Anthony Gottlieb is the executive editor of The Economist so his history of philosophy from the beginning to the Renaissance aims at enlightening the general reader. This isnot an academic book. Its aim is to explain the ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle to the intelligent reader. A surprising number (to me) of philosophers were killed because of their ideas. Still more philosophers, like Cato, committed suicide rather an repudiate their ideas because the Government or Church didn’t like them. Others like Galileo, were threatened with death unless they “changed their opinions.” After reading a book like The Dream of Reason, I always come away with new respect for the power of ideas. If you’re interested in philosophy, this is a good place to start. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction p. vii
• Acknowledgements p. x
• Part 1
• 1 The Archetypes: the Milesians p. 3
• 2 The Harmony of the World: the Pythagoreans p. 21
• 3 The Man Who Searched for Himself: Heraclitus p. 41
• 4 The Truth about Nothing: Parmenides p. 52
• 5 The Ways of Paradox: Zeno p. 65
• 6 Love and Strife: Empedocles p. 73
• 7 Mind and Matter: Anaxagoras p. 84
• 8 He Who Laughs Last: Democritus p. 94
• 9 Opening Pandora’s Box: the Sophists p. 109
• Part 2
• 10 Philosophy’s Martyr: Socrates and the Socratics p. 131
• 11 The Republic of Reason: Plato p. 169
• 12 The Master of Those Who Know: Aristotle p. 220
• Part 3
• 13 Three Roads to Tranquillity: Epicureans, Stoics and Sceptics p. 283
• 14 The Haven of Piety: From Late Antiquity to the Renaissance p. 346
• Notes p. 432
• Index p. 457
Being a philosopher and/or a scientist was a dangerous job in those days where religion was no 1!
The only thing worse was being accused as a witch …
Wolf, a lot of philosophers and witches got burned back in those days!
Ideas are dangerous—that’s why the powers-that-be don’t want us to have too many of them.
Deb, true. “Nothing else in the world…not all the armies…is so powerful as an idea whose time has come.” – Victor Hugo, The Future of Man
What Deb said. Ideas are OK these days only if they are the “right” ideas. Alternative facts rule.
Jeff, Kellyanne Conway and her “Alternative facts” are at the heart of the Trump White House.
As noted above, ideas are dangerous and the powerful dislike the truth. Today’s dangerous philosophers are the comics such as Colbert, Oliver, Stewart, Kimmel, Meyers, Fallon, and many others. If they get shut down, truth dies and we are are all lost.
Jerry, Trump and other dictators need to control “The Truth” to stay in power.
Fallon the weak twig in that bundle, from his mussing Drumpf’s hair business back when and the relative sadness of his attempts at comedy since. But, of course, the kowtowing to Drumpf by the likes of Paramount and Skydance is the more pathetic crime.
Todd, and what about the feckless law firms and universities who have groveled at Trump’s feet!
Well, they are motivated by greed and fear they might lose their over-privileged circumstances, along with the other corporations surprised by but amenable to Drumpf’s demand for direct pieces of their actions…the chapter on tithing to the blobfather in THE ART OF THE STEAL.
Todd, Trump is just obvious about his corruption (extorting millions from CBS and Paramount and ABC, etc.).
I just watched LAST WEEK TONIGHT last night, the new episode…I wasn’t aware of Chuck Schumer’s self defeating fantasies about the Jill/Joe Lunchpail Dems (“the Baileys”) and thus as a result there’s no point in much effective opposition (as opposed to “I sent him a Strong letter”) to even Drumpf’s most blatantly criminal/fascist moves…and how, even though the Senator’s admitted they are fictional abstracts, he continues to describe them as actual friends of his…a very Drumpfian level of self-delusion, at best. Helps to explain too much of the current dynamic.