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This volume presents a colourful and entertaining overview of German intellectual history by a central figure in its development. Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), famous poet, journalist, and political exile, studied with Hegel and was personally acquainted with the leading figures of the most important generation of German writers and philosophers. In his groundbreaking History he discusses the history of religion, philosophy, and literature in Germany up to his time, seen through his own highly opinionated, politically aware, philosophically astute, and always ironic perspective. This work, and other writings focussing especially on Heine's rethinking of Hegel's philosophy, are presented here in a new translation by Howard Pollack-Milgate. The volume also includes an introduction by Terry Pinkard which examines Heine both in relation to Hegel and Nietzsche and as a thinker in his own right. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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In the fine tradition of OnBullshit comes this outrageous, uproariouscompendium of absurdity, filth, racy paradox,and mature philosophical reflection.Stop Me If You've Heard This is thefirst book to trace the evolution of the jokefrom the stand-up comics of ancient Athens tothe comedy-club Seinfelds of today. Cropping upen route are such unforgettable figures asPoggio, a Renaissance papal secretary and sexual adventurer; and Gershon Legman, the FBI-houndedpsychoanalyst of dirty jokes. Having exploredhumor's history in part one, Jim Holt thendelves into philosophy in part two. Jewishjokes; Wall Street jokes; jokes about rednecksand atheists, bulimics and politicians; jokesthat you missed if you didn't go to a Catholicgirls' school; jokes about language and logicitself—all become fodder for the grand theoriesof Aristotle, Kant, Freud, and Wittgenstein. Aheady mix of the high and the low, of the ribald and the profound, this handsomely illustratedvolume demands to be read by anyone who has ever peered into the abyss and asked: What's sofunny? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Try and Stop Me . . .
If you are interested in a great overview of humor throughout the ages, including interesting historical tidbits, then you'll want to read this book.

Mr. Holt delves first into the history of jokes, and then into the philosophy around them.Did you know that elephant jokes have a sinister side?Or that Immanuel Kant pioneered the incongruity theory of humor?

In this small volume you find well-written prose that pleases the quick reader in search of erudition and fascinating humorous anecdotes.The author hits the right tone between intellectual pursuit and bawdy humor.

This book is great for the curious reader interested in humor.It provides explanations and background on humor beginning with ancient Greece to the present.

Read and enjoy.Try not to laugh or walk around with a silly grin on your face.

Virginia Story
[...]

Good breezy read
Stop me is an interesting, light, entertaining read for those interested in more than simply laughing but some of the history of the jokes we tell today.Their origins can be traced back many centuries and Holt does an excellent job in the telling.

A short and well timed mix of discussion and jokes
One joke after another would get stale. The author breaks it up just about right. A joke then a little discussion about where jokes come from and various theories about jokes and then another joke. And before you know it you will be on page 126. The end.Too soon to get bored if you read fairly quickly. And you should have gained at least a few chuckles and possibly also a new insight or two into the meaning of humor.

not really a book
Since this is 100small (4" X 6" including margins) pages of text, it's an essay pretending to be a book. The illustrations are cheap and put in to pad the page count. As an essay, I'd give it a B-. There were about 5 jokes which were humorous, so that's about $3 a joke. The real joke was on me.

No!No!Don't Stop!
Jim Holt, a columnist and contributor to the _New Yorker_, collects jokes, and the shortest among them is two words: "Pretentious?Moi?"It is fitting that he has included it in his book _Stop Me If You've Heard This: A History and Philosophy of Jokes_ (Norton), for his own book is tiny, and despite its brevity, it succeeds in delivering its intended history and philosophy just as well as the two-word joke delivers a smile.It might seem strange that jokes should be a subject for philosophical enquiries, but consider how central they are to the human condition.Sit down at a dinner party, and a good deal of the conversation will be directed at putting together strings of words that will elicit laughter from the hearers.Another reason jokes ought to be considered food for philosophical thought is that philosophers through history have indeed speculated about them, and have come up with answers about why jokes are funny, but none of the answers is complete or completely satisfying.Another reason to study the history and philosophy of jokes is that when one does so, one necessarily gets to read lots of jokes, and Holt's little volume does contain plenty of good ones.

