Customer Reviews

History of Philosophy (College Outline)

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I owned this book when I was a Philosophy major in college in the 70s. It didn't offer a great deal of depth, but it was very good as a quick, concise overview of the history of western philosophy. I could look up a given philosopher, school, or movement in Sahakian's book to get the general idea, then use the course texts to gain a more detailed, nuanced understanding. My Philosophy professors would sometimes disagree with Sahakian on some points, but seemed to generally respect his angle on the issue. The outstanding book in this area would be Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy, a much larger volume. Sahakian's book is organized historically by philosophical schools of thought; Russell's book is organized by the historical individual -- one chapter per person -- and includes people like Alexander the Great, not strictly speaking a Philosopher, though he was tutored by Aristotle. Depending on exactly what you're trying to find out, it may be faster and easier to look up a philosophical trend in Sahakian's book, though I completely recommend Russell's book for its insight and comprehensiveness.

A large part of the reason I'm reviewing Shakian's History of Western Philosophy is to offset the assessment of the only other reviewer, who gave this book a very low score, based on the fact that he ordered it, but never received it. Not receiving a book you ordered and paid for is certainly a valid grievance, but it is unfair to use that complaint to give a low score to the book itself. I hope my review will set the record a little straighter.

I can't really write a review for this because I never received my ordered purchase. NOT happy about spending extra money to have it shipped priority next day and then not receive it. Very disappointed.