Philosophy explores the deepest, most fundamental questions of reality. This accessible and entertaining chronology presents 250 of the most important theories, events and seminal publications in the field. Brief, engaging and beautifully illustrated entries cover a range of topics and cultures, from the Hindu Vedas and Plato's theory of forms to Pascal's Wager, existentialism, feminism and the Triple Theory of Ethics.
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Philosophy explores the deepest, most fundamental questions of reality. This accessible and entertaining chronology presents 250 of the most important theories, events and seminal publications in the field. Brief, engaging and beautifully illustrated entries cover a range of topics and cultures, from the Hindu Vedas and Plato's theory of forms to Pascal's Wager, existentialism, feminism and the Triple Theory of Ethics.
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New. Philosophy explores the deepest, most fundamental questions of reality. This accessible and entertaining chronology presents 250 of the most important theories, events and seminal publications in the field. Series: Sterling Milestones. Num Pages: 528 pages, full colour photographs. BIC Classification: HBL; HPC; HPD; HRAB. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 201 x 222 x 38. Weight in Grams: 1442. 2016. First Edition. Hardcover.....We ship daily from our Bookshop.
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Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used textbooks may not include companion materials such as access codes, etc. May have some wear or writing/highlighting. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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I have been reading philosophy for many years and thus thought this book , "The Philosophy Book: From the Vedas to the New Atheists, 250 Milestones in the The History of Philosophy" might be too broad-brush and basic to be worth my time. Then, in skimming the book, I found an entry to a 1929 book, "An Idealist View of Life" by the Indian thinker, Sarvipalli Radhakrishnan (1888 -- 1975). I have a strong interest in philosophical idealism and hadn't been familiar with this book. The brief description in "The Philosophy Book" made me want to drop what I was doing and read Radhakrishnan's book which I found available in digital form online. After reading "An Idealist View of Life" I returned to read "The Philosophy Book" (2016), convinced that it was worthwhile after all.
"The Philosophy Book" by Gregory Bassham, professor of philosophy at King's College, Willkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, is part of the "Sterling Milestones" series, each of which offers an introduction to broad subjects, including physics, space, chemistry, and others, in the form of 250 or so "milestones". "The Philosophy Book" of 250 philosophical milestones is in large format and printed on glossy paper. Each milestone includes a single page of text with a photograph or other relevant illustration included on the facing page. The milestones begin with the Vedas (c. 1500 B.C.E.) and conclude in 2011 with the "Triple Theory of Ethics" which treats the study "On What Matters" by the contemporary philosopher Derek Parfit.
The coverage of the book is broad, from standard figures in Western philosophy to Indian philosophy, including the Vedas, Chinese, Muslim, and feminist philosophy, and works that may be outside the philosophical canon but which have been highly influential in philosophy, such as, for example, the writings of Freud and the environmental writings of John Muir. Many writers, for example, Plato, Wittgenstein, William James Parfit, mentioned above, receive more than one milestone. Other milestones cover philosophical movements, such as the "New Atheism" rather than individual thinkers.
Each milestone is no more than a page in length and often includes biographical and background information together with the philosophical significance of the milestone. The summaries thus are only of the broadest and offer only an outline of the reasons which impelled a particular thinker to develop his or her views in a particular way. Still I found the book valuable. I was reminded of William James' dictum (not quoted in this book) that the heart of any philosophy was succinct enough to be stated on a postage stamp. The book allows the reader to trace recurring philosophical themes, such as the existence of God, the nature of reality, the nature of knowledge and of moral behavior, and the nature of philosophy itself through the ages and through the works of many thinkers and to see continuity and differences. Although the treatment of each milestone is brief, the book can serve as a reference and as a finding tool for more detailed reading of works that interest the reader. As mentioned, I found Radhakrishnan's "An Idealist View of Life" from this book, which made it immediately worthwhile, together with, as I continued, other books that I didn't know but felt I should read. I was absorbed in the book.
Before reading this book, I participated in an informal discussion with a group of philosophers about the best way to introduce a young person, still in high school, to philosophy who had expressed an interest. Some participants in the discussion thought the student should begin with individual works of philosophy, such as Plato's "Apology" and "Crito" while other participants thought a broader overview of philosophical thought might be more useful at the start. I doubt if there is a one-size-fits-all answer to the question, as readers generally gravitate to the books they need. "The Philosophy Book", however, is on the broad side of the continuum. The book is good for browsing by readers new to philosophical thinking but I am not sure if it will inspire love and passion. It might in fact be a better book for readers with familiarity with philosophical thought to capture trends, continuities, books the reader didn't know, and a reminder of the reasons that impelled the reader in the first place to have a love for philosophy.