Philosophy For Beginners [Paperback]

Richard Osborne (Author), Ralph Edney (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: For Beginners | Publication Date: August 21, 2007

Why does philosophy give some people a headache, others a real buzz, and yet others a feeling that it is subversive and dangerous? Why do a lot of people think philosophy is totally irrelevant? What is philosophy anyway? The ABCs of philosophy??—easy to understand but never simplistic. Beginning with basic questions posed by the ancient Greeks - What is knowledge? What is good and evil? Philosophy For Beginners traces the answers given by western philosophy over the last 2,500 years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: For Beginners (August 21, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8125031685
• ISBN-13: 978-8125031680
• ASIN: 1934389021
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #279,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book that I own!, January 3, 2002

By 

"bentlyville999" (St. Louis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philosophy for Beginners (Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Book) (Paperback)

This book was my most quoted book that I used on my way to a BA in Philosophy. This book will give one a solid foundation in Philosophy in about four to five hours. This is an Analytical philosopher's view point though.

The book goes through the history in a very concise, sometimes oversimplified method. It is a quick read. It also boils down ideas in an excellent manner most of the time.

I have to suggest that one should read the original philosophical text or a good reader to go further in a subject area. This book is a great jumping off point though.

Good luck and Thanks for your time.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ACCESSIBLE BIG PICTURE of PHILOSOPHY, November 8, 1999

By 

BPG (www.theWORDproject.com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philosophy for Beginners (Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Book) (Paperback)

Having studied Philosophy formally through 2 Universities, I can honestly say that I got a better BIG PICTURE of Western philosophy from this book. The combined mediums of text and cartoon makes a potentially door subject very accessible.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining, quick juant through Western Philosophy, June 26, 2001

By 

Michael Guttentag (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philosophy for Beginners (Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Book) (Paperback)

What a wonderful little book. Philosophy for Beginners covers the full sweep of Western philosophy, from the earliest Greek thinkers through Derrida, in just under 200 pages. Even better, most of the material is presented in a comic-book format. With this little book it is truly possible to review the progress (?) of Western philosophy in an evening's read.

Obviously the challenge for Osborne is to present something meaningful and intelligible about various thinkers and schools of thought in such a brief survey. And he does so in a way that is both fair, based on my knowledge, and refreshingly humorous. Even as a "not quite" beginner I found this little book enlightening.

There are a few caveats. First, this is very much a survey of Western philosophy, which is not immediately clear from the title. Little attention is paid to other philosophic traditions. Second, some of the discussion of current thinkers is difficult to follow. But it is my sense that this has more to do with the complexity of what those thinkers are attempting and our lack of distance from their thinking. No doubt in a hundred years we will be able to do a better job of presenting what seems today to be plethora of different thinkers and approaches. But there is no reason to wait when you can get started with this fun little book.