Customer Reviews

Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers

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I've read this volume cover-to-cover at least three times over the last two decades. In fact, I wonder if I was really all that well educated before I found it. Inspite of the fact that I was a university honors graduate I found that this book covered a whole universe of new ideas for me. Perhaps this is because I majored in one of the physical sciences and almost everything covered was from the narrow viewpoint of materialism and logical positivism.

I especially enjoyed the organization of the book. Each chapter covers a major topic: the nature of the universe; man's place in the universe; what is good and evil; the nature of god; fate versus free will; the soul and immortality; man and the state; man and education; mind and matter; ideas and thinking; and recent approaches to philosophy. The individual philosophers, from classical to modern, addressing the issue are listed right under the chapter heading, then each of their arguements is presented in order. You can't help but start to compare them- to start thinking for yourself at a significant level.

Since first reading this volume I've gone on to read more detailed works by the philosophers who appealed more to me such as Plato and Schopenhauer. Indeed, this book opened a whole intellectual world to me that my public university education totally ignored. I find myself wondering if a life lived without serious reflection of the topics presented here is really a life worth living....

This treatment of philosophers is not terrible, but neither is it all that good. The treatment is cursory, which is inevitable for a work this brief, but is also not particularly insightful.

Of course, the ideal is to read the philosophers themselves. Anything other than that is third best (there is no second best).

But for those who want a survey without taking the time to read all the philosophers, there are better alternatives.

As a more scholarly but still quite readable alternative, consider Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy. His organization is different from Frost's, in that he doesn't deal separately with different issues, but he gives more coherence to each philosopher's approach. Another option is Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy. Although now more than 75 years old, it's still a magnificent introduction to philosophical thinking.

For a bit more depth on individual philosophers, consider the Paul Strathern's "in 90 minutes" series (Plato in 90 minutes, Aristotle in 90 minutes, etc.) These vary somewhat in quality, but are generally readable and will help you understand what these philosopheers were doing and their place in history.

If you like the topical approach that Frost uses, go to your library and see whether you can check out the Syntopicon volumes of the "Great Books of the Western World" series. These are excellent essays, usually about ten pages, on the "great ideas," outlining the train of thought over the centuries and containing extensive cross-references to what the primary philosophers and writers have had to say about these issues. These are superb and woefully underutilized volumes.

Other recommended general volumes for those who want an introductory look at philosophical thinking include Mortimer Adler's "Six Great Ideas" and "Ten Philosophical Mistakes," and Bertrand Russell's "The Problems of Philosophy."

If you are in search of a handy reference work that gives fundamental summaries of the main theories of western philosophy, this book functions adequately. Most of the major philosophers, or at least the major philosophical movements in history, are consulted for their theories on fundamental questions. These include the basic college course stuff like the nature of the universe, good vs. evil, free will, and the like. The thinkers covered stretch from Plato, Aristotle and the other Greek immortals, to the lesser ancient schools, on through the middle ages to relatively recent philosophers such as Kant and Spinoza. A useful bonus is a biographical paragraph in the appendix on every thinker whose work is used in the book. The only flaw with this book is that it was written by a professor back in 1942, and is presented in the dry, humorless, and didactically professional writing style that prevailed in that day.

Frost's book is a chronological parade of Western philosophers, exhibiting their wares along the most important philosophic themes that have absorbed man's thinking throughout history: nature of the universe, man's place in the world, ethics, God, fate vs. free will, soul and immortality, state, education, mind, and origin of ideas.

The book is useful both as an historical overview of philosophy and as a comparative tool for self-examination of one's own thinking by all armchair philosophers. Having gone through the comparative exercise, I end up largely aligned with the modern view: For all practical purposes, a real, tangible universe exists separate from man's existence, and concepts like soul, mind and God are more matters of faith than subject to any rigorous scientific proof. On moral guidance, I find value in Kant's "categorical imperative" that individuals should act in accordance with principles they would similarly prefer others heed to. Based on the fundamental likeness of all humans, I believe that core moral decisions (right vs. wrong, good vs. bad) are more universal than the "relativist" modern view generally admits. At the same time, I relish the richness that social and political freedom to pursue individual talents brings to our world.

The organization of the book along themes in philosophy is best suited to those who wish to explore just one or perhaps a few of the topics. Reading the entire work in the order presented (as the author suggests) proves to be a somewhat tedious exercise, since the basic thinking of prominent philosophers (e.g., Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Leibnitz, Kant, Dewey) is presented many times over, with each philosopher donning a costume only slightly different each time he marches by in successive chapters. Awkwardly, the reader is left on his own to assemble the fragments and reconstruct the "whole" of any single philosopher's thinking. A summary chart cross-referencing philosophers and their stance on the key philosophic themes would enhance the pedagogical cohesiveness of the book.

I must admit that I was not impressed with Frost's book. As a philosophy student, I found several errors of fairly basic views. Overall, for someone with no knowledge of philosophy, this book could serve as an introduction, but I think even the title "Basic Teachings" is misleading. This book does little more than make single sentence comments about history's great philosophers, without explanations. Frost effectively reduces many brilliant thinkers to one sentence blurbs.

