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2.99 AVERAGE
2.99 AVERAGE
A fantastic book for people who want back ground before learnig more about philosophy. The author does a good job describing trends, history, and developement. He does insert his view on the matter (something I could do without) but I would still recommend it highly.
I read this book because I could no longer tolerate my own ignorance. I am interested in history, geography, and generally why *SOCIETY* is the way it is, however my only education has been Youtube and school and I had learned very little. So I read this book because I wanted to learn about the whole of philosophy as efficiently as possible and it was worth it. I found the book quite interesting for two reasons: one, this book help me understand and put name to the different assumptions that I and other people make and thus better understand myself and others, and 2, to understand how different philosophical ideas have influenced history by determining the world views of people throughout history. I think this book did a good job summarizing philosophy and made me think deeply many times despite being a book for "idiots". I want to learn more about philosophy after reading this.
Yes, yes, I know—but let's face it, I'm never going to read Derrida or Lacan or Hobbes cover to cover, so I gave this a whirl. I think I get Plato and Aristotle a little better after reading this, but as the book progresses and Stevenson is trying to cram ever more philosophers into a single chapter, it becomes a confusing mass of seemingly interchangeable ideas. (Or maybe the emperor really does have no clothes on.) I knew enough about feminist philosophers before starting this to know that he was really over-simplifying and leaving things out in this chapter (peril of the format, I know), but there were some issues with that chapter regardless: bell hooks is awesome, but she is not Bell Hooks, and surely Stevenson had read enough of her work before writing this guide that he knew that. The entire last chapter on New Age Philosophy was surely included as a tongue-in-cheek joke. Skimmable.