Customer Reviews

Instant Genius, The Cheat Sheets of Culture: Philosophy

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked up this casette because I've long wanted to know more about the underpinnings of western philosophy--why we think the way we do--what came before and shaped 20th century thought? But who has time to read the great books in a day--or to take extensive coursework in philosophy? This tape was just about the best thing I could have asked for. It took the last 3000 years and rolled them up in a comprehensive and understandable ball. I now stand on a sturdier platform to be able to ask more cogent questions. And I gained this stance by listening during my commute, which is normally a waste of time. (Incidentally, I am now a huge tape fan, and I believe there are about 6 others in the series). Indeed "the unexamined life is not worth living," and now I am clearer on why, but most importantly, who said it.

A wonderful overview of Philosophy, covering the likes of Plato, Aristotle and the rest of the boys. Packed with information, but very comprehensible. Makes you want to learn more about each philosopher. The degree to which certain famous philosophers differ is facinating. I get something out of this audio tape everytime...

There's good reason to doubt that anyone can meaningfully summarize Western philosophy in an hour, but I was curious, so I decided to give this presentation a try.

The positive is that the material included in the presentation has been covered with solid competence. Proper key points are emphasized, and the discussion is clear and straightforward. Of course nothing is covered in depth, but it's not entirely superficial either, so the compromise is reasonable. Also, the pace is quick, but it's still quite manageable if you stay focused.

The negative is that far too much important content is left out. Many major philosophers receive little or no mention, and entire schools of philosophy are totally missing, such as phenomenology and postmodernism. One could say that this comes with the time constraint, but in fact this presentation isn't even a full hour, instead apparently closer to 45 minutes (I didn't time it).

There's really no excuse for that, since a cassette can easily hold 90 minutes, and doubling the length of the presentation would have greatly improved the adequacy of its content. Moreover, with two cassettes, this could have been a truly excellent presentation, easily meriting 5 stars. But as it stands now, we're unfortunately down to 3 stars, so I'm unable to recommend this presentation unless you can somehow tolerate its excessive incompleteness.