate ideas or lesser known individuals who have nonetheless made contributions to the field. Regardless, this attractive book makes a good reference tool when navigating major trends of thought. I had seen a copy of this book prior to purchase in an older edition. I liked it very much. It contains a lot of useful information laid out in a very readable fashion; however, I purchased a paperback copy. That was a big mistake! The type in the paperback edition is tiny. Reading this edition is difficult, and a lot of the impact of the creative layout is lost with the small pages. In retrospect, I would seek a larger format than the edition that measures 8.9 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches. Bryan Magee has compiled a wonderful book on both the history and the actual tenets of philosophy throughout, mostly, the western world. Starting from the earliest Greek philosophy right up to the present day although current philosophers are not considered given their, as yet, unknown claims to fame, to be decided by future generations. It is a beautifully illustrated book with many paintings, photos and descriptions of the meaning of philosophical concepts spread throughout to aid clarity and ensure the ideas are firmly based on the real world. Apart from the main outstanding philosophers and the main trends in philosophy he also includes small excursions onto related thinkers/poets/writers of the era concerned, this certainly illuminates the ideas as well as giving them historical perspective, a subtle indication of the influence of the time (Zeitgeist) on the ideas and vice versa. The major philosophers include Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Heraclitus, St Augustine, Descarte, Husserl, Hegel, Fichte, Popper, Hume, Berkely, Locke, Schopenhauer, Bergson, Sartre and so on, exploring the whole gamut. Included in terms of major trends is pragmatism, phenomenology, empiricism etc. All in all a superb book which is hard to put down even for people often bewildered by complex ideas and usually not willing to explore them seriously. Luckily Magee keeps the sections relatively short and prevents this fading of attention. This is yet another good aspect of the book. In addition he makes the reader fascinated and interested in further reading in depth of the central ideas. The book is also enclosed in a very hardwearing soft cover with overlapping ends and so keeps from falling apart, this is especially useful for infrequent readers or for multiple reading of the book by many, something I found out as I went through it. To call it a coffee table book does not do it justice since it is much more than this and does not look out of place on a philosophical bookshelf. As a bright adolescent, Magee discovered--see his Confessions of a philosopher --that the kind of thinking he liked to do was called "philosophy". The great disappointment of his life was the realisation that, incapable of great original thoughts, he was condemned to be a populariser all his life. His loss is our gain, and this admirable illustrated book is his very partial account of philosophy for other adolescents and adults who need a handy crib. This is Whiggish history, in which everything leads to a selective group of 20th-century Greats--Wittgenstein, Russell and Popper--two of whom were Magee's personal friends; contemporary French thinkers like Foucault and Derrida are relegated to the sidelines and linguistic analysis treated as a slightly irrelevant game. It is also Eurocentric history in which we leap from Stoics and Epicureans to Thomas Aquinas taking in only Saint Augustine on the way--Muslim thinkers are no more than mentioned and the Buddha is only here as an influence on Schopenhauer. Illustrations and sidebars give a useful cultural context; Magee writes well about his intellectual heroes and this is a personal enough book to be both more and less than a mere introduction. --Roz Kaveney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Bryan Magee has been one of the most successful English-language popularisers of philosophy in the 20th century. He has taught philosophy at Oxford University, and written numerous other books on the subject, including The Great Philosophers: An Introduction to Western Philosophy, Talking
Philosophy: Dialogues with Fifteen Leading Philosophers, and Confessions of a Philosopher: A personal Journey Through Western Philosophy from Plato to Popper. This is, as other reviewers have said, quite simply the best introduction to philosophy in existence and as ex-philosophy student I have read many. When I say "introduction" I really mean a book which can be read by people who have had little or no previous contact with philosophy. It is accessible to anyone over the age of about 11 and is long enough not to oversimplify the essentials : Magee taught philosophy at Oxford and London Universities and knows what he's talking about. All the major figures and currents are covered and the historical and cultural contexts are evoked. It's also a beautifully produced book with reproductions of paintings and historical documents. This glossy coffee-table look could lead to readers dipping into the book but it deserves to be read from cover to cover. No education is complete without some knowledge of philosophy, and this is the best place to start before going on to read some of the more accessible classics such as Plato, Descartes and Nietzsche. As a student of philosophy at the university of Malta, I have found this book really useful. It is beautifully illustrated without making the topic seem trivial. It also proves to be a better visual aid for me when I am studying for my exams, as facts are clarly laid out. I must also add that this book contains everything, from the pre-Socratics to 20th century philosophers. *;-) If you don't yet know your Hobbes from your Hume, if you're still looking to distinguish your stoic from your sceptic, then this is absolutely the book for you. Pitched at the curious beginner with perhaps a few philosophy titles already under their belt, this provides a huge amount of information and covers some challenging ideas, but does so without ever veering off into convolution and inaccessibility. It seems to get just about everything right: it's well-written, well-structured, and well-presented. Beginning with the early ancient Greek philosophers, Magee takes the reader right through to 20th century analytic and existential philosophy, tackling all the key figures and schools of thought along the way. The great rationalists (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz) and