The book is divided into two parts, necessarily "History" and "Philosophy".There were jokebooks of the ancients, since Plautus refers to their existence in his comic plays, but only one has come down to us, the _Philolegos_ ("laughter lover") from the fourth or fifth century C.E.The jokes in it are peopled with stock characters like the miser, the drunk, and the sex-starved woman."How shall I cut your hair?" a talkative barber asks a customer."In silence!" comes the retort.Holt writes admiringly of the more contemporary work of joke collector Gershon Legman, who claimed to have invented the slogan "Make Love, Not War" and who obtained books for Alfred Kinsey's collection.The admiration is muted, however: "Reading through Legman's vast compilation of dirty jokes is a punishing experience, like being trapped in the men's room of a Greyhound bus station in the 1950s."Philosophy, of course, seems to begin with the Greeks; Plato said that the proper objects of laughter are vice and folly, both well illustrated in jokes here.Immanuel Kant explained that incongruity was what led to laughter, but the philosopher Henri Bergson said that laughs came from a feeling of superiority; watch a man slip on a banana peel, and you laugh because you, yourself, would never, ever exhibit such gracelessness.Freud famously proposed that a joke allows laughter to release inhibited thoughts and feelings of sex and aggression.That sounds good, but Holt notes that if Freud is right, the ones "who laugh hardest at lewd jokes should be the ones who are the most sexually repressed.This seems to be backwards.No general explanation of why we laugh at jokes seems to work in all cases, and the problem may be that trying to understand the funniness of specific jokes is just not funny.The explanation of a joke is not funny, it never helps us appreciate the joke more (and often less), and it seldom seems like a good explanation.

As with so many philosophical issues these days, perhaps only because of our current fashions of research, humor may simply come down to the neurological.Using an electric probe to try to find the cause of a patient's seizures, doctors stimulated a part of her left frontal lobe, eliciting a laugh.It happened over and over, and it was not just a mere physical reflex.She really did find things funny, whether she was looking at the operating team, or at a picture of a horse they showed her.Put a little current to the "L-spot" of the brain, and everything becomes a joke.There is little risk that neurosurgical procedures are going to impair the activities of joke-tellers, however; telling a joke is a simpler way of getting a laugh than doing brain probes, and anyway, whatever the purpose of jokes is, it probably cannot be accomplished in such an electromechanical way.Like many things, jokes are probably best appreciated for themselves and not for any thinking that they might inspire.Holt's little volume will inspire some thinking, but it also contains more than its share of good (along with some bad) jokes, including one that he has traced back in different forms which people have been laughing at for fifteen centuries.And he even includes a personal favorite of mine, a meta-joke: "A priest, a rabbi and a minister walk into a bar. The bartender says, `What is this, a joke?'"
... Read more

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Widely praised for its accessibility and its concentration on the metaphysical issues that are most central to the history of Greek philosophy, Greek Philosophy: Thales to Aristotle offers a valuable introduction to the works of the Presocratics, Plato, and Aristotle.

For the Third Edition, Professor Allen has provided new translations of Socrates' speech in the Symposium and of the first five chapters of Aristotle's Categories, as well as new selections bearing on Aristotle's Theory of Infinity, Continuity, and Discreteness. The book also contains a general introduction which sets forth Professor Allen's distinctive and now widely accepted interpretation of the development of Greek philosophy and science, along with selective bibliography, and lists of suggested readings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

not what was promised
The book's condition was a little more beat up than I would have liked to see it in. Please honestly tell what condition you are sending the book in, not just, very-good for everything.

Allen's Greek Philosophy
For a teacher willing to present his or her own analysis of the period, but looking for an inexpensive source of well-translated key texts from the pre-Socratics to Aristotle, this collection is unbeatable. At 450 pages it contains more than enough core reading for a one-term course. Moreover, it includes the 'unmoved mover' argument from the 'Phaedrus', which its competitors, even at twice the length and thrice the price do not.

quality book of original texts
This book does not deal with analysis, it is a book of the texts of the ancients. The textual translations are accurate, and the sources Allen provides for further research are sound. It is an inexpensive quality wayto learn the extant writings of the Ancients. If you are looking foranalysis or explanation, though -- look elsewhere. ... Read more

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A stunning successor to Bertrand Russell's classic, A History of Western Philosophy. In this landmark new study of Western thought, Anthony Gottlieb approaches philosophy through its primary sources, questions many pieces of conventional wisdom, and explains his findings with unbridled brilliance and clarity. From the pre-Socratic philosophers, Plato, and Aristotle to Renaissance visionaries like Erasmus, "philosophy" emerges here as a phenomenon unconfined by any one discipline. Indeed, as Gottlieb explains, its most revolutionary breakthroughs in the natural and social sciences were quickly co-opted by other branches of knowledge, leading to the illusion that philosophers never make any progress. From the physics of angels to Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, Gottlieb builds through example and anecdote a vivid portrait of the human drive to understanding. After closing The Dream of Reason, readers will be graced with a fresh appreciation of the philosophical quest and its influence on every aspect of life.Amazon.com Review
Writing a history of more than 2,000 years of philosophy is no mean feat, and writing it in fewer than 500 pages of intelligent but graceful prose is more difficult still. Yet this is just what Anthony Gottlieb accomplishes in The Dream of Reason, which guides the reader from the earliest Greek philosophers to the pre-Cartesian Renaissance. Gottlieb's project is undeniably ambitious, and by necessity it is big-picture philosophy. But it is exactly this big-picture context that is often lamentably absent from other works of this sort. Gottlieb's skill at rendering historical context makes his account both unusually engaging and surprisingly illuminating.