If you are looking for an introductory philosophy book that goes in depth enough to actually begin to understand philosophy, as well as uses some original texts, look into Christopher Biffle's text, "Landscapes of Wisdom: A Guided Tour of Western Philosophy." I would also recommend "Philosophy for Dummies," by Tom Morris. Both of these books are aimed at an introductory level, but are far more contemporary than Frost, as well as give actual explanations of philosophy and philosophers, rather than just brief statements of their beliefs.

i've used this book throughout my philosophy education, and it is the best nutshell you can get on virtually every major western Philosopher. not a replacement for org. writings, but a great "basics" to give understanding to what you are studying.

I read this book about four to six years ago, when I was still in grade school, and this book pretty much got me started on the track of the study of philosophy. It provides a pretty good overview about all of the beliefs of each of the big names under each topic (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza, Hobbes, Locke, Kant, Hegel, including many others), which are conveniently divided for, what was for me, easy reading.

Make a note though: some of the views outlined in this book are now considered outdated views of the philosophers. This book was last revised in 1962, so it should not take one much thinking to realize that. Right now in philosophy, there are new interpretations of philosophers like Immanuel Kant and Hegel being brought forth by today's professors of philosophy. Nonetheless, I think this is a great way to introduce oneself to philosophy; however, be careful not to make the mistake of calling the views within the book the authoritative views.

This book provides all-too-often overly simplistic, thumbnail, topical sketches of philosophical teaching. Although succeeding at being brief, the descriptions often fail to adequately differentiate various schools or clarify a given philosopher's teaching (e.g. John Scotus Erigena is rather hastily relegated to pantheism).

The rendering of Christian thinking/doctrine is grossly--and I emphasize grossly--misrepresented (e.g. Christians, through grace, strive to regain their "lost divinity"--rubbish!; Abelard being posed as the progenator of "situtation ethics"--rubbish!; Augustine being quoted as saying that God "put" evil in the world--rubbish!; claiming that Christianity, one of whose doctrinal apices is the RESURRECTION of the BODY, is a "dualist" system--rubbish!). The list goes on and on. And while Frost may quote or, more often, paraphrase Aquinas, it is abundantly manifest that he has not actually read Aquinas. Most, if not all, citations from the Christian thinkers are wrenched clear out of context. The only thing that urks me more are Catholic priests and bishops misrepresenting the Church's dogmatic teaching.

The book does (barely) manage to present a skeletal, topical overview and basic rote information (e.g. Aristotle's four categories of "Cause," Hegel's "dialectical process," etc.), but, IMHO--and I am a non-academic, armchair student of philosophy--pitifully lacks sufficient detail and historical backgrounding of the various (glib) discussions. The descriptions strike me as little more than caricatures, and poor caricatures at that.

For a well-developed and well-studied read, get Copleston's "A History of Philosophy," and prepare to be well informed for a good, long while! Even though a Jesuit, Copleston provides an accurate, fair and objective treatment of the various philosophical schools/movements--even those to which he may not particularly ascribe, unlike Frost whose glaring biases and/or deliberate ignorances ride rough-shod, particularly upon traditional Christian doctrine. : )

Let's face it: For most of us understanding what ancient philosophers had to say has the same curiosity value as what was life was like in ancient Sumeria or just how do they manage to get all that white stuff inside a twinkie.

In this regard this book on great philosophers is...well...great!

In a short, accessible 274 pages Frost manages to take you all the way from the pre Socratics all the way up to then contemporary thinkers like Martin Buber (remember this book was originally written in the 1940s). Not only does he do this but he also manages to take on the philosophers in an issue by issue treatment for example sequentially treating the philosophers on topics like what they had to say about free will.

In reading the book it's easy to see just how philosophy has reacted to and not led the crest of scientific inovation.

Sure you can pick up other texts on what these guys had to say but this book will be as good as any other of the introductory texts mentioned for learning their inaccurate and now largely irrelevant reflections.

Now you just need to find a good Sumerian life book and one on Introductory Twinkie filling to complete your library.

While this book does hold a certain educative value, I did not particularly enjoy reading it. It references the fundamental concepts of philosophy, such as the relationship between the universe and our idea of the universe, our place in the universe, etc. - without much heart and thoughtfulness. The style and language of the book are also a bit dry and not very engaging.

The book can be somewhat useful for those who want to familiarize themselves very briefly with the most prominent schools of thought - the Epicurean, Stoic, the Idealist philosophy, etc. However, those who already had done some philosophical reading may find this book useless.

The best approach to philosophical studies seems to be reading the actual works of philosophers rather than the often perfunctory compilations of viewpoints on philosophical matters taken from various thinkers. However, in the past I had come across the volumes on the basics of philosophy that were more engaging and sophisticated in their content and style than the book in question (hence my rating); although, I have to add, that they were bigger in volume and so had more "room" for philosophical ideas and their interpretations.