empiricists (Locke, Hume, etc) and key figures and movements from French and German philosophy are all covered. Books of this sort sometimes have a tendency to feel quite disjointed. Not so this one: each chapter flows smoothly to the next, and if you read it cover to cover, you'll find yourself with a good sense of the development of ideas through the generations. Presentation of this title is, as we've come to expect from DK, excellent. There are informative side panels, quotations, and an abundance of illustrations including well-chosen and often remarkably apt period artwork. All help to provide a useful sense of context for each key figure and idea. As an extensive and accessible overview of the history of philosophy, Bryan Magee's book completely achieves what it sets out to do, and more importantly, reading it was a real pleasure. Magee is very good at telling us which philosophers write well and which don't. It's a pleasure to record that Magee writes clearly and concisely. You feel his appreciation (whether he agrees with them or not)of the philosophers who have gone before him, and his notion of "the past in dialogue with the present" Compared with a host of other books on the subject of the history of philosophy, Prof. Magee's work stands out as one which captures the attention and interest of the reader for its colourful presentation of the life and times of the famous philosophers and for its succinct description of their thoughts in their historical context. I believe it is a very worthwhile book to own. I have this book in Swedish, and I agree with the other reviewers. It's not a book for philosophy students or philosophers, being far too simple. However, it's an excellent, popularized introduction to the history of Western philosophy for those who don't know anything at all about the subject (the majority). Besides, I don't think the texts are as short as several reviewers have indicated. The book is lavishly illustrated, often with reproductions of artwork (not necessarily from the periods
in question, however). I take it Bryan Magee is an art lover, or at least his editor is, because many of the artworks are very cleverly chosen. Thus, Kant's philosophy is illustrated by "The Blind Girl" by Millais, and the chapter on existentialism features Edward Munch's "The Scream". Schopenhauer's pessimistic ideas come to life in a dramatic painting of a lion attacking a horse! Inevitably, some chapters are better than others. The introductory chapters on Greek philosophy in general, and Plato and Aristotle in particular, are quite good. So are the chapters on Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Kant. The sections dealing with Husserl, Heidegger and Wittgenstein are weak, but then, their philosophies are very difficult to fathom even for advanced students! Most of the other chapters fall somewhere in between. Obviously, all writers on matters philosophical are biased, and so is Magee. He seems to like Nietzsche and Machiavelli, which may be controversial, and he is also fascinated by Schopenhauer, devoting a quite extensive chapter to this thinker, perhaps undeservedly. (Apparently, Magee is an expert on Schopenhauer's philosophy.) His interpretation of Kant is "religious", which could also be controversial. Personally, I think he deals too much with Popper, as if that man was some kind of zenith in the history of ideas. And what on earth happened to the Renaissance?! A positive thing, however, is that the author mention such frauds as Derrida and Foucault only in passing, and Ayn Rand not at all. The unprecedented success of Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fueled a worldwide explosion of interest in philosophy, yet there are few accessible introductions to this subject. Harnessing DK's unparalleled ability to make words and pictures work together, The Story of Thought simplifies a subject in which we all have interest, but which few find accessible. Bryan Magee, world-renowned philosopher and author makes The Story of Thought an easy pathway into the history of ideas and thinking. Features 30 key philosophers including Plato, Aristotle, and Nietzshe .Follows the best-selling format of the highly successful Sister Wendy's Story of Painting. Magee has taught philosophy at Oxford, and in each of these volumes he attempts to make philosophy understandable to the lay reader. The DK book devotes just a few pages to each of the major thinkers and is lavishly illustrated. It would be suitable for high school, college, and public libraries. Great Philosophers is a series of conversations with important contemporary philosophers about the major historical figures, originally produced for the BBC. Confessions is an autobiographical excursion through Western philosophy. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. Thoughtfully balanced and living up to the publisher's reputation for attractive presentation, this reference traces 2,500 years of Western philosophy from the ancient Greeks to modern thinkers. It makes themes and important figures accessible to general readers, with enough substance for more experienced students. Text is interspersed with abundant, well-chosen art reproductions illustrating concepts and themes, as well as photos, sidebars, and quotes that help set the context. Suggesting that readers next tackle the great philosophers themselves, the guide to further reading identifies particular works and editions and also lists some convenient and accessible introductions and overviews. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or. Professor Magee book delivers a thoughful overview of the history and development of philosophy. While this an abridged version, the reader is able to understand the issues tackled by the different figures and better understand the impact that each had then and later in time. This is a delightful overview and ideal for those of us that were unable to fit a course or two in philosphy as an undergraduate! Born of working class parents in Hoxton, Magee was close to his father, but had a difficult relationship with his abusive and overbearing mother. An evacuee during World War II, he was educated at Christ's Hospital school on a London County Council scholarship. During this formative period, he developed a keen interest in socialist politics, while during the school holidays he enjoyed listening to political orators at Speakers' Corner, Hyde Park, London as well as regular visits to the theatre and concerts. http://eduln.org/18926.pdf http://eduln.org/1214.pdf
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