Gottlieb is an admirable guide through the little-understood pre-Socratic philosophers of ancient Greece, giving fair measure to philosophers who are too often simplified or lampooned. His account of Plato and Aristotle is good too, as is his treatment of the later Hellenistic schools, Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Skepticism. Gottlieb's treatment of medieval philosophy, particularly Thomist and Arabic philosophy, is lean, as the author chooses to focus more heavily on antiquity and the modern era (to be continued in a second volume), and the narrative history that bridges the two. Ever enthusiastic, Gottlieb's storytelling voice and character-driven approach make The Dream of Reason compelling reading. It is an ideal book for nonexperts interested in an appealing and informative history of philosophy as well as for students looking for a lucid and comprehensive account of premodern thinkers. --Eric de Place ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Why philosophy matters
In short:a few Greek guys sat around thinking until SOCRATES PLATO ARISTOTLE then a few other guys sat around thinking not as much until SOCRATES PLATO ARISTOTLE were rediscovered and translated and misunderstood and misapplied until Galileo, Hobbes, Locke, and Descarte learned Skepticism through Christian goggles and became Modern.The end.

Or rather, the end of the beginning of modernity, and the beginning of the Renaissance, the scientific revolution, and the world we know today.

And people say philosophy doesn't matter.Ha!Gottlieb writes (mostly) with a clear eye to explicating the inexplicable (he does sometimes go on too long with breaks or recaps, but not often).He is referenced by Thomas Cahill in Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter, and both authors make philosophy alive and present.

Read and understand.

Does not Deliver on its Grand Title
I actually find it hard to put a grade on Anthony Gottlieb's "The Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance." Gottlieb handles the Greeks in an accessible and witty way. He breathes life into the pre-Socratics and spends an extraordinary amount of time and care in rendering Greek thought. In demonstrating the relevance of the pre-Socratics, Gottlieb pontificates, in effect, that it was wrong to minimize their contributions to philosophy.

Then, Gottlieb in a blink of an eye, minimizes over 1000 years of philosophy. He scoffs at Augustine as if Augustine were a child writing philosophy with a crayon. Anselm and William of Ockham fare no better. Aquinas warrants half a page. Forget about Machiavelli. His treatment was not just one of omission, Gottlieb affirmatively debases everything not Greek in thought.

The hard part comes with deciding the value of "The Dream of Reason." It does have value for its treatment of the Greeks. It does have value in the fact it makes Greek philosophy accessible to the uninitiated. If "The Dream of Reason" only sought to handle the Greeks, it may warrant a 4 or even 5 star review. However, whatever good is achieved in the first 300 or so pages, is completely undone by the injustice Gottlieb does to the other 1000 years of philosophy. You certainly can't call the title of the book a "HISTORY of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance." I get it, Gottlieb does not like philosophy after the Greeks but you cannot call your work a HISTORY if you are unwilling to treat your subject with at least a grudging objectivity.

A Reasonable Dream
Goodness - a guy makes one little off hand statement about there being "no such thing as philosophy" and he is mercilessly pilloried then dismissed.Some reviews have taken this introductory statement totally out of context then subjected it to the harshest denouncement.Such priggish contempt in the absence of anything vaguely resembling a review makes one wonder if these peeved pedants actually bothered to read the rest of the book after their sensibilities were so egregiously offended.

Wphooo.Now that I have that off my chest - this book's not bad.Mr. Gottlieb is the executive editor of the Economist, not a position one attains without some appreciation for the world of letters.He arrived there as he has said "By accident.I was looking for distractions from academic philosophy."So one might bet he had heard of Socrates a time or two before he sat down to write this book.While the book is a popular history, Mr. Gottlieb states that he worked directly form the original sources, leaving the impression that the interpretations are his.

The book starts in Greece and for the most part stays there, at least intellectually.There is no mention of the Egyptians, the Chinese, Buddha or - Heaven forefend (large wheezing gasp) - the Jewish authors of the Bible.But this is the prejudice of classical liberal philosophy - apes roamed the earth then suddenly an obelisk appeared before Thales of Miletus whereupon he picked up a thought and started bashing people about the head with it.Hey - read the subtitle - "History of philosophy from the Greeks......."Still, the Greeks did not live in a vacuum.Far from it, the very reason for their flowering was their accelerating interaction with other cultures.One cannot believe that all their ideas originated whole and fresh sans cross pollenization from the older cultures around them.Some preamble would have been nice.

