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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
While Bertrand Russel's work on the history of philosophy is still (and for good reason) the most well-known and respected text on the subject, this new history of philosophy manages to outdo it.
Reasons to read this over Russell:
This is a more impartial text, and where it is partial, wears it on it's sleeve.
This text also covers philosophical concepts outside of the western milieu, which Russell's text largely ignores.
This text, for obvious reasons, is able to cover more contemporary philosophy.
Read Russell for the historiographical context it supplies, but read this if you want an introduction to the history of philosophy.
Reasons to read this over Russell:
This is a more impartial text, and where it is partial, wears it on it's sleeve.
This text also covers philosophical concepts outside of the western milieu, which Russell's text largely ignores.
This text, for obvious reasons, is able to cover more contemporary philosophy.
Read Russell for the historiographical context it supplies, but read this if you want an introduction to the history of philosophy.
Professor Grayling did an admirable job in this book on covering just what he said he was going to.
This text traces the history of philosophy from the ancients up to near-current philosophers. In that this ends up being nearly this history of Western thought, plus sections on non-Western philosophy, it is surprising that this is not one of several volumes.
Professor Grayling does an excellent job at parsing down this massive undertaking into a work that can be enjoyed by those who are well read and well versed in philosophy to those who have only the most rudimentary understanding of what philosophy is and who its major contributors were. While he does have to limit who is included and what is included, he always makes a point to explain why he included or excluded.
While he did include sections on Middle Easter, Oriental, and Indian, these sections were very short. This is not to say that Professor Grayling did not do them justice or short sight them. Simply that to go more in depth would have required further volumes.
This is definitely a great book for those who are more interested in philosophy and would like a good starting point for a deeper dive into Western philosophy and thought.
This text traces the history of philosophy from the ancients up to near-current philosophers. In that this ends up being nearly this history of Western thought, plus sections on non-Western philosophy, it is surprising that this is not one of several volumes.
Professor Grayling does an excellent job at parsing down this massive undertaking into a work that can be enjoyed by those who are well read and well versed in philosophy to those who have only the most rudimentary understanding of what philosophy is and who its major contributors were. While he does have to limit who is included and what is included, he always makes a point to explain why he included or excluded.
While he did include sections on Middle Easter, Oriental, and Indian, these sections were very short. This is not to say that Professor Grayling did not do them justice or short sight them. Simply that to go more in depth would have required further volumes.
This is definitely a great book for those who are more interested in philosophy and would like a good starting point for a deeper dive into Western philosophy and thought.
Grayling’s approach to history is rather interesting. I appreciate his efforts to include all cultures into this tome. Grayling is insightful and incisive. I do think he undermines the influence that religions have played with respect to the preservation of ancient thought, but I digress.
Graylings style is digestible. It’s doable for the layman, but it can feel a bit repetitive at times. Maybe this is simply me. His treatment of some thinkers is a bit odd. As if there is some underlying bias, but I digress.
Grayling is a reputable philosopher, so I recommend this tome for those interested in the history of philosophy. With respect to his treatment of religion, I’d recommend Copleston’s history of philosophy or Peter Adamson’s. I’ve yet to read Russell’s ‘History of Philosophy’.
Overall, 82/100
Graylings style is digestible. It’s doable for the layman, but it can feel a bit repetitive at times. Maybe this is simply me. His treatment of some thinkers is a bit odd. As if there is some underlying bias, but I digress.
Grayling is a reputable philosopher, so I recommend this tome for those interested in the history of philosophy. With respect to his treatment of religion, I’d recommend Copleston’s history of philosophy or Peter Adamson’s. I’ve yet to read Russell’s ‘History of Philosophy’.
Overall, 82/100
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
no rating bc its for school but i recommend it for anyone interested in a basic historical overlook of western philosophy
I did not even start this book because I came to my senses and realized... what new thing could this man have to say about the so-called "history of philosophy", when in the table of contents, "Feminist Philosophers" only have the dignity of 5 pages, and moreover, the last chapter on "African Philosophy" is of similar length?
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
An exceedingly impressive piece of scholarly work. Grayling lays out dense, often obscure ideas in a structured and largely accessible way that invites you to engage with the material. This book offers a fairly comprehensive view of the "big names" in philosophy - primarily metaphysics, epistemology, logic, and ethics - starting from Thales; it presupposes no background in philosophy, nor does it wander into theology or what we now consider science (but for much of history was also included under the umbrella of philosophy). The sections on Western philosophy are much more in-depth than those on non-Western ones, as that's where Grayling's expertise lies, but the book as a whole offers a compelling entry point and invites further studying. It does take a little while to get through, and significantly longer if you really want to retain what Grayling writes, but I firmly think it's worth the effort.