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Philosophers in Conversation: Interviews from the Harvard Review of Philosophy

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Just finished this wonderful collection of interviews. Past reviewers have been accurate in their high assessment of this collection. Let me add that as a professor of philosophy at a top 10 department who knows many of these men being interviewed personally, I found this collection to be profoundly revealing (though The Harvard Review of Philosophy, quickly becoming quite a prestigious publication, has never requested an interview from me!)

The interviews have a nice even keeled pitch to them which both reveal the individuals being interviewed as academics, and also as people. If you have not had the chance to have lunch at a conference at the same table as Hillary Putnam (who is charming) or coffee with Cora Diamond (who is absolutely wonderful) this may be as close as you will ever come (some of the interviewees have passed away, such as Quine, so this is particularly valuable contribution here). Grab a copy of this book right now, for yourself or for a friend. Give it as a gift - it is quite a handsome-looking volume.

Those who have not bought the book (and quite a few of my fellow colleagues have - it has become a kind of guilty pleasure for the members of the department) do not know its structure. For each philosopher here is a photograph, a brief and fair biography, and then an informal but rigorous interview. Thus, through a picture, a history, and also an interview each philosopher takes on a multidimensional personality. I particularly recommend the John Rawls' piece. He is not getting out as much nowadays and but his kindness, generosity, and brilliance come through in this rare interview.

I just finished this wonderful collection of interviews with great philosophers (some of whom I studied with during my undergraduate days). The interviews convey a picture of the philosopher that is both personal and professional. It is eminently readable and thoroughly enjoyable. I recommend it highly. Philosophy is a serious hobby for me now, venture capital taking up more of my time, but I imagine that this collection would be a pleasure for someone interested in the subject at any level.

A collection of interviews from the Harvard philosophy journal. It has a number of big names like Putnam and Rorty, and anyone who studies philosophy will be familiar with the work of everyone in the table of contents. Part musings a la "Culture and Value", part anecdotal, part confessional.

A good read for anyone who wants to gain insight into the "whole person" of those who've put forth some of the big ideas in contemporary (analytic, or 'post-analytic') philosophy. In addition to some stirring showings by (for e.g.) Rorty and Nehemas, the John Rawls interview is all we have of his more personal musings, on everything from his life's oeuvre to the morality of flying the Confederate flag (some internicene trouble among the undergraduates.)

The interviews are easy to handle in length (a dozen pages or so on average), and give you some of the best that a philosophical 'confession' would. They also have a nice 'in the moment' conversational style.

I read this with Korean. But I could not understand because translated with jargon.
Finally I could sense what philosopers saying when I met final page.

This is a highly informative, easy to read book of interviews which is geared to anyone interested in contemporary analytic philosophy. Technical language is kept to a minimum and the book was very inspiring to this newbie to philosophy.