Mr. Gottlieb then marches by the various characters (and these were characters - gurus and hippies, not stolid sages) of early Greek philosophy, describing what is and isn't known about them, how much they did or didn't write, how they were received by other thinkers and by the public and how they related to their predecessors.He takes great care to dissect out the important new idea each built on previous work.But he gives short shrift to some who were primarily concerned with nature and observation of the physical world.This is not only the prejudice of classical philosophy, but also almost every tradition of thought in Westendom save the brief interlude from Descartes to Hume and the current scientific age.Philosophy tends to attract navel-ponderers while scientists are out checking out what is really going on.As devoted to Aristotle as Aquinas was he never actually dissected a frog.But check out the title, it ain't "The Dream of Science."

As usual, the highpoint of the book is the discussion of Plato and I must admit as much as I detest "The Republic" Mr. Gottlieb did provide my jaded sensibilities with some new insights.He is quite the Platonic apologist.But after the book revels in Plato, it collapses in confusion in its attempt to deal with Aristotle; again the norm for classical philosophy.Plato's idealistic rationalism set in vivid prose is easy when compared to Aristotle's plodding systematic empiricism and ghastly style.Mr. Gottlieb does not know what to do with him.He intentionally completely skips Aristotle's "Politics," the book that arguably remains as Aristotle's most relevant text.He does discuss with some flattery Aristotle's contribution to biology but then launches into a history of the development of formal logic up to the present day.Once the author recovers from this strange digression, he provides one of the better discussions of the schools that developed around Plato (stoics, epicureans and skeptics).The author is back in his element.This bit is insightful if somewhat meandering and repetitive.And the author does yeoman service in his attempt to elevate Epicurus above the evil of his own eponym.Then, inexplicably, the book dashes off to Middle Ages for a quick denouncement of the Thomist scholastics, once again par for the course.

When organization returns, Mr. Gottlieb retreats to late Rome in an attempt to trace the development of modern rationalism.He gives a much better than average discussion of the Alexandrian scholastics and a fair treatment of a few of the neo-Platonists but steers clear of most of the Fathers of the ascendant Church for fear of penning the errant politically incorrect kind word.There is a dismissive nod to Augustine and yet another breathless exposé of Pseudo-Dionysius.

The book gives an unusually thorough and kind treatment of Albertus Magnus, but I am suspicious that this is just a back handed way of diminishing his student, Aquinas, who is discussed only tersely.The author seems to share the unfortunate but widely held opinion that the Middle Ages were little more 1000 years without a bath.From here, the steady and interesting advance to Descartes is well done and illuminating.The book ends in mid 17th century apparently where Mr. Gottlieb intends to pick up with the next volume - I hope.

The style is light and chatty and the vocabulary is accessible to undergraduates.The author's frequent use of modern metaphor works reasonably well for the weirdoes of ancient Greece but wares thin with later, more serious thinkers.

A. N. Whitehead remarked that all philosophy is a commentary on Plato.Mr. Gottlieb definitely takes that statement to heart, dismissing much that I think essential - but nothing of Plato.Nevertheless, no one can enter philosophy without prejudice and preference, and no one can take it all in - much less describe it all.Mr. Gottlieb's is a reasonable attempt.In saying that there is "no such thing as philosophy", I think what he was really trying to point out is that there is no such thing as a philosopher, only men and women asking profound questions about life then searching for the answers.He has varying but mostly good success examining the people, the questions and the answers.

Easy reading; pithy style.
This easy-to-read book, which paints the history of pre-modern philosophy in broad strokes, makes up for the lack of detail by giving us a nicely integrated panoramic view. It has been said that all of modern philosophy is little more than footnotes to Plato, Aristotle, the Sophists and the Skeptics. There is some truth in that; in any case, this book reminds the reader of the ubiquitous contribution of the ancients to the philosophical construction of the modern world.

The author's style includes plenty of pithy remarks, often amusing images and clever phrases that - had he been a political speech writer - might have become more widely known quotable sound bights. I found it an enjoyable read, and strongly recommend it for the reader looking for a good introduction.

If You Snoozed through Philosophy 101....
"The Dream of Reason" is a great book for stimulating the memory banks or making up for lost time with one of those subjects that you really ought to be able answer Jeopardy questions about.Journalist Anthony Gottlieb presents a concise and vivid history of western philosophy from the Greeks to Renaissance in this meaty and managable volume.Fully employing the journalist's gifts for the illuminating detail and the efficient description,Gottlieb provides a brisk and interesting outline of central ideas, personalities and events in the history of philosophical thought.Working at deeper level, Gottlieb presents a broad view of "philosophy" as essentially the determinedly inquistive cast of mind.All in all, a solid book that leaves you feeling smarter. ... Read more

Product Description
Historians of ideas, and students of nationalism in particular, have traced the origins of much of our current vocabulary and ways of thinking about the nation back to Johann Gottfried Herder. This volume provides a clear, readable, and reliable translation of Auch eine Philosophie der Geschichte zur Bildung der Menschheit, supplemented by some of Herder's other important writings on politics and history. The editors' insightful Introduction traces the role of Herder's thought in the evolution of nationalism and highlights its influence on fields such as history, anthropology, and politics. The volume is designed to give English-speaking readers more ready access to the thinker whom Isaiah Berlin called 'the father of the related notions of nationalism, historicism, and Volksgeist.' ... Read more

