Customer Reviews

Philosophy: The Classics

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is easy to read. I like books that are easy to read. Therefore, I like this book. PTC is an introduction to twenty great works in the history of philosophy. They are: Plato's Republic; Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics; Descartes' Meditations; Hobbes' Leviathan; Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Second Treatise of Government; Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding and Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion; Rousseau's The Social Contract; Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals; Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Idea; Mill's On Liberty and Utilitarianism; Kierkegaard's Either/Or; Marx and Engel's The German Ideology; Nietzche's On the Genealogy of Morality; Ayer's Language, Truth and Logic; Sartre's Being and Nothingness; Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. The point of each chapter is simply to introduce each book and present the important ideas. Each chapter usually consists of ten to twelve pages, enough space to provide the pertinent details without overwhelming the reader (Warburton assumes that his readers will have had little or no previous experience reading or studying philosophy). He ends each chapter with common criticisms of each work presented, a glossary of terms, and a reading list for further study.

This short book is an excellent introduction to a number of philosophic classics. This book is intended to stimulate interest in these texts. Warburton has chosen about 20 important texts, beginning with The Republic and concluding with Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, and written a short chapter, approximately 10-15 pages, on each. The chapters contain a brief history of the text, a gloss of the text containing a summary of the principal arguments, criticisms of these arguments, and short bibliographies suggesting further reading. Warburton is a clear writer, skilled at presenting ideas concisely. I can't claim familiarity with all these works, but those I know are treated fairly. The choice of texts, naturally, reflects Warburton's own interests (and perhaps his teaching responsibilities) and is heavy on British philosophers. I bought this book for my teenage son, who is reading excerpts from some of these works in an AP history course. Both of us have found this book interesting.

PTC is my first book which I seriously read about philosophy. This is an excellent introduction to this difficult subject which will never reach the daily life if there is no effort in its popularization made by someone like Mr Warburton. He is successful in highlighting the theme of each classic work of a wide range from Plato's Republic to Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigation. He never fails to present the argument of each philosopher from different angles and focus on the crux. The book in itself provides a great reading but if you follow the list of further reading of each chapter recommended by Mr Warburton, you even can learn more about the philosophers concerned. Some of the books as recommended are even classics of their own.

In passing, if you like to learn more about Mr Warburton's philosophy of the popularization of the subject, please do not miss an interview with him in another book New British Philosophy - The Interviews by the same publisher.

Warburton is one of my favorite philosophers. I thoroughly enjoyed all his books. This author has the gift of breaking down complex ideas and explaining them in a highly intelligible fashion. But while Warburton does not assume that his reader has a substantial background on the subject, his writings are not superficial, nor is his style condescending. This book is a great read for virtually anyone with a genuine interest in philosophy.

Philosophy is a hobby I enjoy greatly but it is hard to find book that covers a wide variety of philosophers and does it well. He covers twenty-four works from Plato's "The Republic" to Rawl's "A Theory of Justice" in 239 pages. For each work he provides background on each work, a summary and hits all the keys points and then rounds it off with some critical analysis and provides further reading advise. I found the coverage of each piece to be just right, you can read through the book relatively fast yet gleam enough to decide what you want to read more about. Plus you will feel confident that you have a grasp of the key ideas and can start thinking critically about them. You definitely will not be an expert but the passages will be illuminated enough for you to decide which ones you are interested in traveling down further.

Nigel Warburton's book has 27 chapters, each focused on a single great philosophical book. The point is to introduce each book, bringing out its most important themes. (Warburton, 1998, 1)

This is a wonderful work by Warburton for those who are becoming interested in philosophy or, want to read more philosophical works but are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work out there.

Summarizing Philosophical works isn't always easy as, to summarize to much might change or miss the essence of the work, to summarize too little might give too much sway to a certain point and dissuade a potential reader based on the content. Warburton seems to have got the mix just right.

Each chapter stands on its own so there is no need to go through the book in order. One neat feature is that Warburton ends each chapter with a little history of the philosopher along with a glossary of the words that author is known for i.e. Regarding Plato, oligarchy, mimesis, timocracy to name a few.

I like how the book is laid out and I think it's a great sampler and entry into the world of philosophy and philosophers.

I bought this book and also Philosophy : The Basics by Nigel Warburton. I needed a revision guide as I was taking my mature student A level Philosophy course in 2000 and I think it was the best book for this level at that time for me. I did pass my exam so the books did their jobs. The books were well summarized and I can imagine that Nigel Warburton is a popular and good teacher on philosophy. It would be a safe book to buy if you want a quick look into important topics of some of the great philosophers.

I bought this book for a one-stop reference to the great western philosophers, and I was not disappointed. I enjoyed being able to spend 10 minutes brushing up on Hobbes, Kant, etc. But I think 20 minutes would have been better. Warburton does a great job in these little snippets, but that's all they really are: snippets. I can almost sense him, in many entries, running out of space and time and falling into oversimplification, slapping his hands together and saying, "OK then, moving on ..."

He could have made the book about 50 pages longer and gotten a tiny bit more in-depth. Still, it's a worthwhile purchase.

This is a good book for anyone who wants to understand or start to understand philosphy.

Great start !

Warburton gives simple and accessible introduction to his "top 20" philosophy classics. The chapters tell you what you need to know about the books and even motivate you to actually READ some of the original works. Bibliographies in each chapter give accessible works to look at next. A well done job.