Examined Lives: From Socrates to Nietzsche First Edition

by James Miller (Author)

29 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0374150853

ISBN-10: 0374150850

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A New York Times Notable Book for 2011

We all want to know how to live. But before the good life was reduced to ten easy steps or a prescription from the doctor, philosophers offered arresting answers to the most fundamental questions about who we are and what makes for a life worth living.

In Examined Lives, James Miller returns to this vibrant tradition with short, lively biographies of twelve famous philosophers. Socrates spent his life examining himself and the assumptions of others. His most famous student, Plato, risked his reputation to tutor a tyrant. Diogenes carried a bright lamp in broad daylight and announced he was “looking for a man.” Aristotle’s alliance with Alexander the Great presaged Seneca’s complex role in the court of the Roman Emperor Nero. Augustine discovered God within himself. Montaigne and Descartes struggled to explore their deepest convictions in eras of murderous religious warfare. Rousseau aspired to a life of perfect virtue. Kant elaborated a new ideal of autonomy. Emerson successfully preached a gospel of self-reliance for the new American nation. And Nietzsche tried “to compose into one and bring together what is fragment and riddle and dreadful chance in man,” before he lapsed into catatonic madness.

With a flair for paradox and rich anecdote, Examined Lives is a book that confirms the continuing relevance of philosophy today—and explores the most urgent questions about what it means to live a good life.

Examined Lives: From Socrates to Nietzsche

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Miller (The Passion of Michel Foucault) profiles 12 thinkers whose philosophies may have been consistent but whose engagements with the social and political mores of their time were far more fraught. From Plato's failure to mold the tyrant Dionysius into a philosopher king through Seneca's murky relationship with the despotic Nero to Kant's capitulation to King Frederick William II, the author casts a welcome light on the flawed, all-too-human aspects of famed moralists. Likewise we are made privy to a Descartes struggling to avoid religious controversy and a contradictory, sometimes paranoid Rousseau determined to publicly justify the abandonment of his own children to orphanages. Miller remains neutral, preferring to juxtapose the behavior of his subjects side by side with their words, even if, as in the cases of Socrates and Diogenes, so much still remains unknown about their lives. Nonetheless, this compelling book elegantly lays bare the distance between the abstract formulation of right action and its achievement in the real world, indicating that the lives of the great philosophers can be exemplary but not always in the ways we might have hoped. (Jan.)
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From Booklist

Miller combines short biographies and compact synopses of 12 philosophers’ ideas of wisdom. In a format suiting those intrigued by the history of philosophy but not yet prepared to take on the texts, Miller introduces Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes, Seneca, Augustine, Montaigne, Descartes, Rousseau, Kant, Emerson, and Nietzsche. Enlivened by Miller’s attention to how the subjects lives and actions measured up to their declamations, the presentations start with the thinkers’ adoption, in some cases from revelation, in others from reflection, of moral inquiry as a mode of the enlightened life. As well as the questions they strived to answer about truth and ideal conduct, Miller pointedly presents how their mental realms of abstraction, ever buffeted by demands of material or political realities, could agitate contemporaries or provoke posterity to bridle at inconsistencies between words and deeds, such as Rousseau’s notorious abandonment of his children. Conducting his audience safely through abstruse aspects of these philosophers’ precepts, Miller proves concise about their imitational symbolism to those of introspective bent. --Gilbert Taylor

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Product details

Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First edition (January 4, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0374150850
ISBN-13: 978-0374150853
Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.4 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Average Customer Review: 29 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #431,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #305 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Philosophers
- #637 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Greek & Roman
- #719 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > History & Surveys

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For philosophy lovers

September 26, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

If you enjoy philosophy then you would enjoy this book which is more of a biography of the various philosophers and how they developed their ideas. I read it a little at a time and am planning to go back over it probably more than once.

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djwatkins487

Examined Lives

May 7, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Through the lives of twelve eccentric men, the reader is taken on a philosophical journey to live the life of Socrates; to live a life of examination, to know oneself, to discover truth. The story begins with Socrates (approximately 469 B.C.) and concludes with Nietzsche (eighteenth century). Each character was shaped by the period in which they lived and the events that coalesced around them, and thus, in their own journey toward "enlightenment" made a unique contribution to the study of philosophy.

The active participation in a philosophical life is something that Miller seeks to emphasize with those selected for summary in the text. This form of active study of philosophy is perfectly contradictory to the modern study of the subject. As explained in the introduction, the modern study of philosophy "that the truth of a proposition should be evaluated independently of anything we may know about the person holding that proposition."

Although the book is meant to be a short survey of the lives of these men, I felt that the depth and breadth of the material was too great for too few pages. Miller was certainly able to illustrate his purpose and the lives of each individual. However, I felt it difficult, at times, to follow some of the events (summarizing the life and contributions of a philosopher in about 25 pages is difficult). I also had a desire for more information; perhaps additional reading is necessary. Great book for a novice in philosophy.

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Richard M. Nesta

A Great Compilation of Philosophers' Beliefs

February 4, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is a great short course or synopsis of many of the great philosophers. I found it enlightening, pertinent to the present and a wonderful read that one can go to many times.

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K. Kennedy

Interesting view point

September 1, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Tight text yet interesting read.

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Jason Bollinger

Highly recommended

February 25, 2011

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Miller's book is an enlightening and entertaining mix of history, philosophy, and old-fashioned gossip. His scholarship has some blind spots (he discusses Descartes' intellectual legacy without giving any hint of the philosopher's monumental impact on modern philosophy of mind, and the Kant chapter barely mentions the influence of Hume), but this book is bound to bring hours of pleasure to anyone interested in philosophy.

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Wye Watfore

sweet interesting book

July 9, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

this is a great read.. get new insight and info about thinkers and see how their lives contributed or even opposed their wriitngs

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Pcc

Good read

September 4, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

very pleasant read, easy to read and informative

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AKW

Examined Lives

November 7, 2011

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

As a new entrant to the field of philosophy, I was very interested in the learning about the lives of these significant philosophers. I found the writing well done and the treatment of each individual to be balanced and candid. My significant take away was that in philosophy, the true test of a philosopher is NOT what he writes, but whether his life is consistent with his teachings. I highly recommend the book.

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