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Volume 1 of the Routledge History of Philosophy covers one of the most remarkable periods inhuman thought. The essays present the fundamental approachesand thinkers of Greek philosophy in chronological order.
This second volume opens with Aristotle's immense influence on philosophy from the beginnings of Christian philosophy in the fifth century AD.
From Aristotle to Augustine surveys the work of philosophers who wrote in Greek and Latin from the mid-fourth century BC to the fifth century AD ... Read more

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Providing a comprehensive introduction to political philosophy, this book combines discussion of historical and contemporary figures, together with numerous real-life examples. It ranges over an unusually broad range of topics in the field, including the just distribution of wealth, both within countries and globally; the nature and justification of political authority; the meaning and significance of freedom; arguments for and against democratic rule; the problem of war; and the grounds for toleration in public life. It also offers an accessible, non-technical discussion of perfectionism, utilitarianism, theories of the social contract, and of recently popular forms of critical theory. Throughout, the book challenges readers to think critically about political arguments and institutions that they might otherwise take for granted. It will be a provocative text for any student of philosophy or political science. ... Read more

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Product Description
This is a history of the great age of scholastism from Abelard to the rejection of Aristotelianism in the Renaissance, combining the highest standards of medieval scholarship with a respect for the interests and insights of contemporary philosophers, particularly those working in the analytic tradition. The volume follows on chronologically from The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy, though it does not continue the histories of Greek and Islamic philosophy but concentrates on the Latin Christian West. Unlike other histories of medieval philosophy which divide the subject matter by individual thinkers and emphasise the parts of more historical and theological interest, this volume is organised by those topics in which recent philosophy has made the greatest progress. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

average...but informative
the overall presentation and framework are sound, scholarly; perhaps due to different viewpoints from various authors, the materials are treated unevenly--some subject matters are in depth, captivating; others are sypnotic, dull at best. overall, this obscure topic was illuminated in a professional, responsible manner. contains a trove of great bibliography and references for research...

A Massive Piece of Work
This book is a massive piece of work edited by Anthony Kenney, Jan Pinborg and the late Norman Kretzmann. Moreover, Eleonore Stump is an associate editor of this text as well. The book itself is over 1000 pages. It is a history of late medieval philosophy from about 1100 to 1600. The book is essentially a series of essays that deal with the various philosophical trends, ideas, issues, etc. that were prevalent within the aforementioned dates. The book deals with Aristotelian logic, logic in the middle ages (semantic theory), logic in the high middle ages, metaphysics and epistemology, natural philosophy, philosophy of mind and action, ethics, politics, and scholasticism. Thus, the reader of this text will gain a greater understanding about Abelard and old logic to free will and free choice to God's knowledge of future contingents, and much more. The Islamic philosophers and their influences and ideas are covered as well as the Jesus society philosophers of the late reformation period (i.e. Molina, Suarez, etc.). The text itself is not for the beginning philosophy student, thus the contributors expect their readers to have some back ground knowledge in the issues at hand. This book is meant for the serious student of this period. Therefore, if you love to study the philosophers of the Medieval period, then you will love the detail that this book provides. I highly recommend it.

A Classic for Medievalists
Top medieval scholars edited this collection of essays by other top medieval scholars which brings to light some of the best thought regarding this important, but oft-neglected period in the history of philosophy.While nearly twenty years old, these essays are as enduring as the figures of which they are about. must for any serious student of the scholastic period of medieval philosophy. ... Read more

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Updated throughout and with three entirely new chapters, Worldviews: An Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science, Second Edition furthers its reputation as the definitive introductory text on the historical developments and philosophical issues that inform our scientific view of the world around us.

• Represents an innovative introduction to the history and philosophy of science, designed especially for those coming to the subject for the first time
• Updated new edition features the addition of chapters focusing on scientific laws, evolutionary theory, and implications of evolution
• Covers the key historical developments and philosophical themes that have impacted our scientific view of the world around us
• Analyzes the transitions from the Aristotelian worldview to the Newtonian worldview to a new and currently developing worldview
• Explores challenges to the Western scientific worldview brought on by recent discoveries

Customer Reviews (1)

Philosophy still relevent
The author correctly argues that philosophy is not dead.The philosophy of science is still dealing with issues of what is truth, fact, and reality.There are still ongoing debates between realists, positivists, and historicists within the scientific community.This is truely an eye opening book on the philosophy of science. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
A two-volume history of western philosophy designed to serve as a core text which can easily be supplemented by original sources. Except for a few brief paragraphs, no original sources are included. Strong integration of philosophy and the scientific, political, religious, and social context of different periods. ... Read more

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Through a fusion of philosophical, social scientific, and historical methods, A Brief History of Liberty provides a comprehensive, philosophically-informed portrait of the elusive nature of one of our most cherished ideals.

