Customer Reviews

The One-Minute Philosopher

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

 

 

My experience with books professing to offer a shortcut to knowledge has not been positive. Most often the eye-catching, pithy titles also represent the full breadth of information the reader is likely to garner from the text. THE ONE-MINUTE PHILOSOPHER was a pleasant surprise in that regard, even though as I suspected the title promised more than, realistically, the book could ever deliver. It is a treasure trove of fundamental precepts we customarily employ in our daily lives yet often fail to fully understand.

Montague Brown, PhD., a professor of philosophy at St. Anselm College, wrote the book to address a generalized need in our era of shortened attention spans and anticipated immediate response. Many of us do not, or will not, take the time to study philosophical issues, preferring to depend on what we perceive to be the most expedient answers. In a very concise format, the author compares and contrasts paired concepts such as authority and power, reason and logic or patriotism and nationalism; that are regularly confused with one another, typically resulting in imprecise communication and therefore avoidable misunderstandings. The referent terms are aligned opposite each other in a left page/right page layout, with three explanatory paragraphs devoted to each. Similarities, differences and interdependencies are further illuminated in a one-line summarization that spans both pages. Additional insights are offered via quotations from notable individuals, and a set of questions the reader might use to test his understanding.

The title is somewhat misleading. Brown attempts to clarify common terms that are customarily found in philosophic discourse but he does not address schools of thought or their adherents. I do not think it would be unreasonable to consider the book a bridge between philosophy and a self-help dictionary, although the author never attempts to present a platform of recommended corrective actions or generic solutions. He focuses on one possible meaning for each term; in most instances his interpretation can be challenged by another view or definition of the same term. The book should be seen as one resource, a starting point rather than a panacea of parenthetical examination. He has included a very good appendix where the interested party can identify other sources for expansion of any covered area.

It is my opinion (as opposed to judgment) THE ONE-MINUTE PHILOSOPHER is a must-have reference book.

Dr. Brown has written this book "for people like you who have too much to do and too little time to do it" in order to help(as the cover playfully promises) "banish confusion, resolve controversies and explain yourself better to others" by making necessary distinctions between words and the concepts they convey. He does this by juxtaposing two concepts on opposite pages that are often confused with each other. Common usage has made them similar if not equivalent in meaning when in fact they are quite different. Anyone who has engaged in serious conversation with the average person soon realizes just how muddled their thinking can be, in no small part because of a muddled use (a misuse) of words and the ideas or concepts behind them. It makes for one-dimensional thinking that limits one's education and frustrates real dialogue.

Dr. Brown seeks to expand discussion by re-establishing the distinction between blurred concepts. But he also seeks clarity with brevity. This of course demands a sacrificing of much depth and any controversy, making contrasts sometimes too neat. In less than 180 pages he juxtaposes eighty-eight pairs of concepts. On each page he headlines a topic in bold print. Under it he gives just a few words as to "what it is and how it differs from its lookalike" on the opposite page. The topic on the left-hand page tends to be of more positive value, the one on the right more negative or neutral. Then he gives a concise three paragraph explanation of the concept. Afterward he presents a one-line summary that contrasts the two concepts dealt with. Finally each topic is followed by a quote from a noteworthy individual and a few thought-provoking questions for self-reflection. At the end of the book he supplies references for further reading and reflection on all topics addressed.

Maybe the best way I can help you to decide whether this book is for you or not is to list some of the paired topics covered/contrasted with the short summary he gives of each:

Authority (The right to rule) & Power (The ability to rule)
Character (The moral quality of a person) & Personality (The psychological traits of a person)
Chastity (Ordering of sexual activity) & Prudery (Scorn of sexual activity)
Commitment (Reasonable devotion to a goal or person) & Fanaticism (Unreasonable devotion to a goal or person)
Conscience (Rational standard for choice and judgment) & Feelings (Emotional standard for choice and judgment)
Criticism (The evaluation of a person's idea or conduct) & Condemnation (The devaluation of a person)
Frankness (Openness of spirit) & Rudeness (Offensive bluntness)
Freedom (Self-directedness) & License (Self-abandonment)
Goodness (What is desired for its own sake) & Usefulness (What is desired for something else's sake)
Happiness (Human fulfillment)& Pleasure (Satisfaction or excitement)
Humility (Proper understanding of our worth) & Self-contempt (Unwarranted degrading of our worth)
Impartiality (Unwillingness to judge people unfairly) & Indifference (Unwillingness to judge actions or ideas)
Judgment (Discrimination between ideas and actions) & Prejudice (Discrimination between people)
Justice (Absolute standard for right action) & Law (A society's standard for right action)
Love (The will to give ourselves for another) & Lust (The desire to take another for ourselves)
Obedience (Free adherence to the will of a superior) & Servility (Capitulation to the will of the powerful)
Progress (Becoming better) & Change (Becoming different)
Questioning (The search for answers) & Skepticism (The rejection of all answers)
Right (What we may justly claim) & Want (What we would like to have)
Tenacity (Refusal to give up) & Stubbornness (Refusal to give in)
Truth (Knowledge of reality) & Opinion (A perspective on reality)

I have taught my five children at home since 1993 or so. We go up through high school and then early to community college and four-year higher education. I find this book, along with Steve Wood's "The ABC's of Finding a Good Husband" and "The ABC's of Finding a Good Wife" to be among the most outstanding and beneficial works my children go (or will go) through.

This book is based on Catholic philosophy and helps cut through the confusion of mass media, literary, and academic presentations of various concepts. I feel very grateful to Dr. Brown for writing this book, and have bought numerous copies for young relatives and friends.

If you want to increase your own or your children's freedom and wisdom, I highly recommend you consider this book.

I bought three of these books for my sons and their children... Great values succinctly put in contrast with their counterfeits.I highly reccomend it.

Get It!
Read It!
Learn It!
Live It!

A must have for any serious student of life.

"The One Minute Philosopher" is marketed as a sort of quick and easy guide to abstract philosophical terms; while this is true, Dr. Brown presents exclusively a Christian view. Large gaps in logic are common in his writing, and he states some ideas as absolute when they are in fact merely speculative. Brown is an obviously partial author, infusing his book with blatantly one-sided judgments. He is not giving the reader in-depth definitions; his rather shallow explanations are overly simplistic. "The One Minute Philosopher" might be better called "One Minute Guide to Catholic Thought". In fact, the Sophia Institute Press, which publishes an edition of the book, praised the work's usefulness "To get a hearing for Catholic truth and values today". Buy this book not to gain a more profound understanding of major concepts but to learn the Catholic view of them.