Customer Reviews

Descartes in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series)

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Descartes, is the second of Paul Strathern 90 min philosophy books I read. While reading the third (after 75 min) I had to find out if there are other books by Strathern. I was worried that I will run out of his books. The description of historic relevance, the irony of the situation described in this book are excellent. I must admit that the philosophy bit goes over my head, but the crumbs I understand are sufficient to please me. I am definitely going to read a few more books by Strathern

Strathern is a master at this kind of work, which mixes biography, critical analysis, historical context and humor all in a concise, informative & entertaining package. He lists a time line for the philosopher, his place in world/philosophic history & a selection of works for furthur reading. This series of books by Strathern is a wonderful course in Philosophy 101 without ever having to go to college, all presented in plain, easy to understand English without being bogged down with philosophy's often confusing vernacular.

Anyone who attempts to make philosophy accessible to non-academics certainly has the tip of my hat, but DESCARTES IN 90 MINUTES sacrifices too much substance in the interest of readability. This book would be OK for a high school student preparing a short paper or presentation on French philosopher/mathematician Rene Descarte, but for those of us who are motivated by anything more than casual curiosity about philosophers will be left unsatisfied.

I did learn quite a few facts from this very clearly-written book, such as Descarte's odd sleeping habits, his apparent facility in composing musical verse, and his compulsive wanderlust. The problem is that biographies of Great Thinkers just don't have a lot of impact without including some exposition of their Great Thoughts. "I think, therefore I am," is about as deep as it gets here.

If one is studying the inefficiencies of deconstructionism in biographies this biography would be a perfect example. The biographer spends very little time on the actual works of Descartes, and as a previous reviewer wrote is fixated on what time Descartes would wake-up, which in congruence with deconstructionist methodology serves the purpose of bringing Descartes down below the level of the biographer himself. This biography seems to be more about the biographer than the individual he is supposed to be writing about. Additionally, the biographer did very little research, and cites almost nothing. The biographer also fails to discuss as previously mentioned any of the actual work of Descartes AT ALL, except in often condescending language. The page or less he uses to discuss the paramount work of Descartes in his 'Meditations' gave me the impression that the man did not even read it!

This book is a total joke, and it is absolutely SHOCKING that a publisher actually accepted it.

Starthern's goal is to provide a quick, flawless guide to the major thinkers of the world: I'm unclear as to whether he succeeded or not. I suppose he succeeds simply because he has published these works, people buy them, and they are quite popular. I am not a stickler for erudition, I would have like to have learned from this series, but there just isn't enough information on the philosopher's work. If you're in a philosophy class and want to get a quick preview of what you're going to learn, chances are you will find more or less the same information in the introduction of your text. If you just want to learn on your own, it's your decision as to what you're looking for. For example, this is what I learned about Descartes from this book:

1) He was an eccentric who liked to sleep in 2) His theories on mathmatics were contraversial 3) He believes that we exist simply because we think 4) He died for a silly reason.

That's it folks. #2 & 3 may seem exciting, but there is no explanation as to why or how these manifests themself.

It is extremely painful to watch the author work hard to interject his scorn of religious people, religion in politics and, well, religion in general. Philosophy and Christianity have had a deeply intertwined and mutually supporting relationship, yet for the author, Christianity was a ball-and-chain around the neck of philosophy and educational systems. Scholasticism earns the the most damning denunciation, it was BORING. This is supposed to help me understand Descartes? Bosh.

In short, we learn lots about the author's views and not much about the book's subject.

Don't waste your money; go to Wikipedia instead. You'll get better and more objective information about Descartes there. The author takes a very subjective position and not only presents aspects of Descartes life, (and not so much his ideas), but also takes every opportunity to disparage and criticize other thinkers. Some times is even laughable.
I'm not sure what point he was trying to make but he mentions and celebrates the fact that Descartes used to get up at noon at least ten times during the pamphlet.

Rene Descartes was one of A kind, not only a philosopher,
mathematician, physicist,and Isaac Newtons mentor. He was
a good person looking for truth. What I admired the most
about Descartes; was his search for God & his truths. He
knew that the physical body was separate from the spirit
body, interestingly so did Aristotle; who descartes had
studied with great interest.

Descartes was like so many of the great philosophers orphaned when young. A lonely child never given much affection he wandered the world never really able to make a place home. But when he wandered he thought. And his thought was remarkably original not only in philosophy, but in various sciences including astronomy and physics, and in mathematics. He made major contributions in more than one area including supplying the Cartesian coordinates idea for mathematics. His great achievement according to Strethan is his being the first philosopher to break the stranglehold of Aristotelian thought, and liberate the world to focus on the thinking individual and his subjectivity. In the famous Cogito Ergo Sum Descartes begins by doubting everything and comes to the one certainty which should help him build another system of thought. Strathern makes the point that the Thirty Years War the uncertain times in which he lived made it somehow necessary for him to seek out ' certainty'. From his thinking self he goes to establish the reality of the world, and the reality of God.
Descartes a devout Catholic died in Protestant Sweden on a fools error arranged at the whim of a King.