• Offers a succinct yet thorough survey of personal freedom
• Explores the true meaning of liberty, drawing philosophical lessons about liberty from history
• Considers the writings of key historical figures from Socrates and Erasmus to Hobbes, Locke, Marx, and Adam Smith
• Combines philosophical rigor with social scientific analysis
• Argues that liberty refers to a range of related but specific ideas rather than limiting the concept to one definition

Customer Reviews (3)

Interesting, Not Entirely A "History" of "Liberty"
I enjoyed this book.It is indeed brief, with 6 official chapters, although there is a long introduction that amounts to a 7th.The introduction discusses the meanings the word "freedom" can carry and the difficulty of defining it in a widely agreed sense. Particularly, they discuss the difference between "negative" freedom and "positive" freedom although those terms themselves being abstractions they do not seem to me to make the matter much clearer. They note that freedom can mean one thing in the context of an individual and another in the case of a people or nation (sovereignty).They concentrate on the former.They also note that they will discuss the idea as it evolved in Western civilization because it is what they are familiar with,This discussion was interesting and reasonably brief.

Each chapter has a thesis stated at the beginning and a list of questions at the end, I guess for classroom or reading group discussion.There are many endnotes at the end of each chapter and they are very interesting.There is a rich bibliography that would take a lifetime to study.

Chapter 1, "Prehistory" covers 40,000 years of history in 25 pages.The main thesis, stated at the beginning, is that trade and commerce have led to freedom.It focuses on ancient Greece and the Roman empire.

Chapter 2 "Rule of Law" covers the development of the rule of law from the Dark Ages to the 17th century,The thesis is that the rule of law enabled trade and commerce which led to greater freedom.I must say that I reached a different conclusion based on this chapter, that freedom for a wide number of people in a society depends on laws curtailing the freedom of the most powerful in that society.

Chapter 3, Religious freedom, deals with the development of different religious approaches in the West eventually leading to tolerance of religious differences. It covers the same period as chapter 2. Prominent figures include Roger Williams and Martin Luther. This was a good chapter although probably the least controversial subtopic.

Chapter 4, Freedom of Commerce, focuses on the growth in prosperity in the 18th century. The main figure is Adam Smith.The thesis is that trade and commerce under the rule of law generate prosperity.This section, I felt, strayed a good deal sometimes from the "history of liberty".For example, there is a discussion of Bastiat's demonstration of the "broken windows fallacy" which, regardless of its merit, I could not perceive to be closely connected to the history of liberty.

Chapter 5, Civil Liberty, focuses on the expansion of rights in the US from 1776 through 2010, from a nation in which the vote was held by landowning white males to one where it is held by nonlandowning men and women of all colors.It also touches on reproductive liberty. The principal figure is Martin Luther King, Jr. Like the religious freedom chapter, it is not at all controversial but at the same time the authors manage to generate many insights in a short amount of text.

Chapter 6, Psychological Freedom, covers a number of scientific experiments in which people's decisionmaking is shown to be constrained by things like social pressure or the way a choice is phrased.It suggests this topic is relevant to the "history of liberty" because many people are not so interested in political rights as they are in personal independence.I found the connection strained although the topics covered are certainly interesting.

None of the chapters is limited to a recounting of history or dry in any sense.The authors liberally introduce philosophy and political theory into each chapter.They do so in plain and easily comprehended language.Overall, I found it interesting and thought provoking.At the same time, it was not necessarily a rigorously coherent work, more of a compendium of interesting thoughts and ideas centered, sometimes tightly and sometimes loosely, around the topic of freedom and organized in a mostly chronological fashion.

Good smart book for general readers too
This is a great little book. By looking at a series of about a half dozen epochs, the authors generalize about liberty and the various obstacles (physical/anthropological, social, history, psychological) it has had to overcome, over the centuries. (Indeed, as they start in human prehistory, one could speak of the obstacles liberty had to overcome over the millennia.)

The authors write well and clearly. They are learned without being pedantic. They provide a fair bit of information that surely most general readers are already going to know (e.g., Luther was born here; the civil rights movement was about this), but one can put up with that because the ratio of thoughtfulness to "known facts" is so high. They are certainly to be commended for getting their points across concisely and interestingly: the book could easily have been twice as long, but they obviously strove to keep the verbiage down. And yet there are numerous insights in every chapter. So, if you want to know something about liberty, and are prepared to read a well written work that combines insights from economics, political thought, philosophy and psychology -- though especially the first two of these -- then you will be pleased with this book. And better informed once you've read it.

Broad appeal: a blend of history and philosophy
As a retired history teacher, I found this book to be an interesting blend of history and philosophy that would have very broad appeal.The authors clearly and succinctly summarize the history of liberty.Of particular interest is the explanation between economics and liberty.The book contains many interesting facts and statistics about economic development through the ages.I highly recommend this book for both academics and the general public. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great guide for the intellectual beginner
If you are studying theology or some other field where you need to have a good basic command of the history of philosophy, or just want a readable but sophisticated intro, this could be the book for you. It was first published in 1964 with undergraduate philosophy majors as the intended audience, but with the decline of philosophical literacy and the trendiness of contemporary programs, it should be useful for graduate students who are either beginning to study philosophy or have just enough exposure to be confused.

There are about 20 authors including some big names like MacIntyre, Flew and Danto. The general approach is critical more than historical with impressive analytical commentary. The book covers an amazing amount of ground in a relatively short space (about 550 pages of text, but it covers over 20 centuries). To have this kind of overview from the hands of top contemporary philosophers is a real treat.

The only downside is that it doesn't include all the moderns it might -- e.g., only a page or so on Husserl. The editor chose quality over quantity. You can always go elsewhere for the missing philosophers. If that is a possible concern, check the index before buying. No one overview can do it all. This is easily the best one I've seen. I just wish I had found it sooner. I read a chapter in the library today and was delighted to find the book is still available. ... Read more

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"An important and impressive book."& mdash; The Herald

"A profound history by the recognized master in the field."& mdash; The Scotsman

This volume highlights a number of philosophers from the late-thirteenth to mid- twentieth centuries and explicates philosophy's intimate relatationship with Scottish culture. It showcases the work of major figures& mdash;John Duns Scotus, Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Thomas Reid& mdash; along with lesser-known ye still brilliant talents: John Mair, George Lokert, Frederick Ferrier, Andrew Seth, Norman Kemp Smith, and John Macmurray.

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The individual volumes of Sir Anthony Kenny's acclaimed History of Western Philosophy have been hailed as "wonderfulauthoritativehugely rewarding" (Times Higher Education Supplement) and "genial and highly accessible" (London Review of Books). Now these four splendid books have been combined into one magnificent volume, providing a continuous sweeping account of the great thought of the Western world. Here readers will find not only an authoritative guide to the history of philosophy, but also a compelling introduction to every major area of philosophical inquiry. Kenny tells the story of philosophy chronologically, his lively narrative bringing the great philosophers to life and filling in the historical and intellectual background to their work. Kenny also looks closely at each of the main areas of philosophical exploration: knowledge and understanding; science; metaphysics; mind and soul; the nature and content of morality; political philosophy; and God. A New History of Western Philosophy is a stimulating chronicle of the intellectual development of Western civilization, allowing readers to trace the birth and growth of philosophy from antiquity to the present day. ... Read more

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This volume covers a period of three hundred and fifty years, from the middle of the fourteenth century to the early years of the eighteenth century: the birth of modern philosophy. ... Read more

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This text brings together Stumpf's and Fieser's Socrates to Sartre and Beyond with an updated anthology of readings in one volume. It offers an accessible historical survey of philosophical ideas and a wealth of primary source readings at an excellent value.The text is a comprehensive, historically organized introduction to philosophy, which communicates the richness of the discipline and provides the student with a working knowledge of the development of Western philosophy. With a lively and approachable style it covers the principal contributions of Western civilization's most influential philosophers. The topically organized reader features a chronological organization within the topics and a wide selection of readings. Primarily a selection of Western philosophy, the fifth edition also includes classic Eastern philosophy texts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Not bad with limited exposure
I have not started my classes but, from the first couple of segments it seems to be an easy read.There seems to be very well written and informative.The price is too high, like most text books though.

Philosophy book
Although I still have yet to recieve my book, I'd like to take this chance to "take back" my bad review on Kristyna.She sent the book the day I ordered it, but unfortunately the Postal Service is extremely slow.Kristyna has worked with me in a timely manner and it's been greatly appreciated.

Philosophy History and Problems
For someone who loves history, this book of philosophy is presented in historical form.Mentions Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.Moves onto the Medieval period and St. Augustive's Christian Philosophy.Other subjects cover Karl Marx, ethics, religion, political philosophy, and theory of knowledge and metaphysics. Provides many, many examples of philosophical beliefs.Good book to use as research for a student of philosophy or anyone seeking to improve their knowledge and understanding of human nature.Contains 353 pages.

Philosophy: History and Problems
This book was an excellent purchase. It was exactly as described and arrived promptly. I would definitly do further business with seller in the future.

The Examined Life starts here...
This philosophy book by Stumpf and Fieser is used at Ivy Tech State College as the primary text for the introduction to philosophy courses (100 level).It is a good survey of all the major topics in philosophy (from a classical Western standpoint), and includes many of the major thinkers over time, both in the narrative discussion presented by the authors, as well as in primary source readings from major philosophers themselves.

As the book's self-description states, this is a combination of two previous texts - 'Socrates to Sartre and Beyond: A History of Philosphy' by Stumpf, and 'Philosophical Problems' by Fieser.These books are presented one after the other, both under one cover.The readings selected and edited by Fieser are grouped topically, generally following an early-to-late chronology of ordering.Thus, with judicious planning, the reader of philosophy can develop from both segments a good general survey from the earliest times (the timeline on the backplate begins with Thales, from 624-546 B.C.) to the present (again from the timeline, current thinkers listed include John Rawls, John Hick, and Carol Gilligan).

The Stumpf text is divided into five major sections:I - Ancient Greek Philosophy; II - Hellenistic and Medieval Philosophy; III - Early Modern Philosophy; IV - Late Modern and 19th Century Philosophy; and V - 20th Century and Contemporary Philosophy.Section I looks at the major ancient Greek thinkers, such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, as well as lesser-known important figures and schools such as Thales, Pythagoras, the Sophists, and more.This is the time that philosophy began to be broken into certain topical areas (ethics, politics, metaphysics, logic, etc.) but also a time when the disciplines of science, mathematics and what we would call social sciences and arts and humanities were all directly and explicitly tied to the overallphilosophical enterprise.

The section onHellenistic and Medieval Philosophy looks at later Greek schools (Stocism, Skepticism, Epicureanism) as well as the advent of Christianity and Christian influence in philosophical development.Key figures here include Augustine (heavily influenced by the twin sources of Christianity and Neoplatonism), Boethius, Anselm, Aquinas (influenced greatly by the European rediscovery of Aristotle), and late medieval figures such as Scotus, Ockham and Eckhart.

Early Modern Philosophy begins at the time the various Renaissance and Reformation periods began, looking at key philosophers such as Machiavelli, Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, and the British Empiricists; this was also the advent of the scientific revolution and prelude to the Enlightenment, so there were philosophies of politics, religion, science, knowledge and ethics significantly different from anything before.

Late Modern and 19th Century Philosophy looks at primary Enlightenment figures such as Kant and Hegel, with fundamentally new ideas in the areas of metaphysics and epistemology (and, accordingly, new philosophies in other areas that reflect the new developments).This is also the period that saw the advent of Utilitarianism (Bentham, Mill, and Comte), and radical thinkers such as Kierkegaard, Marx and Nietzsche, whose direct influence in areas of religion, politics, and culture are still being felt.

Key areas covered in the final chapter on Contemporary Philosophy include Pragmatism (Pierce, James, Dewey, Bergson, Whitehead), Analytic Philosophy (Russell and Wittgenstein), Phenomenology and Existentialism (Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty), and very new ideas that are only now coming to full expression (postmodernism, structuralism and post-structuralism, mind-body problems, etc.).Overall, this text includes a 500-page narrative of the principle ideas and patterns of development that have shaped the many dimensions of Western philosophy.

Added to this narrative text is a 400-page collection of articles and edited tracts organised by Fieser into seven categories:I - The Meaning of Life; II - Philosophy of Mind; III - Philosophy of Religion; IV - Epistemology; V - Free Will and Determinism; VI - Ethics; and VII - Political Philosophy.Each of these sections is introduced by Fieser with a short essay (a few pages each, at most); these set the stage for the readings, and provide connecting material where appropriate, but for the most part, Fieser lets the primary documents speak for themselves.These sections include traditional philosopher-authors (Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Hume, James, Rawls), but also some authors/writings not generally included in such collections (Leo Tolstoy, Chuang-tzu, Katha Upanishad).

Together, these make a wonderful one-volume, portable philosophy library.Sufficient for an introductory course, it should also serve to whet the appetite of readers who are seeking more in particular philosophical areas.The combination of both Stumpf's and Fieser's texts means that the appeal and ease of use will be enhanced - those students who find primary documents difficult to follow can rely more on the narrative history/explanatory section; those who find the latter less gratifying and interesting can pay more attention to the primary documents.

In the Stumpf section, there is a useful glossary of key philosophical terms, a select bibliography arranged chronologically by chapter, divided into original documents and critical studies, and an index including names, terms and concepts.There are no such indexes or bibliographies following the Fieser section, but that section does list the citation for each excerpt at the beginning of each article, so that the reader may follow up with further reading in the same document.

Philosophy is rarely easy reading; there will be parts that appeal to a particular reader that will leave another bewildered or bored (or both!), but there tends to be in the philosophical discipline something somewhere of interest to most.This gives a good, broad layout of philosophy as done in the primary Western, academic tradition, and serves as a good text for classrooms, as well as use for a personal study.

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Bringing together innovative recent research in the history, philosophy and socio-politics of archaeology, the aim of this collection is to consolidate new initiatives in archaeological theory and to examine questions recently brought to prominence by and in response to the New Archaeology. ... Read more